At the Commonwealth e-Governance Forum Africa, held in Kigali on 24 and 25 March, the Secretary General of Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Professor Tim Unwin lauded Rwanda's efforts in harness ICTs potentials to increase accountability and transparency.

"I congratulate the Rwandan people and the government for all achievements in the use of ICTs for sustainable development and for wide contributions. The progress of about 28 percent internet penetration, more than 70 percent mobile phone penetration and the recently adopted cyber security policy are some of the indicators of the government's efforts toward achieving the benefits of e-Governance systems."

A media release explains that Professor Unwin cited initiatives like the broadband strategy and Rwandapedia which were launched in 2013, as well as the Rwanda Online Platform which is slated to be operational by the end of this year.

The Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana stated that Rwanda is currently working to leverage latest ICT capabilities such as analytics, social media and mobility to deliver citizen centric and accountable governance.

"We must make governance work for the next generation. However much one might have accomplished in driving e-Governance, the road ahead is still too long. Issues like child online protection emerged as an important element from our discussion in this Forum. I commit that, in partnership with our stakeholders, we shall another discussion in June 2015 to discuss child online protection in collaboration with its early champions like Facebook."

Themed "Smart Governance through a Networked Government", the Commonwealth e-Governance Forum Africa explored topics geared towards promoting ICT as a tool for effective service delivery.

The Rwandan government, via Minister Nsengimana, has said it will continue to leverage big data, analytics, mobility and social media to enhance its governance capability.

ICT expert Adrian Schofield said that Rwanda does stand out as a country that has deliberately followed a policy of getting its government and citizens connected and adopting ICTs to improve service delivery. "In doing so, Rwanda has attracted investment and trade that is way more than would have been expected of a small landlocked country in the middle of Africa. A major contributor to this progress has been the attitude of the President, Paul Kagame, who was recognised as an African ICT Achiever in 2007. He has consistently pushed the Rwandan government to speed up the installation of broadband networks and the acquisition of technology and he is visible in the regional and global forums where ICTs for development are on the agenda."