Critical infrastructure organisational resilience assessment: A case study of Malawi’s power grid operator

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive assessment of organisational resilience within Malawi's power grid operator, linking resilience parameters, indicators, and capacities through a detailed case study. Utilising interviews and questionnaires, resilience parameters were obtained. Twenty resilience indicators were identified from established and documented research and were categorised into five distinct capacities: preventive and mitigative, anticipative, absorptive, adaptive, and transformative. This approach addresses a significant gap in the literature on organisational resilience, which often focuses predominantly on adaptive capacity. Our analysis compared resilience strengths and weaknesses, revealing a predominance of the latter, with financial constraint identified as a universal challenge across all capacities. Particularly, the transformative capacity exhibited the largest gaps between strengths and weaknesses, underscoring the operator's challenges in responding to severe disruptions. The findings suggest that resilience in the context of Malawi's power grid operator extends beyond operational capabilities, highlighting the critical importance of robust infrastructure to enhance the overall resilience framework. This work offers practical insights for policymakers and infrastructure managers, particularly in developing countries facing similar challenges. It calls for a strategic realignment towards bolstering transformative capacity and securing financial resources, enhancing critical infrastructure resilience, and underlining these proposed actions' urgency and importance.