E-Government Development in Ethiopia

More than 20 platforms of e-Government are now at various stages of development and implementation in Ethiopia, at least 5 of them receiving support from foreign (Chinese) or international organisations. The most stable and successful platforms are the public services integrated website and unified procurement platform. 

                           Source: E-Services Portal (main page, English)

The library of templates for various governmental institutions is already developed, and the ministries websites design is consistent, but an integrated solution for the feedback is not yet available, although some departments publish feedback/ compliant forms on their websites, the lack of integrated solution results in the lack of control on their processing.

The analysis of Ethiopian E-Government platforms within the large-scale programme “E-government” launched in 2018 and those existent before shows that agriculture and cargo transportations (including those connected with the supply of fertilisers and various agricultural products) tend to be the most promising areas for the development of digital services in the country.

Digital solutions in Ethiopia are often implanted step by step and get extended only after the validation at the regional or sectoral level. For instance, online publication of tenders about the corn procurement only laid the foundation for the joint centralised website - Electronic Government Procurement. The necessity of adjusting an electronic payment system for the cargo transport, which is being developed in Addis-Ababa, over the whole country, is now widely discussed. 

Among the services being actively developed are the governmental payment system Telebirr; unified roster of information about the residents of the country (Immigration Nationality and Vital Event Registration Agency); Electronic Toll Collection System (works only in Addis-Ababa, but there are plans for extension in order to cover the whole country: description, tenders); nationwide digital transport platform (Integrated Freight Transport Management System, IFTMS); e-visa.

Digitalisation in the spheres of tourism and medicine is not yet popular neither among the officials nor the members of the public. Digital conversion in the real sectors of the economy where the majority of the country’s population is employed is far more attractive. Besides, historically all the questions connected with the arrangement of the country's supply security are controlled by the government and are considered to be strategically important, thus both government and civil society pay attention primarily to this sector. 

The most demanded solutions turn out to be control and information request systems in such areas as collecting, transportation, storage, distribution, supply and procurement of grain and later the ready-made products; supplies and distribution of fertilisers; stockmen migration tracking systems, veterinary control, etc. in the area of stock raising.

Rankings

According to the 2022 UN E-Government Development Survey, Ethiopia ranked 179 with an EGDI (E-Government Development Index) of 0.29 (compared to the regional average of 0.41), whereas, as per the World Bank’s GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI), the country’s GTMI reached 0.58 placing placing Ethiopia among the countries with significant focus on GovTech development.

Identification and Biometrics

A unified system of identification and authorisation (Ethiopia National ID Program, NIDP) and its part focusing on the biometric data (Fayda project) are in the beginning of their development. The latter implies building up a face recognition system and unified biometric system (the pilot version of the project announced in September, 2022).

Education

During the pandemic there was a boost in the development of the platform e-Learning: such a service as a digital library was made available. D-library is a service on the website of the Ministry of Education, which is a video-library containing the recordings of lessons. However, there are no digital school journals and there is no monitoring of attendance. A number of health institutions in big cities use a digital system SmartCare which enables people to make appointments and use digital medical cards. 

Source: e-Learning and D-Library (main page)

An earth remote sensing system was launched in 2019 in partnership with China (based on the first Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite ETRSS-1).

Small-scale projects such as mobile applications for individual service are launched straight away on private initiative, while the government establishes projects which are primarily oriented on legal entities and government mechanisms. 

e-Signature

A number of projects are at the idea level or at the premiere stage of development. In February 2018 the parliament of Ethiopia passed a law about electronic signature - Electronic Signature Proclamation No.1072/2018, however the process of issuing appropriate orders by the Information Network Security Agency (INSA) has not been initiated yet. 

Data Infrastructure and G2G Service

The plan to develop a national data centre for cloud storage has been announced and the agreement to construct a centre for data storage has been signed. The Bureau of Environmental Protection, Land administration and Use (BoEPLAU) has declared the launch of a unified national cadastre. The Ministry of Revenues is now working on an electronic tax payment system.

Transport Systems

The Transport and Traffic Management System is a part of a huge Transport Systems Improvement Project (TRANSIP) which is receiving financial support from The World Bank. The Ministry of agriculture is planning to establish an Animal Health Surveillance System which is in extremely high demand. 

Statistics and Finance

Ethiopian Statistics Service platform (Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia) should contribute to inter-department coordination, however it is still being designed. There is also a functioning e-budget system.

Source: Ministry of Finance (Budget Resources page)

Author:
Anna Maslova