Ethiopia Gears Up for Interoperable Digital Government

Aiming to create a connected, user-centered, and data-driven government, Ethiopia is gearing up to make e-government applications interoperable.

Led by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT) and implemented by DT Global, an international development consultant with the financial support of the European Union, the implementation of the interoperable digital government initiative is part of a broader National E-Government Strategy and Enterprise Architecture for 2024–2029.

“The interoperable digital government will enable streamlining processes across different ministerial and regional offices, bringing them under a unified domain,” said Lishan Adam (PhD), IT Consulting team lead at DT Global.

According to a review of government interoperability frameworks in selected countries by UNDP, e-government initiatives are often developed with specifications and solutions that match goals and tasks relevant to a particular agency, but without adequate attention to the surrounding government institutions and ICT systems.

“The result is a patchwork of ICT solutions that are not always compatible with each other, despite the need for interoperable systems. In addition to the loss of efficiency, there is a huge loss of resources in developing multiple systems to solve the same problems and generate the same data from many different places,” reads the review.

Some countries such as Brazil, the UK, and Germany have addressed this problem by drafting a Government Interoperability Framework (GIF). These frameworks set out the policy and technical structure by which e-government services are developed to ensure a coherent flow of information across systems.

According to the draft strategy, an initiative is underway to assess existing directives, laws, and regulations that ensure the effective implementation of digital government principles, like digital-by-default, a concept in which digital components support the implementation of every project.

This assessment will involve consultations with stakeholders to determine if these instruments are suitable and if there’s a need for a stronger enforcement mechanism, potentially through a Council of Ministers Directive. According to the draft, the ultimate goal is to rebuild public trust in government services through a focus on enhanced privacy, security, mobile accessibility, and cloud-based solutions, along with increased availability of shared services.

Announced in a validation workshop on Thursday, July 11, 2024, Ethiopia’s National E-Government Strategy and Enterprise Architecture 2024–2029 envisions a sweeping digital transformation outlining four digital government pillars and fourteen ambitious implementation areas.

These implementation areas promise to tackle a sprawling agenda encompassing citizen-facing applications, data management, cybersecurity, and regional collaboration.

The National E-government Strategy and Enterprise Architecture will be implemented with a five-year lifespan from 2024 to 2029 and an eight-month trial period. Through the implementation of the new strategy, the government plans to make 2,500 eServices available to citizens and businesses by 2030. The Ministry will establish a Digital Government Service Center (DGSC) to manage the planned government-wide application and service delivery.

DT Global has also recently completed a transport and logistics support project, another program that’s funded by the European Union.