Ramses Fire Wake-Up Call Shows Urgency of eGovernment Resilience
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I recently published an article on ICTworks titled The Urgency of E-Government Resilience, reflecting on the recent fire at Cairo’s Ramses Central Exchange and the lessons it offers for our region. The incident, which paralysed critical services in Egypt, highlights the dangers of over-centralised systems and the urgent need to build resilience into our digital governance frameworks from the very start.
In the piece, I argue that resilience is not just about technical backups; it is about designing distributed architectures, fostering institutional preparedness, and ensuring continuity of public services even in times of crisis. For us in North Africa and across the ECA region, this conversation feels especially relevant given the fragility of infrastructure and the growing reliance on digital platforms to deliver essential services.
I’d love to hear your thoughts: How can we, as a community of Fellows, translate these lessons into concrete strategies for our countries and region? Should we be pushing for regional redundancy, shared infrastructure, or stronger policy frameworks on digital resilience? And what role can institutions like UNECA play in facilitating this?
Your reflections will be invaluable, not only to enrich the conversation but also to guide how we might collectively shape a more resilient digital future for Africa.
The link for the full article: https://www.ictworks.org/urgency-egovernment-resilience/
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SHWEHDY Amged B, Libya, SRO-NA thank you for sharing this insightful piece with us.
I cannot agree more with you on the importance of building resilience. So, while Africa is embracing this digital technology, it should build the human capital and institutional infrastructure necessary to withstand external and internal shocks. In my opinion, we as a community of fellows have to keep emphasizing on it in our research works, talks and actions through initiatives whenever we have opportunity to meet with decisionmakers. The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) can use its advisory and convening role to help member states build resilient digital systems through policy guidance and capacity building. ECA’s upcoming report on frontier technologies will be a valuable resource for countries to understand emerging trends and integrate resilience-by-design. By combining research with training and regional collaboration, ECA can support African governments in ensuring uninterrupted public services even during crises. -
BANENGAI KOYAMA Torcia Chanelle,Central African Republic,MFGD said in Ramses Fire Wake-Up Call Shows Urgency of eGovernment Resilience:
resilience-by-design
Indeed, resilience-by-design is the key!
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Managing unpredictable external forces shows how existing systems can withstand and recover from unexpected threats and disruptions. For Africa, assessing the soundness of existing systems may guide their functionality; and ECA can utilize such assessment in improving resilience while ensuring efficiency.
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SHWEHDY Amged B, Libya, SRO-NA Very timely article. Congrats for this insightful piece SHWEHDY Amged B, Libya, SRO-NA
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SHWEHDY Amged B, Libya, SRO-NA I totally agree with you on this piece! E-governance is a strategic for resilience and sustainability. We need to extend this into other services both public and private as we evolve as a continent.
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SHWEHDY Amged B, Libya, SRO-NA Thank you for this piece. On a practical level, our e-governance in Africa often lacks the foundational architecture. Too many governments skip the basics , interoperable systems, distributed designs, and capacity and instead over-police. That kills innovation before it even starts.
America could create something like ChatGPT because the foundations were laid decades ago. Here, we risk becoming like Europe, regulating more than we enable, without first building the infrastructure that makes resilience possible.
For me, resilience means getting the foundations right from the start, then layering policy and safeguards. UNECA and similar institutions can help by convening countries to co-invest in those digital foundations and regional redundancies, so we don’t just consume other people’s innovations but build our own.
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This indeed timely - while it will improve resilience, integrating with ICT also provides some economic multiplier effects towards SDG overall. Congrats!
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Your article highlights the critical need for e-government resilience in light of the Ramses fire. As a community of Fellows, we can advocate for regional redundancy and shared infrastructure while pushing for stronger policy frameworks on digital resilience. UNECA can play a key role by facilitating knowledge sharing and promoting best practices. These strategies will help us collectively build a more resilient digital future for Africa.
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The Ramses Exchange fire is a stark reminder: resilient e-government requires redundancy, cybersecurity, and disaster-recovery planning. Africa cannot afford fragility!
