Egypt
Ahmed Darwish
Ahmed Darwish discusses what he sees as the key challenges facing the Egyptian civil service. He focuses on his role in instituting an e-governance program and in using technology to increase the efficiency of the civil service. He also explains the strides Egypt made during the past decade in updating the government’s technological infrastructure. Darwish further discusses reforms regarding the government process for contracting with the private sector and the training processes for civil service employees. He also touches on efforts to reduce the size of the civil service, and stresses the importance of getting top managers of the civil service on board with reforms.
At the time of this interview, Ahmed Darwish was Egypt's minister of state for administrative development, a position he had held since 2004. He previously served as e-government program director in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Darwish was a lecturer at the University of California, Davis, and a professor in computer engineering at Cairo University. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Cairo University, followed by a master’s degree in computer science. He received his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California, Davis. He received the Egyptian National Engineering Award in 1999.