Public Management (335)
Congo plans to considerably advance its digital projects in 2023. For that purpose, it is multiplying partnerships and agreements with specialized companies.
Last Tuesday, Congolese Digital Minister Leon Juste Ibombo (photo, left), signed a memorandum of understanding with Sivakumaran Kathiresan (photo, right), the vice president of ATDXT, an Indian company specializing in digital transformation.
The memorandum between Congo and the Dubai-based company aims to support the country in the implementation of several projects, including the most important which is the digitization of the Post and Savings Company of Congo (Sopéco).
According to Sivakumaran Kathiresan, the memorandum aims to enable the construction of digital infrastructure and contribute to the digitalization of the Congolese economy.
“We will build data centers, finance the digitization of the Sopéco, promote the revival of its activities and proceed to the design of single windows in Congo,” he said.
The memorandum adds to the other agreements and partnerships already signed by Congo for its digital transformation this year. The country has teamed up with several partners to build choice digital infrastructure and build resilience. In November, the Digital Minister signed an agreement with Canadian company Casimir Network to train local talents in innovative technologies and build and operate a datacenter that will host the servers of the country's blockchain services.
With ATDXT, which is also established in Great Britain, the United States of America, India, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo aims to take advantage of Indian expertise to implement its digital development policy and achieve the objectives of the digital strategy "Digital Congo 2025".
Samira Njoya
Information and communication technologies have proven their worth in improving efficiency and facilitating growth in various sectors. For that purpose, in a bid to leverage their power, Cameroon wants to up its investments in the sector.
Last Tuesday, Cameroonian President Paul Biya (photo) signed a decree empowering the Minister of Economy to ink a EUR84.1 million loan agreement with the International Development Association (IDA). The funds thus secured aim to finance PATNuC, a project to accelerate digital transformation in the country.
According to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Minpostel), the project being implemented since 2021 aims to pursue ICT reforms and policies, improve citizens’ digital skills, encourage the development of digital apps and services and increase the reach and use of digital services to boost employment and entrepreneurship in Cameroon.
PATNuC has three main companies. The first is the establishment of new institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks conducive to the growth of the digital sector, the enhancement of digital trust, the creation of digital platforms, and the acquisition of relevant equipment for the secure and resilient development of digital services in Cameroon.
The second component focuses on stimulating the local market by facilitating Internet access and the inclusive use of ICTs for the development of the country’s economic fabric. "Its specific objective is to promote the expansion of digital networks in rural areas by focusing on underserved areas to improve mobile broadband services in those areas. It will do so mainly through public-private partnerships (PPPs)," explains the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
The last component focuses on strengthening disruptive agricultural technologies (DAT) to improve market linkages and value addition in targeted rural communities.
S.A.
E-governance is one of the priorities of the Algerian government. The choice aims to promote economic growth and improve employment and living standards.
Last Wednesday, Algeria launched its e-governance platform featuring over 300 digitized public services offered by various ministries. The platform allows citizens access to the services and detailed information on administrative procedures.
According to Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane, the platform plays a “vital role in promoting unified access to digital services, which spares citizens the burden of wasting their time searching for digital public services and checking official sites and sectoral portals.”
Since 2020, Algeria has made notable progress, establishing a solid foundation for its effective digital transformation. According to the UN E-Government Survey 2022, Algeria ranks 112th out of the 193 countries surveyed in the report. It also has a high e-governance index and is among Africa’s top 16 in that index.
The unified e-government platform is part of the national strategy for an efficient digital transformation. For Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane, it is an important milestone in the implementation of the country’s program to achieve digital transformation, promote the widespread use of ICT tools and improve economic governance.
Samira Njoya
Like most African countries nowadays, DRC is particularly focused on developing its digital economy. Since the creation of its Ministry of Digital Affairs, the ministry has taken several actions to make digital technologies tools for integration, good governance, economic growth, and social progress.
Last Tuesday, the DRC parliament pre-approved the digital law presented by Digital Minister Désiré-Cashmir Eberande Kolongele (photo). According to the official, "the adoption of this legal framework aims to regulate the new digital economy, secure investment in the sector and oversee this large sector by seeking a balance between, on the one hand, the freedom principles- including economic freedom and freedom of speech, information and opinion and the right of assembly- and, on the other hand, privacy protection and the protection of public order.”
On August 26, 2022, during a ministerial council, President Felix Tshisekedi instructed the elaboration of a legal framework that would govern the country’s digital transformation. On October 14, the government approved the framework after reviews and comments from some specialized international organizations.
