Introduction
Digital transformation has become a daily, largely automatic reality. Integration into this era is no longer contingent on sovereign decisions, state-devised strategies, or policies adopted by major corporations. On the contrary, transformation now drives the very strategies and policies that seek to catch up with, regulate, and simultaneously leverage it.
Most countries worldwide have realized that developing the performance of their governmental institutions to meet the demands of the digital age is not a luxury but a necessity for fulfilling their role in the present and future. This understanding gave rise to the concept of e-government, reflecting the trend towards using digital technology in the operations and functions of government institutions, primarily in providing services to citizens.
Egypt has undoubtedly been part of this global trend, embarking on its initial steps toward digital transformation and developing e-government solutions over the past two decades. According to the United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), Egypt ranked 95th out of 193 countries in 2024. This index assesses the availability of conditions for the operation and effectiveness of e-government applications.
This ranking isn’t as advanced as Egypt’s achievements during the early years of the new millennium. Egypt first appeared on the index in 2003, ranking 140th, then managed to reach 86th place in 2010, before declining to 107th in 2012. The following years saw fluctuations in Egypt’s position on the index until its performance stabilized in recent years, moving from 111th to 103rd, before reaching its current position of 95th.
The EGDI bases its assessments on three main pillars: efficiency of online service delivery, human capital, and information and communication technology infrastructure. This indicates that the index primarily considers the technical aspect of providing e-government services to citizens. Conversely, the index does not account for legislative and administrative regulatory frameworks, nor does it evaluate the effectiveness of e-government solutions in narrowing gaps and promoting equality among different societal groups in terms of access to services.
Furthermore, the index does not measure the extent to which e-government solutions consider the protection of citizens’ fundamental rights, particularly the right to privacy, the right to access information, and the right to redress in cases of harm.
This paper aims to examine the evolution of the e-government landscape in Egypt by reviewing its various facets, with a specific focus on the rights-based aspect. It discusses the concept of e-government and its roles in improving service delivery and addressing the challenges facing the government service sector.
The paper also addresses the diverse requirements for e-government, including regulatory and human rights requirements, and those related to ensuring equitable access to services for marginalized groups. Additionally, the paper provides an assessment of Egypt’s e-government experience. It offers a set of recommendations and proposals that could help develop an effective, rights-aware e-government within the Egyptian context.
E-Government and Its Evaluation Criteria
This section discusses the concept of e-government, its expected outcomes, and its various requirements within the Egyptian context. It also proposes several criteria that can be used to evaluate the e-government experience.
The Concept of E-Government
The concept of e-government emerged independently quite early on. However, today it forms one aspect of a more comprehensive phenomenon: Digital Transformation. Efforts to achieve digital transformation have, in turn, led to the evolution of the e-government concept, making it more inclusive.
Initially, the term referred to the use of digital technology to enhance government services provided to citizens. The scope of this enhancement was then limited by the generally available technological capabilities and by citizens’ own access to these technological tools. This meant that providing government services through digital applications was merely a secondary, optional alternative alongside traditional service delivery methods.
Nevertheless, the world has witnessed rapid technological advancements over the past two decades, most notably the massive expansion of internet use and the advent of smartphones. These developments led to the emergence of the concept of digital transformation, which places digital technology at the core of human societies’ lives.
When examining the concept of e-government today, it becomes clear that it is no longer viewed as merely a collection of digital applications that assist in delivering some government services or as a secondary path parallel to traditional methods of provision. This concept has evolved to encompass the comprehensive digitization of government services, making digital applications the primary means of accessing those services.
While this evolution in the concept of e-government brings numerous advantages, it simultaneously broadens the scope of its expected roles. This concept also presents several fundamental challenges to the practical implementation of an ambitious e-government vision.
To understand the evolution of this concept, one should consider the natural progression of adopting new technology in general, which typically involves two main stages. In the first stage, new technology is used as a supportive tool to improve existing traditional methods. This usually means trying to adapt it to perform tasks in the accustomed way. In the second stage, the new technology asserts itself, necessitating the abandonment of old methods and the innovation of advanced ways to perform tasks and functions in a manner suitable for using that technology.
The current evolution, occurring under what is known as digital transformation, represents the transition between these two stages. In the context of e-government, this requires redesigning and developing government services to align with the demands of the digital environment.
Roles of E-Government in the Egyptian Context
The Egyptian government bureaucracy is among the oldest in the world. While the degree of inefficiency varies in other government bureaucracies, the Egyptian bureaucracy, due to historical (political, economic, and social) reasons, reached its lowest points of sluggishness and inefficiency by the end of the last century.
However, over the last decade, the decline curve has shown a slow and limited change, contributing to a tangible improvement in the performance of several government sectors. This improvement coincided with the gradual introduction of digital technology into several Egyptian government sectors, which confirms that e-government can play positive roles in the Egyptian context. This paper will present some of these roles, starting from the simplest to the most far-reaching in their impact.
