IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The biometrics business continues as normal in parts of Africa. A new ePassport agency opens in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, despite closed borders and social distancing requirements. Idemia appoints a new East Africa sales director, soon after its good news in Kenya. Nigeria connects more bank accounts to national IDs, Malawi strikes off over 4,000 potential ‘ghost pensioners,’ and at the humanitarian end of the spectrum, the UNHCR is continuing its biometric registration work as it faces tens of thousands of refugees arriving in Niger.

• Secondary schools in East Africa were the host sites for a one-year study to understand how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and training support could improve education
• In one year, teachers reported significant increase in skill and comfort with using ICT for educational purposes
• Study makes recommendations in key intervention areas for successful, sustainable integration of ICT in schools for the purposes of improved learning outcomes

The web ranking by higher education search engine and directory, 4icu (International Colleges and Universities) shows the most popular university websites in Africa are those in Egypt, South Africa and Morocco.

Cairo, Cape Town and Pretoria universities top the list of 100 most popular colleges.

Amid calls for regional harmonisation of cyber-crime laws, the government of Kenya is proceeding with the passage of a bill to address the growing problem of cyber-crime.

The Kenya government is set to pass the Computer and Cybercrime Bill into law after its approval by cabinet as east African countries push for regional harmonisation of cyber-crime laws.

Rwanda native Ngenzi “Joseph” Lune recently earned a Certified Telehealth Coordinator certificate from the Southside Telehealth Training Academy and Resource Center (STAR) at NCI — without leaving that country.

STAR’s purpose, according to NCI Communications and Marketing Director Autumn Morris, is to provide health care providers the tools and knowledge to provide efficient remote care using video conferencing and at-home patient monitoring systems.

The members of the East Africa Community are planning to establish an Information Access Centre (IAC) to boost digital government in the region, Frank Tumwebaze, Uganda’s minister for ICT & national guidance, has told Global Government Forum in a telephone interview.

“We are looking for funds from our development partners so that we can embark on the establishment, and we expect this to commence by 2020,” he said. The IAC will facilitate e-government initiatives to support public bodies across the region, Tumwebaze said – developing IT projects to promote business development and providing an incubation facility for innovative schemes.

Smile Telecom Holdings has launched the first voice over LTE (VoLTE) service in East Africa offering high-definition voice and video calling services.

Smile intends to provide VoLTE throughout East Africa, allowing it to meet the growing data demands of enterprises as it launches attractive new services to consumers over its LTE network. The VoLTE service was launched initially in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, as well as in Entebbe and Mukono and will later be rolled-out in the towns and cities of Jinja, Mbale, Soroti, Tororo, Lira, Gulu, Masindi, Kasese, Fort Portal, Kabale, Mbarara and Masaka.

iHub Research, today presented a report on a study they undertook in 2014 to assess how ICT tools are being used, for and in various aspects of governance in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. This study, with an aim to bridge the research and insights gap on ICT use in East Africa, sought to answer the following:

• Which ICT tools are used in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania addressing these four aspects of governance,
  • Access to information
  • Service delivery
  • Tracking corruption
  • Citizen participation
• In which ways are ICT tools used in the above four areas?
• What successes and challenges exist in the use of these tools?