Promoting the Digital Transformation of African Portuguese-Speaking Countries and Timor-Leste

Recommendations and proposals for action

Seizing the digital transformation of the public sector in each PALOP-TL country

In light of the key assessments explored above, PALOP-TL governments could consider implementing the following policy recommendations:

Angola

 

Proposals for action
Core government functions and digital solutions
-  Use the Integrated Management Information System of Territory Administration (SIIGAT) to collect performance indicators on public policy implementation at the local level. -  Establish measurable results and objectives to support the implementation of digital government policies and programmes, as part of the new state reform strategy (under preparation). -  Keep the biometric database of civil servants updated ("proof of life"), namely by considering taking advantage of the new identity card features (microchip).
Institutional foundations for a sound digital government ecosystem
-  Establish guidance for engaging an ecosystem of public, private and civil society actors in the design, implementation and monitoring of digital government policies. -  Develop a monitoring and impact assessment framework for digital government and use that framework to guide the interactive development of digital government. -  Strengthen the relevance and regularity of meetings of the Council for Information Technologies (Conselho para as Tecnologias da Informação) to better support implementation of the updated National Plan for the Information Society. Promote knowledge sharing and synergies among public stakeholders. -  Secure dedicated resources through the national budget, to be managed by INFOSI – National Institute for the Promotion of the Information Society (Instituto Nacional de Fomento da Sociedade da Informação), to co-finance projects across sectors and levels of government in order to better promote a coherent digital government. -  Establish policy levers, co-ordinated by INFOSI, to optimise public IT expenditure (e.g. avoiding the dispersion of databases and servers) though, for example, the mandatory evaluation of digital technologies investments above a certain threshold. The adopting of business cases and project management for public sector projects should support this policy. -  Create a professional information and communication technology (ICT) career in public administration. Improve and harmonise the remuneration of ICT professionals to retain ICT skills in public administration. -  Establish national digital skills training programmes, including for delivery in rural areas, to improve digital literacy, reduce the digital divide and improve citizen access to digital public services.
Citizen-driven approaches for a sustainable and coherent digital service
-  Establish and implement protocols to share data between government agencies and public services, and to store it in the public data centre managed by INFOSI. -  Accelerate the development of an interoperability platform based on the government’s private network (Rede Privativa do Estado) to promote the mutual exchange and use of data among public agencies. -  Define a public digital identity framework based on the recently launched new Identity document (Bilhete de Identidade). -  Improve co-operation between the network of physical one-stop-shops SIAC (Sistema Integrado de Atendimento ao Cidadão) and the Citizen’s Portal (Portal do Cidadão). -  Expand and improve the Unique Business Counter (Guichet Único da Empresa) to facilitate and promote entrepreneurial activities in the country. -  Facilitate the installation of mobile spaces equipped with public access computers and free technologies in rural areas (project Andando com as TIC) and accelerate the delivery and use of digital technologies in schools (project Meu Kamba).

Cabo Verde

 

