Building relationships and making progress in Kenya’s Human-Centred Digitalisation Initiative

The Kenyan digital development project is part of the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on Human-Centred Digitalisation, implemented by GIZ through the Digital Transformation Center (DTC) and co-financed by Germany and the European Union. It is Estonia's largest foreign-funded project to date.

Under the initiative’s framework, ESTDEV opened a project management unit in Nairobi late last year and hired local representatives Victoria Nkatha, project manager for capacity building, and Christopher Waweru, project manager for e-governance.

Steady progress has been made towards meeting the project’s objectives. Digital capacity training programmes will begin in conjunction with the Kenya School of Government, and government officials will work closely with Estonian companies that have won tenders to carry out various projects. For example, AS Cybernetica will create an interoperability framework using two government registries, Trinidad Wiseman OÜ will develop three use cases for human-centric e-services, and Digital Nation OÜ has drafted policy recommendations for e-governance practices that have now been passed on to Kenyan government stakeholders.

Kenya gains insights from Estonia's digital transformation 

In March, a Kenyan delegation led by Ambassador Isaac John Ochieng, the director general of Kenya’s e-Citizen Services, visited Tallinn to see Estonia’s e-state firsthand. According to Triin Kangur, project manager for international IT projects at ESTDEV, this personal experience has made a big difference in conceptualising the outcomes of this initiative.

“Feedback from the visit to Estonia has been extremely positive, and now interoperability framework and e-governance are no longer empty phrases,” said Kangur. “The delegates saw firsthand how different public registers should exchange information with each other and how a person using a public service needs to submit personal data to the state only once. In the future, these databases will automatically obtain personal data from the registers, thus saving time and financial resources for all parties involved.” 

Overall, this study trip helped officials understand the experience and skills that Estonia brings to the table when it comes to digital transformation matters and increased the buy-in from high-level stakeholders. “Now, there is more trust in our work capability and an increased desire to work on projects,” said Nkatha.

The work done by ESTDEV’s Kenya team to build relationships with the Kenyan government's stakeholders has been key to moving the project forward. Nkatha said the rate of progress in Kenya tends to be slower than in Estonia, as priorities may shift due to the political climate or even the actual climate if a natural disaster requires urgent government attention. Furthermore, Estonians may be used to completing tasks virtually, while in Kenya, “trust built on familiarity” is often required before moving forward.

The team has worked to lay this groundwork, which may ultimately determine the initiative’s success. “Building and strengthening relationships is key for Estonia’s growth process and developing Kenyan buy-in. The groundwork done has been pivotal, as the team has knocked on doors and been extremely persuasive. This has given Estonia an edge in Kenya, and now stakeholders trust Estonia. This is a great achievement,” Nkatha said.

Projects in Africa bring tax revenue to the Estonian economy

For development cooperation projects in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa, ESTDEV aims to work closely with other donors. 

The cooperation agreement signed by ESTDEV and GIZ in May 2023 follows Team Europe’s framework for implementing European initiatives through the Digital Transformation Centre in Kenya. The project’s total cost is 2.4 million euros, of which Estonia has contributed 300,000 and Germany 2.1 million.

“For ESTDEV, this is the largest e-service implementation project in Africa. To make this a success, we are working closely with Kenyan government agencies, the European Union delegation in Kenya, GIZ and the Estonian Information Technology and Telecommunications Union,” Andres Ääremaa, ESTDEV’s programme manager for Digital Transformation.

Such cooperation increases Estonia's influence as a development partner in Kenya, but also brings tax revenues to the Estonian economy," 

Andres Ääremaa, ESTDEV’s programme manager for Digital Transformation

ESTDEV is responsible for managing the entire 2.4 million. “Estonian NGOs, private and public sector companies and experts will have the opportunity to participate by offering their skills and services through public tenders, which will increase Estonia's influence as a development cooperation partner in Kenya and bring tax revenue to the Estonian economy,” explained Ääremaa.

In addition to being the economic centre of the East African region, Kenya is a country with growing export and investment potential. Besides supporting its digital development, Estonian development cooperation in Kenya also addresses stability, security and green economy issues in the Horn of Africa region, as well as multilateral cooperation and promotion of European values. This aligns with Estonia's strategic goals in Africa as outlined in Estonia's African regional strategy 2020-2030, which also sets goals for deepened foreign policy communication and cooperation with Kenya.