“Although we've deployed solutions elsewhere in Africa, Kenya represents a significant new partnership for us in sub-Saharan Africa. We're delighted to contribute to development with e-government solutions tried and tested in Estonia.”
Project timeline: April 2024 – June 2025
Beneficiary: Kenya's Ministry of ICT, Kenya ICT Authority
Funding: Cooperative partnership between GIZ, the European Union, and ESTDEV
Kenya is on a journey of building a modern digital government. As a blueprint to guide their digitalisation efforts, the Government of Kenya has released a 10-year Digital Master Plan (spanning from 2022 to 2032). Investment in digital public infrastructure will be key to achieving the outcomes listed in the plan, and a foundational component of this infrastructure is a secure data exchange and interoperability platform.
Project background
The EU has launched a strategic dialogue with Kenya in different areas to advance the core objectives of the Master Plan. A key focus of this collaboration is digitalisation, encompassing efforts to reduce the digital divide, promote the digital economy, and strengthen open, inclusive digital governance and cybersecurity.
A large initiative driving this digital cooperation is the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on Human-Centred Digitalisation, a partnership among GIZ, the European Union, and ESTDEV. As part of this project, Cybernetica took the lead in piloting a governmental interoperability and secure data exchange framework in Kenya. We worked closely with Kenya's Ministry of ICT, Kenya ICT Authority, and ESTDEV Kenya as local partners on the ground.
This pilot project had two main goals:
- Show the importance of implementing a data exchange platform.
- Establish a foundation for future interoperability initiatives.
Read on: Cybernetica to develop interoperability framework in Kenya | Cybernetica
Cybernetica’s contribution
We demonstrated how Kenya can leverage interoperability to transition from a fragmented government model to a "one government" or whole-of-government service delivery, centred on the needs of citizens.
As part of the technical requirements, we developed a test environment platform for the interoperability framework. This platform was built based on GovStack architectural principles, using the GovStack information mediator building block (implemented by X-Road software).
As the technical architect of the original X-Road and the e-Estonia ecosystem, Cybernetica had all the necessary know-how to help fit the software into the context of Kenya.
The new test environment was used to develop two demo integrated public services that illustrate how the platform can be used in practice to build secure citizen-centric public services in Kenya. Our team also implemented a service catalogue for mapping organisations, systems, and services in the interoperability platform.
To support the piloting of the platform, we also put together an interoperability framework document. Built upon the principles of the European Interoperability Framework, this document offers a high-level overview designed to help organisations in Kenya align more effectively in their efforts to support interoperability initiatives. It focuses on an organisational, legal, and semantic perspective, providing a holistic approach to the implementation efforts.
As part of the organisational and technical capacity building, our experts held training for key stakeholders. These trainings explained the technical and non-technical aspects of managing the framework, providing information on the practical administration of the platform and organisational processes required to support the platform.
Project impact
Kenya has made significant progress in digitalisation, establishing over 20,000 digital government services and an e-Citizen portal as a one-stop portal for several of these services. However, some inefficiencies remain, as limited local connectivity, non-digitised records, and siloed, manual systems continue to hinder the full transition to modern digital government.
A unified interoperability platform is essential to integrate systems, streamline processes, and deliver seamless, citizen-focused services.
Benefits of an interoperability platform
Cybernetica demonstrated how the Kenyan public sector can move to a higher digital government maturity level with an interoperability platform. A secure data exchange platform like X-Road offers governance features that can significantly improve the delivery of public services. These include:
- Logging and auditing of all messages exchanged between member organisations of the system.
- Distributed architecture.
- Governance model under which a central operating organisation ensures all member organisations can exchange data securely, legally, and in compliance with its policies.
This type of platform would also enable the Kenyan Government to streamline and integrate its services. For example, in Estonia, there are fewer services than in Kenya, but these citizen-centred services are often built around citizen life events and integrate many base services. Higher levels of citizen-centricity require more advanced integration among systems.
Foundation for future interoperability initiatives in Kenya
This project was a great way to demonstrate how the European Interoperability Framework's conceptual model is used in practice for the delivery of integrated public services. The two demo services illustrated how to build secure citizen-centric public services in Kenya using the platform. And the development of an interoperability framework document highlighted the importance of considering all the non-technical aspects related to implementation.
About Cybernetica
We are the principal architects of e-Estonia with decades of experience in developing e-government solutions that stand the test of time. Today we leverage this unparalleled insight and expertise to help governments worldwide digitalise in a tailored way.
As the experts in the GovMarket and GovStack's growing ecosystem, we're excited to continue helping governments around the world build scalable, secure, and interoperable digital public infrastructure.
See more: Cybernetica's workshop on the Kenya project at the e-Governance Conference 2025
For more information, get in touch: ants.anupold@cyber.ee