Proposals for action
Core government functions and digital solutions
-  Take the necessary steps to consolidate the information provided by the Municipal Information System (SIM) on the municipal budgets, within the government national accounts. -  Accelerate the development of an e-procurement platform in line with the public procurement law. -  Develop applications and systems to archive, disseminate and grant access to statistical products and indicators by citizens and companies, on an open and free basis. -  Take all measures to create an automatic voting registration system (potentially conductive to an electronic voting system).
Institutional foundations for a sound digital government ecosystem
-  Engage the private sector, academia and civil society in the completion or implementation of the new digital government strategy. -  Consider the integration of new technological trends (cloud computing, blockchain etc.) and digital government paradigms (digital by design, open by default, government as a platform) to secure a shift from e-government to digital government approaches. -  Continue the development of the Integrated Government Resources Planning (IGRP) as an important shared tool that allows better communication. Share information from different government information systems. -  Reinforce the role of the interministerial body with co-ordination responsibilities to synchronise actions, projects and possible synergies on digital government. -  Clarify the role of the Operational Unit for the Information Society (NOSI) (Núcleo Operacional da Sociedade de Informação) in the governance framework. -  Consider the development of a digital skills training programme for government officials focused on the promotion of user, professional and complementary competencies. -  Harmonise the remuneration of ICT professionals across the public sector in order to mitigate potential brain-drain.
Citizen-driven approaches for a sustainable and coherent digital service
-  Rationalise the number of public sector portals providing services to citizens and businesses, and increase efforts to concentrate services in the Porton di nos Ilha portal. -  Reinforce efforts to map service delivery processes in the entire public administration to proceed with simplification and digitalisation efforts. -  Adopt digital authentication and digital signatures in citizen and business services through the use of the recently launched National Identification Card (Cartão Nacional de Identificação). -  Expand and scale up the use of mobile technologies for public service delivery across sectors and levels of government to simplify and improve the convenience of the interactions between citizens, businesses and the public sector. -  Reinforce NOSI’s responsibility to design and implement an open government data and open source software initiative in order to promote the transparency of government activities and reinforce citizen trust, better enable public-private value co-creation, and strengthen the competitiveness of national digital technology companies. -  Create a resource centre/online platform to provide remote learning tools for municipal officials (manuals of procedures, laws and forums). -  Establish and implement protocols for the mutual exchange and use of data among government agencies.

Guinea-Bissau

 

Proposals for action
Core government functions and digital solutions
-  Take the necessary steps to support the effective functioning of the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA ++) and the Integrated Public Financial Management System (SIGFIP). Connect these systems to the central treasury to secure and safeguard the government’s revenue pipeline and enable coherent financial forecasting. -  Digitise the public service registry to stabilise the payroll and ensure government oversight and management of its human resources. Prioritise the rationalisation of security service personnel (police and military), teachers and health professionals. -  Continue the development of the Integrated Human Resources Management System of the Public Administration (SIGHRAP) with a view to creating a government database to enable single payroll management. -  Take the necessary measures to create a decentralised communication network between public administration services.
Institutional foundations for a sound digital government ecosystem
-  Develop a digital government strategy as a means to define common goals and streamline priorities for the digitalisation of the public sector of Guinea-Bissau. Engage the digital government ecosystem of stakeholders in this process to ensure co-ownership and co-responsibility. -  Reinforce and clarify the leadership and co-ordination role of the Centre for the Technological Valorisation and Electronic Governance (Centro de Valorização Tecnológica e Governação Electrónica, CEVATEGE) and consider prospects to secure a pipeline of human and financial resources to support its functioning. -  Establish guidelines for the pre-evaluation of digital technology investments above a certain threshold, under the leadership of CEVATEGE. -  Consider the creation of a digital government steering committee, bringing together the senior officials that co-ordinate ICT policy in several sectors of government. Chaired by CEVATEGE, the committee should be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the new digital government strategy and securing the co-ordination of efforts across the public administration of Guinea Bissau.
Citizen-driven approaches for a sustainable and coherent digital service
-  Digitalise the civil registry as a first step towards the development of a digital identity framework that can allow the country to leapfrog several stages of digital government development. -  Prioritise the short-term development of an integrated portal with information about public services available across the public administration. -  Prioritise the development of innovative e-Education and e-Health solutions in partnership with donors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). -  Establish a network of spaces of assisted access to digital services in order to guarantee the delivery of public services to segments of the population less familiar with the use of digital tools. -  Establish national digital skills development programmes with a view to enabling implementation in rural areas to improve digital literacy, reduce the digital divide and promote access to and use of digital public services.

