ICT and e-Government strategies of African countries

Read more in the handbook E-Governance in Africa 2024.

Challenge Description

Consistent and powerful modernisation requires coordination of stakeholders’ actions and projects to ensure that their initiatives do not interfere with one another or other sectoral plans and to avoid redundant efforts. This is especially critical in the case of transforming an extensive government apparatus with multiple public bodies, each having their own interests and priorities. Mindful of the challenge, governments and regional organisations around the world introduce digitalisation and e-government implementation frameworks.

There is a distinct difference between a national digitalisation strategy and an e-government strategy: a national digitalisation strategy reflects the general vision of leveraging ICT for the country’s social and economic development and concerns private sector as well, whilst an e-government strategy concerns mostly the use of ICT for the governmental services, its internal processes and procedures. Although the latter may include public-private partnerships, it is primarily focused on modernising the public sector. 

There is also a room for intergovernmental coordination. Although a continental e-government strategy for Africa has not yet been developed, the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030) adopted in 2019 contains a section on digital governance with general recommendations for member states.

Since strategies are policy documents containing certain biassed vision, they can be analysed with a view to understanding the peculiarities, values and core principles at the heart of a particular strategy.

In the process of elaboration and adoption, strategies are inevitably being influenced by certain groups that participate in their development with the aim of exerting an influence on the decision-making process, yet those groups do not necessarily represent the interests of those whose decision making is guided or affected by implementation of the strategies.

It is also worth mentioning that implementation of the strategy itself may not be visible and some of them remain only on paper, however this is not necessarily a bad thing as, in some cases, the mere existence of a strategy can serve as a guiding framework for decision-making and provide a basis for future actions. Additionally, the process of developing a strategy can result in valuable insights and a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities.

Strategies also deal with requirements and requirement management. The groups and institutions influencing the longtime strategies influence also the longtime standard-setting, requirements and decision making, and they tend to employ their structural power to gain market leadership and political influence.

Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030)

In alignment with goals set by Agenda 2063, the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030) (DTS) was developed in 2019 by the AU Commission in partnership with development cooperation agencies: the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Smart Africa, AUDA-NEPAD, Regional Economic Communities, AfDB, Africa Telecommunications Union, Africa Capacity Building Foundation, ITU, and the World Bank. It was adopted in February 2020 at the 33rd Ordinary Session of the AU Summit.

The declared aim of the DTS lies in harnessing the use of innovations and ICT to achieve digital transformation in Africa, as well as building inclusive digital society and digital economy on the continent. The digitalisation is to contribute to the achievement of Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, namely eradicating poverty, reducing inequality, facilitating the delivery of goods and services, stimulating job creation, etc.

It takes into account and builds on the previous continental initiatives: the Policy and Regulation Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA), the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the African Union Financial Institutions (AUFIs, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the Free Movement of Persons (FMP).

The DTS is grounded on analyses of existing shortcomings and challenges to the continent’s digitalisation (each section provides a definition of the respective problem) and of the local context.

The four foundation pillars of the DTS include: 

• Enabling environment, policy and regulations
• Digital infrastructure
• Digital skills and human capacity
• Digital innovation and entrepreneurship.

Six critical sectors and five cross-cutting themes further build on these pillars in the following manner: 

The network analysis of the AU digitalisation strategy mapped six major clusters of the most frequently used terms. The 1st cluster (blue) focused on the overall development of the ICT industry in Africa, the 2nd (red) and the 3rd (green) clusters pooled terms connected to human capital development and citizen engagement. The 4th cluster focused on the digital economy (it is noteworthy that digital identification systems are strongly linked to economic terms and seen as a means of regional economic integration). The 5th cluster connects digital transformation with security and regulations, including data privacy.

Network analysis of the AU Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030)

Source: HSE University Center for African Studies using VOSviewer software.

Throughout the DTS, significant focus is placed on fostering African integration and cross-border movement of people, goods and services, as well as on harmonising national and regional e-policies and standards. Thus, it envisages, inter alia, developing a Digital Single Market by 2030 and supporting the Agenda 2063 flagship Pan-African “E” programme. 

It is also highlighted that since Africa has fewer legacy burdens, this gives it the opportunity of adopting digitised solutions faster.

The significance of the post network with more than 30,000 outlets connected to the global network (more than 660,000 offices) in providing access to digital infrastructure and services, especially to citizens in rural and remote areas, is noted in the DTS as well.

E-government in the DTS

The DTS envisages e-governance initiatives as a means of improving governance performance and transparency, reducing expenditures and facilitating citizens’ access to public services as well as increasing their trust. It also promotes ‘a whole of government approach’ that is to ensure interoperability of e-government systems, shared services and infrastructure as well as to reduce expenditures.

The DTS highlights the value of achieving higher broadband coverage rates, establishing an enabling regulatory environment and providing logistical services via digitised posts as a basis for building both public and private e-services and solutions.