The digital law focuses on cybersecurity, the establishment of a law governing digital activities and services, and the establishment of bodies, and specific public institutions to support and control the digital ecosystem. Those bodies are namely the Digital Regulatory Authority, the National Authority for Electronic Certification, the Data Protection Authority, and the National Agency for Cybersecurity. The digital code also focuses on the establishment of rules organizing the security and protection of digital information systems.
It should be noted that the new law, which is now under thorough review, will complement the law of November 25, 2020, on telecommunications and information technology and communication. Indeed, that law had shown weaknesses because it does not take into account the protection of personal data, cybersecurity, and cybercrime.
Samira Njoya
Nigeria's ambition is to digitize its whole public sector and boost internet access across the country. For that purpose, it is building relationships with countries that share the same goals.
Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (photo, left) recently started a working visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. On Monday, December 5, 2022, he was welcomed by his Vietnamese counterpart, Madam Võ Thị Ánh Xuân (photo, right), at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi.
During that welcome meeting, the two parties signed a defense cooperation agreement and expressed their commitment to strengthening their long-standing bilateral relations by working together in the areas of the digital economy, and telecommunications, among others.
According to Prof. Osinbajo, “there are vast opportunities that exist for cooperation and collaboration, especially in the area of digital economy and telecoms.”
“We look forward to accelerating the process, ensuring that those agreements are signed because they are vital to the collaborations that we will see between our countries in the coming years,” he added.
Both countries have great potential in the digital economy and telecommunications in their respective continents. In its report "E-Government Survey 2022 The Future of Digital Government", the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) said that Vietnam ranks 86th out of 193 countries with a high e-government index. Nigeria ranks 140th in the world with an average e-government index.
The bilateral collaboration they plan to strengthen will therefore enable Nigeria to benefit from Vietnam's extensive experience in digitizing services, deploying telecommunication services, and profit Nigerians, who will benefit from public e-services.
“We have close 120 million of our citizens who have put to use telecoms equipment or devices. And also, broadband connectivity is vastly improved. We hope that by 2025, we will have broadband connectivity for all of our over 200 million people,” Prof. Osinbajo said.
Samira Njoya
Henceforth, with this technology, Algerian companies will have to encode their information in barcodes stamped on the products manufactured locally.
Barcoding products has become a compulsory requirement in Algeria. The Minister of Trade and Export Promotion, Kamel Rezig (photo), announced this requirement last Saturday at the Bar code information day held at the National Agency for the Promotion of Foreign Trade in Algiers. According to Minister Kamel Rezig, the reform aims to facilitate exports and avoid falsifications.
The reform follows the interministerial order on technical regulations governing the stamping of barcodes on products intended for human consumption issued on February 16, 2021, by the Algerian Ministries of Trade and Industry.
In August 2020, the Minister of Trade announced the upcoming elaboration of a regulatory text governing barcoding in the country. At the time, he said that in the following five years, all the Algerian products manufactured and packaged locally for human consumption would be barcoded once it becomes mandatory.
To date, 11,410 companies operating on the national market have requested and obtained their barcodes, which they have stamped on more than 500,000 products destined for human consumption. The remaining companies are called to get up to date because “once the deadline passes, the products without barcodes will be considered illegal and banned,” Kamel Rezig says.
Samira Njoya
The project aims to encourage innovation, develop the local ICT ecosystem and contribute to the effective implementation of digital transformation.
In Senegal, the national ICT Observatory plans to develop an upgraded platform to promote the emergence and development of digital companies. Last Friday (December 2), the Ministry of Telecommunications organized a workshop to present the US$3 million project.
The project will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA), the UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar, and the Senegalese branch of the Internet Society (ISCO).
According to Isaac Cissokho, Secretary General of the Ministry of Telecommunications, with the digital sector growing steadily in Senegal, it is crucial to "create an environment that can inspire emulation among the various actors of the ecosystem.”
The future platform will allow a better understanding of ICT adoption in the country and provide harmonized and quality data to guide the formulation, implementation, and review of ICT policies.
Before the proper upgrading works, a study on the use of digital tools and services will be carried out to ensure that the sector creates value in Senegal.
Samira Njoya
Through the project, the Burkinabe government and international partners aim to leverage digital technologies to strengthen the country's health system.
Last Tuesday, in Kombissiri, Burkinabe Health Minister Dr. Robert Lucien Kargougou launched the pilot phase of Mhealth-Burkina, a mobile e-health app developed to improve community health.