Mozambique

 

Proposals for action
Core government functions and digital solutions
-  Continue prioritising the establishment of a link between district budgets and plans and the e-SISTAFE terminal to strengthen decentralised public finance management. -  Continue to develop a human resources management system that integrates information on the entire life cycle of public administration employees. -  Support the initiatives of the National Institute of Statistics in the development of applications and systems to archive, disseminate and grant access to statistical products and indicators by the government, citizens and companies, including the production of vital statistics. -  Consider the creation of centralised vital statistics database at the Ministry of Justice.
Institutional foundations for a sound digital government ecosystem
-  Adopt a standard, safe and secure government e-mail solution for all government officials. -  Secure the active engagement of the ecosystem of stakeholders in the development, implementation and monitoring of digital government initiatives and projects. -  Develop a monitoring methodology to measure the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the new Information Society Policy (2018). -  Designate the National Institute of Electronic Government (INAGE) (Instituto Nacional do Governo Electrónico) the responsibility to develop and implement technical standards and guidelines for application in the development of public IT systems. -  Identify and implement policy levers that can enable INAGE to develop coherent and sustainable digital government, including, for example, co-funding mechanisms, the co-ordination of public ICT procurement policy, and the pre-evaluation of digital technology investments through standardised business cases. -  Launch the new Information Society Policy to drive digital government development in the country.
Citizen-driven approaches for a sustainable and coherent digital service
-  Prioritise implementation of the interoperability project to enable mutual exchange and use of data among public sector institutions. -  Digitise the civil register as a key requisite for developing a digital identity framework that can support relationships between citizens and businesses and the public sector. -  Enhance the use of the public data centre, namely the Maluana data centre, by different sectors, levels and institutions of government. -  Secure a multichannel policy for service delivery that enables the government to respond to user preferences and demands in a way that is tailored to different levels of digital user skills. -  Implement a one-stop-shop policy for face-to-face and digital service delivery that gives citizens and businesses integrated access to services provided by several institutions. Examples such as the e-Bau and the Mozambique Community Network (MCNET) could be considered as a reference. -  Set-up a network of spaces for assisted access to digital services to enhance the delivery of public services for citizens and business less familiar with the use of digital tools.

Sao Tome and Principe

 

Proposals for action
Core government functions and digital solutions
-  Finalise the creation of a government private network that can connect public sector institutions and provide shared digital services. -  Subject to the availability of additional resources, establish a communication platform for the public sector in order to create the foundations for a unified joint digital document management system (case management system) for the public administration. -  Create a human resources management system for the public administration, namely to automate the process of authorising the payment of salaries.
Institutional foundations for a sound digital government ecosystem
-  Adopt a standardised, safe and secure government e-mail network for all governmental officials. -  Adopt procedures for the pre-evaluation of public digital technologies investments above a certain threshold. -  Establish guidance to engage an ecosystem of public, private and civil society stakeholders in the design, implementation and monitoring of digital government policies. -  Reinforce the mandate and responsibilities of the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge (INIC, Instituto de Inovacão e Conhecimento) to lead and co-ordinate the digital government policy in the country. Allocate the proper human and financial resources. -  Establish a career path for ICT professionals within the public sector and develop ICT skills training programmes for government officials that are focused on the promotion of user, professional and complementary competencies.
Citizen-driven approaches for a sustainable and coherent digital service
-  Complete digitalisation of the civil register to better manage citizen data and improve citizen access and interactions with the public sector. -  Digitise population registry, real-estate information (land cadastre and registration of ownership), business registry, vehicle registry, identification of physical and legal persons, and establish mechanisms to ensure the security and integrity of these records. -  Adopt functional interoperability standards and work processes for digital registries to ensure the availability, integrity and security of stored data. -  Create a digital one stop shop for the delivery of services to citizens and companies (e.g. Porton de nos Ilha in Cabo Verde). -  Engage the private sector in the provision of technical solutions to facilitate digital public services delivery (e.g. e-payment of taxes and fees). -  Set-up a network of spaces for assisted access to digital services to enhance the delivery of public services for citizens and business less familiar with the use of digital tools.

