Malawi is in the process of moving away from safety nets programming towards more long-term predictable social protection programming that helps poor households deal with risk and shocks through a more institutionalized and coordinated approach. This report provides a stocktake of social protection in Malawi for the period 2003-2006, and, in partnership with the development of a Malawi Social Protection Framework, aims to help Malawi move towards a long-term social protection policy and program. The report answers two specific questions: do the range, goals and coverage of existing social protection interventions (inventory) match up with the existing profile of poverty, risk and vulnerability? Do the current institutional and financing arrangements match up with the need for institutionalized social protection in Malawi? In order to answer these questions, we begin by describing the poverty, vulnerability and risk profile in Malawi and by developing a profile in Section 2 against which the coverage of existing interventions discussed in Section 3 can be matched. Section 4 matches the profile of poverty and vulnerability with the array of interventions implemented as safety nets interventions. In Section 5, the current institutional arrangements for delivering social protection in Malawi are assessed. Section 6 presents broad program options in terms of funding and directions for social protection, including lessons for the design and implementation of social protection programs and pilots. Section 7 raises a set of issues and challenges and provides conclusions and recommendations.