Author’s note:Thanks to Sandra Uwadede and Pascaline Umuhire of the ISACA Kigali Chapter, who were key contributors to this blog post.
Digital standards are beneficial. For example, for IT governance, there is e.g. ISO/IEC 38500 and CGEIT; for risk there is e.g. ISO31000 and CRISC; for audit and security there is e.g. ISO/IEC 27000, CISM, and CISA; and for privacy there is e.g. ISO/IEC 27701, GDPR, and CDPSE. Such standards provide objective frames of reference for assessing and developing personal digital proficiency.
Similarly – although a lot less formally – countries can find their assessment and developmental frames of reference by looking to other countries. They may choose to look to countries considered more advanced than they are for inspiration. While useful, the country should take care not to dismiss its own unique achievements in a case of assuming the grass is always greener on the other side.
A global digital benchmark country is recognized as a reference point for digital advances that makes life better for its citizens. It demonstrates remarkable achievements and progress in various aspects of the digital economy. It inspires and provides valuable insights even for developed nations to learn from.
These markers apply equally to any country. Even developed countries can struggle with aspects of digital and the continuous improvement digital transformation demands – for example, some argue that the Canadian federal government needs a booster dose of digital transformation given long lines for in-person services, bad websites, and that some applications for public programs and services are still paper-based.
Rwanda – a landlocked country in east-central Africa – is an example of a country that may need to look a little less to other countries for digital leadership because it is itself a benchmark. For its size, Rwanda has realized extraordinary digital-led outcomes, taking just 20 years to develop from a zero base after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, to digital competitiveness.
I was impressed by the state of digital development I discovered in person while spending 44 days in Rwanda in 2023, initially helping with digital capability development for the Ministry of Health in an engagement funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Alinea International. The work also extended to an engagement in national digital health.
Based on the visit, it was insightful to explore the kinds of digital lessons a country like Canada, where I live, could learn from a country like Rwanda. Consider the following:
A reference point
A digital frame of reference could be global (e.g., Figure 1), but it can also be regional. That’s because solutions to regional challenges could be more successful with regional or local solutions rather than with solutions deployed in totally different geographic contexts.
Figure 1: Rwanda as a world leader in e-government development
More examples of why Rwanda is a digital benchmark:
- The World Economic Forum ranked Rwanda first in Africa for government success in ICT promotion.
- The Index of Economic Freedom ranked Rwanda second in sub-Saharan Africa.
- The World Bank Doing Business index ranked Rwanda 29th — the only low-income country in the top 30. By comparison, Canada ranked only six places higher.
National digital leadership
A key factor driving Rwanda’s digital development was that it identified a big problem to solve. How would it rebuild the economy after the genocide? Its answer was in digital.
Figure 2: National digital leadership - from a problem (economic), to a solution (leap-frogging and national unity), to implementation (building on local ideas)
A thought-provoking finding was the nature of the alignment between various national sector strategies and policies, and the dominance of digital within them by design. This national attempt at breaking down governmental silos and being single-mindedly focused on digital was an eye-opener. Rwanda’s encompassing approach to digital as a means of national competitiveness is encapsulated by the following:
“Rwanda’s history is tainted with a dark past but as a people we have committed to rebuild and emerge as a stronger nation, a developed and inclusive society who is not crippled by her past but rather empowered by it. Among many factors, as a government, we recognized early on the power of digital technologies in leapfrogging us to that interconnected, recovered and resilient society.
“And so, we invested and continue to invest in digital infrastructures that enable data-led public service delivery, and enable our citizens to acquire public services conveniently, transact seamlessly, consult and trade remotely, navigate the cyber space safely, capture aerial data of farms, etc. The journey still continues, as we self-reflect, learn from others and adjust/pivot as needed, and as we also try to tackle other challenges such as digital literacy skills that directly impact citizens’ ability to participate in the digital economy.” - Honorable Minister Paula Ingabire, Ministry of ICT and Innovation.
