Malawi’s boosts digital economy with connectivity, plans 2M digital ID enrollments

Malawi has set a target of enrolling 2 million people in its digital ID program in the current phase of a digital transformation project backed by the World Bank and the UNDP. The country’s digital economy has already witnessed a major boost in the past eight years thanks to increased internet connectivity which is facilitating the delivery of digital public services as well as enhancing the efficiency of government procedures.

The Malawi Digital Foundations Project, funded by the World Bank, is responsible for this development. It aimed to offer better quality and more affordable internet which is bringing benefits to young people, government entities, businesses as well as institutions in the higher education sector.

Phase 2 of the project, known as the Digital Malawi Acceleration Project, launched last November. It includes World Bank and UNDP support for digital ID enrollment, following diagnostic studies of the digital identity ecosystem they carried out in Phase 1. More digital services will be established during Phase 2 and 500 government offices will be connected to the internet. A program to distribute affordable mobile phones and laptops to low-income Malawians is also part of Phase 2.

The rollout of Malawi’s national digital ID under its digital transformation agenda is expected to happen sometime next year.

According to a World Bank results brief, the project made significant gains between 2017 and 2024, bring almost seven million Malawian citizens into the digital economy as new internet users, while improving connectivity speed and lowering cost for an additional three million who were already online.

Since the start of its implementation, the World Bank says the project has helped develop “foundational digital infrastructure, including a new national data center, a data exchange platform (Bomalathu), and improved technical capacity to support digital public service delivery and enhance the efficiency of government’s operations.”

As part of the key achievements brought about by the project, over 19,000 youth acquire digital skills, more than 83,000 university students had access to more reliable and cheaper internet, and the wholesale internet price fell drastically from $460 per megabits per second (Mbit/s) per month, at the start of the project, to below $10, by the time it ended.

In addition, over 100 public Wi-Fi spots were set up, more than 600 government sites were connected to fast and reliable internet, a data protection bill was passed in 2023, and a data center constructed to house government data.

“The coming of the campus-wide Wi-Fi solved issues of difficult internet access and affordability. For me, and I know for other needy students in similar circumstances like mine, it was a huge relief because the expenditure on mobile data was drastically reduced and I know it eased the constant burden on my mother to send me money for data,” says Wezzie Matalala, a student of the University of Malawi.

The project supported the government’s investment in connectivity, leveraging digital technologies and undertaking significant policy, regulatory, and fiscal reforms in order to realize digital dividends for the Southern African country.

Experts argue that reliable and affordable connectivity is the backbone of Africa’s digital economy.

Article Topics

biometric enrollment  |  data exchange platform  |  digital economy  |  digital identity  |  digital inclusion  |  Malawi  |  World Bank