In the study of modern chieftaincy in Africa, scholars have identified chiefs as important intermediaries for promoting increased voter turnout, new health policies and development initiatives. I add to this literature the importance of chiefs as cultural intermediaries. Using recent child marriage reform efforts in Malawi as a case study, I find that chiefs are key actors needed to implement culturally embedded policy changes. Drawing on descriptive evidence from 12 months of fieldwork across all three regions of Malawi, I find that chiefs are responsible for shifting cultural practices related to child marriage. Using a unique blend of democratic and non-democratic powers, chiefs in Malawi are defying expectations and using their position to promote girls’ rights. These findings contribute to our broader understanding of the political and cultural power of modern chiefs.

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Since the 1980s, many developing countries have enacted policies of decentralization to create localized, representative forms of government. A highly under‐studied body of local governance are village development committees (VDCs). Utilizing a mixed‐method approach in three districts of Southern Malawi, we combine surveys, focus groups, and interviews to examine the role of VDCs in local politics. Selected by their peers, VDC members navigate a complicated landscape including: local and central politicians, government bureaucrats, NGOs and special interest groups, and traditional authorities. We find that citizens are accurately able to evaluate the development work that VDCs are doing and consistently rate their trust in these institutions higher than their trust in elected authorities. Still, challenges persist: members receive no standardized training and there are consistent gender gaps in the experiences of men and women members of the VDCs.

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