The emphasis on the continuous improvement of digitalization is an important part of Rwanda’s approach; many seem to miss this critical facet of successful digital transformation.
Remarkable developments
A key measure of national government success is outcomes. Eight remarkable digital achievements in Rwanda include:
- One of only 13 African countries that have e-waste legislation
- Chatbots help Rwandans have easier access to doctors or nurses
- Launched its first telecommunications satellite, Rwa-Sat-1, in 2019
- Innovative technology inspires Rwanda to dream of “Made in Africa”
- One of the first African nations to launch a national drone delivery system
- Rural schools have fast internet from another Rwandan satellite, the Icyerekezo
- African Smart City pioneer. In 2016, buses had free Wi-Fi and cashless payment
- Using digital to evolve from a developing to a developed country (from Figure 2)
Regional influence
Initiatives like the East African Community Single Network Area and the One Area Network for lower cross-border call tariffs (eliminating roaming charges) have been driven by Rwanda’s commitment to regional collaboration. Furthermore, the east African e-Passport initiative enables citizens from Rwanda and other EAC member states to travel across the region using a single digital passport.
Local influence: ISACA Kigali
As part of my time in Rwanda, I took the opportunity to reach out to the leadership of the local ISACA chapter, Sandra Uwadede (Chapter VP) and Pascaline Umuhire (Chapter Director), to learn more about their influence in the local IT environment.
I learned that ISACA Kigali, in its brief three-year journey, is dedicated to advancing cybersecurity practices and nurturing professional growth locally and regionally. Sandra and Pascaline actively collaborate with fellow ISACA chapters across Africa, and they aim to help increasingly empower individuals and organizations with the knowledge and skills essential for navigating the ever-evolving technological landscape.
Figure 3: Sandra, Guy, and Pascaline in Kigali
Indeed, cybersecurity and Rwanda’s recent data protection law are extremely topical in a health context given its highly sensitive data, and much of the conversation about digital health capability was on security standards and audit.
Drawing inspiration from Rwanda
Rwanda is one of the world’s poorest countries, yet it has managed to catch up to much of the rest of the world in a few short years since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. As an example, Figure 2 compares key digital milestones between Canada and Rwanda over the years, especially since 2010.
Figure 4: Aspects of Rwanda's digital development compared to Canada
An interesting discovery (Figure 4) was how pervasive digital was in the national discourse. This itself could be a major driver of Rwanda’s digital performance in such a compact timeframe; speaking digital helps bring digital to life. Comparatively, what is the nature of your country’s national discourse?
Valuable insights
There are many ways that Rwanda’s digital performance could inspire a country like Canada.
- Focused political will – with multi-dimensional citizen and private sector buy-in – can reap strong economic benefits from modest resources
- Global benchmark digital achievements don’t need deep pockets if they’re focused
- The principle of digital inclusion by design
- The principle of digital by design
- Integrating digital into policy
- Performance measurement
Learning from rapidly developing countries like Rwanda
Just as global standards are useful for personal and even organizational digital performance assessments, country comparisons can be a source of inspiration and aspiration for national-level digital performance assessments. Rwanda is an interesting comparison to a country like Canada because it:
- Demonstrates remarkable achievements and progress in various aspects of the digital economy, more so in the context of extremely limited resources and a very short timeframe
- Inspires locally given it is “Made in Africa,” and globally given comparatively significant financial productivity
- Provides valuable insights for other nations to learn from. For example, regional digital integration is a great learning point for Canada with respect to the benefits of provincial digital integration. The nature of Rwanda’s active monitoring and evaluation performance measurement at the government level is also a great learning
Rwanda is a digital benchmark, and its learnings hold value for countries across the spectrum from A to Z. This blog post shows how countries could learn from comparing their digital performance not only with traditionally high-performing countries (that have much greater financial and other resources) but with high-performing developing countries, too.