Shortcut to a Brighter Future: How Technology Is Transforming Education in Somalia

For thousands of students across Somalia, obtaining a verified copy of their high school certificate has long been a frustrating process. Students had to travel long distances and wait weeks – sometimes months – to get a stamp and a signature on their certificates. This delay often meant missing university application deadlines, losing out on scholarships, or facing hurdles when applying for jobs.

Take Abdi Warsame, a determined student from a rural village in Puntland. After graduating from high school, he dreamed of studying medicine abroad. However, by the time he received his paper-based certificate, the scholarship application deadline had passed, forcing him to put his dreams on hold. Warsame’s story is just one of many where slow bureaucratic processes have blocked bright futures.

According to the Annual Education Statistics Report 2021-2022, approximately 170,000 students enroll in secondary schools every year, and obtaining the certificate has been a barrier. But a shift is taking place. The Somalian Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MOECHE) and the Ministry of Communication and Technology (MoCT) are spearheading a digital transformation initiative to ensure students like Warsame never face such barriers again. Under the leadership of Mr. Fahad Abdirahman, Head of the Education Management Information System Department at MOECHE, together with a dedicated team of digital innovators, Somalia is now revolutionizing the way high school certificates are issued.

With the launch of the High School Certificate System (HSC), students can apply for their certificates online, securely pay fees, and receive a verified digital certificate instantly – all without the need for long trips or manual paperwork.

The new digital platform, HSC, built on open source, ensures that students can seamlessly log in using their national digital ID through the ID-verification app eAqoonsi to retrieve their exam results automatically and receive a tamper-proof, shareable digital certificate that can be downloaded and printed. In collaboration with government agencies such as the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), development partners including German development cooperation, and technology partners such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Fahad Abdirahman and his team have developed a streamlined, automated system to replace the cumbersome manual process.

Driving Somalia’s Digital Future

For Fahad Abdirahman and his team, this project is about more than just digitizing certificates – it’s about laying the foundation for a smarter, more efficient government. Once fully implemented, the system can serve as a model for digitizing other government services, such as birth certificates, employment records, and university transcripts. The project is not just about making life easier for students; it is about creating a foundation for a digital government ecosystem that enhances efficiency, transparency, and accessibility.

With faster access to their certificates, thousands of Somali students can seize new opportunities, whether in higher education, employment, or beyond.

About the GovStack Approach

How was it possible to develop this new service that fast? Fahad and his team built their project with the support of the GovStack initiative. GovStack, an initiative from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), was designed to help governments build digital services faster and more efficiently through a modular and reusable approach. Instead of developing new systems from scratch, GovStack provides standardized “building blocks” that can be combined to create various digital services. GovStack in Somalia is co-funded by the European Commission (EC) and the BMZ as part of the Initiative for Digital Government and Cybersecurity in the Horn of Africa.

In the case of Somalia’s High School Certificate System (HSC), GovStack integrates predefined open and interoperable building blocks, including Registration, Identity Verification, and Consent (eAqoonsi NIRA ID), Payments (SomaliPay and GovPay) and Digital Registries (MOECHE Examination System).

By leveraging GovStack’s open-source architecture, Somalia is strengthening its digital infrastructure, making public services more accessible and sustainable by reducing costs with reusable components, enabling seamless integration, and upholding digital sovereignty by allowing customization without proprietary software.

“What inspires me most is seeing technology remove barriers for students and citizens. A digital government should work for everyone, making services faster, fairer, and more inclusive.” – Fahad Abdirahman

Victor Magere is a Digital Government Advisor at GIZ Kenya with experience in providing advice and practical assistance to Open-Source system users and developers both in Kenya and Somalia. He is a Prince2 Agile and CAPM practitioner with over +8 years of experience piloting and implementing high-impact digital solution programs, employing agile principles and GovStack approaches.

Featured image credit: GIZ GovStack