E-Governance Knowledge Hub Stand of the HSE Centre for African Studies and Innopraktika at the Russia-Africa Forum

28 July 2023

On July 28, 2023, the second Russia-Africa Summit and the Economic and Humanitarian Forum dedicated to it, concluded in St. Petersburg. HSE Centre for African Studies attended this event.

© Centre for African Studies

“The training program  e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Programme for employees of public authorities in African countries was presented at the stand of Innopraktika and the Higher School of Economics. The Forum participants got acquainted with the hub for the knowledge exchange in the field of public administration digitalization using a special touch panel.” (Roscongress Foundation)

The exhibition area of the forum featured stands of three Russian universities: Higher School of Economics, the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia and the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. 

The Centre for African Studies (CIA) organized the work of the E-Governance Knowledge Hub stand with the support of Innopraktika and Rostelecom. The leading expert of the CIA Valentin Bianki coordinated preparation of the stand. Employees and research assistants of the Center provided the activities of the stand during the forum.

During the forum, information about the activities of the HSE African Studies Center, primarily about the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Programme , was distributed at the stand. With the help of an interactive touch panel, the guests of the stand had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the materials of the educational program posted on the e-Governance Knowledge Hub website. 

Interested visitors of the stand could take brochures with information about the Program. Many stayed for a long time at the counter with the Center’s publications, flipping through Russian and English-language publications one by one. The expert and analytical reference book “Africa 2023. Opportunities and Risks”, the second, expanded edition, published immediately before the summit, was very popular.

Rack with the publications of the Center for African Studies

© Kirill Smirnov / Center for African Studies

The stand aroused great interest among the forum participants, especially the guests from Africa. Thus, the director of the Center, Andrey Maslov, conducted a tour of the E-Governance Knowledge Hub for the Ministers of Digital Development of the Comoros and Namibia, Suef Kamalidini and Pei Mushelengi.  The stand was also visited by the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Evgeny Primakov and Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Olga Petrova, Deputy General Director of Innopraktika Natalia Popova, representatives of Russian business and the expert community, employees of Ministries and Agencies.

On the second day of the forum, the staff of the Centre for African Studies met with Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large and Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, at the stand, who highly appreciated the work of the Centre on the forum.