Addis ababa: Nearly 30 African countries have visited the MESOB, a digital and physical one-stop public service platform that integrates multiple federal and regional government agencies under a single roof, to learn from Ethiopia's experience, Zerihun Abebe, African Affairs Director-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated.
According to Ethiopian News Agency, MESOB is one of the experiences Ethiopia is sharing with African partners as part of its Pan-African approach. Ethiopia developed the platform while also drawing lessons from African countries, including Kenya and Rwanda, Zerihun Abebe added.
"We are giving back to Africa what we have developed. We are simply sharing our experience and also telling them that this is something driven by Africans. This is from Africa and for Africans," the Director-General said.
African resident ambassadors who visited the MESOB platform have praised the one-stop government service center, describing it as an experience that could be emulated by other African countries. They witnessed Ethiopia's approach to providing government services through integrated physical, mobile, and digital platforms at the MESOB headquarters.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, Rwanda's Ambassador Charles Karamba highlighted that MESOB provides convenient and accessible services to citizens and demonstrates the importance of governments using technology to improve public service delivery. "What is special about MESOB Center is that it comes to provide very good and easy services to Ethiopian people," the Ambassador remarked.
He noted that the center's service model could help reduce corruption by minimizing unnecessary contact between service providers and citizens, stating, "Corruption is a cancer and corruption delays development."
Ambassador Karamba also emphasized MESOB's physical, mobile, and digital service channels for reaching citizens unable to visit the center in person, urging greater technology and knowledge sharing among African countries.
Namibia's Ambassador Mbapeua Muvangua described MESOB as an impressive model that Namibia could learn from. "I am very much impressed. It is something to emulate," he said, recalling a Namibian delegation's visit to Ethiopia last year for benchmarking and expressing interest in inviting Ethiopian experts to support the establishment of a similar service center in Namibia.
Ambassador Muvangua was particularly impressed by the speed of service delivery, especially in passport services. "The technology that you use, we need to learn a lot from you and really be able to implement with your assistance," he added, emphasizing the importance of sharing technical knowledge among African countries to learn from others that have advanced in particular areas.