A team of 20 delegates from Malawi and Ethiopia came for a three-day study tour in Rwanda, where among other things; exchanged ideas in the field of digitalisation of the economy and government services.

This tour was under a programme by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries, which invests in creating new opportunities for poor people and their communities through increasing access to microfinance and investment capital.

The four year programme dubbed ‘Digital Financial Services for Resilience (DFS4Resilience)’ started in 2021 and will run through 2024. It is supported by the European Union and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, and is implemented by the UNCDF.

It aims to deploy digital finance solutions at scale, to deepen financial inclusion and accelerate economic recovery from Covid-19 in order to make economies and societies more resilient to external shocks.

On this tour that happened from May 18 to 20, delegates who represented ministries and institutions of finance and technology in their countries were able to meet experts from different key institutions spearheading the digitalisation of public services in Rwanda.

On May 19, the delegates interacted with the Ministry of ICT and Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA), where they were given an overview of the digitalisation journey in Rwanda ‘zero paper zero trip,’ innovation and programs, and citizen’s empowerment through ICT environment, and implementation.

They also discussed lessons learnt, achievements, challenges, and the way forward.

From the ICT Chamber, they followed a presentation on planning and coordinating the implementation of national ICT for development, in partnership with stakeholders and partners to digitise government services and ensure easy access by the citizens.

The delegates also had an interaction with the Central Bank, BNR, on Rwanda’s digital payments strategy and automation of payment systems’ policies, strategies, challenges and the way forward.

Furthermore, they followed a presentation on Irembo, the one-stop portal for e-Government services in Rwanda.

Grace Kumchulesi, the Director of Development Planning at the National Planning Commission in Malawi said she was more fascinated by how the Irembo application has made a big impact in such a short time.

"It is one of our major interests. I was intrigued by the amount of money that has been collected which would have easily leaked through people’s pockets without benefiting the country. This is very encouraging, considering the challenges that we are also facing in collecting revenue back home,” Kumchulesi said.

Abiyot Bayou, the Director General of the Digital Transformation Program at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in Ethiopia also said he was impressed with the way Irembo operates.

"From RISA, we learned how to involve different stakeholders in the country and how to encourage SMEs in participating in the digital economy, which is very important to have an inclusive digital economy,” Bayou added.

On their last day of the tour, delegates visited, among other places, the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Gisozi, and an Irembo agent who was to further explain digitalisation of services with practical examples of how to apply for government services online.

At the end of the tour, delegates were expected to have a clear understanding of design and implementation aspects, challenges of proposition of digitising government services and payments in Rwanda.

They also were to have a clear understanding of the digitisation of government services that can be accelerated in their country of origin.

In the last four years, Rwanda has received a total of 24 delegations from Ethiopia and Malawi, with around 175 delegates.

A member of the delegation from Malawi asks for clarifications as the delegates interact with the Ministry of ICT and Rwanda Information Society Authority on May 19.

Delegates are in Rwanda through the four year programme dubbed ‘Digital Financial Services for Resilience (DFS4Resilience)’ started in 2021 and will run through 2024. / All Photos by Dan Nsengiyumva

Some members of the Ethiopan delegation follow a presentation during the interaction session at Minstry of ICT during a three-day study tour in Rwanda. / Photo by Dan Nsengiyumva