Digital platforms would also contribute to developing other e-services and products. The cost-cutting and efficiency-boosting effects of e-platforms for governments are noted in the DTS as they make it possible to reduce redundancies, combat corruption, stimulate citizens’ participation and monitor public agencies’ performance. The DTS sets the aim of providing 99.9% of Africans with digital ID by 2030.

The steps toward digitalisation of public administration in Africa are covered in the chapters entitled Digital Governance, Digital Education, Digital Health, Digital Agriculture and Digital ID. The content concerning e-governance takes up 15 pages out of 53 (28%).

Network analysis of the excerpt from the AU Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030): pages 28-42 (‘Digital Governance’, ‘Digital Education’, ‘Digital Healthcare’, ‘Digital Agriculture’ and ‘Digital ID’)

Source: HSE University Center for African Studies using VOSviewer software.

In parts of the DTS concerning e-governance initiatives, focus is placed on improving access to services (cluster 1 – turquoise), providing citizens with e-IDs (cluster 2 – green), ensuring information systems interoperability (in particular, in the healthcare sector, cluster 3 – yellow) and encouraging ICTs use in education (cluster 4 – red).

The Digital Governance section contains general recommendations for member states and comprises only 2 pages out of 53. Recommendations are further specified for three sectors: education, healthcare and agriculture. Several of the objectives are set with the date of achievement. Since technological and organisational solutions are not specified, the DTS only provides recommendations on development directions, without setting any standards or requirements which could allow for interoperability between national e-government systems.

Digital Governance Recognising the progress in developing e-governance made by African countries over the last decade, the underperformance and disparity in this domain remain significant (according to the 2022 UN e-Government Development Survey, the average EGDI of the continent is 0.41, compared to global average of 0.61). The lack of political will, coordinating structures among the AU Member States and a single Pan-African digital ID system are named among the reasons for the low level of digital governance. Policy recommendations in the section include: Developing national and regional strategies, regulations and standards that promote the implementation and use of e-services; Establishing an agency overseeing and coordinating e-government development in member states; Implementing e-governance services based on international best practices and in compliance with globally recognised standards; Allowing regional and continental integration of digital public through common standards and open standard software tools; Digitising government registers (establishing an electronic population registry, eBusiness register and land use register); Developing technical guidelines for establishing requirements for the verification of the identity of individuals and organisations for accessing e-services; Promoting public-private partnership in developing G2G, G2B, G2C.

Digital Education The Digital Education section builds on the AU Continental Education Strategy (2016-2025) which outlines the goal of enhancing use of ICT in education, including the use of e-platforms at all levels of education. A critical element is the Implementation of digital solutions in the sector as they are expected to improve quality and access to education (whilst, according to the DTS, a significant number of young people do not complete primary and secondary schooling), boost connections with international research and education networks, improve and educate a digitally proficient workforce. Providing citizens with digital educational content is also of great importance. The DTS emphasises the necessity of ensuring digital skills training in formal education courses for all Africans regardless of specialisation studied and promoting the use of ICT by teachers with the aim of improving education quality. The section contains the following policy recommendations: Supporting establishment of virtual educational institutions and implementation of university networks, e-learning portals and e-libraries; Encouraging beneficial use of online educational content provided by the best universities, educational and professional institutions; Integrating ICT into the core curriculum at all levels of education (primary, secondary, higher education and vocational training), setting digital literacy requirements for each stage; Spreading of the ICT trainings at pre-service and in-service trainings of teaching personnel; Raising citizens’ awareness of ICTs through media, educational programmes, establishing national awards in the sphere and holding international and regional exhibitions, conferences, etc.

Digital Health The Digital Health section draws on the Africa Health Strategy 2016-2030 and sets the objectives of reducing continental disease burden and strengthening health systems as well as research and innovations through the use of ICT in the sector.  Integrating digital solutions into healthcare systems is expected to foster patient-oriented care and enhance quality of the services. Medical personnel would benefit from tools that allow better diagnostics and decision-making and provide access to more sources of information, whereas citizens would receive more control over their health data. As per the DTS, the achievements mentioned include the growing focus on integration and interoperability of digital health solutions and the consistent trend of reducing existing obstacles for introducing e-services in the healthcare sphere. Some of the hurdles to scaling up digital health solutions on the continent are a lack of hardware infrastructure, stable electricity supply and digitally literate workforce, as well as insufficient funding for e-health projects. Policy recommendations in the section envisage: Developing a health strategy, assessing health situation in the country and identifying niches for introducing digital solutions with the aim of addressing existing challenges and improving service delivery; Developing data privacy and data-quality policies and regulations and those for teleconsultations and e-prescriptions; Ensuring interoperability of e-Health solutions and systems, developing continental standards for the portability and accessibility of medical information.

