Ethiopia’s MESOB platform facilitating access to digital govt services

Access to government services in Ethiopia has seen a marked positive shift following the putting in place of a digital government platform aimed at facilitating public service delivery.

The launch of the Modern Ethiopia Service for Organized Benefits (MESOB) platform, in April, marked the start of a pilot which involved 12 government ministries and 41 services. In the first month of the pilot, more than 12,000 persons used the platform with about 90 percent of them reportedly expressing satisfaction, according to the Ethiopian Press Agency.

In June, the Ethiopian government announced that the system had been rolled out nationwide.

With MESOB, Ethiopia has taken a major leap forward in its digital government infrastructure implementation, the government says.

MESOP is a one-stop-shop which makes it easy for Ethiopians and other residents who have a Fayda digital ID to easily get public services.

At the inauguration of the platform in April, the country’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, hailed MESOB as a game changing facility that will streamline access to services.

He said then that with the new platform, citizens will be able to access a wide range of public services digitally, reducing the need for service seekers to visit government institutions.

“Public institutions are the first link of trust between citizens and the government. To meet the challenges of rapidly evolving technologies, inequality, and global uncertainty, we must strengthen and modernize them. By rolling it [MESOB] out nationwide, we aim to bridge historical gaps and standardize the quality of services across Ethiopia,” the country’s deputy PM, Temesgen Tiruneh, is quoted as corroborating his principal while speaking about MESOB’s nationwide availability.

MESOB is part of Ethiopia’s new digital government strategy which will run from 2025-2030 with the national digital ID positioned as the foundation upon which the pillars of the strategy are built.

Citizens can access services on MESOB in three ways, namely via a web portal, mobile application or at physical centers for those who require human assistance. One’s Fayda ID is required to log into the platform which provides access to a wide range of government services.

Projects like the Fayda digital ID and MESOB are putting the Ethiopia on the right rails of its digital transformation journey, something that recently attracted approbation from the country’s Horn of Africa neighbours.

As of today July 22, 20.2 million Ethiopians have registered for the Fayda digital ID, with 24.5 million digital Know Your Customer authentications and 55 integrated agencies.

The country’s ID authority chief, Yodahe Zemichael, told Biometric Update in an interview early last month that they have a strategy in place to reach 90 million people with digital ID by 2027.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital identity  |  Ethiopia  |  government services  |  Modern Ethiopia Service for Organized Benefits (MESOB)