A Digital Transformation Centre (DTC) has been established in Kenya with the support of the European Union (EU), Germany, and Estonia.
The purpose of the digital transformation centre, which will cost 4 billion Kenyan shillings, or approximately $29 million, is to bolster the digital economy of the East African nation and to support open and inclusive digital governance.
The German government’s primary development organisation, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), will be in charge of carrying out the plan.
The Estonian Centre for International Development will also work together with the GIZ as a partner.
Henriette Geiger, the EU Ambassador to Kenya, stated that the centre will collaborate with partners on major issues of the Kenya Digital Master Plan 2022-2023 in order to establish a digital government that is both open and inclusive.
“The centre will also promote the ethical use of emerging technologies, and youth employment through digital skills and enhance the bridging of the gender digital divide,” Geiger said. “These are all goals that will be advanced by the centre.”
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Kenya’s digital plan
Kenya recently received support from the World Bank, which granted $390 million in funding for the country’s Digital Economy Acceleration Project in April 2023. This support is intended to further amplify the digital economy already present in the country.
This project will concentrate on increasing the country’s access to high-speed Internet, improving the quality of education and selected government services, and developing skills for the regional digital economy.
“We partnered with the government of Kenya to provide solutions that enable an inclusive and human-centered public service delivery,” said Kairi Saar-Isop, the director general for the Department for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid. “We partnered with the government of Kenya to provide solutions that enable an inclusive and human-centered public service delivery.”
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Strategies for the digital transformation of Africa
Recently, African nations have been successful in securing funding and grants to support their objectives for digital transformation.
The World Bank also provided Senegal with finance in the amount of $150 million in April 2023 in order to expedite the digital transformation project that the West African nation was working on.
In addition, the World Bank agreed to provide Ghana with a grant of two hundred million dollars to assist with its digital transition in September of 2022.
In November 2022, the Parliament of Uganda gave its approval to a loan in the amount of 140 million dollars, with the cash being designated for a significant digital project that would increase Internet access in the East African nation.
In addition, the Rwandan government announced in January 2023 that they will be using an AFD loan to fund a digitization project that will cost forty million dollars.