Digitizing public services in Kenya: How human-centred design creates value in African contexts
The year 2024 brought a special project for Trinidad Wiseman: in cooperation with ESTDEV, we completed the analysis and design of three public e-services in Kenya. For the first time in Kenya, both service-providing institutions and end-users were involved in the process, marking the beginning of a new way of thinking about public e-service design in the country.
This project is an excellent example of how, even in a short time and within a foreign cultural context, it is possible to achieve results that positively affect the lives of millions by applying service design principles.
The development of a digital service starts with designing the user experience and validating it through prototypes and user testing. Read more about our user experience design services and projects on our website, and contact us to discuss your next project.
What problem did we solve in Kenya?
In Estonia, we are used to convenient e-state services, but in many other parts of the world, the user experience of public services is very different.
Most public services in Kenya are only available at service points with physical queues. This means people often need to take time off work and travel long distances just to get information or submit applications.
The scale of the challenge is clear: in Kenya, with a population of 56 million, nearly 1.5 million children are born each year, but only 80% of births are registered in the population register. In some regions, the figure is as low as 13.4%.
Children without birth certificates face significant barriers in accessing public services, including healthcare and education, which makes it harder for them to fully participate in society.
Digital tools can speed up data flows within agencies, reducing service bottlenecks. This is why the digitalization of public services in Kenya is crucial for improving access to essential services and reducing social and economic inequalities.
How did Trinidad Wiseman help solve the problem?
The Kenyan Digital Development Project is part of Estonia’s largest EU-funded digitalization initiative in Africa, led by the Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV). The project was funded by the European Union’s Team Europe Initiative “Human-Centred Digitalization”.
The project lasted three months and focused on three public services:
- Registration of births in the national population register.
- Loan application process of the Uwezo Fund for vulnerable groups.
- Vocational Education Information and Learning Process in Nairobi County.
Trinidad Wiseman’s project team included a business analyst, a strategic designer, and a digital services designer, who carried out a thorough business analysis and service design process.
Over three months, our team spent a total of seven weeks on the ground in Kenya, mapping both the pain points citizens face when using the services and the needs of the service-providing institutions.
This approach ensured that the proposed solutions were adapted to real-life circumstances in the Kenyan context, while also enabling service providers to manage the services more efficiently in the future.
Based on the collected input, we developed a clickable prototype for each service, illustrating the future digital solution. These prototypes were then tested with both end-users and service providers to ensure they met actual needs.
In addition, we compiled a handbook for developing citizen-centred digital services in Kenya, which will guide the development of future public e-services.
What is the impact of the project?
The digitalisation of public services in Kenya will significantly improve citizens’ access to vital services and help reduce social and economic inequalities.
Among the three services, the redesign of the birth registration process had the greatest impact. The digital solution we created shortens the time required to issue a birth certificate from an estimated six months to just one day.
The digitalization of Uwezo Fund’s loan applications and applications for vocational training in Nairobi will also greatly improve accessibility. In the future, citizens will be able to access information and submit applications directly from their smartphones — eliminating the need for long trips and burdensome paperwork.
This project marked a new mindset in Kenya’s public e-service design: for the first time, public service designers observed how end-users actually use services and directly involved them in the development process.
Guidance materials adapted to local conditions further ensure the project’s long-term impact, supporting the continued application of human-centred design principles in future e-service development.
How did we arrive at this result?
Despite the short timeframe and the challenges of working in a new cultural environment, our experienced project team successfully combined tangible digital outputs with strategic capacity building.
As a result of the project, the following were delivered:
- Three tested clickable prototypes of digital services, enabling users to see what the final product might look like. Submitting prototypes ensured the project went beyond documentation and moved toward the next stage of service development.
- A handbook for developing citizen-centred digital services, based on human-centred design methodology and adapted to the Kenyan context. This will allow the approach to be replicated and support other Kenyan government agencies in developing citizen-focused e-services.
- A concise introductory brochure for public service providers, summarising the key principles of human-centred digitalization.
Conclusion
In a multilingual and multi-ethnic country like Kenya, human-centred design can effectively address the diverse needs of different user groups while increasing engagement and accessibility.
Service design plays a crucial role in development projects. It ensures we build solutions that people truly need and will use. Good service design is especially important when launching new products or services — which is why involving experienced partners is always worthwhile.
See and read more about the project:
- We shared our impressions of the project at the Trinidad Wiseman Inspiration Evening. Watch the presentation in Estonian here.
- Helen Susan presented the project’s experiences at the e-Governance Conference in May 2025, discussing how this approach helps create sustainable impact. Watch the conference presentation in English (Helen Susan speaks at 9:20 minutes) and see the interview with her.
- ESTDEV has also written about the project’s practical experiences and lessons learned in their article.
