What African countries can learn from the continent's top performers in e-government

The paper analyzes e-government in Mauritius, South Africa, Seychelles, and Tunisia, arguing that a modular approach focusing on user experience can bypass the slow progress of traditional 'whole-of-government' strategies.

• Four African countries score above the global average in the United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI): Mauritius, South Africa, Seychelles, and Tunisia.
• Mauritius is identified as the top performer when operational criteria are prioritized, distinguished by its 'InfoHighway' platform which enables 'seamless, full data-sharing between government agencies' in real time.
• South Africa leads the four countries in overall EGDI scoring and possesses the continent's most extensive backbone network infrastructure, though it struggles with 'overlapping mandates' among institutions and incomplete transversal integration.
• Seychelles excels in telecommunications infrastructure and digital literacy but its e-government approach is 'inward-looking', prioritizing internal government functions over outward-facing service delivery to citizens and businesses.
• Tunisia possesses a robust institutional framework and a highly educated population, but suffers from a 'fragmentation of approaches' and a lack of a clear, implemented digitization strategy.
• The authors propose a 'Levels of e-government' framework (comprising interface, data exchange, and infrastructure) to allow policymakers to adopt a modular approach, focusing on 'outside in' delivery to improve user experience in the short term rather than waiting for expensive, long-term 'whole-of-government' integration.

APA

Goldmark, L., Denguezli, H., & Jorge (2024). What African countries can learn from the continent's top performers in e-government. Africa Policy Research Institute. https://afripoli.org/what-african-countries-can-learn-from-the-continents-top-performers-in-e-government

Chicago

Goldmark, Lara, Hamza Denguezli, and Jorge. What African countries can learn from the continent's top performers in e-government. Africa Policy Research Institute, 2024. https://afripoli.org/what-african-countries-can-learn-from-the-continents-top-performers-in-e-government.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Goldmark |first1=Lara |last2=Denguezli |first2=Hamza |last3=Jorge |title=What African countries can learn from the continent's top performers in e-government |publisher=Africa Policy Research Institute |date=4 July 2024 |url=https://afripoli.org/what-african-countries-can-learn-from-the-continents-top-performers-in-e-government |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{goldmark2024what, author = {Goldmark, Lara and Denguezli, Hamza and Jorge}, title = {{What African countries can learn from the continent's top performers in e-government}}, institution = {Africa Policy Research Institute}, year = {2024}, month = jul, url = {https://afripoli.org/what-african-countries-can-learn-from-the-continents-top-performers-in-e-government}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }