| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The project is implemented in a PPP principle by considering the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. The project is implemented as per the national E-Government Strategy prepared and approved at national level for the 5 years.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) is the owner of the project and government institution like Ethio-telecom, Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority and Ethiopian Electric Utility are partners from the government side. The private local partner called “Kifya Financial Technology” is also the partner in the implementation.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The indicative is fully covered by the private partner ad with a principle of BOT. After operating the project for some pre-agreed time, the whole project will be transferred to the government. Even so the project is implemented with PPP, the government allocated some resources to develop the national E-Government strategy, to study the PPP guideline, to select the implementer company, etc. which is the input and also the requirement to the project.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Integrating the different billings system electronically and rendering the services at any center for an extended time beyond the normal working time. Service excellence is another output of the project, up to less than one minute for a payment.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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In the implementation phase a three level committee from all partner institutions chaired by MCIT has been established and a regular follow up mechanism was implemented. After the go-live a strict SLA was designed and signed with all parties and the private sector should follow the performance key indicator to deliver the specified services. Some of the SLAs are the maximum time the citizens will wait before service delivered, the maximum time taken to render the service to one customer, the availability of the system, the minimum environment at each centers, etc. This is regularly monitored and evaluated. The per-transaction payment for the implementer depends on the service quality achieved.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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One of the challenges in the project after go-live (which was only in the first 3 months at the beginning) was the perception of the users in using any centers than the one they were permanently using. There was a big queue in one center (old) but very little users in a new center. The time customers visiting the centers was also the same, everybody wants to pay early morning than in the afternoon. The other challenge was the resistance in changing to the new process from partner’s side. Changing some of their process like data integration, financial reconciliation, etc. has not come without some additional effort. All those limitations was solved in less than three months by intensive public awareness and educating the users.
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