New Public Service Reform, Good Governance, and Governance of Digital Innovation in Africa

Governments across the globe have pursued innovations in their response to societal challenges such as the provision of quality services with less cost or the need to improve responsiveness and citizen participation. The governments in Africa can offer a service that meets the ever-changing needs of citizens and businesses efficiently through digitalization because digital services can empower citizens by increasing the interaction between government and citizens. This chapter reflects on the importance of the generation and sharing of innovative ideas in Africa between the public sector, private sector, and citizens. We relied on extensive literature for the collection of secondary data. We observe that the generation and sharing of innovative ideas in Africa between the public sector, private sector, and citizens are significant as a way of embracing the new public governance reforms, also known as the new public service. The governments in Africa must adopt private-sector principles and reengineer their organizational systems and processes for the transformation of their services with digital technologies. However, the public sector in Africa is still struggling with digitalization and some of its attempts and ideas have fallen short. The new public service reforms in Africa should harness innovation to reconnect the public and its value with public managers through a democratic process of deliberations and public engagement to find rational ways of achieving desirable social outcomes. Therefore, the governance of innovations in Africa is critical since it helps with collaborations, sharing of innovative ideas, and the diffusion of innovations.