Public services: Benin wants to put an end to repeatedly requested documents.

Benin wants to accelerate the establishment of interconnected digital public services. A workshop dedicated to the development of the national roadmap for digital public infrastructures was held on Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Cotonou.

Organized by the Agency for Information Systems and Digital Technology, in partnership with DIAL and several players in the ecosystem, the meeting aims to lay the foundations for a national governance and action framework. The discussions focus particularly on three components: digital identity, payment systems, and secure data exchange.

The objective is to align the various stakeholders on the strategic directions of the project, specify the responsibilities of each actor, and officially launch the process leading to the adoption of the roadmap.

This initiative is expected to help Benin better organize the common digital systems used by the administration, citizens, and businesses. Unlike traditional telecommunications infrastructures, digital public infrastructures are based on shared platforms and mechanisms that allow for identity verification, payment processing, or information exchange between multiple services.

The ASIN defines these infrastructures as systems capable of securing interactions between administrations, populations, and the private sector while improving the delivery of public services. The country already has several components, including a biometric digital identity program, interoperable payment systems, and the national public services portal.

Prevent citizens from providing the same documents multiple times

One of the main orientations of the future roadmap is based on the principle known as “Once Only.” This principle stipulates that information already held or produced by an administration should not be requested again from the citizen by another public service.

In practice, a person applying for a passport, an administrative act, or a public service could be identified using their personal identification number. Authorized administrations would have direct access to the necessary information, without requiring the user to present documents that are already available in the state’s databases.

According to Marc-André Loko, the director general of ASIN, digital transformation should first mean simplifying procedures. The future organization must notably put an end to situations where an administration asks a citizen to provide a document previously issued by the state.

However, implementing this principle requires further interconnection of public systems. It also necessitates governance mechanisms defining data access conditions, the responsibilities of institutions, and guarantees concerning security and the protection of personal information.

The workshop brought together representatives from banks, microfinance institutions, insurance companies, mobile phone operators, civil society, and international partners. This diversity is intended to incorporate the needs of both the public and private sectors into the preparation of the roadmap.

This initiative fits within a broader strategy for modernizing the administration. ASIN is already leading projects focused on the digital transformation of local communities, the extension of high and very high-speed Internet, as well as the second phase of the Smart Gouv program.

In May 2026, Benin also joined the international campaign “50-in-5,” which aims to support 50 countries in developing and scaling digital public infrastructures within five years. Launched in 2023, this initiative supports the construction of secure, inclusive, and interoperable systems in areas such as health, education, agriculture, and social protection.

The roadmap currently being prepared will now need to determine priority projects, institutional responsibilities, funding modalities, and the deployment schedule for the various components of Benin’s digital public infrastructure.