This data asset contains the data from the qualitative case study describing Malawi’s experiences with health professional competency building, one of the nine national responsibilities of the 2018 WHO/UNICEF implementation guidance for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) flagship multi-sectoral nutrition project, USAID Advancing Nutrition, interviewed 48 key informants and conducted a desk review of peer-reviewed, published and gray literature on BFHI programming, national plans, policy, and other documents specific to the selected national responsibility. The study areas were Dedza and Nkhotakota of the Center region, and Machinga and Thyolo of the South region. The case study was conducted in 2021 with further analysis conducted in 2022 and 2023 for submission to a journal for publication. Interviews were conducted in March and April 2021, and the documents included in the desk review ranged in publication date from 2010 to 2023. We explored the findings using the 7 key domains and 16 competencies to implement the Ten Steps to successful breastfeeding from the WHO and UNICEF Competency Verification Toolkit.