Background: Malawi emerged as a positive outlier relative to other LMICs in voluntary modern contraceptive use in recent years, based on a rigorous country selection methodology. As we transition from FP 2020 to FP 2030, and double down on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many more countries need to achieve similar changes. Therefore, studying the drivers of change, the sequencing of major policies, events and inputs, and linking these to the trajectory of contraceptive uptake and continuation at the aggregate level and across population subgroups can yield important lessons for the global FP community.