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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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  Impact of learners’ attitude towards feedback on their English composition writing practice:A case of selected secondary schools in Dowa

  (2025) Mwamadi, Atupele

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  This study sought to investigate the impact of learners’ attitude towards feedback on their writing practice. In achieving this, the study addressed the following objectives; assess the type of feedback that teachers give learners on their English composition; examine learners’ attitude towards the feedback they receive on their English composition; and assess the impact of learners’ attitude towards feedback on writing practice in English composition. The study used an exploratory mixed research design to deeply understand the topic at hand in phases; qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative phase the study used document analysis method to solicit information on the type of feedback learners get. In phase two, a questionnaire was administered to students succeeded by an interview with their teachers in order to triangulate the information from the questionnaire. Four (4) schools and forty (40) marked scripts were sampled using simple random sampling. Systematic sampling was used for sampling 144 students to fill the questionnaire forms and four (4) teachers were sampled purposively for interview. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data and logistic regression was used to analyse the quantitative data. The study found that learners in this study received undeveloped corrective feedback which was unfocused, direct and in other aspects indirect. The study also found that learners had a negative attitude towards feedback and receiving feedback as a whole which affected their writing practice. Based on these findings, this study argues that learners’ negative attitude towards feedback is as a result of lack of motivation to practice writing, change of teachers and change of writing techniques/style. As such, this study recommends that apart from counselling learners on the role of English as a subject, teachers should create a conducive environment for teacher-students’ interactions.

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  Assessing English teachers’ adherence to criteria for selecting visual instructional materials for comprehension lessons in secondary schools in Nkhata-Bay District, Malawi

  (2025) Mhango, Sangwani Chiuke

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  This study investigated how English teachers in secondary schools in the Nkhata-Bay District of Malawi select visual instructional materials for comprehension lessons and assessed their adherence to the established selection criteria of visual materials. Recognising that visual materials play a crucial role in translating abstract textual content into accessible learning experiences, this study examined the decision-making processes as well as the pedagogical strategies that teachers employ to enhance student comprehension. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected from four secondary schools through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with teachers who are actively engaged in the selection of visual materials. The study’s findings revealed a dynamic, multi-step selection process where teachers systematically review lesson plans, identify key concepts, and seek visuals that align with curriculum objectives and contextual realities. While many teachers demonstrated acknowledgeable understanding of benchmark of visual materials criteria such as clarity, simplicity, relevance, and cultural appropriateness, it was established that resource limitations, time constraints, and inadequate professional development sometimes compel deviations from ideal practices. These challenges not only affect the quality of the visual materials but also have a direct impact on student engagement as well as overall comprehension of lessons. Following the findings of this study, the study recommends the provision of training to the teacher in order to advance their knowledge on the visual materials. There is also a need to implement digital platforms that could be providing accessibility to various digital visual materials. At the same time, promote collaboration among teachers to be sharing the best means of selecting the visual materials. Ultimately, the insights from this study contribute to a deeper understanding of visual literacy in low-resource educational environment and offer practical recommendations for enhancing English comprehension instruction.

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