Current ICT Initiatives and projects - Ethiopia

ICT Initiatives are primarily focused on eGovernment and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), eInfrastructure including EthERNet (Ethiopian Education and Research Network), Entrepreneurship and eEducation.

A number of national initiatives have been undertaken over recent years focused on stimulating the use of ICT including: the National Data Set; National Enterprise Service Bus (NESB); Public Key Infrastructure (PKI); EthioICT-Village; WoredaNet; Integrated Financial Management Information System; ICT Business Incubation Centre; EthERNet (Ethiopian Education and Research Network) and SchoolNet.

eGovernment Initiatives

National Data Set

This project aimed to provide a national level data set of commonly used data elements across Ministries, which can be used by all inter-ministerial applications as well as channels of delivery (national portal, mobile portal, CSC, NCC etc.) for delivering eServices. The National Open data set Master Plan was completed in 2015. The implementation stage is in progress for seventeen Ministries and agencies.

Coverage: All Ministries and Agencies of Ethiopia

Project Duration: 2014 - September 2015 Master Plan, Implementation stage ongoing

National Enterprise Service Bus (NESB)

The objective of this project was to provision a platform for seamless integration of Ministry / agency applications and database at the back end; integrating all front-end channels to deliver eServices. The National Enterprise Service Bus Master Plan preparation was completed in 2015.

Coverage : All Ministry and agency application identified in the eGovernment strategy

Project Duration: 2013 - 2015

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

The objective of this project is to provide PKI based identification, integrity and non-repudiation for online transactions related to the eGovernment projects in Ethiopia. This project is still ongoing.

Coverage : Nationwide initiative for issuance and use of PKI for all electronic transactions for government and private

Project Duration : Ongoing

Open Data Implementation

The project aims to implement open data at national level. The platform is already developed and has sixteen data sets on it. The policy and guideline development is ongoing.

Project Duration : May 2015 - February 2016 (Initial setup)

EthioICT-Village

MCIT is in the process of setting up the EthioICT-Village in an area of 200 hectares in Addis Ababa, which aims to establish Ethiopia as the premier IT Hub of Africa. It aims to provide a world-class business environment along with a conductive policy and regulatory framework, state-of-the-art infrastructure and value proposition. It will incorporate an ICT Business zone, Assembly and Warehouse zone and a Knowledge Park zone.

The EthioICT-Village is going to be developed in two phases. The construction of the first phase with an area of approximately 70 hectares has been completed. More than 20 international and local ICT companies have setup business activities from the IT Park. The second phase of the construction has started in September 2017 and will take 2-3 years.

Funding sources: Government of Ethiopia

WoredaNET

WoredaNET is an eGovernment network connecting more than 900 local, regional and federal government offices across the country. It is a terrestrial and satellite based network designed with the primary objective to provide ICT services such as video conferencing, directory, messaging and Voice Over IP, and Internet connectivity to the federal, regional and "woreda" level government entities. The WoredaNet implementation project was part of the broader eGovernment Strategy.

The goal of WoredaNet is to establish a multi-service IP-based service by the use of Terrestrial Broadband and VSAT infrastructure for the delivery of services to government and the citizens. The initiative is aimed towards the improvisation of Federal and Regional Government administrative efficiency, effectiveness and productivity, as well as, information provision and service delivery to the public at large.

The main objectives of the project include:

- To bridge the digital divide between urban and rural communities;

- To provide knowledge and information to citizens;

- To build organizational capacity at all levels of government;

- To provide the lowest level of government with accurate and timely information.

The second phase has commenced.

Geographic scope and frame: All the participating ministries, agencies, regional and local government offices to be covered in the Woreda-net. 216 electronic services (informational and transactional) and more than 25 mobile applications have been developed and operationalised.

Funding source: Government of Ethiopia

Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS)

IFMIS enables public institutions to use a single system with extensive facilities from one physical source. This enables the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) to improve the quality of financial decision-making by generating timely financial information. IFMIS is implemented in government offices.

Geographic scope and frame : Regional and Federal Offices

Funding sources : Government of Ethiopia

ICT Business Incubation Centre (MICT-BIC)

MICT-BIC was initiated in 2008 under the Information and Communication Technology Assisted Development (ICTAD) Project of EICTDA in cooperation with the World Bank and the German Development Service. The project aims to provide solutions to difficulties that graduates of higher education institutions in Tigray Region, Amhara Region, Oromiya Region and South Nations and Nationalities Region are facing such as finding employment in governmental and private organisations. The main objective of MICT-BIC is to serve as a vehicle for development of competitive ICT based MSEs and foster technology innovation in the above mentioned regions.

The Incubation Programme is targeted at graduates with ICT related business ideas and young companies that are interested in incubation services. MICT-BIC is offering individual advisory and support to develop a comprehensive business plan. In addition, the incubation centre provides a standardized training programme on entrepreneurship, business plan development and incubation services. Currently there are two Incubation centres in Jigjiga and Diredawa, which are commencing activities.

Geographic scope: Tigray Region, SNNP Region, Amhara Region, Diredawa and Somali

Financing sources: Government of Ethiopia, World Bank, German Development Service

eEducation Initiatives

EthERNEt - Ethiopian Educational and Research Network

EthERNet was initiated in 2001 as part of a national capacity building program to provide connectivity and specialised applications for schools and local governments. It aimed to build and deliver highly interconnected and high-performance networks for Universities and other Educational and Research Institutions in Ethiopia. EthERNet has a network with 20Mbit/sec. Plans have been made to build the next generation network that would provide 10Gbit/sec to each of the public universities while interconnecting them. The Ministry of Education is working with ICT Centre of Excellence (Ethiopia) to build a strong organisational framework for EthERNet.

Geographic Scope and frame: 37 Ethiopian public universities are connected

Funding source : Government of Ethiopia

SchoolNet

SchoolNet is a satellite-based network that provides Internet connectivity as well as TV-broadcast educational content to secondary schools across Ethiopia. SchoolNet aims to provide students in rural schools with access to equal learning opportunities to those in urban schools.

The Ministry of Education of Ethiopia launched the SchoolNet Project in 2003 with support from UNDP. In 2017, around 1530 schools were connected through this project. The SchoolNet project is ongoing to connect more schools and to provide Internet access.

Geographic scope and frame : high schools, and preparatory Schools, total of 1530+

Funding sources : Government of Ethiopia and UNDP