Enhancing Internal Efficiency of Government Units
Digitizing the internal operations of government units is one of the primary tasks that e-government can undertake. This relies on converting the data handled by these units into digital formats, in addition to digitizing their storage, transfer, retrieval, and processing for various purposes. Digitization can contribute to reducing the time required to complete many functions and minimizing the likelihood of human errors resulting from manual data entry during circulation between different government departments and units.
Over time, data digitization allows for the creation of unified and centralized databases. With the adoption of a unified National ID number as the primary identification method for every citizen, it becomes possible to link all their government-related data within a single system. This facilitates data access and reduces the chances of error, such as instances of confusion between individuals with similar names.
On the other hand, data digitization cannot entirely eliminate all human errors. Nor does it necessarily guarantee the avoidance of errors resulting from equipment or software malfunctions. Furthermore, the digital collection, storage, and processing of data raises concerns and problems related to privacy and the protection of personal data, which the paper will address in subsequent sections.
Expanding Access to Government Services
The second primary role of e-government, and the one most visible to citizens, lies in providing government services through digital technology. This requires streamlining procedures and automating some essential service delivery processes. Achieving this relies on offering user-friendly interfaces through digital devices at service locations, in public places frequented by citizens (such as commercial markets and public transport stations), or via mobile phone applications.
Egypt has already embarked on many of these initiatives. Recent years have seen a notable expansion in the digitization of government services. In addition to launching the Digital Egypt portal, which provides a wide range of services electronically, the government has also activated the mechanization of notarization and real estate registration services.
This makes it easier for citizens to obtain government services by saving significant time and effort required to access them. It also reduces pressure on physical service centers by decreasing the number of citizens who need to visit them.
Enabling New Services
E-government can leverage the capabilities offered by digital technology to improve existing services or introduce new services that were not possible through traditional methods. A large part of this role lies in technology’s ability to provide citizens with more comprehensive information about available services and their requirements.
Examples of these services include providing information about government services through websites and/or smartphone applications. For instance, such a service could inform a user about the nearest public and private hospitals and health units available in a specific geographical area based on their current location. While similar services are available through Google Maps and other similar applications, e-government, by utilizing the data available to it, can provide users with detailed information that independent applications cannot, and its information will be more reliable.
In general, an approach that envisions the possibilities offered by digital technology, especially big data and artificial intelligence technologies, can generate countless innovative ideas. These ideas allow e-government to play a positive role in the daily lives of citizens.
Increasing Transparency and Curbing Government Corruption
Digitizing government service delivery processes allows for the continuous and automated documentation of these processes at various stages, often without the need for human intervention. It also retains operational data in a digital format that can be easily retrieved and displayed.
Digitization also enables access to data when it needs to be reviewed in case of errors or complaints from service recipients. Moreover, statistical data can be collected to show service delivery rates and the frequency of errors or problems. This helps address recurring issues, improve service performance, and allows for greater transparency.
On another front, the automation of digital government service delivery processes limits government corruption and makes its detection easier. On the one hand, digital services reduce opportunities for receiving bribes. On the other hand, the automatic recording of service delivery operations facilitates the detection of any form of manipulation.
Regulatory Requirements for E-Government
E-government operates within a regulatory environment (legislative and administrative) that defines what it can and cannot do. This environment consists of legislation, executive regulations, and administrative decisions that govern various aspects related to e-government operations. For e-government to function optimally, its regulatory environment needs to be developed through three main pathways, discussed in the following points.
Overcoming Procedural Obstacles and Barriers
Existing regulatory frameworks were designed to handle a non-digital environment, relying primarily on paper documents, data storage in physical files, and manual staff operations. This environment imposes complex procedures to prevent human errors and verify the identity of data providers and handlers. It also sometimes necessitates the physical centralization of certain operations to ensure a single, authenticated copy of the information they depend on.
Reliance on digital technology eliminates the need for many of these procedures and replaces some with digitally based alternatives. However, in many cases, existing laws and administrative regulations act as a barrier to transitioning from traditional to new procedures due to the legal responsibility incurred by bypassing or violating them.
This issue is reflected in gaps in the implementation of procedures via e-government applications. While some steps to obtain a service can be completed digitally, other steps still require traditional methods. This negatively impacts the effectiveness of digitization and ultimately renders it meaningless.
Establishing Frameworks Suitable for Digital Technology
The use of digital technology in providing government services to citizens offers new alternatives and innovations, whether for making traditional services available or for introducing new ones. Some of these alternatives require different regulatory frameworks to govern their management operations and procedures, as well as the means and conditions for accessing them.
Some more comprehensive regulatory frameworks, such as legislation, can address general requirements that are easy to apply to all government services. For example, a single piece of legislation can regulate digital identity verification requirements for all digitally available government transactions. Additionally, there is a need for general legislation to regulate the everyday operations that all or most digital government services may require.
