Afrobarometer Study On Sadc Regional Integration Report

BASELINE SURVEY REPORT ON UNDERSTANDING OF SADC PROTOCOLS AND
INSTRUMENTS BY THE MALAWI PUBLIC
Prepared By GRAY KALINDEKAFE
The National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE)

2
GREAT WORDS OF WISDOM NEED FOR SADC TO STOP AND
REPLAN , REINVENT AND REPROGRAMME
4
WORDS OF WISDOM
 The good relationship which is there between the tongue and the teeth
sometimes gets disturbed , when the tongue is bitten in the process of
chewing and eating .But they still remain inseparable friends
 No matter how Sharpe a knife is it cannot cut itself
 Every day is a classroom , every experience is a lesson and everybody you
meet is teacher
WORDS OF WISDOM
 Nature hurts a vacuum of information , when there is
a vacuum naturally something will fill this vacuum and
that could be gossip , rumor mongering , laziness etc
 Don’t look at problem as a carpenter does who looks
at any problem as a nail whose solution is use of a
hammer
 Some problems could turn up to be opportunities
Introduction - 1/3
WHAT IS AFROBAROMETER STUDY
The Afrobarometer is a pan-African, independent, non-partisan

research network that measures public attitudes on economic, political,
and social matters in Africa
Afrobarometer is a research network that conducts and publishes

public attitude surveys for over 35 African countries. These surveys
relate to topics on democracy, governance, economic conditions and
other related issues
Introduction - 1/3
The National Initiative for Civic Education Trust (NICE), on the other hand,
is a Malawian Public Trust, whose mission is to deepen democracy and good
governance through provision of civic and voter education, community
empowerment and mobilization, knowledge management and networking
among Malawians.
 Working in partnership with the SADC Programme on “Strengthening the
National-Regional Linkages” (SNRL), NICE is implementing a Change
Project called “Enhancing Citizen Participation in the Implementation of the
Introduction - 2/3
 The overall objective of the project is to enhance citizen participation in
the implementation of the SADC Regional Integration (RI) Agenda in
Malawi. The specific objective of the project is to enhance citizens’
participation in the implementation of the RI programmes that deliver
tangible benefits and economic outcomes for citizens and SADC
member states by 2021.
 As part of the launch of the programme, NICE engaged the Institute of
Public Opinion and Research (IPOR) to collect baseline data on the
Malawi public’s understanding of SADC protocols and instruments. The
baseline study inquired about Malawians’ perceptions, knowledge and
understanding of SADC protocols and instruments and regional
integration in general.
Introduction - 3/3
 This report presents a summary of the key findings from the study. It,
among other issues, provides an overview of Malawians’ knowledge of
regional and international cooperation organizations such as SADC, the
African Union (AU), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa (COMESA); their awareness of SADC projects and initiatives
that are being implemented in Malawi at the community, district and
national levels and their views on the ease or difficulty of cross-border
movement of people and goods within SADC.
Research Design and Data Collection
 To achieve the objectives of the study, a survey approach was
adopted as the method for collecting data. A nationally
representative, random, stratified probability sample of Malawians
was drawn using the 2018 Population and Housing Census data
provided by the National Statistical Office of Malawi (NSO) as the
sampling frame.
 A total of 150 Enumeration Areas (EAs) were randomly drawn
across Malawi, covering a total of 27 districts spread across all the
country’s three geographical regions. Fieldwork took a total of ten
days between 25 May and 3 June 2020.
 This led to a total survey sample size of 1200 at the national level
Demographic Distribution of the Sample
 The analysis shows that 1% of the interviews were done in English, 86%
in Chichewa and 13% in Chitumbuka. With regard to gender distribution,
women made up 48% and men 52% of the respondents.
 Consistent with the rural-urban population distribution in the country,
about 18% of the respondents were from urban areas while 82% were
drawn from rural areas. In terms of religion, 84% of the sample described
themselves as Christians while 13% described themselves as Muslims.
 There is also a variation in terms of levels of education among
respondents, with a slight majority (55%) of respondents having attained
primary level education as their highest level of schooling. Table 1
provides a detailed breakdown of the demographic distribution of the
sample.
Demographic Characteristic of the Study
Sample
Study Limitations
This study was designed to be exclusively quantitative in nature. It
could not, therefore, explore why respondents gave the responses they
did, to both close and open-ended questions.
 There were, however, some questions where respondents were asked
to provide multiple responses or explain why they held certain views
Research Design and Data Collection
 To achieve the objectives of the study, a survey approach was adopted as
the method for collecting data. A nationally representative, random,
stratified probability sample of Malawians was drawn using the 2018
Population and Housing Census data provided by the National Statistical
Office of Malawi (NSO) as the sampling frame.
 A total of 150 Enumeration Areas (EAs) were randomly drawn across
Malawi, covering a total of 27 districts spread across all the country’s
three geographical regions. Fieldwork took a total of ten days between 25
May and 3 June 2020.
 This led to a total survey sample size of 1200 at the national level
Awareness of SADC and other Regional and
International Cooperation Bodies
 The section begins by presenting findings of respondents’ awareness
of the existence of regional and international cooperation bodies
namely: the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and
the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
 Although the focus of the study was on awareness of SADC, the
inclusion of the other regional, continental and global bodies was
deliberately done to determine the comparative awareness levels in
the wider populace.
The Southern African Development
Community (SADC)
 The findings of the survey show that just over half (53%) of Malawians expressed
knowledge of SADC. Conversely, 45% of Malawians said they have never heard about
SADC (Figure 1).
 Figure 1: Awareness of SADC among Malawians
2%
45% 53%
Aware Not aware Don't know

