The National Statistical Office (NSO) says its newly launched Sixth Integrated Household Survey (IHS6) would reveal the current status of inequality and the poverty profile for Malawi.
NSO Commissioner of Statistics, Shelton Kanyanda, said this at Chilema Ecumenical Centre in Machinga District, where he launched four-week training for 110 enumerators and supervisors for the survey.
“There are a number of things we look at but the basis is welfare, which is how are we faring on our poverty profile,” Kanyanda said.
He said, as part of the efforts, NSO will conduct IHS6, which is a multi-topic survey and one of the biggest surveys they conduct every three years.
“Last time it was conducted was between April 2019 and March 2020. It is supposed to be conducted after every three years. Data collection will run for 12 months but the survey report is supposed to be published within six months after the completion of data collection,” he said.
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The World Bank is sponsoring NSO to conduct the survey through the five-year Statistical Capacity Building Project.
The bank’s coordinator of the project in the Southern African Development Community region, Lina Cardona, said they are committed to supporting Malawi in poverty alleviation efforts.
She said one of the mechanisms they are using include the updated poverty estimates which will be provided by IHS6.
“The results will help us see how we will give support to policymakers. This would also enable us to determine how much support Malawi needs, in terms of the finances. That is why it is important for us as well as Malawi in general,” she said.