Timor-Leste

 

Proposals for action
Core government functions and digital solutions
-  Upgrade the operability of Freebalance across government. -  Update and cross-reference data between tax administration, social security, public service and civil registries. -  Support the mission of the Directorate-General Statistics and Directorate-General Policy & Research within the Ministry of Finance to collect data with the objective of later developing applications and systems to archive, disseminate and grant access to statistical products and indicators for government, citizens and companies. -  Develop standard e-mail solutions for all governmental officials and a secure and back-up mailing system for officials.
Institutional foundations for a sound digital government ecosystem
-  Clarify the different roles of TIC Timor, the National Directorate of ICT (Ministry of Development and Administrative Reform) and the Authority for the Regulation of Communications (Autoridade Reguladora das Comunicações), and agree on mechanisms to promote shared information and communication exchange and co-ordination. -  Implement the National Policy for ICT 2017-2019, namely the digital government component, and establish measures to monitor and assess the impact of the digital government policy and programmes. -  Establish guidance to engage public, private and civil society actors in the design, implementation and monitoring of digital government policies. -  Create a professional ICT cadre and career within the public administration to support the recruitment and retention of ICT skills within government. -  Develop ICT skills training programmes for delivery at the national level, as well as in rural areas, to improve digital literacy and reduce the digital divide.
Citizen-driven approaches for a sustainable and coherent digital service
-  Establish the interoperability of inter-government ICT systems to cross-reference data between civil registries, the tax administration and the social security system. Develop an interoperability framework based on good practice experience in these areas. -  Consider prioritising a multichannel and one stop shop policy for service delivery, enabling the government to respond to citizen and business preferences and different levels of digital user skills when accessing public services. -  Develop training programmes to improve citizens’ digital skills, to be implemented through the use of free-internet zones, especially in the rural areas, in partnership with donors, businesses, foundations and NGOs. -  Expand and replicate digital services delivery innovations beyond pilot districts (for example, Liga Inan, mobile health services, and Hamutuk, nutrition projects). -  Foster the use audio-visual tools in schools, especially in rural areas, and create online libraries. Extend the training programmes on digital skills at the national level, especially in the rural areas, in order to improve digital literacy and reduce the digital divide.

Laying the foundations for a digital government roadmap in the PALOP-TL region

In light of the key assessments exposed above, the PALOP-TIL governments should consider jointly implementing the following policy recommendations:

 

