ASSESSING THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF HUMANITARIAN DISASTER AID IN PROMOTING DISASTER RISKS: A CASE STUDY OF GVH SAVALA, TA MAKHWIRA, CHIKWAWA

This study assessed the unintended consequences of humanitarian disaster aid in promoting disaster risks in GVH Savala, TA Makhwira, Chikwawa district, Malawi. Chikwawa is the one of the most persistently flood-affected communities in the lower shire valley. Employing a mixed-methods design, data were collected from 44 household survey respondents and three institutional key informants representing Oxfam, Eagles Relief and Development Program, and the Chikwawa district council, supplemented by documentary review of relevant national and international policy frameworks. The findings reveal a deeply entrenched pattern of aid-induced dependency, characterised by deliberate maintenance of structurally weak housing in hazard zones to qualify for relief, manipulation of beneficiary registration systems, near-total absence of community participation in aid planning, and negligible engagement with village disaster risk management committees. With 93.2% of
respondents experiencing annual or near-annual flooding and only 6.8% reporting improved flood preparedness following aid receipt, current humanitarian programming has demonstrably failed to build lasting resilience. A persistent gap between policy intent and field-level practice was identified, as the principles of Malawi’s national DRM policy (2015), the Sendai framework (2015–2030), and the core humanitarian standard (2024) remain only partially operationalised in the study area. The study concludes that communities receive sufficient relief to survive each disaster but insufficient systemic support to reduce vulnerability to the next, and recommends mandatory integration of disaster risk reduction into humanitarian programming, enforcement of time-bound exit strategies, reform of targeting criteria, and accelerated adoption of anticipatory action approaches.

This study assessed the unintended consequences of humanitarian disaster aid in promoting disaster risks in GVH Savala, TA Makhwira, Chikwawa district, Malawi. Employing a mixed-methods design, data were collected from 44 household survey respondents and three institutional key informants representing Oxfam, Eagles Relief and Development Program, and the Chikwawa district council, supplemented by documentary review of relevant national and international policy frameworks. The study concludes that communities receive sufficient relief to survive each disaster but insufficient systemic support to reduce vulnerability to the next, and recommends mandatory integration of disaster risk reduction into humanitarian programming, enforcement of time-bound exit strategies, reform of targeting criteria, and accelerated adoption of anticipatory action approaches. humanitarian aid, aid dependency, disaster risk reduction, flood resilience, unintended consequences, Chikwawa, Malawi

Fieldwork was conducted in GVH Savala, located within TA Makhwira, Chikwawa District in southern Malawi. Situated in the Lower Shire Valley, GVH Savala lies on a low-lying floodplain adjacent to the Shire River and is characterised by high exposure to climate-related hazards, particularly seasonal flooding and tropical cyclones. The area experiences a tropical climate with a rainy season running from November to April, coinciding with peak flood risk. Key disasters in recent years include Tropical Storm Ana (2022) and Tropical Cyclone Freddy (2023), which caused widespread destruction to housing, crops, and infrastructure. GVH Savala was purposively selected for this study because of its documented history of repeated humanitarian aid receipt, continued high-risk settlement patterns, persistent flood exposure, and limited evidence of resilience improvement over time.

Traditional authority: TA Makhwira

District: Chikwawa

Coordinates: -16.2776, 35.0011