THURSDAY 23 September 2021 (Kampala, Uganda): The Ministry of Information Technology and National Guidance, in collaboration with the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), has released the Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard (IDES) 2021 report for Uganda. IDES is a policy tool that facilitates governments to set their digital transformation priorities. The tool identifies the key market constraints hindering the development of an inclusive digital economy and helps to set the right priorities with public and private stakeholders to foster a digital economy that leaves no one behind.

The IDES 2021 report provides an overview of the development and inclusiveness of the digital economy of Uganda based on data collected up to the end of May 2021. The data was collected with the participation of various Government of Uganda Ministries, Agencies and Departments.The inclusiveness of Uganda’s digital economy which is assessed based on four dimensions of the digital economy, namely, policy and regulation, infrastructure, innovation, and skills reveals the following:
i) Policy and Regulation: The scorecard places Uganda as having a strong digital policy and regulatory environment at 77 percent. However, the dimensions that evaluate outcomes point to weaker performance, raising the question: Why is the score on policy and regulation high, and yet the scores on infrastructure (51 percent), skills (33 percent), innovation (42 percent), and digital inclusiveness (55 percent) remain low?

ii) Infrastructure: While network coverage especially in rural areas still has gaps, Uganda has achieved a lot in terms of connectivity with coverage at 71 percent. Coverage is predominantly provided through wireless networks notably mobile platforms. Mobile money has also helped to push adoption as the use of the mobile phone continues to transform from a basic voice communication platform to a financial transactions tool. However, ICT ownership and usage is still very low at 27 percent.

The report also identifies major gaps in infrastructure such as high costs of devices and Internet, challenges related to accessing identification documents required for SIM card registration, and inadequate skills. These gaps need to be addressed to improve the inclusiveness of the digital economy.

iii) Innovation: Despite the upsurge in innovation culture evidenced by the rise of innovation hubs in Uganda, there is little or no empirical research of the impact of the uptake in innovations. Consequently, the lack of bankable data/statistics in this area means that the innovators/entrepreneurs cannot be given informed guidance.

iv) Skills: The policy and infrastructure indicators point to a reasonably high level of basic skills at 60 percent, digital literacy remains very low at 20% while financial literacy is even lower at 19%. The absence of a holistic inclusion of digital skills in the education curricula from the lowest levels up to and including higher education institutions has created deficiencies that need to be addressed.

“Inclusiveness starts at policy formulation. The fact that Uganda scores highly in existing policy and regulation speaks to the will of the country in achieving an inclusive digital economy. The challenge upon us as government is moving from policy and regulation to effective implementation. We call upon all stakeholders to work with us to bridge this gap,”- said Dr. Aminah Zawedde, Permanent Secretary Ministry of ICT & National Guidance.

“While there has been significant focus on inclusiveness of women and youth, other special interest demographics such as refugees and people with disabilities are still largely excluded from the digital economy. We need the same consistency if the intent of the Sustainable Development Goals of ‘leaving no one behind’ is to be achieved,” – said Chris Lukolyo, Digital Country Lead, UNCDF.

The report calls for urgent intervention in addressing both basic and digital skills, policy initiatives that ensure ownership and the capacity to use appropriate ICT, and a systemic approach that ensures a strong innovation ecosystem is developed.
The IDES was developed in consultation with a reference group comprised of partners from the European Commission, GSMA, UNCTAD, UNDESA, UNDP and UNCDF. It was improved based on the feedback and recommendations of various countries including Burkina Faso, Nepal, Solomon Islands and Uganda.

You can access the report here