The pilot phase will be carried out in two health districts, the Boromo and Kombissiri districts namely. It is aimed at collecting and transmitting integrated disease management data.
According to Minister Robert Kargougou, improving community health is one of the key priorities to strengthen the health system. "In some areas without health workers, only community-based health workers provide care. So, it is important to digitalize their activities through Mhealth-Burkina, which enables us to collect data on all the activities those community-based health workers perform daily," he said.
In 2019, in partnership with UNICEF and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the country developed a mobile data digitization application called "mHealth." The application aims to improve patient care and monitoring, as well as on-site drug stock controls.
The application, which works offline, transfers the collected data by SMS to a secure server. This server is accessible to community health center teams, health districts, regional health managers, and national health authorities.
According to the Health Minister, the pilot phase marks the beginning of the digitization of community health workers’ activities. About fifteen modules will be integrated into Mhealth-Burkina to allow the workers to instantly report the needed data.
By 2023, the app will be launched in seven regions covering about 7,500 health workers. Its ultimate goal is to cover every village located more than five kilometers from a health facility.
Samira Njoya
The Moroccan government is making continuous efforts to improve the country’s attractiveness and encourage value-added investments in tourism, which is a very promising local sector.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announced, Tuesday (Nov 29), that it has partnered with the Moroccan government to support 10,000 tourism SMEs in their digital transformation process.
A few days earlier, the two parties had signed an agreement in that regard, on the sidelines of the UNWTO Executive Council session in Marrakech.
"Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises are the backbone of the global tourism sector…[They] were hit hardest of all by the pandemic.[...] With the right support, they can grow to become true agents of change and help build a more inclusive and sustainable sector. UNWTO is proud to be supporting thousands of small businesses, in Morocco and across the world, to make the shift to digital and so become more innovative and competitive, " said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili (photo, right).
The Moroccan tourism sector was indeed hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a significant drop in performance. Nevertheless, according to Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor (photo, center), it is recovering now. The figures disclosed show that in June 2022, the sector had improved by 173% year-on-year and 71% compared to the 2019 performances.
With 2.3 million tourists having so far traveled to Morocco since the country lifted its Covid-related travel ban in February, arrivals to the country are now up 52 percent compared to the 2019 arrival figures.
Let’s note that SMEs account for 98% of the country’s tourism industry. They are therefore the backbone of the industry, hence the importance of that agreement, which will allow their digital transformation, through expert and customized support.
Samira Njoya
For 2023, the Guinean government plans several projects including digitizing some public services and connecting over 300 schools and universities to the internet.
In the coming months, Guinea will record incredible advances in internet connection, Minister Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said on public radio RTG last Monday. According to the government official, the government has already invested over US$200 million to deploy 4,400 kilometers of fiber optics in the country. It is also moving to increase, to three, the number of optical cables it is connected to; to reduce telecommunications and internet costs from over GFr1.5 million to 500,000 (US$58) on average.
In recent years, the Guinean government has stepped up efforts to digitally transform the country. Several projects are underway including the national telecom company (Guinea Telecom), which is expected to launch in the first half of 2023 (according to Minister Ousmane Gaoual Diallo).
In 2023, the country also plans to digitize various administrations and public services, and connect 300 schools and universities to the internet. Last April, to facilitate the implementation of its digital projects, the country created its national digitization agency. The agency will oversee the government’s digital transformation projects and programs.
Samira Njoya
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The move aims at ensuring the smooth operations of the park, which is a natural sanctuary for large mammals, in the digital age.
Yesterday, the Gabonese agency for national parks ANPN and fiber optic operator Axione signed a sponsorship agreement to equip the Lopé National Park with high-speed internet.
The agreement aims to connect the Lopé National Park to fiber optic, allowing the park’s scientific teams to instantly analyze the data collected by the connected objects (plotters, wildlife observation cameras, video protection, etc.).
"We are really pleased and proud to support the actions of the Lopé Nature Reserve, which works daily to protect biodiversity. Thanks to the expertise of Axione Gabon's teams, we are installing a fiber optic network in the park. This fiber optic connectivity will significantly improve the possibilities given to researchers, scientists, or students to transfer and analyze the collected data, which are necessary to observe and preserve the wildlife," said Jacques Beauvois (photo, right) General Manager of Axione Gabon.
The Lopé National Park is on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List since 2007. It is one of the richest in Gabon and a priority for the country's government. It is particularly important because it hosts archaeological sites dating back 620,000 to 850,000 years. These are the oldest traces of human life in Central Africa to date. It is therefore important to connect its offices and training center to the national high-speed internet backbone.