Besides the necessity of setting clear and sufficient standards for these operations, there must also be standardized implementation mechanisms. This allows citizens to understand the expected requirements in advance, without confusion resulting from differing procedures between one service and another, or between different sectors. Standardizing operations also contributes to facilitating oversight and accountability, ensuring that all government entities adhere to the established standards in performing essential service delivery operations.
Addressing Emerging Precautions and Risks
While technology offers numerous unprecedented opportunities for development, improved performance, and easier access to daily necessities for citizens, its use also introduces new risks that differ from those associated with traditional methods of government service delivery. The most prominent example is data protection from unauthorized access and the multiple problems that can arise from it.
Digital tools open up new avenues for exploitation, fraud, and corruption. The proper implementation of e-government requires regulatory frameworks that consider these risks and establish clear policies to confront them and avoid their harmful effects.
Specifically, there is a need for clear standards and requirements for the technological infrastructure that e-government relies on. Furthermore, procedures for monitoring and overseeing service delivery operations must be regulated to counter the potential for exploitation, fraud, and corruption. In addition to defining the necessary procedures, these regulatory frameworks also establish the limits of responsibility for different entities and administrative positions, and the methods for investigation and accountability in cases of errors, violations, or criminal acts.
Technological Requirements for E-Government
This section discusses the essential technological requirements for effective e-government operations. These include material requirements such as infrastructure, equipment, and hardware, as well as non-material requirements like human resources, skills, and software design specifications.
Material Requirements
Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure:
E-government applications represent an example of exceptionally large information systems that demand substantial technological resources. In principle, collecting, storing, and processing the data necessary for e-government requires massive data centers with high computing capabilities.
The desire to provide digital government services to the maximum possible number of citizens puts pressure on existing infrastructure, necessitating an upgrade of the telecommunications network infrastructure in general, along with developing its data centers, storage capacity, and computing power.
Equipment and Hardware in Workplaces for Public Interaction:
Although e-government relies on digital means, such as the Internet, to provide services, a significant portion of the essential functions and operations required to perform these services will always depend on the efficiency of work within government offices and agencies.
Therefore, providing the necessary equipment and hardware for digitally dependent operations within workplaces is a key requirement. The longevity of such equipment and hardware also depends on regular updates and essential maintenance, in addition to considering the potential for continuous expansion and growth.
As the delivery of government services increasingly relies on digital means, it should also be considered that a large percentage of citizens will not be able to access these services from their homes for various reasons. Consequently, dedicated equipment and devices should be provided to make digital services accessible, whether in customary workplaces or in locations where a large number of citizens are expected to frequent.
Non-Material Requirements
Human Resources and Training:
The digitization of government services and the automation of some of their operations do not, by any means, eliminate the need for the human element essential to providing these services. In fact, digitization imposes different human resource requirements, necessitating the acquisition of new skills to deal with digital technology.
Digitization also requires specialized digital technology human resources for several purposes, ranging from designing and developing information systems to their deployment, operation, updating, and maintenance. Therefore, the gradual digital transformation of government services should include training and qualification programs for employees in government agencies and departments to ensure their ability to perform their tasks efficiently.
Software Design:
The successful implementation of e-government requires reliance on software specifically designed to meet its requirements. Given the sensitivity of the operations performed by e-government, the software used must be as secure as possible and free from any vulnerabilities that could allow system breaches. E-government software should also be free from coding errors that could lead to incorrect or unexpected results for the operations it conducts.
Furthermore, providing interfaces for a general public, spanning different societal groups, requires designing an interface that meets the diverse needs of these groups. In particular, user interfaces should be clear and straightforward, and should not assume the user possesses any special digital skills. They must also provide guidance and instructions that help the user enter required data in a simplified and clear manner, and respond to any errors made in a way that clarifies what is needed to correct the submitted data, while avoiding the need to restart the process from the beginning.
Special Design Requirements:
Considering the special circumstances of certain social groups is a fundamental requirement when designing e-government services. These groups include, for example, persons with disabilities, illiterate individuals, and those with limited income. This entails several obligations, most notably diversifying the means of service delivery, including providing human support when necessary.
Moreover, it is crucial to recognize that some segments of society lack the ability to access digital services, whether via the Internet or smartphones, due to economic reasons. With the expansion of digital transformation in government services, it becomes essential to provide alternatives that enable these groups to benefit from services within the digital framework. Prominent among these alternatives is providing devices for digital service delivery in public gathering places, along with offering human support to assist those who need guidance in using these devices.
Human Rights Requirements for E-Government
Government services, in general, intersect with a large number of fundamental rights. These services are a necessary condition for citizens to enjoy those rights, including political, civil, economic, and social rights. Therefore, access to these services is itself a fundamental civil right that the state should be committed to ensuring for all its citizens, fairly and without discrimination.