Digital Agriculture Given the rapidly growing population of Africa (according to FAO forecast, by 2050 the African population will reach 2 billion people), the emphasis of the Digital Agriculture section is placed on the need to holistically address the challenge of intensifying food production on the continent to avoid global hunger.  Digital solutions are to allow sectoral stakeholders to boost food production and consumption. ICT is expected to increase connectivity between farmers and farm enterprises and consumers as well as upstream input suppliers under the conditions of vast territories and lack of infrastructure. E-solutions would also improve access to reliable information about weather patterns, soil characteristics, future market demand, etc.  The aim of empowering women in the agricultural sector by introducing e-agriculture solutions and improving digital literacy is accentuated in the DTS. Policy recommendations in the section include: Enhancing digital infrastructure in rural areas, increasing mobile and Internet penetration, developing sectoral e-finance services (e.g. e-vouchers for direct benefit transfers); Providing stakeholders with reliable information: encouraging development of digital agriculture platforms and services, improving digital agriculture skills.

Among other continental digital framework initiatives to mention are the AU Data Policy Framework, Africa CDC Digital Transformation Strategy, the Digital Education Strategy and Implementation Plan.

National Strategies

Whilst most African countries, with few exceptions, have sectoral strategies or policies for digital transformation of the country with sections dedicated to digitalisation of public administration, few of them have established separate strategic frameworks for e-government development. At the same time, digital government strategies would ensure standardisation and interoperability of services and systems and serve as a foundation for adoption, use and further development of e-governance in the country. Sectoral e-strategies are also being developed, mainly in the e-health sphere (e.g. ‘Stratégie Cybersanté 2022-2025’) or more rarely for promoting e-learning.

One of the first framework documents for modernisation of public administration on the continent, the South African ‘White Paper on the transformation of public service’ was adopted in 1995 in South Africa. It mentioned the use of ICT for modernising governance in the country, without however accentuating it. The document placed much attention on local context (e.g. consequences of apartheid policy) and had a chapter dedicated to international experience. In 2001, the Department of Public Service and Administration launched the ‘Electronic Government: The Digital Future – A Public Service IT Policy Framework’ and introduced minimum interoperability standards (MIOS). 

Another pioneer strategy was introduced in Kenya in 2004 (‘E-Government Strategy: the Strategic Framework, Administrative Structure, Training Requirements and Standardization Framework’). Both the Kenyan and the South African strategies focused on developing standards. As the process proceeded, further strategies focused on setting the directions for implementation of e-government systems and e-services and analysing existing challenges and opportunities whilst standardisation was developed separately. The first Namibian e-government strategy of 2005 continued this trend.

Most African e-government strategies are built on critical assessment of the current situation in the country and provide SWOT analysis, as well as take into consideration local context and peculiarities of the sector. Apart from infrastructure and technical issues, much attention is placed on digital literacy programmes and improving the population’s digital skills.

Effective strategy implementation builds on the concept of Deming cycle with 4 stages – Plan, Do, Check, Act – implying the need for in-process revision of progress made and correction of goals set. In African e-strategies, whilst the goals and projects are usually specific, in some cases deadlines and budget sources are vague, the in-process monitoring and revision, results evaluation mechanisms and key performance indicators (KPIs) are rarely published or are formal or purely quantitative in nature. 

However, in the recent South African ‘E-Government Strategy and Roadmap’ of 2017 the development of monitoring mechanisms is stipulated. The review of the Strategy ‘will be conducted during every MTSF (Medium Term Strategic Framework) period to measure progress and impact of its implementation’. The Strategy covers all domains and related aspects and takes into account indirect influence. The deadlines are set out explicitly only for global initiatives. The roles of public entities, spheres for cooperation and areas of responsibility are defined clearly. However, the Strategy does not contain explicit KPIs, with projects being formulated as e-services recommended for implementation (e.g. it recommends introducing e-justice services making it possible to: ‘Consult family advocate; Marry under customary law; Provide equality/discrimination services’ – without specification of usage rate after its implementation, functions).

The monitoring and revision of the strategy may contribute to enhanced implementation rate. According to a research by Houda Lounes of University M’Hamed Bougara of Boumerdes (Algeria) ‘La e-administration en Algérie entre plan et réalisations’ (2018), the implementation rate of e-Algerie strategy stood at 28%, the rate is the same for the first goal – Acceleration of the use of ICT in public administration.

Another aspect to be considered is international cooperation in developing e-strategies and policies for African countries. External actors provide assistance at the preliminary stages – i.e. assessing the digital sector of a country, challenges and perspectives, suggesting best practices – and participate directly in developing the strategies. The Namibian e-governance policy of 2005 was preceded by a study of international practices and consultations with an Indian company – one of the international centres of excellence created by the Confederation of Indian Industry – which also provided a feasibility report on e-governance in Namibia in June 2004 with recommendations on further e-governance development in the country. Likewise, the AU Digital Transformation Strategy was developed with the assistance of multiple international organisations including the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Smart Africa, ITU and the World Bank. 

Assistance at the stage of assessment and strategic planning grants external actors the opportunity to influence directions of further development of the sector and tailor it in line with their own interests.