Public Management (335)
To successfully implement its 2025 strategic development plan, Gabon is multiplying partnerships to attract investors.
Last Tuesday, Gabon signed a partnership agreement with Asoko Insight to develop virtual DealRoom. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Investment Promotion Hugues Mbadinga Madiya, and Rob Withagen, co-founder and CEO of Asoko Insight two days after the flag-raising ceremony marking Gabon’s entry into the Commonwealth.
The digital platform aims to promote the influx of investments by providing national and international investors with an effective tool for business networking.
“[...] The launch of this digital platform sends a strong signal to investors. […] “it is an innovative partnership for our country. The acquisition of this digital tool makes it possible to promote investments and gives greater visibility to investment projects. It also allows for fluidity of information in terms of programs, reforms, and opportunities, as well as data on the profile of investors,” said Minister Mbadinga Madiya.
Gabon is a secure business environment that provides access to a regional market of 180 million consumers. It presents business opportunities in the energy, health, education, timber, fisheries, agriculture, and services sectors. In 2019, Forbes ranked the country as the 37th and 147th best country for business respectively in Africa and in the World.
The platform is expected to promote investment, give greater visibility to investment projects, and allow a great flow of information on programs, reforms, opportunities, and data.
It “will result in a faster investment process, which will have the advantage of building Gabon’s reputation as a business destination and of increasing the flow of FDI in Gabon,” the Investment Minister added.
Samira Njoya
By partnering with Pando DAO, Zanzibar wants to maximize its chances of becoming a leading industrial hub in Africa and a model of the digital economy.
Pando DAO, an African community of leading start-up founders, announced, Monday (October 17), its partnership with Silicon Zanzibar, a government initiative launched earlier this year to attract tech talents and companies.
According to Mudrick Soraga, Zanzibar's Minister of Investment and Economic Development, the partnership is important to ensure the success of the Silicon Zanzibar project. "We are excited to officially partner with Pando to co-create the policies and initiatives that will transform Zanzibar’s economy. Working with Pando DAO presents us an opportunity to work side-by-side with the leading players in the African tech ecosystem,” he said.
The first initiatives of the partnership will include the creation of an open hub for Pando DAO members and a Pando CEO Summit, which will be launched later this year. The community will also assist the Zanzibar government in developing a regulatory and policy framework that will support innovation and its digital economy, including a strategy to ensure the development of local tech talent.
The partnership with Pando DAO is highly beneficial for Zanzibar which wants to become a leading hub for pan-African tech companies. Indeed, through Pando Dao, the government is partnering with over 50 African tech startup founders, including founders of well-known startups like mPharma, Wasoko, Pariti, SunCulture, and Africa Health Holdings among others. The overall valuation of Pando DAO’s member startups is over US$2 billion with more than US$500 million raised. The startups employ over 10,000 people in 15 African countries.
According to Pando DAO co-founder and Pariti CEO Yacob Berhane, Pando DAO member companies will be supported, by the government, in their efforts to relocate to the archipelago. “We believe that through this partnership, we will be able to drive the tech ecosystem in Africa forward, with Zanzibar serving as a key part of that story by attracting tech companies and talent, and developing homegrown companies and talent as well,” he said.
Samira Njoya
Gabon is currently implementing several e-learning projects to empower learners and facilitate distance learning.
Gabon recently crossed a new milestone in its digital university project UNG. Last October 13, the draft law on its creation, missions, and management was adopted during the Ministerial Council in Libreville.
According to a communique published after the council, the UNG will develop and popularize digitalization in the Gabonese education system. It will also support higher education and research institutions in the development of online training courses -the creation of digital education material notably- and promote entrepreneurship and digital innovation.
In Gabon, as almost everywhere in the world, the education system was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The country quickly adopted new approaches by mostly including digital tools. The UNG will therefore set up digital spaces functioning like regional academic centers dedicated to blended university learning (distance and physical learning) in provincial capitals.
On its website, the UNG informs that its training is partially remote. It has a platform that allows students to access educational resources and online documentation, but also webinars and digital workspaces. Face-to-face meetings are scheduled for tutorials, assessments, and socialization.
