The silver lining of the pandemic has been that it has demonstrated how technology, once wielded properly, can work to transform the way the public can interact with the state; the country needs to take the next steps into the digital future now.
MFR Image
Over the last few decades, the Maldives has drastically expanded adoption to digital technology. The number of internet users increased by 2.7 percent between 2019 and 2020, while internet penetration stood at 71% as of January 2020. Mobile teledensity has also improved, positioning the Maldives as the highest in South Asia. The rapid growth in the ICT sector in terms of internet accessibility along with the significance of digitization during the COVID-19 pandemic has exhibited the importance of digital transformation of the ICT Industry.
The government recently established various platforms in order to improve access to public services. Nevertheless, according to the UN E-Government Development Index 2020, Maldives ranks particularly poor on the online services component of the index with a total score of the index in 2020 rated at 0.574. This was stated in the recent World Bank report, the Digital Dawn. The report also mentions that the Maldives is behind several South Asian countries such as India and Bhutan in adopting digital government services.
Maldives Inland Revenue Authority, Maldives Pension Administration Office, Ministry of Education and many other government institutions have developed online platforms to deliver prompt services to the public. However, the platforms can be limited in their capacity when it comes to outside institutions, and lack integrative features that enable communication and data assimilation among institutions and service providers. The public services are not synchronised due to use of various systems. Most systems do not have proper backup systems and are not archived and thus lack transparency. These systems create duplicate information of government databases and can be vulnerable to unforeseen incidents.
Over the last few years, the government has invested an increasing amount on ICT development. While the government has budgeted a total of MVR338 Million on ICT in the year 2021, the amount sums to a total of 0.55 percent of the real GDP. This is a relatively high amount compared to other neighbouring nations. The majority is spent on recurrent expenditure such as maintenance of IT infrastructure, procurement of ICT equipment for public offices. Capital expenditure is predominantly spent on public sector enterprises and administrative offices. In addition, the budget indicates investments on projects such as implementation of e-Faas, upgrading of E-council systems and others. However, the budget does not indicate any allocations for ICT programs outlined in the Strategic Action Plan (SAP).
The SAP outlined by the Solih administration in 2019, formulated strategies to address the issues identified in the ICT sector. However, the speed of implementation has been slow and has grown further inactive with the pandemic. Nevertheless, similar patterns are seen over past government projects. Most projects fail at the implementation stage resulting in a high expenditure with zero return of investment. Even though government spends millions for the development of ICT sector, there has been limitations in significant improvement over the past decade.
In order to guarantee successful implementation of development projects and SAPs, the government should better allocate funds and prioritise the allocation of budget on such projects. The budget allocation should be uniformly structured and in line with long-term strategic plans while allocation responsible qualified experts to manage and deliver project milestones in a more transparent manner. The amount of spending on ICT must be evident with growth and the upkeep of digitalisation.
In a world that's exceedingly dependent on technology, it is vital for a small nation such as the Maldives to technologically evolve as well. While nations are fighting the battle with dissatisfaction towards government services, the Maldives is also in the same boat. Learning lessons from past initiatives, such as the implementation of telemedicine that took far many approaches yet failing at it every turn, indicates that the ideas and initiatives are always there. The problem of effective implementation is significant throughout history and there is a lot to learn, and reflect on, from small nations such as Estonia which got the game of digitalisation right from the beginning.
The Maldives consists of enthusiastic individuals leading the Tech industry such as Women in Tech NGO, Baiskoafu and Hologo world, bringing unique solutions and raising their voices for betterment. While there is much capacity and room for improvement, there is also awareness of the digital divide and the significance need for e-governance and digitalisation of individual sectors such as Education, Health, Public services, Banking and Financial services.
A combined effort must be taken into consideration on a policy level with viable regulatory reforms supporting the digitalisation process. The nation necessitates an environment where shared confidential information, with the service providers and on the internet, is protected and backed by a privacy protection law. The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of relying on the internet and getting things done online. Its high time Maldives put an end to the stark digital divide and begin the journey of digitalisation.
