IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esprep/343983.html

Exploring factors affecting free public Wi-Fi management and implementation in Malawi: A descriptive qualitative study

Author

Listed:
  • Makoza, Frank

Abstract

The high cost of internet services remains an inhibiting factor for digital inclusion in the context of African countries. The Government of Malawi and international development partners embarked on a free public Wi-Fi programme to support access to the internet and promote socio-economic development. This study explored the factors that were affecting the management and implementation of free public Wi-Fi. Using a qualitative approach, secondary data was thematically analysed. The findings showed that contextual conditions, management, and services affected the implementation of free public Wi-Fi. There were views that free public Wi-Fi was beneficial to citizens. However, risks related to cybersecurity were highlighted as one of the factors that could affect the use of free public Wi-Fi. The study proposes a conceptual framework that can be verified in similar studies in the context of developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Makoza, Frank, 2024. "Exploring factors affecting free public Wi-Fi management and implementation in Malawi: A descriptive qualitative study," EconStor Preprints 343983, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:343983
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/343983/1/Malawi-FreePublic-Wi-Fi.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brugh, Kristen & Angeles, Gustavo & Mvula, Peter & Tsoka, Maxton & Handa, Sudhanshu, 2018. "Impacts of the Malawi social cash transfer program on household food and nutrition security," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 19-32.
    2. Ryan Boone & Katia Covarrubias & Benjamin Davis & Paul Winters, 2013. "Cash transfer programs and agricultural production: the case of Malawi," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(3), pages 365-378, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pei‐An Liao & Hung‐Hao Chang & Yi‐Ju Su, 2020. "Cash transfer program and child underweight—Empirical evidence from a causal mediation analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(2), pages 291-303, March.
    2. Solomon Asfaw & Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Josh Dewbre & Alessandro Romeo & Paul Winters & Katia Covarrubias & Habiba Djebbari, 2012. "Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour – Methodological Guidelines for the From Protection to Production Project," Working Papers 101, International Policy Centre.
    3. Bo Yang & Xiangnan Wang & Tong Wu & Weihua Deng, 2023. "Reducing farmers' poverty vulnerability in China: The role of digital financial inclusion," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1445-1480, August.
    4. Strupat , Christoph & Nshakira-Rukundo, Emmanuel, "undated". "The Impact of Social Assistance Programmes in a Pandemic: Evidence from Kenya," Discussion Papers 320790, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    5. Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Sudhanshu Handa & Paul Winters, 2019. "The Household and Individual-Level Productive Impacts of Cash Transfer Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1401-1431.
    6. Abdoul Karim Diamoutene & John Baptist D. Jatoe, 2025. "Participation in social safety net programs and household agricultural performance in Mali," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 27(3), pages 984-1001, December.
    7. Prabhat Kishore & Pratap S. Birthal, 2024. "The impact of direct benefit transfers for micro-irrigation on farm performance: Evidence from India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 17995-18015, July.
    8. repec:osf:osfxxx:dnc2r_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Kate Ambler & Alan de Brauw & Susan Godlonton, 0. "Cash Transfers and Management Advice for Agriculture: Evidence from Senegal," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(3), pages 597-617.
    10. Anjani Kumar & Ashok K. Mishra & Sunil Saroj & Shahidur Rashid, 2022. "Government transfers, COVID‐19 shock, and food insecurity: Evidence from rural households in India," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(3), pages 636-659, July.
    11. Silvio Daidone & Francisco Pereira Fontes, 2023. "The role of social protection in mitigating the effects of rainfall shocks. Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 315-332, December.
    12. Silas Ongudi & Djiby Thiam & Mario J. Miranda & Sam Abdoul, 2024. "The direct and indirect effects of cash transfer program on the consumption of nutrients: Evidence from Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(3), pages 454-478, May.
    13. Sonna Vikhil & K.S. Kavi Kumar, 2025. "Impact Evaluation of Cash Transfer: Case Study of Agriculture, Telangana," Working Papers 2025-278, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    14. Ambler, Kate & de Brauw, Alan & Godlonton, Susan, 2026. "Transfers, information and management advice: Direct effects and complementarities in Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    15. Fisher, Eleanor & Attah, Ramlatu & Barca, Valentina & O'Brien, Clare & Brook, Simon & Holland, Jeremy & Kardan, Andrew & Pavanello, Sara & Pozarny, Pamela, 2017. "The Livelihood Impacts of Cash Transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Beneficiary Perspectives from Six Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 299-319.
    16. Taraz, Vis, 2023. "Public works programmes and agricultural risk: Evidence from India," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(02), January.
    17. Bethânia Ávila Rodrigues & Mariana Machado Fidelis Nascimento & Juliana Vitória Messias Bittencourt, 2021. "Mapping of the behavior of scientific publications since the decade of 1990 until the present day in the field of food and nutrition security," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(3), pages 2459-2483, March.
    18. Prifti, Ervin & Daidone, Silvio & Davis, Benjamin, 2019. "Causal pathways of the productive impacts of cash transfers: Experimental evidence from Lesotho," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 258-268.
    19. Kishore, Avinash & Joshi, Pramod K. & Pandey, Divya, 2015. "Droughts, Distress and a Conditional Cash Transfer Program to Mitigate the Impact of Droughtin Bihar, India," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212009, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Kiran, Rubina & Jabbar, Abdul, . "Policy-oriented food insecurity estimation and mapping at district level in Pakistan," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 8(4).
    21. Leight, Jessica & Hirvonen, Kalle & Zafar, Sarim, 2024. "The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis," OSF Preprints dnc2r, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:343983. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.