Services
Launch of the Tunisie Digitale 2018 programme aimed at developing a favourable digital environment in the country.
E-Government Development in Tunisia
Overview
In 2018, the government of Tunisia established the National Strategic Council for the Digital Economy (Conseil national stratégique de l’économie numérique CNCEM) to supervise the ambitious Tunisie Digitale 2018 program, drafted in 2014 and aimed at developing an enabling digital environment in the country. Tunisie Digitale 2018 was extended till 2020 («Tunisie Digitale 2020») to align it with the five-year plan for 2016 – 2020. The initiative received funding in the equivalent of 867 million dollars with the target to create 100,000 jobs.
By 2020, the Tunisian Minister of Communications and Digital Transformation acknowledged that nearly half of the projects of the Digital Tunisia 2020 strategic plan have not been implemented yet, the deadline was pushed to 2025. As the main project implementation challenge the authorities mention the resistance of the bureaucracy, alongside with the brain drain and lack of trust among the population.
Digitalization timeline
2014
2015
Digital ID
Creation of a governmental portal (بوابة الحكومة التونسية) where available services are listed with links to relevant ministries. Launch of the project of introduction of biometric passports and identity cards by the Tunisian Ministry of Interior.
2016
E-services
Launch of the website “E-Tasrih” with tax information.
2017
Services
Tunisie Digitale 2018 extended till 2020.
2018
Services
Establishment of the National Strategic Council for the Digital Economy (Conseil national stratégique de l’économie numérique CNCEM) to oversee implementation of Tunisie Digitale 2020.
2019
Services
Launch a central bank digital currency E-dinar.
2020
E-services
Launch of the new electronic judicial statistics application. Launch of the interdepartmental platform Republique Tunisienne Intranet de l’Administration. Tunisie Digitale 2020 extended till 2025. Launch of the Platform for Schools (BVE) by the National Center for Technology in Education (CNT).
2021
E-services
Introduction of Mobile ID. Creation of the e-service allowing to pay fines to traffic police on the website of the Ministry of Finance.
2022
One-stop shop
Launch of the single portal of digital services “e-bawaba.tn” portal. Launch of the health insurance system CHAM. Launch of the “Mobile ID” (“e-houwiya”) programme intended to ensure secure access to digital public services.
2023
Digital ID
The Tunisian Head of Government announced the decision to set up a commission to revise the legislation so that it suits the digitalization era. Establishment of the National Cybersecurity Agency (ANCS). Biometric ID card and passport project was approved by the Prime Minister.
2024
e-Education
Launch of the “school of the Tunisia of the future” project with the proclaimed aim to connect 3,300 schools to broadband Internet during the 2024-2025 school year. Launch of a tender for implementation of the E-visa project.
2025
E-services
Adoption of a unified national digital transformation vision (2026-2030). Launch of Tunisia’s Tartib 2.0 application, which introduces a digital system for evaluating and selecting public investment projects. 5G deployment. Establishment of the UXP (Unified eXchange Platform) to strengthen the links between national and sectoral registries.
Topics and services
Rankings
As of 2022, Tunisia ranked 88th in the UN e-Government Development Survey (up from 91st in 2020) with an EGDI score of 0.653. This places Tunisia in 4th place among the countries in Africa with the highest EGDI values. According to the 2022 World Bank’s GovTech Maturity report, Tunisia is in Group B (a group of countries, which invest significantly in GovTech development but still have some room for improvement).
Integration of Public Services
A single portal of public services is not yet available. On the government portal (بوابة الحكومة التونسية) the services available online are listed with the links redirecting to the websites of the ministries providing respective services. Only few services are available in the healthcare, law, and education sectors. A new single portal of public services “e-bawaba.tn” portal, that allows to manage official electronic documents and access digital public services, is in the process of being implemented. As of June 2023, the platform is not accessible.
Unified Authorisation
As for unified identification authorisation, in August 2022, the Tunisian Ministry of Communication Technologies launched the “Mobile ID” (“e-houwiya”) program intended to ensure secure access to digital public services. A two-factor identification is required to log in the personal account. According to the description of the functionalities of this service, The Mobile ID is used for accessing platforms like the “e-bawaba.tn” portal and the “e-barid.tn” platform, providing citizens with an official email address for communicating with authorities and public institutions. However, as of June 2023 these portals were not accessible.
Healthcare
In the field of healthcare the health insurance portal (CHAM) is developed, where it is possible to submit applications, as well as to track the execution of the request in real time. As for other services, most of them are declared (for example, electronic medical card orelectronic record to the doctor). As of June 2023 these services were not available.
Education
Progress is being achieved in developing Platform for Schools (BVE) by the National Center for Technology in Education (CNT). The digital educational content was prepared, but there is little of it on the portal, there is no video or interactive content available. The portal itself has not been updated since 2020.
e-Taxes
As for tax services, they are well developed, although there is no single portal for paying fines and taxes. For paying traffic fines, the portal of the Ministry of Finance is available. The e-Tasrih portal provides information about taxes, but paying taxes online is not yet fully available, and the site is also outdated in terms of usability.
Tunisian postal service offers an electronic payment system called e-dinar. Many government services in Tunisia are payable with electronic dinars. By 2021, the number of smart e-dinar cards reached 2.5 million.
Identification and Biometrics
The project of biometric passports and IDs in Tunisia is being developed by the Tunisian Ministry of Interior, with reference to Tunisians international commitments, as the International Civil Aviation Organization (Doc 9303). In 2016 the Ministry of Interior presented a draft law on the biometric passports and IDs, the draft law was withdrawn in 2018 under public pressure related to lack of firm confidentiality and digital security guarantees. Despite a political crisis in July 2021. In January 2022, the resumption of the draft law was officially announced. However, implementation of biometric passports and IDs may trigger further discussions and debates in Tunisian society.
e-Elections
Tunisia has not implemented an electronic voting system, voting is offline. However, a platform has been introduced for processing election results.
Data Infrastructure and G2G Service
Data centers are governed by the National Informatics Centre (Centre National de l’Informatique, CNI). This center is also involved in the development of major national, sectoral and public applications and the implementation of master plans for a number of ministries, and participates also in the development of the interagency platform Republique Tunisienne Intranet de l’Administration).
Author:
Egor Astrakhantsev