E-government is an effective tool for states to fulfill this obligation, as it offers the possibility of overcoming traditional obstacles that prevented all citizens from accessing government services without discrimination. However, the use of digital technology in providing government services introduces several additional requirements related to the nature of this technology and the challenges it creates. These challenges can pose a threat to many fundamental rights.
This section discusses the human rights-related requirements that should be present in e-government implementation to ensure the protection of these rights and to develop and enhance citizens’ ability to exercise them.
Privacy Safeguards and Data Protection
The operation of e-government relies on the digitization of an enormous amount of data held by the state, including a large portion of highly sensitive personal data. It also includes another type of data that may not fall under the definition of personal data, as it is not linked to specific individuals. Still, it remains sensitive data, whether for private institutions or public entities.
In general, government data should be considered more sensitive than its counterparts that may be collected or processed by non-governmental entities. Therefore, it is necessary to impose strict conditions on the collection, storage, accessibility, processing, and modification of government data.
The digital retention of personal data for tens of millions of citizens within unified databases poses a significant challenge and a serious threat to the right to privacy. Although this situation is a necessary condition for e-government operations, it requires special care in data protection and the provision of safeguards to ensure that citizens’ right to privacy is not violated through it in any way.
This includes security measures for the information systems used for e-government tasks, encompassing both their hardware and software components, starting from defining standard specifications for equipment and devices, and extending to the selection of appropriate software. In this context, government entities’ control over the details of software operation and updates gains particular importance, necessitating a preference for open-source software over closed-source software.
In the same vein, protecting the right to privacy requires safeguards related to the service delivery processes themselves. This includes the extent of human intervention in service delivery procedures, the responsibility of individuals authorized to access data, and the scope of their intervention through modification or deletion. These safeguards aim to limit the possibility of exploiting, misusing, or tampering with that data.
Therefore, e-government must adhere to the principle of providing access to data on a need-to-know basis, ensuring that each party is granted access only to the necessary amount of data required to perform their function. This also includes anonymizing data that does not require the identification of its owner.
Safeguards for the Right to Access Information
E-government is one of the tools by which the executive authority performs its various roles and obligations as regulated by the Constitution and different legislations. Article 68 of the 2014 Constitution obliges the state to guarantee citizens the right to obtain information, data, statistics, and documents, and to disclose and circulate them.
Contributing to the fulfillment of this obligation is one of the core roles of e-government, as the provision of access to information is closely linked to digital technology. Specifically, digital technology allows for overcoming traditional obstacles that can make the provision of government information and data complex or costly.
On the other hand, digital transformation requires government data to be available in a digital format, which facilitates access through various digital means. Similarly, the right to access information requires government entities to make all their data and information, not subject to confidentiality conditions, available to the public. This goal can be easily achieved by government entities publishing the data and information they possess in digital format on their websites, or through a unified portal dedicated to this purpose, in parallel with providing their diverse digital services.
Safeguards for the Right to Complaint, Grievance, and Redress
There are many instances where citizens may be unable to access government services, or the services are not provided correctly, or as expected, or their implementation is marred by errors or problems that could harm individuals or affect their interests. Therefore, citizens should have avenues for complaint and grievance if they encounter any of these situations. With government services being provided digitally, these avenues must also be available through the digital software interfaces used to access the service.
In addition to the usual cases that warrant filing a complaint or grievance during service delivery processes, there are also complaints related to the digital means used to provide the service. Citizens should have mechanisms available to evaluate the performance of services through different digital forms.
These mechanisms must be clearly and easily accessible, ensuring ease of use for the broadest possible range of users. Citizens should also be informed of the results of their complaints or grievances and their consequences within an acceptable timeframe, and through means that ensure they reach the concerned individuals.
Moreover, citizens have the right, in case they suffer any harm, to redress by appropriate compensation and to be enabled to obtain their legally entitled compensation. Therefore, e-government applications must be designed to support the achievement of this redress by providing and disseminating relevant information. This information must also be comprehensive and in a format that allows for its submission to the relevant authorities, including prosecution, investigation, and civil and criminal litigation bodies.
Requirements for Providing Services to Marginalized Groups
Marginalized groups refer to individuals or groups whose varying economic or social circumstances prevent them from having equal opportunities to access available resources and services. One of the primary resources essential for several aspects of citizens’ daily lives is access to government services. Digital transformation presents an opportunity to bridge the existing gap in access to government services for many of these groups.
This section discusses the conditions that must be met for e-government to play an effective role in bridging these gaps for the poorest segments of the population and overcoming discrimination against women.
Providing Access Opportunities for the Poorest Groups to Government Services
Enhancing access opportunities for the poorest groups to government services requires efforts to deliver these services at the lowest possible cost. Reliance on digital technology can significantly reduce the costs of government services.
However, in practice, reducing the cost of a service does not necessarily guarantee that the poorest groups will be able to access it. This is because limited financial capacity is often coupled with other factors that hinder service access, such as poor digital literacy, lack of infrastructure, or limited awareness of the service’s existence in the first place.
