Benin draws lessons from Ethiopia to shape its DPI development roadmap

A Beninese delegation recently visited Ethiopia to learn how the Horn of Africa nation is pursuing its digital transformation, specifically in the areas of digital identity, digital government, and the integration of AI for public service delivery.

In Addis Ababa early this month, the team visited the Modern Ethiopian Service for Organized Benefits (MESOB) infrastructure, which is at the heart of the country’s digital government efforts, as well as the National Identity Program (NIDP), Ethiopia News Agency reports.

During the visit, officials of both delegations shared perspectives on how Benin can learn from Ethiopia’s integrated DPI system, as evidenced in platforms like MESOB which serves as a one-stop shop for access to hundreds of public services using the Fayda digital ID. More than 2,200 services can be accessed on the MESOB platform, which was part of an innovation exhibition recently.

Discussions in the course of the visit essentially touched on how the two countries can better collaborate to simplify access to public and private sector services using digital public infrastructure (DPI).

Benin’s Digital Transformation and Innovation Minister Mahuna Akpoglan described the benchmarking visit as timely and one that would enable his country to tap into Ethiopia’s rich and maturing DPI experience.

Ethiopia has one of the biggest DPI undertakings on the continent at the moment, and the country has continued to build on its Fayda digital ID project launched in 2023. As of August 13, more than 47 million people have been enrolled for the digital ID. Recently, the country also launched its DPI infrastructure management entity Faydaverse as a government-owned enterprise, opening up the possibilities for more collaboration with other nations running DPI ecosystem projects.

Benin hopes this will be useful as it carries on with the development of a DPI roadmap it launched recently in a workshop in Cotonou that brought together experts in the field. The West African country also has a high national identity coverage rate.

Other countries such as Zambia and Mozambique also have formal engagements with Ethiopia for experience-sharing on DPI development. With this, Ethiopia is fast joining the list of countries which are shifting from DPI learners to DPI knowledge exporters.

The development also shows the growing nature of South-South DPI cooperation, which is encouraged by initiatives like the 50-in-5 campaign, of which Benin and Ethiopia are members.

Instead of governments relying exclusively on the World Bank, UN agencies, Western technology companies or consultants to tell them how to build DPI, African governments that have already implemented systems are increasingly becoming reference points for their peers.

Article Topics

Benin  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Ethiopia  |  Fayda  |  government services  |  Modern Ethiopia Service for Organized Benefits (MESOB)