The Southern African Development Community
(SADC)
Question wording: “Have you heard about the Southern African
development Community or SADC?”
 A closer analysis of the data shows that knowledge of SADC is higher
among men compared to women. While on one hand about seven in ten
men (69%) said they had heard about SADC, awareness of SADC
among women was only around one-third at 35%. In other words, a
majority of nearly two thirds (61%) of Malawian women said they had
never heard about SADC.
(SADC)
This gender difference in knowledge and awareness of SADC might
be due to several factors, including relatively lower education levels
among Malawian women as well as lower exposure to media among
women.
 It thus follows that any awareness campaigns about SADC might
have to target specifically women as a key group whilst not forgetting
the one third of men who are in a similar state of unawareness.
(SADC)
Figure 2 presents the results on awareness of SADC by gender:
80%
69%
70%
61%
60%
50%
40%
35%
30%
30%
20%
10%
4%
2%
0%
Female Male
Aware Not Aware Don't know

(SADC)
In terms of locality, SADC is better known among urban residents
compared to those living in the country’s rural areas. While 71% of
urban residents say they have heard about SADC, just slightly under
half (48%) of rural Malawians share similar sentiments.
 At the same time, nearly double as many Malawians in rural areas
(49%) say they have never heard of SADC compared to only 26%
among the country’s urban residents
(SADC)
Figure 3: Awareness of SADC among Malawians by locality
Urban
Urban 3%
3%
26%
48%
49%
71%
Aware Aware Not Aware Don't know

