This post is written by Ketmany Vilayvong, Head of Solutions Mapping, UNDP in Lao PDR

  • **The problem: **Lacking fundamental ICT standards and no comprehensive digital government roadmap hinders digital transformation.
  • **Why it matters: **Access to government data and services are challenging for the businesses as well as citizens, resulting in slow development and increased transaction costs for people.
  • **The solution: **Developing a new solution can help support the digital transformation.

The 2020 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs e-Government Survey awards an EGDI score of 0.3 to Lao PDR. This ranks Lao PDR 167th of the 193 UN Member States assessed.

Recognising Lao PDR as a least developed country (LDC), the ranking is significantly lower than neighbouring Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Lao PDR also ranks 139th out of 176 in the United Nations International Telecommunication Union's ICT Development Index 2017. While less than 1% of the population has broadband internet access at home, 42% have access to the internet through mobile phones. This proportion is increasing, which creates more opportunities for digital transformation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a renewed momentum within the government to tackle digitalisation in the sectors of government, economy, society and life. These sectors make up the four pillars of the government’s digital transformation concept, spearheaded by the Ministry of Technology and Communications (MTC). E-commerce is in its infancy, with a draft Digital Economy Master Plan approved at the National Assembly’s ordinary session in 2021. While some progress has been made on the digital economy, the other pillars have not yet been addressed.

The key challenge is the lack of fundamental ICT standards and no comprehensive Digital Government Roadmap which hinders the digital transformation.

Immediate issues:

  • Unsynchronised government systems or platforms
  • Duplication and over investment in the same digital solutions
  • Delay or resistance of the public sector to pursue digital transformation to improve service delivery
  • Unclear direction and uncoordinated efforts among the government agencies and development partners
  • Limited access to government data and services (transaction costs for the people)

UNDP has been requested by MTC to support the Digital Government pillar to improve efficiencies and business continuity. The current project “Digital Government Transformation” is jointly implemented with the Digital Government Centre (DGC), MTC which is contributing to the development of Digital Government Master Plan, Standards Framework of Digital Government as well as the pilot initiatives on Digital Government services in Lao PDR, which will become a significant tool for line ministries and government organizations to digitalise their administration and services.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a renewed momentum within the government to tackle digitalisation in the sectors of government, economy, society and life.

Currently the project is wrapping up the results of the Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA). The Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA) is a strategic diagnosis on digital readiness of systems, services and digital capacities to achieve the digital transformation agenda of the Lao PDR government. Its objective is to assess the current state of digital maturity, understand digital capabilities, identify focus areas for development and define the digital government roadmap.

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