Digital solutions for sustainable development – the Rwandan Digital Transformation Center

Context

The Rwandan Government is aiming to accelerate the country’s development by digitalising the economy and society. For several years, Rwanda has therefore been investing in digital infrastructure, digital skills among the population and digital public services.

A large part of the population, however, has neither direct access to nor the digital skills required to use the information and services on offer. To implement large IT projects, it will be necessary to strengthen the responsible public institutions, primarily the Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Innovation (MINICT) and the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA).

Objective

Digital transformation in Rwanda generates innovative and sustainable solutions. Partner organisations, the population and the private sector have better digital skills.

Approach

The project supports MINICT and RISA in promoting the digital transition in Rwanda. It does this by assisting the Rwandan authorities with their digital transformation and especially in developing the digital solutions needed to tackle social challenges and create a more efficient state.

A further objective is to ensure that disadvantaged groups, such as women, the rural population and people with disabilities, also benefit from digitalisation. The project therefore offers further training courses that are specially designed to provide disadvantaged groups with basic digital skills.

In 2019, the project co-founded the Digital Transformation Center in Kigali to encourage Rwanda’s digital ecosystem. As well as providing work spaces for partners, the centre, which is located in a modern, attractive office building, is used for training sessions and events.

Machine translation is a further priority. The project provides open language data sets in the national language Kinyarwanda and offers training in this area.

Last update: April 2023