MCDA Final Report Malawi - Standards and Trade Development ...

were presented with a series of cards and asked to identify the SPS capacity-building needs of Malawi.
Critically, respondents were asked to define a series of mutually-exclusive needs consisting of four key
elements (Figure 2). First, the product(s) affected. Second, the specific SPS issue faced by exports of
this product(s). Third, the market(s) where these SPS needs were an issue. Fourth, the capacity-building
option(s) that would solve the SPS issue being faced. The combination of these four elements defined a
distinct capacity-building option. Respondents were free to define as many specific SPS capacitybuilding
needs as they wished.
Figure 1. Stages in multi-factorial prioritisation of SPS capacity building options
1. Compilation of Information Dossier
2. Definition of Choice Set
Stakeholder Workshop
3. Definition of Decision Criteria/Weights
4. Compilation of Information Cards
5. Construction of Spider Diagrams
6. Derivation of Quantitative Priorities
7. Validation
The cards of all respondents were collected, shuffled and then reported back to the workshop as a
whole through listings on flip charts. The collection of items was then discussed in order to remove any
ambiguities and to ensure that each represented a mutually-exclusive capacity-building option. A total
of 31 SPS capacity-building options were defined through the above process, of which 16 were excluded
because they were judged not to be substantive SPS issues.
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