AU-EU D4D Hub and the Government of Uganda seek to boost e-government through postal system

Posta Uganda is the most extensive provider of postal services in Uganda, having an extensive network of postal delivery outlets down to the sub-county level. Through these outlets, Posta Uganda offers various services beyond mail delivery, such as money transfers and internet provision.

Consequently, Uganda's Ministry of ICT and National Guidance has asked the African Union - European Union (AU-EU) Digital for Development (D4D) Hub project to conduct a feasibility study to assess the potential of post offices to deliver online public services – one of the government’s top priority areas in the digital field, as per the Third National Development Plan.

The study is led by Enabel, the Belgian Development Agency, and aims to:

• Assess the current status of 40 postal offices.
• Propose the e-government services that can be delivered at these postal offices and the modality of operations.
• Develop the preliminary designs, equipment specifications, and bills of quantities to guide the implementation of the project.

The initiative offers the Government of Uganda the opportunity to streamline, rationalise, and re-engineer administrative processes, reducing not only the volume of paperwork but also the layers of bureaucracy that are involved in conducting common transactions. It also focuses on promoting equity in service delivery, improving the ability to reach previously isolated groups, for example in rural areas.

Advancing digital cooperation between Team Europe and Uganda

This technical assistance mission follows a previous collaboration between the AU-EU D4D Hub and the Government of Uganda. In May 2022, the project also supported the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance to organise a multi-stakeholder dialogue that brought together over 80 Ugandan and European actors to discuss progress in the implementation of Uganda’s priority areas in the digital field. This activity was also led by Enabel, with the support of GIZ. A visual representation of the resulting mapping is available to download.