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  Barriers to women’s attainment of leadership among Lilongwe water board water users’ associations.

  (2025) Nyirenda, Emmanuel Chituzu.

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  The paper arose from the background that both men and women are good leaders in organizations based on specific leadership traits that each of them may hold. Despite this fact, the study focused on examining barriers that women face in water management and why they remain underrepresented in many senior leadership positions in a case study of LWUAs. The study was imperative because it added to the body of literature on the causes of underrepresentation of women in LWUAs, understand the experiences of women in male dominated governance structure and proving the perceptions of stakeholders on the strategies to deal the inequitable participation of women in LWUAs. The study employed mixed method approach, qualitative data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions and quantitative data through questionnaire. The study revealed that women remained underrepresented in both the Board of directors and Executive committee of WUAs in Lilongwe as they only constituted 23% and 24% respectively. This also implied that men constituted 74% and 73% respectively in the Board and Executive of WUAs in Lilongwe. The study further exposed that the factors caused this underrepresentation in leadership position in women included; religion, low confidence in women, low education levels in women and low capacity in women, culture and the perception that women are good leaders in domestic affairs than at office. Furthermore, the study found that few women in leadership positions experiences demonstrated that they are able to deliver duties in male dominated work place, involved in decision making and not experiencing any form of sexual harassment. Finally, the study looked at perceptions of stakeholders in establishing mechanism to reduce the disparity that existed between Women and Men in LWUAs: capacity building which could be done through sensitization or civic education or training in which women ought to be updated with developments of WUAs, Constitutional review towards advocating for 50 to 50 percentage of men and women respectively and effective leadership. The study concludes that women are underrepresented in LWUAs governance structure. Therefore, the study recommends that Constitutional Review to meet 50 to 50 percentage shares of the leadership positions.

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  Application of artificial intelligence on drone-collected data for cut-and-fill volume estimation of Chatoloma, Kasungu-Jenda road.

  (2025) Nyamwera, Rosemary

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  Like many other engineering projects in developing countries, the Kasungu-Jenda Road has faced numerous challenges in data collection and analysis, including slowed surveying works, underestimations, and overestimations of cut and fill volumes. These challenges often lead to increased financial and time-related costs. This study examined the application of Artificial Intelligence processing techniques on drone-collected data for road surveying on the Kasungu-Jenda Road in Malawi. Specifically, it assessed the effectiveness of machine learning (ML) algorithms in object classification, evaluated their potential in predictive analytics for cut -and-fill volume estimation, and compared their volumetric accuracy with traditional computation methods. A quantitative experimental design was employed, utilising drone imagery, traditionally collected as-built data, and road design data. This data was processed and analysed through Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Random Forest, XGBoost, and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms. CNN models demonstrated high effectiveness in object classification, achieving 90.91% accuracy across multiple land cover types, including vegetation, bare land, and earthworks. For predictive analytics, XGBoost achieved the highest accuracy (MAE = 0.0052 m; R² = 0.9847), followed by Random Forest (MAE = 0.0106 m; R² = 0.9451) and SVM (MAE = 0.0150 m; R² = 0.8908), all indicating low error margins. On the other hand, a comparison of XGBoost with the Prismoidal Method in cut and fill volumet ric estimations using 2-meter chainage drone elevations, and 20-meter traditional chainage elevations revealed statistically significant differences by a paired samples t -test (p < 0.05). The difference is attributed to XGBoost's ability to detect finer terrain variations from high-resolution data, which are not captured by traditional methods. The study concludes that while conventional approaches remain useful, ML-based models in combination with drone technology offer improved precision and spatial detail in engineering surveying. It therefore recommends incorporating these technologies to improve both the accuracy and reliability of survey work

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  Assessing the impact of rapid growth of low-income settlements on service delivery in Lilongwe city, Malawi

