Rwanda Leads The Way In ICT In Africa?

The case for ICT in the drive to develop a knowledge economy is never in doubt. Rwanda's ICT programme is bold, focused and comes with dept. The government has taken leadership in promoting ICT as a tool for development. Perhaps, it is one of the few countries on the continent, which is walking the talk on using ICT as the new goldmine, the new frontier. The ICT project in Rwanda is no longer a proposal on paper nor a vision. It is a work very much on a transformational journey. I hope of this vision for many African nations.

The overall vision is to us ICT as a tool for socio-economic development to fast track Rwanda's transition into a middle-income country by 2020 and thus becoming the regional ICT Hub. Like the dream of many an African nations, and proven in South Korea and elsewhere, ICT is a powerful tool for development (ICT4D) and a source of great wealth. Rwanda ranks 32 globally today.

Investments and Achievements
1. The government has attracted three national carriers; MTN Rwanda, Tigo Rwanda and Airtel Rwanda which operates competitively to deliver data and voices services at affordable prices.

2. Availability of a National Data Centre with a new cloud computing platform to centrally host Public and Private sector applications and services. (Rwanda is among the very few countries with highly available, resilient and robust data centre infrastructure on the continent, and will position the country to offer very stable online services.)

3. Rwanda was ranked the most dynamic African country in the ITU ICT Development Index (IDI), in the ITU “Measuring the Information Society 2012'.

4. The incorporation of a company, Broadband Systems Corporation (BSC), to commercialize the National Fibre Optic Backbone, the Kigali metropolitan Network and the National Data Centre, which was launched in May 2012, has proven key and beneficial. BSC provides data services to Government institutions and selling excess capacity to Telecom Operators at a cheaper market costs.

5. The Government invested in laying out a national Fibre Optic Backbone that reaches all the 30 districts of the country and 9 border posts. In total, more than 4500 km of fibre were deployed both under ground and over power transmission lines.

6. Several new Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Citizens (G2C) Services have launched, including:

a. There is an ePayment system, which allows citizens to pay their taxes online through their banks, hence reducing queues and time.

b. The Single Electronic Window System, a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements, hence reducing the cost of doing business due to online clearance and allowing simplified procedures.

10. Rwanda has six technology incubating centres including The kLab (knowledge Lab) as the first ever “ICT Innovation Centre” in the country and made operational. kLab, is a technology space (a form of Incubation Centre), which brings like-minded innovators together and give them the resources they need to explore their ideas, learn from each other, and develop innovative ICT solutions.

On the health front, the percentage of health facilities with functional infrastructure (computer, Internet, including modems) has reached 84%. This allows the health facilities to access health information systems and medical records systems and provide better and timely reporting.

In a bid to improve and open governance, I notice the following milestones;

1. The installation of Access Points (2 per sectors), which are fully owned and managed by relevant administrative districts have improved governance. With consideration to the existing Business Development Centres, these access points are now totalling to 91 Access Points, providing Business Plans, ICT trainings and access to online information and services.

2. Additionally, Document Tracking was deployed in 25 institutions (with almost all ministries) and currently being deployed for 40 additional institutions (that includes all provinces & districts). This automated tool allows sensible reduction of paper usage in Government. It also speed up processes. This is more or less a paperless government.

Rwanda has Automated Passenger Clearance System, a system that support the automation of the migration services rendered to border communities and airports and streamlines data uniformly to enhance speed and efficiency of operations.

Additionally, there is also the Biometric data, which removes the need for human input and passport stamps, reduces the migration clearance processing time, eliminates risks of fraud and detects use of illegal and forged documents.

On agriculture Sector there is an eSoko system, which has empowered farmers by giving them timely access to price information. The system currently undertakes nearly 100,000 transactions. There is also the Fertilizer Voucher Management System has issued more than 120,000 fertilization vouchers, allowing nearly 3 million farmers to benefit from the fertilizers distribution countrywide.

Challenges and Solutions
Challenges include; Low electricity penetration, which makes it use of conventional gadget challenging; Low per capita; Low purchasing power, which makes it difficult for consumers to afford data and apps and hardware; Low internet penetration and Low digital appreciation and literacy

On the electricity challenge, The ICT Minister, Jean Philbert, tells me; 'we have learned to use off-grid, low cost solutions such as pre-paid solar power systems'. He went on to add, 'we have launched the first Solar Powered Internet School in East Africa in partnership with Samsung Electronics'. On the economic front 'we have learned to make ICT solutions affordable. The government has 'promoted schemes that allow consumers to acquire smart devices and pay them into instalments for instance'.

On the digital literacy, 'we have learned that Government alone can not do the job alone so we are working with the Private sector and Civil Society Organisations, especially Faith Based Organisations to promote not only basic literacy but also digital literacy'. This feed into the now popular idea of Private Public Partnership (PPP).

The government has 'several partnerships with global software powerhouses - an example is Facebook with which we developed a program called SocialEDU that extends social networking experience to academic learning.' The program aims at reaching 20,000 students in Rwanda. Nokia, Airtel and EdEx are also part of the same partnership.

Conclusion
Rwanda has moved on to reach milestones. The success story is not the scale of their projects but the vision and discipline to achieve the set agenda. There is tenacity, and purposefulness many an African youth expect their governments to possess.

From the Rwandan ICT4D experience, one senses a real commitment to an agenda, which is purposefully being pursued and hopefully I wish many an African nations took on a more ambitious vision. The ICT arena is a field worth whatever investment governments pumped in. Many an African nations are doing well but largely on paper. There should be much direct efforts from governments in the areas of providing infrastructures and creating the right environment. My call is for direct intervention by government by promoting and investing in infrastructures.

The larger picture for ICT is that, it is high-level revenue and employment generation. By 2016, global ICT revenue is projected to €3,663 billion. As of 2011, Africa's share of the pie was $50 billion. It is respectable but not enough. We can do better and more, if we put our minds and hearts to it. With a major push in ICT, Africa is set to create more than 4-7 million (direct and ancillary) jobs for our youth in the next decade. This is an opportunity we must not miss.

Furthermore, ICT has become a transformational tool in agriculture, health, climate change and financial services. Africa needs to embrace ICT as a prominent tool for development if we are to take a major advantage of its benefits.

It is time to go beyond rhetoric, policy papers and the proverbial “drawing board” and hit the ground running with smart and concrete projects. Luckily, with the enormous proven benefit from ICT investments, the private sector has become ready partner in investment options in the sector. The time is ripe to tap into the ICT surge.

ARNOLD BOATENG
Author, public speaker and Youth Dev. Advocate
Tel: +233-20 98 30 546
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Arnold Boateng,
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