Furthermore, illiteracy rates and school dropout rates increase significantly as average income decreases. Poverty rates are also higher in rural and remote areas and in marginalized neighborhoods within cities. Consequently, providing services to the poorest groups requires overcoming obstacles related to illiteracy and low educational attainment on one hand, and geographical and architectural barriers on the other.
One possible way to overcome these obstacles is to make government services available through fixed or mobile service centers. These centers, strategically placed in underserved, impoverished regions, would leverage e-government functionalities while offering essential citizen support for their utilization.
The spread of these centers helps overcome geographical barriers and reach beneficiaries in their places of residence or work. They also enable overcoming the challenges of not owning internet-connected devices and addressing problems of illiteracy or low educational attainment through human support that facilitates service requests and execution.
Addressing Discrimination Against Women in Accessing Government Services
Women in Egyptian society suffer from traditional forms of discrimination that result in their opportunities to access various resources, including government services, being less than those of men. If they are poor, this discrimination exacerbates the factors discussed in the previous section. Illiteracy and school dropout rates among women are higher than among men. Women are also less able to overcome geographical barriers due to social restrictions on their movement.
Therefore, women, especially the poorest, benefit less from the solutions offered by e-government than men in the same category. This necessitates finding specific solutions to bridge the gap arising from discrimination against women. These solutions should be compatible with their social circumstances, especially in rural areas, where the most significant proportion of women who have received no education or left it early reside.
Evaluating Egypt’s E-Government Experience
The Egyptian government began implementing many digital transformation initiatives in several of its departments after 2010. This phase paved the way for the expansion of e-government applications by providing essential elements of the required infrastructure.
Specifically, several service sectors witnessed the digitization of the data they handle. Digital transformation efforts received a significant boost with the launch of the “Egypt Vision 2030” initiative, in which digital transformation held a prominent position.
In 2020, the Egyptian government launched the Digital Egypt services portal as a unified platform for providing government services online. This portal offers over 100 government services, and according to figures announced in March 2025, more than 7.98 million citizens have created accounts on it to benefit from its services.
This section discusses the extent to which e-government has been able to fulfill its expected roles, which were previously outlined in the paper’s section titled “Roles of Digital Government in the Egyptian Context.”
Enhancing Internal Efficiency of Government Units
A noticeable improvement in the speed and quality of performance of some government units can be observed as a direct result of using digital technology in their various operations. The Civil Status Department is a prominent example of this, as it relies on a unified digital database that can be accessed from anywhere in Egypt.
The department’s core operations have shown clear improvement in terms of speed and efficiency. This development is reflected in the provision of some basic services through any of the department’s offices, without being restricted by the geographical location of a person’s birthplace or the original documentation site.
These services have also become available in a growing number of locations outside the department’s traditional premises, such as commercial centers, smart civil registry machines, or online. These services include issuing, renewing, and amending data for national ID documents, birth certificates, death certificates, marriage and divorce records, and other documents.
However, several government entities still rely on a hybrid system of retaining data and information in paper format alongside digital databases. Consequently, they depend on manual recording of various transactions and operations, with re-entry into digital form.
Furthermore, many entities still require citizens to submit paper documents, despite the information already being available in digital databases. This duplication impedes the desired improvement in the efficiency of digitized operations. This duality leads to a waste of time and resources for both citizens and employees. It also undermines the efficiency of digital operations and increases the likelihood of errors due to data being manually entered multiple times.
Expanding Access to Government Services
According to the statistics from the Digital Egypt Portal, over 45 million service requests have been submitted through the website. However, these statistics lack data on the number of services that were actually completed.
Conversely, the portal announces that it offers more than 100 diverse government services, but a number of these are still under development and not yet truly available to citizens. In many cases, the portal’s role is limited to merely receiving service requests, with citizens still needing to complete procedures later with the relevant government departments. This cannot be considered a complete digital provision of the service.
Increasing Transparency and Curbing Government Corruption
To date, e-government in Egypt has not played a significant role in increasing the transparency of government operations, including those related to service delivery. Citizens do not receive sufficient explanatory information about the status of their government service requests. Furthermore, they often do not receive information about the reasons for any delays or rejections of their service applications by the relevant authority.
The provision of some government services through digital means, without the need for direct interaction with employees, has contributed to reducing instances of corruption. Nevertheless, the continued reliance on human intervention in many stages of service delivery, coupled with a lack of transparency in the performance of certain tasks, makes the e-government’s impact on curbing corruption very limited.
Alignment of Regulatory Frameworks with E-Government Requirements
Egyptian legislative authorities have issued several laws related to regulating different aspects of digital technology use. Among these, two laws intersect with e-government operations: Law No. 15 of 2004 concerning Electronic Signatures and Law No. 151 of 2020 concerning Personal Data Protection.
