2020•01•30     São Tomé

The UNU-EGOV team presenting the project report to the country’s authorities.

Back in 2017, UNU-EGOV organised a 2-day event in Guimarães for working groups of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). This point in time serves as introduction for a full project that was initially conceived in early 2019 and that now concludes with the project report being presented to the Government of São Tomé and Príncipe and the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge (INIC) by the Head of UNU-EGOV, Delfina Soares, while on mission to the country from 27 to 30 January 2020.

I am very happy with the current report we have developed at UNU-EGOV in collaboration with INIC, and I believe the Government of São Tomé and Príncipe has now a clear, well-grounded resource on how to improve their approach to Electronic Government. As an Institute of the UNU, one of our goals is to work towards the SDG and in partnership with countries around the world, being of natural significant importance for us the Portuguese-speaking countries. I very much hope that our collaboration with São Tomé and Príncipe carries on in the future.  – Delfina Soares after the presentation of the report.

A founding member of CPLP, São Tomé and Príncipe is nowadays one of the most stable and democratic nations in Africa. Lying on the west coast of the continent, this island-country is determined to improve its current approach to e-Government and develop a national strategy capable of pushing São Tomé to higher places in the United Nations E-Government Survey (currently, the country sits in 154th place overall).

The report proposes that a national strategy for digital governance frames and integrates a set of digital transformation initiatives in the different sectors of governance, in order to promote and improve the provision of digital public services focused on the needs and expectations of the citizens. In this way, nine thematic axes of digital services, accompanied by the suggestion of associated implementation measures, are listed based on an analysis of the country’s reality and the review of best international practices:

• Health;
• Education;
• Fiscal and taxes area;
• Social protection;
• Environment;
• Tourism;
• Justice and citizenship;
• Work and employment;
• Agriculture, livestock, and fishing.

To support the development of these initiatives, a series of structuring pillars is proposed, organised into three classes: technological, legislative, and administrative. Amongst the various initiatives, are proposed the Government Data Centre, the GOV.ST Single Portal, the Digital Identity and Authentication platforms, amongst others.

The full report (in Portuguese only) will be available in UNU Collections soon.