In a clear sign of strong commitment to digitisation UK citizens will be able to prove their identity for everything from paying tax to opening a bank account using a government-backed “digital ID”, ministers have promised this week.
A “single sign-on” for all government services is also being accelerated and with a Digital Information and Smart Data Bill promised in the King’s Speech and Science and Tech Minister Peter Kyle singing loudly from the Baltic digitisation playbook we should expect a boost in the arm for all the last government’s planning on digitisation for its aid programmes.
Companies tracking UKAID programmes might wish to:
- dust down and reread the last govt’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office digital strategy 2024 – 2030 over the summer
- start tracking the small but highly regarded aid programmes of the Baltic states
- and start identifying Baltic experts.
Estonia – for example – is seen as a pioneer of the “single sign-on” for government services. Its citizens all have a state-issued digital ID, called e-ID, which people use to pay bills, vote online, sign contracts, shop and access health information. The scheme, which has existed for 20 years, is estimated to save Estonians five days a year when dealing with bureaucracy.
The Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV) e-govt programmes in Ukraine are good starting point for those looking for highly regarded digital programmes.
The speech of former Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar at The Tony Blair Institute’s ‘Building the Digital Infrastructure for a Reimagined State’ is worth a watch to see what can be achieved on a larger scale.
India has enrolled more than 1.2 billion citizens in its digital-ID system saving the government an estimated $27 billion.
UK domestic policies feed inexorably into UK aid policy. It will be interesting to see which country programme jumps on this first.
The Development Director who manages to combine digitisation with the use of mission boards might just be onto a winner….
In 2024 MetricsLed is working on digitisation and e-govt programmes in the UK, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.