The Electronic Signature Law allows individuals to create a digital signature that enables identity verification when needed. Egypt’s e-government portal uses electronic signatures as a means to authenticate the identity of users wishing to access its services. Similarly, the Personal Data Protection Law regulates safeguards for protecting digital personal data, the rights of data owners, and the obligations of entities that collect, store, and process this data.
Aside from these laws, there is no specific Egyptian legislation dedicated to regulating the implementation of e-government. Furthermore, most of the laws and executive regulations governing access to services have not undergone any amendments to make them more suitable for digital provision.
Although this does not, in practice, prevent the provision of many services through digital means, it leads to several problems:
- Absence of legal guarantees for the safe performance of government services through digital means. For instance, there is no legal obligation that specifies particular standards for the equipment, hardware, and software used in providing e-government services. Consequently, there is no legal avenue for accountability if any of these essential provisions, equipment, or software necessary for the safe performance of their functions are not met. Similarly, there are no binding legal guarantees ensuring citizens’ rights in cases where they are harmed due to errors occurring while obtaining government services through digital means.
- Inability to fully complete some services through digital means, necessitating the completion of specific steps traditionally with paper, due to legal requirements. An example is the requirement to submit specific paper documents or obtain a person’s signature on paper forms and documents, among other things, that could be replaced by electronic and digital means if the relevant law or regulation permitted it.
- Difficulty in expanding the provision of some government services because the legally stipulated procedural requirements do not allow for their access through digital means.
Availability of Material Technological Requirements
Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure
The publicly announced theoretical picture of communications and internet services in Egypt differs significantly from the actual daily reality experienced by citizens. Reportedly, the government has greatly expanded the development of both wired and wireless communication networks in recent years.
Reports also indicate that internet service speed in Egypt is the highest on the African continent, but the daily experience of internet users reflects a different reality. The speed users actually receive is nowhere near the advertised total speed, in addition to continuous complaints about service irregularity and frequent disconnections.
All of this impacts citizens’ ability to access government services online. It also affects the regularity of government services that rely on the Internet to access their databases.
Given the lack of reliable information about the extent of the infrastructure on which e-government in Egypt relies, evaluating its efficiency depends solely on user impressions and direct experiences. These experiences frequently show service outages due to technical reasons.
Equipment and Hardware in Workplaces and Public Interaction
Once again, the lack of information about the equipment and hardware that e-government operations in Egypt depend on limits the ability to assess their efficiency. However, the absence of clear regulatory frameworks for the technical specifications required for this equipment, as well as procedures for its procurement, operation, updating, and maintenance, is in itself a deficiency that needs to be addressed. This deficiency raises doubts about the availability of basic requirements for servers, workstations, and networks used, especially the requirements for securing the information systems that rely on these components.
Availability of Non-Material Technological Requirements
Human Resources and Training
The Ministry of Communications has launched a project to develop and build the digital capabilities of state administrative apparatus employees. The project includes several programs to build digital literacy and skills for administrative leaders, as well as general administrative staff. Some of its programs also target specific government entities, such as employees in civil courts, judicial bodies, and Al-Azhar institutions.
Additionally, some programs aim to refine specific skills, such as English for administrative purposes or the use of artificial intelligence in e-government. Most programs rely on distance learning and include interactive educational content. These efforts promise to bridge the digital skills gap among state administrative apparatus employees, especially if they can be expanded over time.
Software Design
When considering the “Digital Egypt Portal” as a model for e-government user interface design, it can be said that it meets some basic design requirements to an acceptable degree. The website features a simple structure and clear elements, which help reduce visual clutter and assist users in easy navigation.
The website also provides several paths to access desired services and offers a dedicated mobile phone application for ease of use. However, the website lacks features that support access for people with disabilities, which represents a shortcoming in digital inclusion.
On another note, it is difficult to evaluate the efficiency of the website’s technical infrastructure, including the software tools it uses to link databases, due to the absence of information about these tools, as well as the lack of announced regulatory frameworks that set clear standards to be adhered to.
E-Government in Egypt and Human Rights Requirements
This section examines the extent to which human rights safeguards are available within e-government applications and highlights their effectiveness in enabling citizens to exercise their rights under constitutional obligations.
The Right to Privacy
Protecting the right to privacy in the context of digital technology use relates to safeguarding personal data that is collected, stored, and processed digitally. While the Personal Data Protection Law covers these aspects, it suffers from two fundamental problems:
First, the law has not been activated since its issuance approximately five years ago, due to the state’s reluctance to issue the executive regulations governing its implementation. This has also resulted in the failure to establish the Data Protection Center, the body mandated by the law to oversee its application.
Second, the law’s issuing provisions stipulate the exclusion of data collected under the law itself from its provisions. This exemption removes a significant amount of personal data collected by government entities from the scope of this law’s regulation, thereby keeping it outside its oversight and protection.
