Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of targeting methods in public works programmes in Malawi: the case of MASAF and CARE managed programmes in the central region of Malawi

Abstract

This research was aimed at assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of community based targeting and self-targeting methods in the selection of beneficiaries in Safety nets programmes in Malawi. These methods have been chosen because they have been largely used for selecting beneficiaries in Safety net programmes. The focus was on assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of these methods where effectiveness refers to the ability of the methodology to reach out to the poorest while efficiency is a measure of the costs that are associated with the identification of these people. In order to objectively assessed the challenges associated with these methods, the study concentrated on Public Works Programmes, which targets relatively high number of people compared to the other programmes and have used both methods for identifying beneficiaries.