Consultancy Services for the Development of Digital Service Standards and of Public Service Delivery Landscape Review in Sierra Leone

Project Scope:

This project aimed to enhance digital service delivery in Sierra Leone by developing comprehensive digital service standards based on international best practices while improving the efficiency, accessibility, and quality of government-to-citizen (G2C) and government-to-business (G2B) services.

Project Objectives:

Specifically, the assignment focused on two key areas:

Digital Service Standards:

1. Develop comprehensive digital service standards (DSS) and guidelines that align with international best practices and are tailored to the local needs and context, covering key areas such as citizen-centricity, inclusivity, agility, security, data protection, interoperability, and operating public digital services.
2. The standard will include step-by-step guides, tool-kits, and templates to support the usage and
3. compliance with DSS.
4. Review international best practices and standards based on at least four (4) global references, one (1) from the sub-region, and three (3) from North America, Europe, and Asia respectively.
5. Propose a governance framework intervention to oversee MDA’s compliance with the DSS.
6. Develop a roadmap for the adoption of the DSS and guidelines, including recommendations for capacity building, institutional reform, and stakeholder engagement where necessary.
7. Conduct three (3) training sessions with 30 participants per session on DSS focusing on applying the step-by-step guides, tool-kits and templates to design and implement citizen-centric digital services.

Public Service Delivery Assessment:

1. Map out an average of 30 high-impactful existing public services, platforms, and applications (G2G/G2B/G2C), both digital and non-digital; evaluate these services in terms of accessibility, efficiency, and effectiveness; identify the gaps and key challenges and propose solutions to enhance service delivery.
2. Conduct needs assessment on institutional capacity and on public officers responsible for service delivery, in all Ministries and at least 5 key implementing Agencies/Departments, to identify the gaps and key challenges in the delivery of public services. Assess the impact of identified gaps and challenges on service recipients (citizens) and overall socio-economic development.
3. Engage with stakeholders (public, citizens and businesses) to identify their expectations, needs, and priorities regarding public service delivery
4. Conduct a survey with a target sample size of 1,000 citizens and 300 businesses focusing on delivering digital services with an emphasis on issues inclusive of challenges faced in using digital services, public services in demand, and walk-in centers to receive assistance on digital service transactions.
5. Provide clear and actionable recommendations for enhancing public service delivery, including citizen and business interactions with the government through digital channels.
6. Identify opportunities for expanding digital service offerings, G2C/G2B service prioritization, improving service accessibility, efficiency, and effectiveness in G2B/G2C interactions and develop a roadmap, specific strategies, activities, and timelines for the proposed recommendations.
7. Organize three (3) workshops with government stakeholders, focused on applying DSS practices on prioritized G2B/G2C services.