The three-year training program will give graduates the opportunity to work in a wide range of e-services professions. Every UNG student will take an entrepreneurship course with insertion in e-incubators, to boost their ability to create innovative companies for socio-economic development.
Samira Njoya
The Algerian government has decided to leverage digital technologies to solve the country's transport issues. Last month, the Minister of Transport announced the launch of a new electronic platform interconnecting more than 40 public transport services.
Algeria’s Minister of Higher Education Kamel Baddari announced, yesterday, the launch of “MyBus”, a mobile app developed to allow students to monitor the university transport network in real-time.
The application -operational starting from October 23, 2022,- is a modern tool that aims “to improve the quality of university services [...] to create a conducive academic environment for students,” the Transport Minister said before the national assembly’s transport committee.
Since 2009, students have been complaining about mobility conditions, including disruption in university bus schedules and a serious lack of buses in some areas. Last April, a group of students enrolled at the University of Mouloud-Mammeri demanded the allocation of buses to resolve a crisis that has affected students for years.
With “Mybus”, the Ministry of Higher Education is trying to address some of the challenges pointed out, notably concerning the mobility of students living in rural areas. Initially, the app will cover ten routes and 26 buses out of the 5,749 dedicated to academic mobility. But, according to Minister Baddari, it will cover the whole university network before the end of the ongoing academic year.
“The app will give students [schooling in Algerian Universities] a real-time overview of the academic transport network and schedules,” he explained.
The new app is in line with authorities’ efforts to modernize the academic mobility sector to improve students’ living conditions and reduce public expenditures in that segment.
Samira Njoya
The platform is the result of important reforms announced by the government earlier this year.
Last Friday, Niger launched its national portal for unified access to digital educational resources. The platform, dubbed Edu-Niger, was inaugurated by the Minister of National Education, Prof. Ibrahim Natatou (photo, center). It aims to improve the quality of education and enhance planning and management.
According to Prof. Ibrahim Natatou, this major platform is one of the digital projects already undertaken by the government. "The portal integrates an intranet messaging system and also allows users to request leaves or permissions without [wasting time] going from one office to another with the [written] request,” he said.
"Edu-Niger" was set up to correct certain flaws in the education system such as the lack of information and reliable statistics on the sector, slow administrative procedures, and the lack of communication between actors, partners, and parents. It offers several services allowing parties to complete processes to create public and private schools, transfer students from one school to another, create school canteens or take part in two public examinations (BEPC and BAC).
Its library open to the public allows access to educational resources (annals, tests, vignettes, various exercises, capsules, guided tours, etc), and administrative resources (communiqués, decrees, decisions, etc.).
The platform is a result of the Niger-LIRE project (Learning improvement for results in education), an initiative of the Nigerien government financed by the World Bank to the tune of US$140 million. It is part of the overall strategy to digitalize the whole education system.
Samira Njoya
To increase economic activity in the country, and revive its Covid-19-affected tourism sector, the Namibian government will implement a new initiative to attract professionals.
Last week, the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) launched the Namibian Digital Nomads Visa (DNV) to welcome “smart tourists” to the country. The move aims to capitalize on the country’s digital assets to boost the tourism sector, which contributed 61.3% to GDP since August 2022.
Speaking at the launch of the Visa, Nangula Uaandja, CEO and chairperson of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board, said the new visa aims to unlock opportunities that will improve the population’s living conditions. "We have identified that there is an opportunity to attract and gain economic benefit from people who want to work, live and travel in Namibia, without absorbing Namibian jobs," he said.
The Namibian visa for digital nomads is valid for six months and can be granted to any national or international individual. According to the NIPDB, applicants must meet several criteria, including proving their monthly income is equal to or exceeds US$2,000 and justifying health or travel insurance to cover risks during their stay in Namibia.
The country's other digital assets are clustered in a digital ecosystem conducive to remote work, although Internet costs are still very high in Namibia. In its report "Worldwide mobile data pricing 2021. The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 230 countries," Cable.co.uk ranks Namibia 49th in sub-Saharan Africa estimating that 1 gigabit (GB) costs US$22.37 in the country.
