Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita gross national product of $190 and 65 percent of its population living below the poverty line. Agriculture remains the predominant sector for the livelihoods of more than 90 percent of the population. Growth in gross domestic product has been low and erratic and the structure of production
remains dominated by traditional agricultural products. In 1998 the integrated household survey revealed that 65.3 percent of the population were poor with consumption of basic needs below the minimum level of MK10.47 (US$0.34) per day (GOM, 2000). The pervasiveness of poverty requires concerted efforts and more focused strategies in order to reduce
poverty in Malawi. Since 1994 the Government of Malawi proclaimed poverty alleviation as its main development agenda.
The pursuit to reduce poverty has recently culminated into the formulation of poverty reduction strategy papers by many countries. Malawi produced its own Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (MPRSP) articulating policies that are likely to reduce poverty in the medium and long term (GOM, 2002). The MPRSP also emphasizes the need to monitor and evaluate the implementation of policies and programmes and the achievement of goals. In order to achieve this it was necessary to design and operationalize the poverty monitoring system with
the necessary institutional arrangements that would ensure steady flow of information between various stakeholders. The aim of this study is to provide a description of the design and functioning of the poverty monitoring system in Malawi, particularly focussing on the institutional arrangements that facilitate or hinder the flow of information between
various actors.