Proposals for action
1. Co-ordination and institutional co-operation
1.1  Strength co-ordination and synergies among PALOP-TL Countries on digital government by building on existing good practices and experiences among the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), PALOP-TL, and European Union Development Co-operation programmes. Regular meetings should take place that bring together high level representatives from each of the countries, involving national chief information officers and digital government experts or specialists to undertake the following: a.  Steer and oversee the implementation of the PALOP-TL Common Action Plan for Digital Government (see proposal for action 1.2). b.  Exchange knowledge, explore synergies for co-operation and discuss priorities for the development of digital government in the region. c.  Develop and implement shared strategies to seek funding for common initiatives and projects (including grants and loans from multilateral and bilateral organisations, public-private partnerships, triangular and delegated co-operation modalities, EU blending operation and other innovative financing instruments). 1.2  Elaborate a prioritised, sequenced and time bound PALOP-TL Common Plan of Action for Digital Government. The action plan could develop or strengthen shared knowledge and reinforce co-operation between the countries of the region, including in the following areas: a.  The necessary alignment with the national digital government and/or information society strategies, exploring possible synergies and joint efforts for the accomplishment of the public administration reform plans, aligned with the national and PALOP-TL regional development strategies. b.  The possible alignment with the digital agenda of the CPLP. c.  The involvement of the digital government ecosystem of stakeholders (e.g. public, private and civil society) in the design, implementation and monitoring of the action plan in order to promote co-ownership and co-responsibility. d.  The establishment of a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system and methodology to ensure that the results and objectives underway are achieved and to enable transparency mechanisms that can strengthen citizens’ trust.
2. Knowledge sharing and skills
2.1. Promote knowledge exchange initiatives that can strengthen the co-operation among the countries on several digital government topics and enhance shared efforts towards the digital transformation of the public sector. The following specific initiatives should be considered: a.  Ensure the sustainability of the Digital Government PALOP-TL portal to exchange knowledge and information and share good practices. b.  Create a group of digital government users or practitioners to share experiences across PALOP-TL countries on “what works and what does not work” in the key digital government domains (e.g. digitisation of public records, interoperability, digital identity, and digital services delivery, such as e-health and e-education projects, and multichannel services delivery). c.  Organisation of an annual event that could bring together public, private and civil society stakeholders to discuss the opportunities, challenges and trends on PALOP-TL digital government co-operation. A joint effort with the annual e-Governance Conference of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries Community (CPLP) could be explored. 2.2 Develop and implement a digital skills development programme for the PALOP-TL region to enable shared knowledge and learning and collectively develop digital competencies and capacities across PALOP-TL public services. The programme could include the following activities or components: a.  Shared e-learning platform with common training courses for adoption or use by public administrations in each of the countries. b.  Internships and secondments for ICT Professionals in different countries of the region. c.  Partnerships between academic institutions for joint research and development on digital government.
3. Developing joint guidelines and standards
3.1 Promote the adoption of common interoperability standards that can enable public data exchange and reuse in the region. Building on the national efforts underway, a PALOP-TL Interoperability Framework and a list of standards for the region could be considered. 3.2 Adopt a regional open government data policy to improve government transparency and reinforce the co-creation of public value. The regional open government data policy would benefit from the following actions: a.  Identification of common areas and an indicative list of open government datasets to be prioritised (e.g. official statistics, national budget information, basic geospatial information). b.  Development of a PALOP-TL open government data platform that is integrated into the digital government PALOP-TL portal, and which serves to aggregate information from existing national portals (public institution portals or central open government portals). 3.3 Consider the adoption of a regional initiative for free and open source software to optimise software investments and promote the shared use of public applications and software and competitive software development. To achieve this a common platform for sharing software and source code data could be developed and integrated in the Digital Government PALOP-TL portal. It could also provide access to a catalogue of software (and implementation service provides) for reuse or adoption. 3.4 Develop and adopt a regional PALOP-TL agreement for the common recognition of digital identity certificates, and promote the use of digital authentication and digital signatures across national digital services. Given their advanced capabilities in these areas, Angola, Cabo Verde and Mozambique could assume a leading role. 3.5. Develop a common digital service delivery standard for the PALOP-TL region. The standard could build on existing lessons and experience to aggregate general principles to support digital public services delivery in PALOP-TL countries (e.g. understand user needs, agile and user-driven processes, make source code open, measure performance). The adoption and application of the common standard should be voluntary.
4. Integrated CPLP trading and cross-border services
4.1 Develop a CPLP single trading window. This initiative would be led by the customs services of each PALOP-TL country and build on the existing efforts of the Timor-Leste Government to integrate trading procedures between CPLP countries and to link CPLP with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) trading region. Next steps for implementation could include: a.  Support for the completion of Timor-Leste’s single window pilot project or initiative a.  Adoption of a single window development protocol for replication and roll-out among PALOP-TL countries. b.  Systems audit of existing customs PALOP-TL customs services to gauge the viability of adopting the single window protocol. c.  Development of an action plan with attendant project resources to support implementation and roll-out. 4.2 Develop a cross-border services initiative to promote social and economic integration and citizen mobility across the PALOP-TL region. Building on the agreement and willingness expressed by the PALOP-TL countries during the annual e-Governance Conferences of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries Community (CPLP), the initiative could include the following steps: b.  Analysis, identification and prioritisation of key cross border services (e.g. company creation, issuance of birth certificates and passports). c.  Pilot new and ongoing initiatives to test potential systems linkages and end-user demand. d.  Develop and pilot test PALOP-TL services counters to enable the delivery of public services from PALOP-TL countries in existing physical one-stop shops (e.g. SIAP in Angola, Citizen’s Home in Cabo Verde). Through assisted access, citizens and companies could apply for digital services provided in another country of the region (e.g. an Angolan citizen living in Cabo Verde could require his birth certificate or his criminal record in one of the citizen’s homes).