Not Aware
Don't know
(SADC)
Furthermore, the study has found that the awareness of SADC is
highly correlated with the level of education. Not surprisingly perhaps,
Malawians with higher levels of education express greater awareness
of SADC compared to the less educated.
 In fact, awareness of SADC among Malawians with postgraduate-
level education is almost universal at 96% while on the other end of
the education scale, 70% of citizens without formal schooling say they
are not aware of SADC.
(SADC)
Figure 4: Awareness of SADC among Malawians by education attainment
0%
Post-secondary 4%
96%
1%
Secondary School 25%
73%
3%
Primary schooling 56%
42%
8%
No formal schooling 70%
22%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Don't know Not Aware Aware
Awareness of SADC compared to other regional,
continental and global bodies
How does awareness of SADC compare to awareness of other
regional, continental, and global bodies? In order to answer this
question, the study assessed awareness among Malawians of three
other multilateral organizations in comparison to SADC,
 namely: the Common Market for East and Southern Africa
(COMESA); the African Union (AU), and the United Nations (UN).
Among the four bodies, SADC was the least known body among
Malawians, trailing COMESA by four percentage points and a full ten
percentage points compared to the United Nations.
Overall, the United Nations was the most known multilateral
organization, with 63% of Malawians expressing awareness of this
global organization.
 In second and third places were the AU and COMESA, known by
60% and 57% of Malawians respectively. At the tail end is SADC
which is known only by just over half of Malawians (53%)
Figure 5: Awareness of SADC among Malawians relative to other
multilateral organizations
70
65 63
60
60 57
55 53
50
Percent
45
40
35
30
25
20
United Nations African Union COMESA SADC
The findings on comparative knowledge of SADC relative to other
regional, continental, and global bodies suggest that it is important for
NICE and SADC to learn from, and recast their awareness strategies,
to how the brands of these sister organizations have been promoted to
make them better known among Malawians.
 While other global organizations might not mount awareness
campaigns to promote their brands, they become known through the
activities and projects they implement and through media coverage of
these activities.
Indeed, the United Nations has several agencies that are active and
have a physical presence in the country, as does the African Union and
COMESA.
Some of this might involve being more active on the ground and
working with organizations such as NICE to promote the SADC brand
especially when undertaking projects that are funded by the
organization.
It is telling, for example, that COMESA, which is a relatively new organization
founded in 1994 is a better-known brand among Malawians compared to the
Southern African organization, which was founded in 1980 under the brand name of
Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC).
 Through the SNRL project, there is a greater likelihood that SADC might become
a slightly better-known brand in Malawi, and this knowledge can be further
multiplied through collaborative efforts with NICE and other prominent local
partner organizations in the country.
Public Knowledge and Perceptions regarding
SADC Instruments and Activities
In order to address the second objective of the study, namely to
inquire about Malawians’ perceptions, knowledge and understanding
of SADC protocols and instruments and regional integration in
general, all respondents who said they had heard about SADC were
asked additional questions seeking to gauge their knowledge and
perceptions on the SADC instruments and activities.
Respondents who acknowledged having heard about SADC were
assessed on how conversant they are with the protocols, policies, and
strategies (PPS) of the organization. Specifically, respondents were
asked whether they were aware or not of “… protocols, policies, and
strategies that are advanced by Southern Africa Development
Community or SADC.”
 Among Malawians that had said they were aware of SADC, three
quarters (75%) answered this question in the negative, suggesting very
low knowledge rates about protocols, policies, and strategies advanced
by the Southern African regional economic body (Figure 6). This
points to a rather superficial knowledge of SADC amongst respondents
aware of its existence.
Figure 6: Awareness of SADC Protocols, Policies and Strategies
among SADC literate Malawians
5% 20%
75%

Question-wording: Are you aware of protocols, policies, and
strategies that are advanced by the Southern African Development
Community or SADC?
The evidence thus suggests that awareness campaigns on SADC in
Malawi should go beyond making citizens aware of the regional body
to also focus on the protocols, key policies, and strategies that are
advanced by the organization.
Awareness of SADC activities in Malawi
The survey also sought to understand the extent to which Malawians
are aware of what the SADC does in Malawi. By a ratio of nearly two
to one, a majority of Malawians (67%) who know SADC are unaware
of what the organization does in the country. This compares to only
27% who said they are aware of some of the initiatives undertaken by
SADC in the country (Figure 7). This finding suggests that beyond the
knowledge of the name, there is very little on the ground that
Malawians can attribute to SADC.
6%
27%
67%

