Burkina Faso, like many other African countries, is currently working on digitizing services for citizens. The executive's goal is to fully digitize administrative procedures by 2025.

Burkina Faso's public administration is poised for a digital overhaul, with the Council of Ministers approving a decree on Wednesday to streamline the deployment of robust information systems and high-quality digital platforms.

This initiative, championed by Digital Transition Minister Aminata Zerbo/Sabane, targets a more efficient and effective public service. The decree aims to reduce processing times, facilitate citizen access to services, and ultimately deliver user-friendly, high-quality platforms.

The new measures address longstanding issues that have hampered past digitization efforts, including inadequate pre-launch testing, platform incompatibility, and poor communication between government departments.

This aligns with the National Strategy for the Modernization of Public Administration (SNMAP) 2021-2025, which envisions a model public administration by 2025, underpinned by republican values and focused on serving citizens.

An evaluation by the Ministry of Digital Transition in February revealed that, as of then, 83.97% of administrative procedures were undergoing digitization. The new decree is expected to tighten management of platform rollouts, ensuring the quality of e-services, user data protection, and ultimately, a more secure and efficient public administration.

Samira Njoya