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  3. Cross-Border Digital Cooperation between the United Nations and the Government of the United Arab Emirates (2025–2029)

Cross-Border Digital Cooperation between the United Nations and the Government of the United Arab Emirates (2025–2029)

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About the project

This five-year initiative, led by UN DESA in partnership with the United Arab Emirates, aims to accelerate digital transformation across Arabic-speaking countries in Western Asia and North Africa. Through three strategic work streams, the project will foster policy innovation, enhance knowledge access, and improve digital governance measurement. By leveraging regulatory sandboxes, multilingual platforms, and advanced analytics, the project seeks to strengthen public sector digital capabilities and regional cooperation, while supporting inclusive and effective service delivery.

Objectives:

1.    Strengthen Institutional Capacity for regulatory innovation and policy experimentation in new technologies.
2.    Enhance Knowledge Accessibility via the E-Government Knowledgebase & Analytics Platform (EKAP), promoting collaboration and digital literacy.
3.    Implement a Modernized E-Government Measuring Model (EMM) for comprehensive and actionable assessment of digital governance readiness.
 

Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries include government institutions, policymakers, civil servants, and citizens across the MENA region.

Key Accomplishments:

Stream 1: Digital Regulatory Sandbox
1. Enhanced institutional capacity of selected countries to identify opportunities and gaps in policy experimentation and regulatory sandboxes for new technologies, addressing institutional, policy, regulatory, and infrastructure support aspects.
2. Improved capacity of target countries to conceptualize and implement pragmatic solutions for operationalizing policy experimentation and regulatory sandboxes in new technologies, fostering innovation and economic growth.
3. Enhanced global and regional dialogue and cooperation among countries and stakeholders on policy experimentation and regulatory sandboxes in new technologies; for possible scale-up and replication in other countries.

Stream 2: E-Government Knowledgebase & Analytics Platform (EKAP)
1. A comprehensive digital knowledge sharing platform, the EK.AP, with diverse linguistic support, enhancing accessibility and functionality for member states, through effective partnerships and collaboration with regional stakeholders and technology providers.
2. An assessment platform fully integrated to the EKAP, enabling member states to conduct third party or self-assessments of their e-government development progress.

Stream 3: E-Government Measuring Model (EMM)
1. Development of an £-Government Measuring Model (EMM), specifically tailored to align with current cutting-edge e-government trends, thereby enhancing its capacity to accurately measure the multifaceted dimensions of digital governance worldwide and providing actionable insights for informed policymaking and strategic decision-making.

Expected Activities

Stream 1 – Digital Regulatory Sandbox:
•    Regional and national multi-stakeholder workshops
•    Country-specific studies and strategy notes
•    Study visits and policy guidance toolkits

Stream 2 – EKAP:
•    Development of a multilingual digital platform for e-government resources
•    Integration of a self-assessment engine for national and local governance
•    Launch of a data-rich interactive dashboard for peer comparison and policy insight

Stream 3 – EMM:
•    Creation of a next-generation e-government assessment model
•    Updating of EGDI-related indicators (e.g., OSI, LOSI)
•    Regional and global consultations to ensure scalability and relevance
 

Lead Division:
UN DESA/DPIDG
Partners:
RCOs in respective countries, UN country teams
Donor:
United Arab Emirates
Funding Source:
XB
Budget:
$ 1,233,276
Time Frame:
July 2025-July 2029
Thematic Area:
Digital transformation
Region:
Africa, Asia and the Pacific
Focus Countries:
United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia