Uganda's Ministry of ICT and National Guidance presents new Digital Transformation Roadmap

On 19 April, the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance presented the Digital Transformation Roadmap to Ugandan and European digital stakeholders. The objective was to increase coordination and ensure that all partners can effectively contribute to the successful implementation of the roadmap of the Ugandan Government.

The Digital Transformation Roadmap, which was developed with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will help strengthen implementation of the Digital Uganda Vision 2040 and develop complementary strategies to accelerate the country’s digital revolution. Concretely, it aims to streamline investments for the digital space, enable the utilisation of big data to mitigate risks, accelerate the digital skills programme in schools across the country, and support the national digital agenda.

Dr. Aminah Zawedde, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, declared: “Our aspiration is nothing short of transformative: to create a more open, transparent, and accessible Uganda that leaves no one behind. We believe that digital technology can play a pivotal role in achieving this goal, by empowering individuals and communities, enhancing transparency and accountability, and fostering inclusive economic growth.”

The presentation of the Digital Transformation Roadmap by the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance took place at a workshop facilitated by GIZ Uganda, Enabel, and ESTDEV as part of the African Union - European Union (AU-EU) Digital for Development (D4D) Hub, with the support of UNDP and Cluj IT Cluster Romania. The event was held at the National ICT Innovation Hub Nakawa.

The AU-EU D4D Hub is a project that gathers European partners with the objective of jointly advancing digital cooperation with African countries. As such, the workshop aimed at strengthening ongoing EU-Uganda collaborations and ensuring that they contribute to achieving Uganda’s digital priorities.

“I am pleased to note that Uganda’s Digital Transformation Roadmap is well aligned with the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative, which offers investment opportunities in infrastructure development aimed at connecting our people, societies and economies, through trust and sustainability,” declared Mr. Lennart Deridder, Team Leader for Inclusive Green Economy at the European Union Delegation to Uganda. “Digital transformation is an integral part of the cooperation of the European Union Delegation and its Member States in a Team Europe approach in Uganda.”

With the participation of over 100 representatives of the private sector, civil society, international partners, and academia, an important objective of the workshop was to foster better coordination of efforts so that all partners in the digital ecosystem contribute towards a common goal.

“Experience has shown that actors often end up duplicating efforts due to lack of coordination, or great initiatives are not utilised to their full potential due to lack of information sharing. Strong leadership is needed to ensure the coordination is effective, and Uganda can look to other countries, both African and European, for best practices on how this can be achieved. Today we started the process, and we are looking forward to more exchanges in future,” declared Mr. James Macbeth Forbes, Country Director at GIZ Uganda.

The Digital Transformation Roadmap draft will continue validation before a final version is published. In parallel, participants of the workshop committed to developing a coordination structure to support its implementation.