Government entities, acting as data controllers and processors, have clear legal obligations regarding the personal data they collect. While some data collection may be justified for regulatory purposes defined by law and may not require prior individual consent, this does not absolve government entities from upholding individuals’ inherent rights regarding their personal data. These rights are not in conflict with legitimate data collection and processing but necessitate safeguards for their protection.
Regarding safeguards for the right to privacy within the context of e-government in Egypt, there is no publicly available information regarding the policies or procedures followed, if any, in this regard. This ambiguity is exacerbated by the absence of clear regulatory frameworks that impose specific procedures for securing information systems against cyber threats and ensuring the protection of citizens’ data while using digital services.
In the absence of such frameworks, it is difficult to assume the existence of these procedures or to verify their actual implementation. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that they are subject to any form of independent oversight or evaluation, which is essential to guarantee their effectiveness and safe execution.
The Right to Access Information
Despite the constitutional mandate to issue a law regulating the right to access information and establish an independent commission to oversee government compliance, this law has not been enacted to date. Consequently, the relevant commission has not been established.
This legislative and institutional vacuum has been reflected in the failure of any government entity to enable citizens to access information in any form. Although digital transformation is supposed to facilitate the availability of information through e-government tools, this avenue has not been activated as required so far. The information available on government websites is mainly limited to promotional or news-oriented content, with some reports reviewing the future strategies of certain entities.
In contrast, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) stands as a relative exception, regularly providing many statistical and informational reports through its website. Nevertheless, the website suffers from several issues, most notably poor design, slow performance, and often unresponsiveness to search queries, which likely reflects the limited technical resources allocated to it.
The Right to Complaint, Grievance, and Redress
The e-government services portal offers an option to submit complaints and suggestions, in addition to providing hotline support. This step is a positive indicator towards enabling users to report problems or offer suggestions for service improvement.
However, what the portal provides in this regard does not meet the required standards for e-government services. The capabilities offered by the website do not exceed what any traditional website can provide, despite the official governmental nature of the services offered by the portal within the context of a constitutional and legal obligation.
The means of providing these services should not lack clear legal mechanisms that guarantee the user’s right to complain and grieve. It should also be accompanied by safeguards related to receiving complaints and notifying the complainant of a maximum response time, as stipulated by law or relevant administrative regulations.
Additionally, the website lacks clear guidelines on the procedures to follow in case of errors during service execution, especially those that might result in material or legal harm. This deficiency weakens users’ ability to claim their rights, including the right to compensation for errors that may originate from the service provider.
Citizens’ rights as users of digital services are vulnerable when effective institutional mechanisms for receiving and considering complaints are absent and information about avenues for redress is insufficient. This insufficiency undermines trust in the effectiveness of digital transformation for government services.
Bridging Gaps in Access to Government Services
There are ongoing efforts to leverage digital transformation in providing government services to marginalized and underserved groups, including those with limited income or disabilities. These efforts include establishing fixed service centers to offer government services, along with providing human support to assist citizens in the processes required to receive the service.
In October 2024, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development announced the opening of the fourth government service center nationwide. This trend toward establishing such centers represents a positive development that contributes to narrowing the gaps in access to government services for marginalized groups. Therefore, expanding their deployment, especially in rural and remote areas, and in lower-income urban areas, could have a significant impact on eliminating these disparities.
The Ministry of Communications has also announced initiatives for the social inclusion of marginalized groups, including women, under the umbrella of the Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development project. This marks a positive step towards empowering these groups to access digital government services.
However, greater efforts are still needed to overcome the significant gap in empowering women from poorer classes, in particular, to access government services. Fixed service centers, despite their importance, are not sufficient to overcome the social and cultural restrictions that limit the movement of a large percentage of women, especially in rural or poorer areas. Furthermore, high illiteracy rates among women compared to men pose an additional obstacle to benefiting from digital services.
These combined factors constitute a real barrier to this specific group benefiting from traditional e-government tools. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop innovative and specially targeted initiatives to facilitate access for women in these circumstances to essential government services, particularly those that directly improve their living conditions.
Another notable initiative in digital accessibility for people with disabilities is the National Network for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities. This program, which leverages digital technology, focuses on helping individuals with disabilities find suitable employment opportunities through its dedicated website.
Nevertheless, there remains a deficiency in providing e-government services in a manner suitable for the diverse needs of people with disabilities. For example, the design of the user interface for the online government services portal did not include an alternative that meets the requirements for enabling people with disabilities to interact with the website.
Recommendations and Suggestions
This section presents a set of recommendations and suggestions to address the shortcomings in Egypt’s current e-government experience, as well as to improve its performance and increase its effectiveness.
Legislative and Regulatory Role
Activating e-government in Egypt necessitates the issuance of comprehensive legislation. This legislation should establish a clear legal framework that guarantees citizens’ right to access government services digitally. It should define identity verification mechanisms and set technical requirements to combat fraud and impersonation, in addition to criminalizing these acts and formulating appropriate penalties for them.
