Authors

• Sarelin, Alessandra (Åbo Akademi University. Institute for Human Rights)

Keywords

aids (disease), development aid (international), development policy, food aid, human rights, hunger, malnutrition, poverty, voluntary organisations

Abstract

The study explored human rights-based approaches to development cooperation in Malawi, focusing on what the approach implied in the areas of development, HIV/AIDS and food security. The data consist of interviews of actors providing or receiving development aid in Malawi.

Questions covered, for instance, what kind of aid the organisation provided, foreseeable trends in food aid, impact of food aid programmes, causes of malnutrition, impact of the HIV/AIDS, the role of human rights in food security and sustainable livelihoods programmes, and people's right to food.

The interviewees were project personnel or representatives of the government, voluntary organisations/NGOs and other stakeholders. For the most part, data were collected through semistructured face-to-face interviews but there were some group interviews as well. The interviews took on average 45 minutes while the group interviews, including interviews of two persons together, lasted from one to two hours. The data are in English. In some group interviews, chichewa was also used but these have been translated into English.