Question wording: How aware are you of what the Southern African
Development Community or SADC does in Malawi?
The study further probed respondents’ awareness of projects that
SADC has supported or implemented in Malawi at national, district,
and community levels. Again, these questions were only posed to those
who had reported that they were aware of SADC’s existence. The
survey results show that only a small minority of are aware of projects
that have been supported or implemented by the regional development
block at community, district and national levels.
However, there are variations in terms of awareness of SADC-
implemented or SADC-supported projects at the various levels.
The most known projects are those at national level, where 33% of
those who are familiar with SADC express awareness. This is followed
by awareness of projects at district level (16%) and lastly, at
community level (10%).
This may point to a perception that there is more SADC activity the
higher one goes up from the community to national levels. Figures 8A,
B, and C illustrate this variation in awareness of projects being
implemented by SADC at various levels in the country.
Worth noting is the high levels of respondents who were unable to
take a position on this question and gave a “Don’t know” response (8%
for community-level projects, 12% for district-level projects, and 13%
for national-level projects).
Figure 8 A, 8B and 8C: Awareness of SADC community-level
projects (8A) / district-level projects (8B) / national-level projects (8C)
Aw Don
Don't know, are, 't
Don't know, 12% 16 kno
8% Aware, 10% % w, Aw
13% are,
33%
Not
Not aware, Not aware, awa
82% 72% re,
54%
 Question-wording: Are you aware of any projects that the Southern
African Development Community or SADC has supported or
implemented in your community/your district/ Malawi?
Perceptions on the value of SADC’s help to
Malawi
The survey collected information on how much citizens rate the value
of SADC assistance to Malawi. Specifically, those who reported to
have heard about SADC were asked the question “How much does
Southern African Development Community or SADC do to help
Malawi or haven’t you heard enough to say?”
Malawi
Figure 9 shows perceptions of SADC literate Malawians towards the
help that the country gets from SADC.
36%
24% 23%
17%
Does not help at all Helps a little Helps a lot Don't know/Haven't
heard enough to say
Malawi
Question-wording: How much does the Southern African
Development Community or SADC do to help Malawi or haven’t you
heard enough to say?
Figure 9 indicates varying opinions among Malawians on the kind of
help that SADC renders to the country. A plurality of 36% said they
lacked sufficient knowledge when asked to offer an assessment on the
extent of SADC’s help to Malawi. Of the remainder, 23% feel SADC
helps the country a lot; 24% are of the view that the help that the
country gets from SADC is just a little while 17% are of the view that
SADC does not offer any help.
Perceived help towards the individual by SADC
Apart from assessing perceptions of the levels of assistance that
Malawi gets from SADC, the survey gauged perceptions on how much
help individuals personally get from SADC. About half of Malawians
who are aware of SADC (51%), are of the view that they do not
personally benefit from SADC. A combined total of 27% meanwhile
reported directly receiving some help from SADC, of which 17% said
this help is only a little while the remaining 10% considered the
assistance as a lot. Figure 10 shows perceived help from SADC
towards individuals in Malawi.
Figure 10: Perceptions of SADC’s help to individuals
51%
22%
17%
10%
Nothing at all Little A lot Don't know
Question-wording: How much does the Southern African
Development Community or SADC do to help you personally?
Key issues that Malawians want SADC to prioritize in its
programming
The survey also collected views on issues that Malawians would like
SADC to focus on in its programming in order for it to have more
meaningful impact to ordinary Malawians. This was an open-ended
question and respondents were at liberty to offer more than one answer.
 . From the survey data, agriculture is the issue mentioned most by
39% as the top-most issue that Malawians want SADC to prioritize in
its programming to be more impactful to the ordinary citizen. This
result is not surprising considering that Malawi’s economy is agro-
based with the agricultural sector contributing one third to the
country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (FAO, 2015).
Key issues that Malawians want SADC to
prioritize in its programming
The survey also collected views on issues that Malawians would like
SADC to focus on in its programming in order for it to have more
meaningful impact to ordinary Malawians. This was an open-ended
question and respondents were at liberty to offer more than one answer.
. From the survey data, agriculture is the issue mentioned most by 39%
as the top-most issue that Malawians want SADC to prioritize in its
programming to be more impactful to the ordinary citizen. This result
is not surprising considering that Malawi’s economy is agro-based with
the agricultural sector contributing one third to the country’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) (FAO, 2015).
In other studies such as the Afrobarometer, pluralities of Malawians
also single out agriculture and food shortages as the top-most issues
that they want government to be addressing (Tsoka and Chunga, 2020).
 Education, economic development, general health, food shortages,
transport infrastructure, trade, and water supply follow agriculture and
were among the other top issues singled out for SADC to prioritize in
its programming in order to improve the organization’s impact. Table 2
lists the top twelve issues that Malawians would like SADC to focus
on that can have more meaningful impact to ordinary citizens.
Public Views on Migration
Migration is an integral component of regional integration and thus
forms a major component of the activities of regional bodies such as
SADC. In light of this, the survey gauged public views on the topic.
This included the perception on freedom of movement and the ease of
crossing national borders by citizens within the region.
The survey gauged the views of Malawians on whether people living
in Southern Africa should be able to cross international borders to trade
