2026· International journal of research and innovation in social science· Vol 10, pp. 6078-6112· 0 citations
TL;DR
The findings show that Sierra Leone’s difficulty is less a shortage of data than a shortage of the governance arrangements, skills and incentives needed to convert data into decisions.
Abstract
Sierra Leone has committed itself, in successive national development plans and in its National Digital Transformation Strategy, to governing on the basis of evidence rather than intuition. Yet the distance between that ambition and the daily reality of public administration remains wide. This article examines how digital analytics and data-driven decision-making shape governance quality, institutional effectiveness, accountability, transparency and public sector performance in Sierra Leone. The problem it addresses is twofold: the country has invested in an expanding set of digital systems, including the Integrated Financial Management Information System, the Integrated Tax Administration System, the District Health Information Software platform and a biometric civil register, while the analytical use of the data these systems generate remains thin, fragmented and weakly institutionalised. The study pursues four objectives: to map the digital governance landscape; to assess how far data currently informs decisions across the budget cycle, service delivery and oversight; to diagnose the institutional, technological, legal and political constraints on analytical government; and to derive transferable lessons from Estonia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Rwanda, Kenya, China, Ghana, Botswana and the United Arab Emirates. Methodologically, the article rests on qualitative document analysis, comparative policy analysis and embedded case studies, drawing on government publications, international assessments and peer-reviewed scholarship from 2019 to 2026. The findings show that Sierra Leone’s difficulty is less a shortage of data than a shortage of the governance arrangements, skills and incentives needed to convert data into decisions. The article contributes an integrated conceptual framework linking analytics capability, data quality and institutional capacity to public sector performance, and a sequenced implementation roadmap suited to a low-income, aid-dependent state. Its policy implications extend to comparable Sub-Saharan African administrations.
Sierra Leone presents a paradox that should trouble anyone who studies public financial management reforms in low-income countries. Two decades of sustained investment, five independent Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessments and three successive reform strategies have produced genuine achievements: a Treasury Single Account (TSA), an upgraded Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) covering thirty ministries, departments and agencies, adoption of Cash Basis International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), an operational electronic procurement platform and an ‘A’ rating for budget classification in the 2021 to 2022 PEFA assessment. Yet, in December 2025 the Financial Secretary warned publicly that fragmented data systems were bleeding value from payroll and pension administration, observing that “somebody will still continue to benefit from one system while the other system is losing”. This article takes that warning as its organising diagnosis. It argues that Sierra Leone has reached the limits of system-by-system modernisation and that the next generation of reform must treat three agendas as a single problem: interoperability across government financial systems, cyber-security and data protection for the financial information those systems generate, and institutional accountability for how that information is used. The article traces the reform trajectory from the Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Project (2008 to 2013) through the current interoperability roadmap, evaluates the emerging Data Protection and Right to Access Information Act and its unified dual-mandate authority, and analyses the persistent gap between transactional automation and data governance. It then proposes an integrated digital governance framework built on four pillars, digital infrastructure and systems integration, legal and regulatory enablement, institutional capacity and human capital, and oversight with citizen engagement, resting on a cross-cutting foundation of security and data protection by design, with a sequenced sixty-month implementation roadmap ‘costed’ against realistic institutional capacity and the financing envelope available from the IMF Extended Credit Facility, World Bank and African Development Bank operations. Sierra Leone’s experiment in fusing access to information and data protection within one authority, and in wiring anti-corruption oversight directly into digital PFM systems, offers lessons of genuine comparative significance for the Global South. JEL: M40, M41, M48, G00, H00
J. Conteh, Musa Abdullah Kargbo, Abdul Rahman N’Jai et al.· European Journal of Economic...· 0 citations
The rapid expansion of digital technologies has generated vast amounts of data across sectors such as government, healthcare, finance, and agriculture, leading to the rise of Big Data. In developing countries, Big Data analytics is becoming an important tool for evidence-based policymaking. By analyzing large datasets from sources like government records, social media, satellite imagery, and mobile networks, policymakers can identify patterns, predict social needs, and design targeted interventions. This study examines the role of Big Data in improving policy formulation and implementation in developing nations, particularly in areas such as disaster management, healthcare services, agricultural productivity, and financial inclusion. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the research evaluates the effectiveness of data-driven decision-making and stakeholder perspectives. The findings show that Big Data can significantly enhance policy design, monitoring, and evaluation, leading to better governance and service delivery. However, challenges such as limited digital infrastructure, lack of skilled professionals, privacy concerns, and weak regulatory frameworks remain major barriers. The study concludes that with proper institutional support, ethical data governance, and investment in digital infrastructure, Big Data can become a powerful tool for transparent governance and sustainable socio-economic development in developing countries.
