Not just a donor learning experience: Exploring failure, accountability, and harm within a large aid funded biogas project in Malawi

In Africa, investments in domestic biogas projects have yielded mixed results, with numerous poor outcomes reported. While many commonly cited barriers contribute to these failures, the role of structural issues rooted in development and aid remains underexplored and poorly understood. This investigation examined 72 tarpaulin-based biogas digesters funded by UNDP across seven districts in Malawi, which experienced rapid failure shortly after implementation. Unlike many biogas studies focusing on symptoms of failure this research focussed specifically on the governance and decision-making processes that led to failure. In-depth interviews with 65 of the beneficiaries and 15 stakeholders revealed that the project failed due to poor management, unclear leadership, and weak governance. The digesters were hastily installed in remote areas that had no local expertise just before project funding expired, amidst suspected corruption and a lack of biogas expertise among all project stakeholders. The project lacked accountability to beneficiaries, leaving them powerless to influence change in their own development project. Far from being a harmless learning opportunity, as it was described by some of the project's stakeholders, the project caused harm to beneficiaries who invested limited resources into the poorly executed biogas intervention. This study challenges the typical user-centred focus of failure analyses and underscores the importance of focusing on structural causes of failure. By focussing on systemic issues, we can foster more informed discussions on biogas projects. Moreover, this approach enables accountability to beneficiaries, which can inform decision-making regarding potentially flawed projects and help to hold institutions responsible for harm caused.