THE World Bank Board of Directors approved $97 million to support Ghana’s on-going actions to improve the efficiency and coverage of government service delivery using Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
The proposed project is structured along four major components to reflect: enabling environment for electronic government and business; foundational systems for electronic identification to promote electronic service delivery and social inclusion; scaling up of ICT applications and services to improve services in priority sectors in Ghana; and effective
project management.
The Enabling Environment for Electronic Government and Business component which is ($15.45 million) will support policies, laws, regulations and institutional capacity building to stimulate supply and demand of electronic services with the help of a transparent, secure
and open environment, and will include revisions to the existing laws and regulations as may be necessary.
On the supply side, the World Bank explained that it would support the enabling environment for digital economy, including facilitating interventions for more efficient storage of electronic data, and opening up of data in a format that is usable by citizens for policy, research, and business development.
On the demand side, it will support better leveraging of digital platforms to create job and entrepreneurship opportunities.
The second component- Support for Upgrading National Identification System and Online Verification Services ($29.15 million) will provide support to develop a robust national identification system based on international standards to help prepare Ghana for a modern e-commerce industry, improved e-government services, and alleviate poverty.
Support will also be extended to selected agencies and institutions in adopting electronic identification and verification services into their operating processes.
The project will assist the government to link key agencies, including the Births and Deaths Registries, the Department of Social Welfare, Electoral Commission, Statistics Department, Social Security and National Insurance, Immigration, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), etc., using the national identification number as a common identifier.
This third component of the project- Scale up of Applications to improve service delivery in priority sectors ($41.55 million) is in response to the government’s request. The project resources will also be used to support use of ICT to improve quality and reach of services in the health and education sectors where the Government of Ghana is lagging in achieving MDG goals, as well as to complete key e-applications currently being implemented under eGhana project.
The fourth component of the project- Project Management Support (US$7.1 million) will support the Ministry of Communications (MoC) as the Project executing agency with overall responsibility for the management of the project.
Given the multi-sectoral nature of the project, the Ministry will work with relevant sector agencies for the effective implementation of the project. The MoC has had extensive experience in implementing the eGhana Project through a dedicated Project Implementation Unit which is complemented by a core group of technical specialists from the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) and the ITeS Secretariat.
The project includes a contingency/unallocated amount of US$3.75 million for unanticipated project needs during implementation.
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