Amina Bello· International Journal of Inn...· 0 citations
Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation are increasingly reshaping decision-making and governance processes in public universities, creating opportunities for administrative modernization and evidence-based institutional management. This systematic review aimed to analyze the scientific evidence regarding decision-making and governance in public universities in the era of artificial intelligence, identify the countries contributing to this field of research, and synthesize the principal lessons and conclusions reported in the literature. The study followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and conducted a systematic search in the Scopus database on 15 May 2025 using descriptors associated with university governance, academic management, Artificial Intelligence, and digital transformation. Original empirical studies published in English or Spanish were considered eligible. From 109 identified records, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria and were incorporated into the qualitative synthesis. The findings revealed that AI supports administrative efficiency, predictive analytics, academic planning, resource optimization, and data-driven governance. However, successful implementation depends on institutional readiness, leadership commitment, digital literacy, and ethical governance frameworks capable of addressing algorithmic bias, data privacy, and transparency concerns. The review highlights AI as both a strategic opportunity and a governance challenge for public universities, requiring responsible, human-centered, and context-sensitive implementation strategies.
V. H. Fernández-Bedoya, Amador Grover Mejía-Osorio, Emilio Javier Rojas-Villanueva· Administrative Sciences· 0 citations
Sierra Leone adopted an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) in the mid-2000s as the
digital centrepiece of its post-conflict public financial management (PFM) reform programme. Two decades on, the system
processes the bulk of central government expenditure, yet audit reports, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability
(PEFA) assessments and International Monetary Fund (IMF) surveillance continue to record weaknesses in budget
credibility, expenditure control and fiscal transparency. This article critically evaluates how IFMIS has influenced public
sector financial performance in Sierra Leone, focusing on budget execution, digital government accounting and financial
reporting efficiency. The study addresses a gap in the literature, which has documented IFMIS adoption across Sub-Saharan
Africa but has paid limited analytical attention to small, aid-dependent, post-conflict states. Using a qualitative singlecountry case study design grounded in documentary analysis, the article triangulates evidence from PEFA assessments (2007
to 2021), Audit Service Sierra Leone annual reports, Ministry of Finance and Accountant General’s Department
publications, IMF Article IV consultations, World Bank project documentation and peer-reviewed scholarship, interpreted
through an integrated framework drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model, Diffusion of Innovation Theory,
Institutional Theory, Agency Theory and Public Value Theory. The findings show genuine gains: automated commitment
control, a functioning Treasury Single Account, faster production of annual financial statements, stronger audit trails and
improved payroll integrity. Yet these gains are bounded by persistent constraints, including unreliable power and
connectivity, high staff turnover, weak system integration, extra-budgetary practices that bypass controls, underfunded
maintenance and fragile cybersecurity and business continuity arrangements. The article concludes that technology has
outpaced the institutions meant to govern it, and that the next reform phase must privilege enforcement, integration and
human capacity over new software. Twenty-five policy recommendations are advanced for government, development
partners and oversight institutions.
Musa Abdullah Kargbo, J. Conteh· International Journal of Inn...· 0 citations
This study analyzes the influence of digital governance capability, data-driven decision-making (DDDM), and the utilization of the Regional Financial Information System (SIKD) on the performance of Regional Apparatus Organizations (OPD), with transparency in regional financial management as an intervening variable. Data from 150 respondents across all OPDs in Brebes Regency were analyzed using PLS-SEM. DDDM and SIKD utilization positively and significantly affect transparency and OPD performance, while digital governance capability does not. Transparency positively affects performance and mediates the effects of DDDM and SIKD utilization, but not of digital governance capability, supporting evidence-based bureaucratic reform.
Keywords: Digital Governance Capability; Data-Driven Decision Making; Regional Financial Information System (SIKD); Regional Financial Management Transparency; Local Government Performance
This study examines the effects and benefits, as well as broader governance challenges related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), including systematical measurement of overall digital reshaping process in digital transformation and capacity building of public administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Grounded in contemporary theories of adaptive governance and digital-era public administration, the research conceptualizes AI as a key determinant of transformational capacity in public institutions. The multi-level empirical analysis operationalizes key constructs, including digital maturity degree and the extent of AI use, so as multidimensional impacts in administrative efficiency, service quality, transparency, institutional integrity and strategic decision-making capacity in public administration bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings tend to demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between AI use and efficiency improvements, reduction of administrative burden, enhanced integrity mechanisms, but at the same time to highlight structural and organizational constraints, limited technical capacities, regulatory gaps and ethical concerns related to algorithmic bias, accountability and governance. By empirically assessing the transformational capacity of AI in public administration, this study contributes to the growing basis of digital governance, provides policy-relevant insights for the effective integration of AI in line with European administrative standards and principles of trustworthy AI in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Merima Tanović, Nevenko Vranješ· APEIRON: a journal for ancie...· 0 citations