According to DataReportal, Namibia’s internet penetration was 51.0% in early 2022. “Ookla’s data reveals that the median mobile internet connection speed in Namibia increased by 5.91 Mbps (+42.3 percent) in the twelve months to the start of 2022,” it adds.
In addition, Namibia has a high e-government development index (HEGDI) and is ranked the 6th African country with the highest level of public service digitization.
By launching this initiative, Namibia becomes the 4th country in Africa to offer this special visa after Mauritius, Seychelles, and Cabo Verde. According to 2021 statistics from "A Brother Abroad", there are about 35 million digital nomads in the world, representing a global economic value of US$787 billion.
Samira Njoya
Last August, in Algeria, Emmanuel Macron and Abdelmadjid Tebboune laid the foundations for enhanced cooperation between France and Algeria in digital entrepreneurship and innovation. The memorandum seems to be one of the results of that groundwork.
French Development Agency AFD and state accelerator Algeria Venture signed a memorandum of understanding, last Monday, on the sidelines of the visit of French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (photo, left) to Algeria. The memorandum reflects the two parties’ will to cooperate for the implementation of the Algerian government's strategic plan to develop the local tech ecosystem and strengthen interactions between the French and Algerian ecosystems.
According to Sophie Aubert, FAD country manager in Algeria, the aim is to "develop cooperation activities aimed at supporting the initiatives of Algerian incubators and accelerators nationwide. “
“We want to network actors of the Algerian and French start-up economy through field initiatives. We also want to develop joint initiatives -including knowledge production, and training programs- to support the Algerian startup ecosystem and, and its interactions with the French ecosystem,” she added.
The memorandum comes after French President Emmanuel Macron’s friendly visit to Algeria last August 25-27. It is in line with the startup/youth section of the Algiers declaration for a renewed partnership that encompasses all the major bilateral cooperation areas the two countries want to develop.
“We want to work while integrating a France-Algeria-Africa approach. We notably want to mobilize Proparco [the French development finance institution, ed. note] via its subsidiary, Digital Africa. Algeria has a developing ecosystem so, the aim is to enhance cooperation between the AFD and Algeria Venture for a common approach that is rewarding and profitable to every party,” Sophie Aubert indicated.
Muriel Edjo
Guinea, like most African countries, is digitizing its public administration. With its digital civil registration system, the country intends to acquire reliable data that would facilitate sustainable planning and development.
On Wednesday, October 5, Guinea launched the pilot phase of its digital civil registration system in ten municipalities.
During a workshop, in Coyah, between October 6 and 7, communal authorities and representatives of the legal, health, and religious communities discussed the process.
"Currently, we are finalizing the first module of the platform. This module consists of the digitization of the existing records (birth, marriage, and death records), the creation of a civil registration index based on the existing records, and the development of a plan for the automatic registration and digitization of future vital civil events. We are gathered here to review the module before the official handover, in the coming days," said Djenabou Touré, coordinator of the project aimed at reforming and modernizing civil registration.
Guinea faces civil registration document conservation problems. Several documents were lost due to fire and vandalism. The country took several actions to address the problems. The actions include the development of a 2018-2022 National Strategy for the Reform and Modernization of the Civil Registry with support from the European Union (EU). Despite the actions, much remains to be done.
During the pilot phase, the country will create an application that will help digitize and secure various acts with QR codes and barcodes, among other tools. The documents will be indexed (using a month-to-month index) in a central repository. "There are also plans to migrate all the remedial birth certificates issued by courts but not yet transcribed by municipalities.[We] will also do the same in health centers,” indicated Michel Luypaert, team leader for DXC, the company developing the digital civil registration platform.
The digital civil registration project began in April 2021. It is funded by the European Union under the Emergency Trust Fund and implemented by the Belgian Development Agency (ENABEL). The project -scheduled for completion in March 2024- will be implemented in Conakry, Kindia, Mamou, and the Guinean consulates in Paris and Brussels during its pilot phase.
Samira Njoya
In 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic was raging, slowing economic and administrative activities, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced public sector digitization as a state priority. The aim was to boost the country’s resilience in crisis times.
