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00:00 The Africa e-governance conference is an annual conference that we put together
00:08 to look at the government side of technology. That's why you have e-governance.
00:15 It's an annual conference that we are looking to project the use of
00:22 technology to drive governance. We have gone back to history and we saw that the
00:32 focus of government typically will be economic integration in Africa. Even the
00:40 key stakeholders and you know development partners focus on that area
00:45 of trade and economic integration. But we believe that it's time for the
00:50 continent to start looking at the governance part of it as well. We call it
00:57 civic tech which means how do citizens of Africa across board get the benefit
01:05 of social inclusion just by the way government operates. So how do
01:11 government impact the lives of citizens across Africa. So a lot of the things
01:17 that happen in government is typically still manual across Africa unlike what
01:22 we see in other climes in other continents where things are more digital.
01:27 And therefore it provides, when it goes digital it provides the opportunity for
01:32 you know citizens of that particular country to get the full benefit of what
01:40 government is doing. We call it access to government. But this time it needs to be
01:45 on a technology platform so that you know it can be pervasive. Everybody can
01:50 have access to it at the same time. Right so that's what e-government conference is
01:54 to do. At this conference we're expecting six presidents from the continent to come
02:02 together. We're expecting about 15 ministers whose responsibility is ICT
02:08 which means they are responsible to provide the infrastructure that can make
02:14 governance easier and accessible to people. We expect global technology
02:20 players, we expect Google to be there, we expect Microsoft, Oracle to be there just
02:26 to showcase the latest technologies that are available for government to access
02:32 so they can provide you know government with integrity to the people and
02:38 transparency. We expect to have also on the government side and that's why it's
02:43 e-governance. So this technology side which I've just described, it's also the
02:48 government side. So expect you know government representatives from
02:52 different ministries, different departments and agencies of government
02:55 from across Africa to also attend. So this conference is a platform that
03:01 brings these two sides together in one room to say how do we provide better
03:08 administration, better government for our people so that they can now begin to you
03:14 know thrive as a continent and begin to provide the next level. The first thing
03:20 is social inclusion. It's only when people are you know happy together in
03:25 peace knowing that their governments cater to their needs that they can now
03:30 start talking about the economy and trade and so on. So that's what we want
03:34 to do. Provide a basic technology infrastructure for people to have access
03:39 to government and then give them the leverage to start you know harnessing
03:44 the economy and trade and so on basically. The Africa e-governance
03:49 conference will be holding at the Kigali Conference Center in Rwanda on the 12th
03:58 through to the 14th of March 2024. The theme is digital governance for social
04:06 inclusion and economic development. The conference is actually open to everybody
04:13 from all walks of life because we're focusing on the key areas of the
04:21 sustainable development goals, focusing on agriculture, how do you use technology
04:27 to enhance agriculture, how do you use technology to enhance healthcare,
04:32 transportation, because these are the things that people want to have access to. How does
04:37 government provide through the use of technology these services to the people.
04:41 So we have two tracks of challenges during this conference. The first is the
04:49 startup innovation challenge. I mentioned startups earlier. So what these guys are
04:55 going to do is come and pitch for the solutions that you have created. We're
05:03 discussing already with Google to you know come up with the sponsorship money
05:08 that you know the winners of this challenge can go away with to enhance
05:15 their solutions right. So you're all welcome. Please visit our website
05:22 afrigov.africa for more information. This conference again is taking place at
05:28 the Kigali Convention Center in Rwanda 12th to the 14th of March 2024.
05:35 We look forward to seeing you there.
05:39 (electronic music)