Center for African Studies organized session during the Africa Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF)
On November 22, 2024, experts of the Center for African Studies and participants to thee-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program took part in the 13th session of theAfrica Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF). The event was held at the headquarters of the UN Economic Commission for Africa from November 20 to 22, 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
During the “Capacity Building in E-Governance through Knowledge Sharing” session, experts discussed in detail the role of knowledge sharing in e-governance development n in Africa.
The session was moderated by Valentin Bianki, Deputy Coordinator of the E-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program for Africa. He underlined the significance of innovative technology implementation for improving public service delivery and enhancing the efficiency of public administration.
As he mentioned, with some challenges in the background (like digital divide, cybercrimes, or brain drain): “ensuring self-reliant and sovereign e-governance is of strategic importance. Through knowledge-sharing initiatives, countries can accelerate their digital agendas, fortify the continent’s collective sovereignty, and drive the future of e-governance in a way that aligns with the needs and aspirations of Africa’s people”.
As Olesya Kalashnik, editorial coordinator of the E-Governance Knowledge Hub, mentioned, “E-Governance allows to facilitate public service delivery to citizens, boost cost efficiency, increase citizen participation, improve data collection, and allow integration and centralization of government activities”.
She provided a brief overview of e-governance development in Africa. Basic directions in the field of digitalization of public administration were outlined, including digital IDs, digitalization of tax services, AI in e-governance, disaster management, etc., and supported by cases of African countries.
Dr. Fekade Gatahum, Senior Strategic Advisor to the Digital Transformation Program of the Ministry of Innovation & Technology of Ethiopia, addressed his vision of the public-private partnership issue:
“To subhold the digital gap existing in Africa, intergovernmental initiatives are important. It could be via contacts or joint bilateral and multilateral projects. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Ethiopia works with the private sector to move e-governance forward. We try to promote user-friendliness and access to digital services to all the citizens, as it contributes to digital inclusion”.
Dr. Jimson Olufuye, who is holding the Africa ICT Alliance, shared his vision of collaboration in e-governance:
“In Nigeria, the digitization process is proceeding, and this is good news. Digital transformation attained our full potential and our biggest efforts, so we now have strategy and policy. But as we still lack operational plans tied to budget and there is no such framework, we need to continue working on it”.
Dr. Moctar Seck, Head of the Innovation and Technology Section of UNECA and the Program’s partner, commented on the importance of e-government platforms and paid closer attention to international regulation in this field:
“It’s important to implement e-government services all around the world since there are so many benefits to it. When it comes to digital tax systems, it contributes to the countries’ GDP. E-governance also provides more transparency and efficiency, and digital elections can help to overcome election collisions”.
He noticed that the biggest challenge for African countries in terms of e-governance is “to make this system interoperable. Another one is to provide access to digital infrastructure to all the people, even in rural areas. Another issue is regulatory one: when we talk about data exchange, the question of data sovereignty emerges. So that’s why we need to provide data policy on a governmental level”.
The full session is available via the link.