Axiome will supervise the fiber optic installation works, supply, connect, and commission equipment, under this agreement, which is the result of three years of cooperation between several public institutions and Axione Group.
Samira Njoya
In Africa, countries are accelerating the digitation of public services. Every sector is undergoing reforms to make the services accessible to everyone via, digital tools.
The Chadian Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) organized a workshop in Koundoul, South of Ndjamena last November 24-26. The workshop was organized to review the country’s judicial system and lay the foundations for its digitization.
For Louise Bourkou Ngaradoumri, Secretary of State for Justice and Human Rights, this project is of great importance to Chad. "Digital technologies appear like essential tools to serve justice as we are far from one another. By using digital tools, we can identify problems as soon as possible,” she said.
The workshop comes after an experience-sharing session organized by Chad last August, with representatives of the Morrocan and Rwandan judicial systems as participants.
The workshop and the experience-sharing session are both parts of the process initiated by the government a few years ago to digitize the justice system. The process is supported by the UNDP in the framework of its project to support the penal system and institutions). Last June, under that same project, the institution handed computers and office equipment to the Ministry of Justice to improve access to quality justice.
According to Justice Minister Mahamat Ahmat Alhabo, in the digital age, only those who keep up to date with the advances can find a place in the justice system. "Not adapting [to the advances] means self-exclusion because, in Chad, the justice system will be digitalized to rid it of its evils,” he said.
Samira Njoya
Cybercrime is gaining ground in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is presented as a region particularly vulnerable to the issue of online scams and large-scale cyberattacks on the rise. Nevertheless, industry players are moving to provide adequate responses.
Last week, the Ivorian parliament approved the draft law amending articles 17, 33, 58, 60, 62, and 66 of the law N° 2013-451 of January 19, 2013, on the fight against cybercrime.
According to Minister of Communications Amadou Coulibaly (Photo, center), who defended the draft law before the parliament, it was necessary to overhaul the rules punishing cybercrime in an environment where the number of such acts is ever-rising with the rise of social media.
Like its African peers, Côte d'Ivoire is confronted by the scourge of cybercrime. The most recurrent acts are sextortion, sexual harassment, identity, and payment fraud.
In 2011, the Ivorian government established a Platform for the Fight against Cybercrime (PLCC). In March 2019, it ratified the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which allowed it to benefit from international collaboration in its fight for greater effectiveness. About two years later, it adopted a new strategy to better secure its cyberspace and accelerate its digital transformation to become the African leader in cybersecurity
The amended articles increase the maximum sentences for cyber acts that violate human dignity, honor, and intellectual property rights as well as any illegal act carried out using ICT tools. For example, Article 17 consecrates a one to six years prison sentence and between 20 to 40 million fine for anyone who publishes or distributes child pornography.
Samira Njoya
The support is the result of the agreement signed by the Japanese embassy in Congo and local NGOs in March 2017. It is in line with the government’s ambition to ensure universal health coverage.
Last Friday, DR Congo launched a UNICEF-implemented digital health support project. The project, funded to the tune of US$2.5 million by Japan, aims to develop and deploy a digital vaccination record integrating a module to register births in the Kinshasa, Kongo-Central, Kasaï-Central, and Haut-Katanga provinces. The financial support is provided in the framework of an agreement signed by local NGOs and the Japanese embassy to DRC in March 2017.
According to DRC Minister of Public Health Jean-Jacques Mbungani, the project is of paramount importance because it will help improve the immunization and birth registration rates and also provide health staff and decision-makers with accurate and real-time information on immunization.
Over the past five years, DRC has improved its immunization rate to 85%, UNICEF says. However, the country still faces recurrent epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, polio, yellow fever, and meningitis. Also, the international organization informs that four out of 10 are registered in the civil registration database in the country; 38% of the children under 1 are registered against 40% for those under 5.
The digital health project aims to improve those figures and ensure broader health coverage by providing an efficient and reliable civil registration system and vital statistics.
Thanks to the digital record system, health personnel will be able to, among other things, monitor the status of birth registration and vaccinations of each child by recording this information in a national database. This system will allow for individualized follow-up and ensure that every child receives the necessary vaccines even if the latter is moved to a different region. "Ultimately, this will greatly improve the accuracy of administrative data to better estimate immunization coverage, including routine immunization and Covid-19," said Hiro Minami, Japan’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Samira Njoya