Furthermore, this law should regulate the technical and procedural requirements to ensure the protection of the information systems used, government data, citizens’ personal data, and their various government transaction data.
Finally, the law must regulate the necessary provisions to guarantee individuals’ right to submit complaints and grievances related to digital government services. This should include defining procedures for receiving complaints, how to respond to them, and mechanisms for notifying complainants of their progress and the outcome of their resolution.
The law must also clarify procedures for claiming compensation when necessary, the cases in which the aggrieved party is entitled to compensation, and their right to obtain supporting data for their case, which is suitable for litigation requirements if needed.
Providing Technological Requirements
Efficient activation of e-government requires greater investment in digital infrastructure to ensure that theoretical capabilities align with practical application requirements. Stable and reliable internet access is a fundamental prerequisite for effective and comprehensive access to e-government services.
The most prominent bottleneck lies in the available capacities for internet service providers, which they, in turn, distribute to users. The inadequacy of these capacities to meet demand means that the speed users actually receive always remains below what is theoretically expected.
On another note, the discrepancy between internet service prices and the average incomes of the vast majority of the population means that most people’s internet access remains limited. Therefore, pricing policies for the service should be considered that allow for an acceptable level of data consumption at reduced prices.
In addition to upgrading the telecommunications network infrastructure, the government should also invest in establishing more data centers to enhance the e-government’s ability to provide more regular services that are less prone to outages. In parallel, more resources should also be allocated for the replacement, modernization, and maintenance of equipment and devices to ensure service continuity and the stability of their availability and operational efficiency.
The Right to Privacy and Personal Data Protection
To protect citizens’ privacy and their right to fair and secure access to e-government services, it is crucial to activate the Personal Data Protection Law by issuing its executive regulations and establishing the Data Protection Center.
Furthermore, the exemption of data collected, stored, and processed by government entities from the provisions of this law should be revoked. Any necessary exceptions, if they exist, must be regulated within specific provisions for these entities, provided that such exceptions meet clear conditions justifying their necessity.
Additionally, a regulatory framework is essential to ensure the protection of personal data provided by citizens to obtain government services through various digital technologies. The confidentiality of their digital government transactions must be guaranteed, ensuring they are not exposed to risks of penetration, unauthorized access by third parties, or exploitation for any illegal purpose.
Moreover, this legal framework must uphold the principle of data minimization, meaning individuals should not be required to provide personal data beyond what is strictly necessary to complete government transactions and achieve their intended purpose.
The Right to Access Information
To guarantee that e-government effectively provides the right to access information, two crucial steps are necessary: first, issuing the constitutionally mandated law governing this right, and second, establishing the commission tasked with monitoring the state’s compliance in enabling citizens to enjoy it. The law should oblige government entities to make their non-confidential information available, enabling citizens to access and use it through digital means, especially via their official websites.
The law must also include clear requirements to guarantee easy and effective access to government information, including standards related to user interface design, data presentation methods, and file formats through which data is made available for download. This also encompasses regulating mechanisms for information requests, procedures for responding to them, specified timeframes for these responses, and avenues for grievance in case of request refusal, as well as procedures for recourse to the competent commission when needed.
Bridging Gaps in Access to Government Services
Expanding the establishment of e-government service centers can help bridge the access gap to government services experienced by the poorest segments of the population. Targeting the poorest, rural, and remote areas with the establishment of these centers can significantly increase their impact.
Furthermore, providing mobile service centers can enable wider coverage at a lower cost. For these service centers to achieve their intended purpose, it is crucial to provide trained staff to offer support to users from less educated groups, especially those who are illiterate.
The additional gap arising from discrimination against women, especially among the poorest segments, can be bridged by providing government services to those who need them in their homes. This can be achieved through a program of female representatives who can visit service seekers and assist them in obtaining services through various digital means.
For any of these solutions, and others, to achieve their purpose, the target beneficiaries must be informed of their existence and how to access them. This can be achieved through advertising via mass media, as well as through social media platforms.
Conclusion
For Egypt, a country with a population exceeding one hundred million, the efficiency of its government institutions, both in the present and future, hinges on their ability to leverage digital technology to develop their operations. While the efforts made in this field over the last decade are acknowledged, many significant shortcomings still await remedy to correct the trajectory of e-government development in Egypt.
This paper has sought to present a picture of the reality of e-government in Egypt. In its first section, it defined the concept of e-government, its roles, its regulatory, technological, and human rights requirements, as well as the requirements for its effective role in bridging justice gaps in access to government services.
In its second section, the paper offered an evaluation of e-government development in Egypt, based on the fulfillment of the requirements presented in the first section. Finally, in its third section, it put forth a set of recommendations and proposals that can help achieve the various requirements for an effective and rights-aware e-government in the Egyptian context.