Zambia’s Cabinet has directed ministries to adopt open-source technology in line with the government’s digital transformation guidelines.
This follows the launch of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Policy and the NSDI Portal in Lusaka on Tuesday.
Oliver Kalabo, deputy secretary to the Cabinet and Administration, said the launch of the policy and portal marked a historic milestone in the Southern African country’s digital transformation journey.
The official explained that the portal was built using open-source software and addressed the issue of vendor lock-in.
Open source refers to software where the underlying source code is made freely available to the public. This is unlike proprietary software, which can only be modified by its original creators and often requires licensing fees.
Kalabo noted that open-source solutions offered government institutions lower costs, better security and reliability, as well as the ability to customise software according to specific requirements.
“The approach promotes transparency, collaboration and innovation, enabling government agencies to share tools and build on existing solutions rather than starting from scratch,” Kalabo said.
The NSDI policy and portal are seen as ending the era of fragmented, duplicated and inaccessible geospatial data, which analysts criticised as impeding timely decision-making and service delivery.
Kasali Musenge, government chief technology officer, said: “The NSDI is a critical national asset that supports sustainable development and improves the well-being of citizens through more informed policies and services.”
She mentioned improved disaster response, better urban planning, real-time agricultural advice for farmers and enhanced transparency for citizens among the benefits of the NSDI.
The NSDI aligns with Zambia’s Eighth National Development Plan and the United Nations Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (UN-IGIF).
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