Public Management (358)
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
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
The country wants to position itself as the reference in digitization in West Africa and leverage ICTs for efficient socio-economic development.
Beninese Digital Minister Aurelie Adam Soulé Zoumarou (photo) recently defended her Ministry’s 2023 before the parliament. The projects included in the XOF31 billion (US$49.2 million) budget include high-impact digital projects and reforms that will benefit the whole country.
According to the government official, the projects include the extension of connectivity to every region -including rural areas- to accelerate the digitization of the country’s administration. They also include the improvement of digital use and confidence and actions to make communes more attractive with digital transformation. Another project is the modernization of Benin’s media to make it more attractive.
The budget also plans for the development of new training curricula to enhance the training offered by the public school for digital professions as well as the development and promotion of artificial intelligence and data management applications useful to national programs and finally the continuation of the Smart Gouv project.
The 2023 budget is 23.57% higher than the XOF24.252 billion Minister Zoumarou presented before the parliament for 2022. According to the official, the 2023 budget is higher because the country needs to pursue and enhance some of the projects launched in 2022. Those projects include the digitization of public administration and the extensions of e-services in every sector.
Samira Njoya
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Like almost every country, DRC is digitalizing every sector, including its justice system. The identification system to be built will greatly facilitate law enforcement agencies’ works in the countries.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recently awarded a US$70 million contract to Israeli company Pangea to develop and operate an automated, centralized biometric criminal identification system (ABIS) that will identify individuals based on their biometric traits and build criminal records.
The database, which will include the biometric data of identified law offenders, will be accessible by 150 police stations nationwide. It will also have fingerprint and handprint-based crime investigation capabilities.
“Digital government services are essential to the countries’ long-term growth, especially those with tremendous economic potential like Congo.[…] Today, we’re able to advance with such a strategic project in a remarkably short period and achieve major transformation with solutions that have proven themselves around the world,” explains Uzy Rozenthal, Pangea’s executive vice president.
The project will be carried out under a public-private partnership model. It is the result of a decision by the government of Congo to promote the digitization of government services in the country. It adds to the other projects underway in the country in the framework of the National Digital Plan - Horizon 2025.
The partner selected for the project -Pangea-has been providing digital transformation solutions to businesses since its inception in 2018. It is also experienced in the implementation of biometric and IT systems for government agencies in several countries around the world.
"Pangea continues to develop capabilities and innovations in our areas of expertise, including new products for eKYC and Smart Border Control. These capabilities will become unique products in the next few months and generate significant revenue in the next few years," said Rafi Kaminer (photo), CEO of Pangea.
Samira Njoya
Africa wants to leverage digital technologies to accelerate its economic growth. For that purpose, countries are acting together for more efficiency.
The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) will adopt a Regional Program for the Development of the Digital Economy (PRDEN). This is one of the decisions approved by the member countries’ Ministers of Digital Economy when they met in Cotonou, Benin, last Friday.
The XOF121 billion (US$190 million) program -deemed ambitious and innovative- aims to boost the digitalization of socioeconomic activities in the community.
"We started with pilot projects, extending resources to member countries under the program for the installation of digital boxes and the digitization of public services,” indicated Abosse Akue-Kpakpo, the WAEMU commission’s head of digital economy. He added that the commission has already funded the elaboration of a legislative and regulatory framework, which is being submitted to member countries for approval, to improve governance.
According to Abosse Akue-Kpakpo, in recent years, West Africa has made remarkable efforts for the development of its digital economy. In a video published earlier this year, the WAEMU informs that nearly 94% of the zone has a mobile cellular subscription and nearly 40% have access to the internet. More than 80 million mobile money accounts are active in the region, representing 63% of the population. The mobile money accounts carry out over 2.7 billion transactions for a cumulative annual value of XAF29 trillion+ (more than US$47 billion).
The PRDEN, through its four main axes, intends to strengthen digital governance, improve access to digital services, promote innovation and research and boost the digital services offering.
The program will run from 2023 to 2027, with the expectation that it would help digitize 120 public services in the WAEMU member countries. To raise the funds required for its implementation from financial partners, a roundtable will be organized in the second quarter of 2023.
At the end of the meeting held on November 11, 2022, the participating parties also approved the draft decision on the establishment of the Commission of Digital Regulators and the draft directive for the improvement of mass adoption of digital technologies.
Samira Njoya
The Ivorian government is multiplying digital initiatives to boost young people and women’s employability, promote innovation and reduce unemployment.
In Côte d’Ivoire, Communication Minister Amadou Coulibaly (photo, right), and Minister of Trade Souleymane Diarrassouba (photo, left) launched the Employment4Youth program last Thursday.
The program’s full name is "Employment4Youth / Industry 4.0 to promote youth employment in Tunisia and Côte d'Ivoire. It was launched in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It aims to support and strengthen stakeholders’ capacity in the ICT and agribusiness sectors to ease access to the opportunities presented by the fourth industrial revolution as well as create jobs for women and the youth with the adoption of new technologies in targeted value chains.
"Our country wants to ensure that the digital economy is a growth sector by creating jobs for the youth and promoting investments,” said Amadou Coulibaly, before stressing that the government's goal is to make Côte d’Ivoire a fully digitized country by 2030. Last September 26, the country set up a National Digitalization Committee, that will, among other things, elaborate a framework governing digitization efforts for an effective digital transformation.
In 2011, the Ivorian government initiated several digital reforms including the adoption of the National Digital Strategy. The strategy is focused on seven pillars. It suggests 32 reforms and 96 projects requiring a XOF2,000 billion (US$3.15 billion) investment to be implemented over 2021-2025.
According to Amadou Coulibaly, the Employment4Youth program is part of this strategy. It is also in line with the structural transformation promoted by the president of the republic to make digital transformation an effective solution to youth employability. The initiative will be based on Industry 4.0 or the industry of the future which uses artificial intelligence, big data, digital technologies, blockchain, e-commerce, etc. It will create 13,000 jobs (3,000 direct jobs) by 2025 in the private sector (social and ecological transformation, renewable energy, ICT, agribusiness, etc.). The estimated investment required is US$30 million.
Samira Njoya
The platform aims to develop the Egyptian industrial sector, which grew by 6.5% and contributed 17% to GDP in 2021.
Egypt will soon launch a digital industrial platform. For that purpose, last November 2, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and financial service provider E-finance -a subsidiary of eFinance Investment Group- signed a memorandum of cooperation for the development and management of the said platform.
The platform aims to offer investors and manufacturers improved services, accelerate the exploitation process and streamline the required procedures. Using the platform, firms can test the new services before presenting them to their clients.
According to Business Today Egypt, the “platform also offers other services such as cloud platforms, secure infrastructure, internet of things, cybersecurity applications, artificial intelligence, big data, and more.”
Like several African countries, Egypt is betting on digital transformation to accelerate its development. In 2017, the country became an attractive hub for large tech firms, thanks notably to strategic actions taken by the government.
The new platform is therefore one of the government’s actions to accelerate existing digital transformation efforts.
According to the statement announcing the signing, the platform will be launched at the Cairo ICT conference, which will be held on November 27-30, 2022, in collaboration with global digital transformation pioneers such as Pure Storage, Dell, IBM, Cisco, Redhat, Huawei, and many others.
The memorandum of cooperation is part of Egypt's Vision 2030 and its digital transformation strategy, which aims to enhance economic and social development across all sectors and make the country a digital hub of excellence in Africa.
Samira Njoya