IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

President Paul Kagame has said that the increase in digitalising cross-border trade processes has yielded efficient results.

He was speaking at a virtual dialogue of ‘The Digital Revolution: Fostering Inclusion and Resilient Growth’ forum organised by the World Bank Group on April 20.

This was disclosed yesterday by Community Health Workers in Mayange Sector, while speaking to The Sunday Times.

Florence Mukagasana, a community health worker in the sector, noted that the use of mobile telephony to register, track and monitor the progress of pregnant women till delivery had reduced maternal death.

The internet penetration rate, at 9 percent in the country is still low, meaning that few Rwandan citizens access broadband services.

Speaking at the Internet Governance Forum yesterday, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the Minister of Youth and ICT said that the government was doing all it takes to ensure that every Rwandan gets access to affordable and quality internet.

Yet when talking about technology and women in Rwanda, one name will invariably pop up: Clarisse Iribagiza. At just 24, she is the CEO of a mobile computing technology company called HeHe, and she rubbishes the idea that technology is not for women.

The NICI 3 builds on the work and lessons learned from the previous NICI 1 and 2; in this phase, emphasis is put on the service development.

Officiating at the meeting, Ignace Gatare, the Minister in the Office of the President in charge of ICT, said that unlike the first two phases, the third NICI was developed basing on tangible and significant achievements of several already implemented ICT programmes.

In 2006, the Government of Rwanda partnered with the International Telecommunications Union to host the Connect Africa Summit that was held in Kigali the next year.

The leaders of our continent understood that the rapid advances of information and communication technology represented an opportunity for the continent to leapfrog the agrarian and industrial stages of development and compete with the rest of the world in the information age, with a better level playing field.

The parliamentary committee handling Science related affairs on Wednesday finalised the draft law establishing the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA). Next is passing of the Bill by Parliament, paving way for the creation of the Agency.

The government tabled the Bill to form RISA, an agency to co-ordinate and implement ICT initiative and projects.

Members of the public will effective from next week access criminal record certificates through an online platform, the Prosecutor General has confirmed, in a response to public concerns that the current process is complex.

The criminal record certificate is an official document issued to an individual to state their criminal record. Whether the individual holds a criminal record or not, the status is documented on the certificate.

The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) has started issuing criminal record clearance certificates through online, effectively beginning the process to phase out the current system that has stimulated public complaints in the recent past.

The new platform was launched on Monday amidst optimism that it would ease the process of accessing the document—often required to secure various services such as visas, passports and public sector jobs—and help decongest the premises of public prosecution.

From October 2 to 3, Rwanda held the Smart Rwanda conference. Held under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth and ICT the conference flowed from the Smart Africa agenda on which Rwanda plays a pivotal role and is the lead for one of the pillars. The two-day event featured topical ICT content such as Digital Payments, ICT Governance, Internet innovations, Smart City, Open Data and Digital innovations. The state of ICT in Rwanda, ICT business innovations, partnerships, and even bigger opportunities in Broadband and general Data space, were discussed.

Examples will be e-School for instance to support distance learning or e-Health in support of digital health delivery.

Since the late 1980s, the digital revolution has transformed the economy and society. First came the development of a connected economy, characterised by mass take-up of the Internet and the roll-out of broadband networks. This was followed by the development of a digital economy via the increasing use of digital platforms as business models for the supply of goods and services. Now the movement is towards a digitalised economy whose production and consumption models are based on the incorporation of digital technologies in all economic, social, and environmental dimensions.

Direct Pay Online Group has been recognized as one of the best payment platforms in Africa by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

The award comes after the successful completion of comprehensive audits in the Group’s global headquarters and all its other markets including Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies to provide distant clinical healthcare at. The technology helps improve access to medical services that would otherwise not be available in rural areas.

A pilot study is set to be conducted for a period of three months starting on February 1.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K Gasana yesterday met with owners and representatives of driving Schools to review the progress made in exploiting e-services particularly Irembo portal and to draw strategies of future exploitation of electronic services.

During the meeting, the Police Chief rooted for enhanced cooperation and partnership in ensuring both police and driving schools offer quality services to the public.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Emmanuel K. Gasana, yesterday, met with owners and representatives of driving schools to review the progress made in exploiting e-Services, particularly Irembo portal, and to draw strategies of future exploitation of electronic services.

During the meeting, the Police chief rooted for enhanced cooperation and partnership in ensuring both Police and driving schools offer quality services to the public.

Kagame, 56, is credited with lifting Rwanda from the devastation of its 1994 genocide to its fast-paced economy of today. He has said his goal is to make the county an African technology hub. He tweets mostly in English and provides an email address for respondents to write him directly.

When one looks at the historical events that masked this country particularly the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, it is inconceivable to imagine that only 20 years later, Rwandans are daring to challenge themselves with complex projects such as the digitalisation of public services - a model that has continued to evade a significant number of developing countries in spite of their relative peace for many decades.

The Ethiopians are in the country for a one-week tour to learn and share experience on how ICT has successfully been used in education.

The government has been urged to take advantage of the electronic governance systems to rally various stakeholders behind service provision while involving citizens in decision making.

Experts at the ongoing two-day Electronic Governance Forum, convened by the Ministry of Youth and ICT, and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, that opened in Kigali, yesterday, said this was a feasible way to tackle emerging challenges to development efforts.