Building of an innovative development environment and capacity building for the digitalisation of public services

The Government of the Republic of Benin aims to "transform Benin into West Africa's digital services platform for accelerated growth and social inclusion". To do so, the government has developed a solid administrative framework to underpin its ambitious development objectives. A Ministry for Digitalization was set up in 2016, followed by the establishment of specialized technical agencies for information security, infrastructure development, information systems and services, etc. The "Digital Code" was adopted in 2017, followed by the strategies on cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. Among the government"s flagship projects is the "Smart Government" programme which aims to contribute to the establishment of a modern administration with the help of the Agency for Information and Digital Systems (ASIN). ASIN"s objectives include the widespread use of ICT in public administration and in Benin's social and economic sectors. Over the past three years, Benin has made remarkable progress in digital transformation, designing national e-government frameworks and developing e-services for citizens and businesses. A data exchange solution for public authorities was implemented based on X-Road, the open-source technology used in Estonia. A public key infrastructure has already been put in place; an e-payment system will follow shortly. Benin championed the Smart Africa Digital ID Blueprint to enhance cross-border eID interoperability and the Government successfully conducted a large census for the purpose of identifying people, resulting in nearly 10 million Beninese listed in the National Register of Persons (NPR). Next to civil status data and biometric data, the NPR contains the Personal Identification Number (NPI) that identifies every Beninese citizen. Therefore, NPR is one of the foundations for digital identity and a key element for public e-services provided through a national e-services portal. The latter will serves as a single point of entry to all public services - increasing accountability and accessibility. While still nascent, the portal currently makes some 250 public services accessible and will ultimately be the place where most public services can be accessed digitally. The German Development Cooperation supports the ambitious reform agenda of the Ministry of Digitalization through the Digital Transformation Center approach. The concept of the Digital Transformation Centers is linked to a political initiative of the Federal Republic of Germany to support the governments of partner countries in creating mechanisms and instruments for the development, implementation and dissemination of digital solutions. In Benin, the Digital Transformation Center has worked on three topics: digital administration, digital entrepreneurship and digital learning. The Beninnovation project aims at promoting the collaboration between the public and the local private sector on the digitalisation of public services in Benin. It contributes to unlock the creative and innovative potential of the private sector for the digitalisation of public services by implementing a series of activities. Among those activities are the development of a methodological and technical framework (toolkit) and the preparation of a project pipeline for the digitalisation of services or the establishment of a co-creation space that will enable stakeholders to successfully co-create new ideas and services. These and other activities are complemented by a series of tailor-made training offers for both, the public and the private sector.