Stakeholder Analysis and Sustainability of Telecenter Projects in Rural Malawi

Telecenters are meant to provide public access to information and communication services and technologies that are expected to contribute to development of the masses. Government of Malawi is implementing ICT for Sustainable Rural Development Project which seeks to provide ICT services to the rural and underserved areas of Malawi. By 2012, it had established about 50 telecenters across the country but it seems that the performance of some of these telecenters has been poor and not meeting expected goals. One of the factors which affect sustainability of telecenters is lack of meaningful stakeholder engagement and relationship in formulating and running such projects. Therefore, this paper discusses how stakeholder management is conducted in the telecenter project in Malawi and how that affects performance and sustainability of the project.