Trinidad Wiseman digitizes public services in Kenya
In collaboration with ESTDEV and Kenyan government agencies and stakeholders, we successfully completed a project analysing and designing public services in Kenya.
The Kenyan digital development project is part of Estonia's largest externally funded digitalization initiative in Africa, led by the Estonian Centre for International Development Cooperation (ESTDEV). The project was funded by the Team Europe Initiative's (TEI) program to promote human-centred digitalization, led by GIZ through the Kenya Digital Transformation Centre (DTC), with a budget of 2.4 million euros.
The project lasted three months, focusing on three services: birth registration in Kenya's population registry, loan application services for vulnerable groups through the Uwezo Fund, and information services related to vocational education and learning applications in Nairobi County.
A project team consisting of a business analyst, strategic designer, and digital designer from Trinidad Wiseman spent seven weeks in Kenya to understand the obstacles and problems people face when using services and the needs of service-providing institutions.
The team identified service bottlenecks, collected feedback, analysed results, and created digital service prototypes tested with local users. Additionally, a comprehensive handbook for creating human-centred digital services was created. Practical experiences and key lessons from the project are also shared in an article by ESTDEV.
"Kenya was a challenge for us, as we had to create three services in three months in a culturally unfamiliar environment. Such a complex project can only be done with a very good team, including an experienced analyst, strategic designer, and a digital product designer who support each other throughout the project," commented Liina Martõnjak, Head of Service Design at Trinidad Wiseman.
Given that an estimated 1.5 million people are born in Kenya annually, and only 80% of births are registered nationally, with regional rates as low as 13.4%, the company stated that transforming the birth registration process had the most significant impact.
"Our digital solution reduces the time to issue a birth certificate from an estimated six months to just one day. This ensures that every child receives a birth certificate quickly without parents having to run between institutions," said Helen Susan Selirand, a strategic designer at Trinidad Wiseman who participated in the project.
Most public services in Kenya are available at service points with a live queue system, requiring people to take days off work and travel long distances to get information or submit applications. Digitalizing Uwezo Fund loan applications and Nairobi vocational education services makes public services more accessible.
In the future, users can submit applications and get information directly from their smartphones, eliminating the need for long trips and paperwork. The project continues in the pilot phase, carried out by ADM Interactive OÜ.
Trinidad Wiseman is Estonia's leading service design and digital transformation company, dedicated to creating a smarter future through innovative and user-centred solutions. The company collaborates with public and private sector organizations worldwide to improve service accessibility, efficiency, and user experience.
The project activities are carried out as part of a project financed by GIZ commissioned by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and cofinanced by Germany and the EU.
For more information and inquiries please contact:
Liina Martõnjak
Head of Service Design
+372 5343 9383
Marko Nemberg
Business Development Director
+372 580 43 140