Algeria will launch a new digital platform for public services in the coming weeks. The platform was announced by Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane (photo), on Monday, October 3, while speaking before the parliament.
According to the government official, the digital platform will expand the range of digital public services offered by the government in sectors such as public procurement, sports, and tourism. Effective access to those dematerialized services will require a unique national identification number -whose project is being implemented in all the Tunisian ministries, he added.
The platform is in line with the social and economic reforms initiated by the government, in 2020, to ensure the effective digital transformation of the government.
By accelerating the dematerialization of public services, Algeria wants to improve the efficiency of its public administration, which is key to post-pandemic socio-economic recovery. With that efficiency, it wants to ensure transparency in public management and dynamize the business environment.
Muriel Edjo
Modernization of public services is a key requirement for the digital transformation advocated by the United Nations over the past thirty years. In Africa, which is still far behind the rest of the world, much remains to be done in that segment.
Sixteen countries are now e-government champions, the UN DESA indicates in its report "E-Government Survey 2022 The Future of Digital Government". In 2020, there were 14 champions.
In the new report, Côte d'Ivoire and Namibia have joined the list while Rwanda replaced Zimbabwe, which lost its place on that list.
South Africa, which was third in 2020, is now the first e-government champion in Africa. As for Mauritius, it lost one place to become second while Seychelles was bumped from second place to third.
According to the United Nations, Africa’s e-government champions are countries whose telecom infrastructure development, human capital, and online services rankings are above the continental average of 0.4054 points (out of 1.0000) and close to the global average of 0.6102 points.
Six of those champions are from Southern Africa, four from North Africa, three from West Africa, two from East Africa, and one from Central Africa.
In Africa, besides the champions, the ranking of thirty-three other countries was up to the continental average. Only six countries scored below average. They are namely the Central African Republic, Chad, South Sudan, Eritrea, Niger, and Somalia.
Despite the progress made by African countries in e-government, over the past two decades, some countries have overlooked the factor “inclusion,” the UN says.
“The groups easiest to reach have generally benefited most from the notable progress in e-government, while many of the poorest and most vulnerable populations have been left behind,” the report reads urging governments to strive for inclusion.
Muriel Edjo
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Senegal is gradually moving towards full-scale e-governance. To accelerate the process, it decided to partner with key partners in the local ICT sector.
National IT agency Senegal Numérique SA and the Senegalese Information Technology Association (SITSA ) signed, Thursday (September 29), a framework agreement to boost public-private partnership. The move aims to ensure seamless digital transition and further develop digital services in Senegal.
According to Cheikh Bakhoum (photo, right), General Manager of Senegal Numérique SA, this partnership is extremely important for the country, which needs support in its public service digitalization programs. “We are aware that our engineers will not be able to complete all those digital projects all by themselves. [Therefore, the agreement aims] to build a public-private partnership whereby local private actors will boost Senegal Numerique SA’s service offerings,” he said.
The partnership will primarily focus on the liberalization of state infrastructure, allowing private companies to exploit those infrastructures. For Antoine Ngom (photo, left), chairman of the SITSA, the partnership will also focus on boosting cooperation between Senegal Numerique SA and SITSA to successfully complete the major digital projects launched by the government. “This partnership was needed as it enables us to carry out the reforms needed for an enabling environment, and implement major digital projects in sectors like digital identity, health information systems …,” he explained.
In 2016, Senegal launched an ambitious digital transformation project for strategic sectors like education, health, etc. The projects are scheduled for completion by 2025. However, three years to completion, much remains to be done. For Mountaga Cissé, a digital specialist, one of the reasons the project is not evolving as planned is the instability of ministries in charge of its implementation. Within ten years, the name of the ministry in charge of the implementation of that project was changed several times and seven ministers were appointed, he indicates.
Samira Njoya
Mauritius kicked off its digital transformation plan nearly four years ago. To successfully implement its programs in that light, it committed to finding strategic partners that will provide technical and financial support.
Mauritius and India recently agreed to collaborate on several digital projects. The two countries, represented respectively by the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, and the National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) signed a memorandum of cooperation to this effect on Friday, September 23.