or work in other countries without restrictions.
 The counter-narrative was whether citizens want to see governments
in the region limiting cross-border movement of people and goods to
protect their citizens from foreign migrants who take away jobs and
foreign traders who sell their goods at very low prices. The results
show that Malawians are about evenly split on this matter. On one
hand, 49% agree to free movement of people across Southern Africa
for trade or work.
On the other hand, an almost identical number (47%) are of the view
that governments should impose restrictions on the cross-border
movement of people and goods (Table 3).
Public perceptions on the ease of crossing
international borders in the SADC region
 The survey collected information on the views of Malawians regarding
the ease or difficulty of cross border movements in Southern Africa.
 The findings show that about two thirds of Malawians (65%) think that
it is difficult for people to cross borders within Southern Africa.
Conversely, 29% think that it is easy for people to cross borders within
Southern Africa (figure 11).
Public perceptions on the ease of crossing
international borders in the SADC region
 Figure 11: Views on ease of cross border movements in Southern
Africa
70% 65%
60%
50%
40%
30% 29%
20%
10% 5%
1%
0%
Difficult Easy Never tried Don't
know/
Haven't heard
enough to say
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
 This survey sought to gauge the understanding of Malawians of the
Southern Africa regional economic block, SADC. The findings
show that knowledge of regional integration and international
bodies varies by gender, locality and level of education attainment.
 It uncovers that knowledge of what SADC is low overall. While
Malawians are split on free or restricted cross border movement of
people and goods in Southern Africa, a majority are of the view
that cross border movements within the region are difficult. Based
on the study findings, the following recommendations are made in
order to enhance the role of SADC in the country:
 NICE , CSOs and SADC need to work towards devising a
comprehensive communication strategy that can help to promote
awareness about SADC among Malawians. Only then can they be
expected to appreciate the value of the organization to the ordinary
citizen.
 Information dissemination campaigns aimed at building up the SADC
brand among Malawians should pay particular attention on utilizing
channels and methods that are more accessible to the less affluent
members of society such as the less educated, rural residents and
women. Among the more popular information dissemination channels
should include public and private electronic media (especially radio)
and social media.
 When formulating awareness campaigns, NICE , CSOs and SADC
should seek to learn from other regional, continental, and global bodies
such as the United Nations, the African Union, and COMESA. SADC
could also seek to learn from other regional economic communities
such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
However, the fact that organizations such as the UN and AU are better-
known brands among Malawians might be a function of their long
existence as brands and more engagement.
 SADC should also consider opening a physical office in the country
that can help to build its brand among the local populace.
 While awareness of SADC is relatively low in Malawi, the small subset
of the country’s citizens who know SADC have even more limited
knowledge about the protocols, policies and strategies promoted by the
regional body.
 This calls for an extensive information dissemination strategy that
seeks to make all Malawians – both those who know and do not know
about the organization- more familiar with what the organizations
stands for and seeks to achieve. One option would be to build the brand
around a few select protocols advocated by the organization.
 The findings of this report further suggest that it is imperative for
SADC to make its presence felt at the national, district, and communal
levels.
 This will help to improve the SADC brand and improve the chances of
ordinary Malawians appreciating the value of the organization in their
community and to them personally. This might call for increased
branding of projects that are implemented with support from the
organization.
 One way for SADC to make its presence felt is to match its
interventions in Malawi with what Malawians consider to be priority
areas. These include agriculture, education, health, economy, transport
and infrastructure, and trade, among many others.
 SADC’s visibility within Malawi can also benefit from the greater
engagement of the organization in promoting free movement, by,
among others, promoting measures that reduce barriers to movement
within the SADC member countries
 One way for SADC to make its presence felt is to match its
interventions in Malawi with what Malawians consider to be priority
areas. These include agriculture, education, health, economy, transport
and infrastructure, and trade, among many others.
 SADC’s visibility within Malawi can also benefit from the greater
engagement of the organization in promoting free movement, by,
among others, promoting measures that reduce barriers to movement
within the SADC member countries
65 REFLECTIVE QUOTE
 “Dear Readers, SADC was not formed for transient strategic benefit.
Our Community is the product of our own history, and a beacon for
our future. We have been, and must continue to be, guided by an
appreciation that it is the legacy of our own people's timeless demands
for dignity, democracy and development in our past, present and
future. “ President Festus G. Mogae Chairperson of SADC October
2005
Making Democracy Work-Take Part in Public Life

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BASELINE SURVEY REPORT ON UNDERSTANDING OF SADC PROTOCOLS AND

INSTRUMENTS BY THE MALAWI PUBLIC

Prepared By GRAY KALINDEKAFE

The National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE)

The Afrobarometer is a pan-African, independent, non-partisan

Afrobarometer is a research network that conducts and publishes

Aware Not aware Don't know

Aware Not Aware Don't know

Aware Aware Not Aware Don't know

Aware Not aware Don't know

Aware Not aware Don't know

Making Democracy Work-Take Part in Public Life

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