  (2025) Nyirenda, Obvious

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  As urban populations grow, the demand for public services rises. This situation also obtains in Lilongwe City, the capital of Malawi. This study assessed the impacts of rapid growth in low-income settlements on delivery of water, electricity, and solid waste management. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, primary data were collected from households and key informants through interviews using questionnaires and checklists. Spatial analysis of Landsat images from 2010 and 2023 were performed using the Normalized Difference Build-Up Index (NDBI) to assess land-use changes. The study showed that over a 13-year period, the population in low-income settlements nearly doubled from 166,132 to 301,567 and an increase in households from 37,757 to 68,538. The built-up areas expanded by 3,028.54 hectares, while vegetation decreased by 1,723 hectares, and bare land declined by 490 hectares. Logistic regression analysis identified annual income, land cost perceptions, and agricultural land preferences as key drivers of low-income settlement growth, explaining 63.7% of the variability (Nagelkerke R² = 0.637). Strong correlation was noted between increased household numbers and increased service demand for water (r = 1.0), electricity (r = 0.983), and waste collection (r = 0.915). Statistical analyses showed significant impacts of rapid urban growth on service delivery (ANOVA F-statistic = 231.24, p = 0.000). Approximately 65.6% of respondents in areas 25, 36, 38, 45, 49, and 53 reported an increase in lack of access to services. The study concludes that the spatial expansion of low-income settlements significantly affects service delivery. It is recommended that Lilongwe Council should adopt participatory planning and strengthen local governance systems to formalise customary land, expand water supply infrastructure, enforce zoning and development control to mitigate uncontrolled rapid spatial urban growth.

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  Harnessing the nexus between mini-grids and community energy resilience: A case of bondo hydro mini-grid in Malawi

  (2025) Mwale, Vincent Dodoma C.

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  Provision of electricity access has the potential for economic transformation and resilient building of rural poor. However, the linkage is elusive in many communities and instead the survival of rural electrification including mini-grids is affected. A study on Bondo Community and Bondo Mini-grid in Mulanje District was conducted to understand the dynamics of building the resilience of the community together with building the resilience of mini-grid. The study involved 17 FGDs, 16 SSKIIs, three co-design workshops, meetings, field observations and field visits to three other mini-grid establishments in Malawi. Thematic narrative analysis with use of NVIVO (2020) Student Licence was used in data analysis. The findings reveal that access to electricity on its own hardly lead to sustainable development and resilient building of rural communities. The study had shown that socio-economic and transformation of rural communities with electricity access can only be realised when electricity is promoted alongside broader goals of transformation and resilience building. Mini-grids can barely survive on their own, hence the need for dedicated external and state funding. Streamlined regulations and availability of competent personnel for mini-grids are also crucial. The country needs to institutionalise REA and the need for coherent coordination among different stakeholders. The priority of Bondo Community include support for the establishment of a factory for processing fruits and support toward electric cooking. Four separate themes came out of the study are: community resilience – at a crossroad of mini-grid, biodiversity and watershed; the nexus of energy, water and biodiversity; electricity by grid or mini- grid - not an easy path for rural communities and the need for a concessional agreement of managing MMFR.

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  Exploration of the simultaneity of safety, affordability, universality and equitability in drinking water services in Mangochi District in Malawi,

  (2025) Andreah, Kondwani

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  Safety, affordability, universality and equitability are key elements of the Sustainable Development Goal target on drinking water (Target 6.1). The achievement of this target would depend on the simultaneous attainment of these four elements. This simultaneity was explored in a cross-sectional mixed methods study conducted in Mangochi District. A household survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, observations, water quality testing and market prices survey were the data collection methods. A mixed sampling design involving purposive, stratified, cluster and random sampling techniques was employed. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, correlation tests, logistic regression, Gini index and thematic analysis were applied as data analysis methods. SPSS v20 and ATLAS.ti 9 were the main data analysis software for quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The study findings show that, despite access to improved water sources being as high as 92% in the study area, there was high-level inequality in the distribution of water sources among the four TAs, and the water services were unaffordable to 21% of the households according to affordability ratio calculations. In addition, the water sources had poor quality, with only 48% and 12% complying with Malawian standard MS733:2005 and WHO guidelines respectively. The study concludes that the elements of safety, affordability, universality and equitability of access to drinking water services cannot be achieved simultaneously. The study recommends that Mangochi District Council should consider a district-wide approach in the implementation of water supply investments, whereby funds from all partners can be pooled together towards some strategic investments. Future study should carry out an economic analysis on what it would take to achieve the universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water services in the district.

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