Speaking on the merits of this partnership, Deepak Balgobin (photo), the Mauritian Minister of ICT, explained that it will allow the government to improve the dematerialization of several public services in various strategic areas such as health, education, trade, etc. Apart from the development of communication channels -for information exchange, the two parties will also collaborate “ on best practices in the use of IT in the Mauritian government,” said Minister Yogida Sawmynaden.
Mauritius made a strategic move by choosing India as its digital transformation partner. A few years ago, India signed tech cooperation partnerships with four African countries, including Mauritius. At the time, India committed to providing strong support for the development and scientific development of the four African partners.
The India-Mauritius cooperation has already yielded positive results. In 2003, India was heavily involved in the construction of the "Ebene Cybertower" also called Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower -since 2019- in honor of the former Indian Prime Minister. The tower, located 15 kilometers south of Port Louis, was designed and built by Indian companies. India also opened a US$100 million credit line for the project.
Samira Njoya
In 2020, the tourism sector was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic worldwide. Amid the wave of accelerated transformation that ensued, countries, like Togo, are multiplying actions to revive the sector and make it a better instrument in their fight against poverty.
Togolese Minister of Tourism, Dr. Gbenyo Lamadokou (photo, center), inaugurated, Tuesday (September 27), the new national platform dedicated to the promotion of the tourism sector in Togo. The platform, called Togo Tourism, was inaugurated at the University of Lome, on the sidelines of the 42nd World Tourism Day.
According to Dr. Gbenyon Lamadokou, this new portal is of great importance, because it will revive the tourism sector, which was greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, September 26, the Ministry of Tourism published figures showing a 49.1% year-to-year decline in tourist arrivals in Togo in 2020. According to the figures in 2020, the country recorded 481,706 tourists against 946,376 in 2019.
The figures nevertheless show a gradual recovery. Indeed, from XOF19 billion in 2020, the revenues generated by the sector rose 34%, to XOF25 billion in 2021. For Dr. Gbenyon Lamadokou, the rise was due to a “gradual deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine, the adoption of several measures, and the easing of travel restrictions.”
The new platform aims to attract even more tourists to the country. It presents the country’s cultural and tourist potential and lists the 10 reasons why visitors should visit Togo. It is part of the national strategy to attract 500,000 tourists to Togo annually and raise the contribution of the tourism sector to 6.2% of GDP by 2025.
Samira Njoya
In the African public procurement sector, private companies’ works are most of the time delayed by the non-processing of invoices sent to public authorities. Côte d’Ivoire wants to address that situation and boost transparency in government expenditures with that platform.
Last Wednesday, Côte d'Ivoire inaugurated its digital platform dedicated to government suppliers. The platform called “e-fournisseur” (e-suppliers) was launched, in Abidjan, by Prime Minister Patrick Achi (photo, left) during a ceremony attended by government officials, executives, and professional organizations.
This “unprecedented” platform aims to reduce the time it takes to pay government service providers' invoices. It will also allow suppliers to monitor all stages of the process, from the contracting date to invoice payment, in real-time.
According to Prime Minister Patrick Achi, the platform helps solve several issues including deadline-missing problems. It will also reassure private contractors, “particularly SMEs for whom cashflow is key to meeting commitments” given that they will get to know that their invoices are being processed.
For quite some time, private contractors have demanded a reduction in the time it takes to process public procurement invoices. They also require an integrated system to monitor the status of their submissions. During a seminar, in April 2021, the government promised to create a grading system setting invoice maturation periods of 30, 60, and 90 days starting from the invoice submission date.
Specifically, invoices of less than XOF30 million (97% of the invoices) will be processed within 30 days. Invoices concerning amounts ranging between XOF30 and 100 million (2% of the invoices) will be processed within 60 days. Any invoice exceeding XOF100 million will be processed within 90 days. The new platform integrates that grading system.
According to Finance Minister Adama Coulibaly, the platform and the reduction of payment processing days would strengthen businesses’ cashflow and ability to finance the 2020-2021 national development plan, which is expected to be 75%-financed by the private sector. The platform will also boost private actors’ trust in the government, he added.
Samira Njoya