[kictanet] Finally we have a Digital Economy Blueprint! But now the real work of IMPLEMENTATION begins.

[Patrick A. M. Maina]

Dear listers,
What are your thoughts on the Digital Economy Blueprint? 

My first impressions are that the document is comprehensive and inclusive. It does a good job of balancing a complex landscape of diverse interests - while maintaining focus on Kenya's prosperity as an overarching goal. Stakeholders now have common reference point for shared understanding on how public and private sector initiatives fit into the bigger picture; and the 5 Pillars approach, if well implemented, should lead to an optimal balance of initiatives and outcomes. 

Kudos to NCS, MoICT and all (public/private sector) stakeholders who were involved for doing a great job!

But even as we celebrate, let us remind each other that "the map is not the territory". Kenya is renowned for world-class documents, blueprints, strategies and policies which are launched with pomp and color, only to be carefully shelved after the excitement is over (and then everyone goes back to the chaos that we are used to). A document is only a map; it is not the goal. Real success comes with implementation; hence the focus now should be on getting things done in the real world and striving for real measurable results. 

Here are some ideas for implementation:
1. Set up a website for the Digital Economy Blueprint to bring the document to life.  

2. Develop a Visual Traceability Map (hopefully interactive - but can be static to begin with) showing:
a. How the blueprint maps to Big 4 and Vision 2030 

b. How all recent, ongoing and planned initiatives (including tenders) link back to the five pillars - to help improve visibility on whether resources allocation is optimally and sensibly balanced across all pillars - in order to avoid the trap of sub-optimization.

3. Enhance the map by adding the ability to switch the view according to different perspectives (e.g. budget / expenditure / new revenues / number of startups / jobs / investments / acquisitions / PPP projects / project status overviews / vendor distribution / counties etc) to give fairly precise indicators of where we are and where we are going as a country.
4. Develop a ROI Linkage Map that associates expenditure initiatives with benefit generating initiatives (including forward looking - ahead of demand, but time-bound projections - which would then be compared to actuals over time). The questions to answer include: are we optimally allocating capital and are investments yielding the promised benefits? This way we can learn about what works and what doesn't - and build confidence and competence across the board.

5. Blueprint implementation should look beyond tenders and spending: Our government needs new diversified sources of revenues - and pillars 2 and 4 are about developing new revenue streams for the country by establishing Kenya as a leading exporter of digital products and services in Africa and beyond. Hopefully these crucial pillars will get strong attention and financial targets will be set for implementation teams, against which performance should be measured. If done well, it should help reduce our country's reliance on debt for budget support.

Implementation is the only way to bring a great plan / vision to life. 

Have a great day!

Link:
http://www.ict.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Kenya-Digital-Economy-2019.pdf
Brgds,Patrick.
Patrick A. M. Maina[Cross-domain Innovator | Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations]


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