Dr. Donald Makoka is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD) of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi. He holds a PhD in Economics, majoring in Development Economics from the University of Hannover (Germany) obtained in 2008; an MA (Economics) and a BSoc. Sc (Economics) both from University of Malawi.

He joined CARD in April 2004. His research interests include poverty and vulnerability analysis, social protection, development and health linkages, child protection, disaster risk reduction and the economics of tobacco control. He has over 10 years of experience in development research in Malawi and the southern African region and he has provided a range of research services to local and international clients on programme evaluations, baseline assessment, social protection, child protection and the economics of tobacco control. Apart from his role as a researcher at CARD, Dr. Makoka also lectures economics courses to undergraduate and postgraduate students at LUANAR.

He has also facilitated a range of short training courses at CARD on poverty and vulnerability assessments and analysis, disaster risk reduction, child protection, and livelihoods and food security assessments and analysis. He is one of the lead trainers on regional short courses on livelihoods, food security, poverty and vulnerability analysis that are offered at CARD under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) Programme.