Rwanda: The government will launch a program to digitize public services funded at more than $40 million

Rwanda aims to greatly improve the standard of living, modern infrastructure and livelihoods, and transformation for prosperity for its people by 2050. In order to achieve this goal, several initiatives are being implemented by the authorities.

The government of Rwanda will conduct a project to digitize public services funded at nearly $40.8 million. The announcement was made by the Rwandan Ministry of Economy and Finance on Friday, January 6.

The funding for this program consists of a loan of $39.5 million and a grant of more than $1.2 million from the French government, via the French Development Agency (AFD) in Rwanda. In addition to improving public services in Rwanda, the project will support innovations with high development potential.

" This support will allow, from 2023, the modernization and harmonization of the network infrastructure of central and local administrations, in particular those with direct interactions with citizens (districts and sector offices, hospitals and other government agencies), as well as the development of new technologies. hospitals and other government agencies), with the aim of improving efficiency and the ability to provide quality public services," the statement said.

This digitization program is part of the National Transformation Strategy (NST1) implemented by the authorities. This Strategy is part of the government's eight-year program (2017 - 2024) that implements the first four years of Vision 2050, and also incorporates the SDGs and other continental and regional commitments. The ultimate goal is to establish Rwanda as a globally competitive, knowledge-based economy through " high standards, quality services and customer service in the public and private sectors.

In addition, the briefing note states that the digitization program calls for a " geoospatial center (GeoHub), a centralized geospatial data interface and services, will also be established and managed by the Rwanda Space Agency. It will allow for improved development, planning, monitoring and evaluation of public policies in various fields (urban planning, natural disaster response, health, agriculture, etc.) based on factual data.

It should be noted that the NST1 is implemented under three main pillars, namely economic transformation, social transformation and transformational governance. It also intervenes in areas such as capacity development, HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases, disability and social inclusion, environment and climate change, regional integration and international positioning, gender and family promotion, and disaster management.

Source: www.agenceecofin.com