In 2019, amid growing concerns around public safety, trust in institutions, and the effectiveness of community policing in Lesotho, an idea began to take shape. It was rooted not in technology for its own sake, but in people, communities, and lived realities. That idea became Lehokela: a national digital community policing platform that today stands as a cornerstone of digitally enabled, people centred policing in Lesotho.

For many years, communities across Lesotho faced significant challenges in reporting crime and security incidents. Communication gaps between citizens, Community Policing Committees (Mahokela), and the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) limited timely responses, weakened accountability, and eroded public trust. These challenges were not merely technical but deeply rooted in governance and social systems.

Lehokela emerged from this context under the UNDP Lesotho Accelerator Lab, which was established to test locally grounded and context appropriate solutions to persistent development problems. From the outset, Lehokela was conceived not as a standalone digital product, but as a digital overlay designed to strengthen existing community policing structures, enhance information flow, and support peacebuilding and violence prevention outcomes.

A defining feature of Lehokela’s journey has been co creation. Rather than designing the platform in isolation, UNDP worked closely with LMPS and the T’sakholo community in Mafeteng District, the project’s initial pilot site. Community leaders, Community Policing Committees, and police officers actively shaped the application’s features, reporting workflows, language, and escalation procedures.

This participatory approach ensured that Lehokela reflected community realities and policing practices on the ground. More importantly, it built local ownership and trust, which are critical ingredients for any solution operating at the intersection of citizens and state institutions. Early experimentation also generated valuable lessons on digital literacy, institutional readiness, trust dynamics, and the importance of aligning technology with organisational processes.

To translate the concept into practice, UNDP provided comprehensive ICT enablement during the pilot and soft launch phase in 2020. Through the Accelerator Lab, UNDP supported the hosting and deployment of the platform and procured essential equipment, including two servers, sixty-five tablets, and three laptops for application support officers. These resources enabled field-testing, real-time reporting, and early system monitoring.

As Lehokela matured, further ICT support was mobilised under the UNDP Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) project focused on community driven violence reduction. Thirty desktop computers were handed over to LMPS for deployment in selected police stations, giving frontline officers direct access to real time community incident reports and strengthening coordination and response capacity.

Lehokela’s development and scaling have been anchored in strong national partnerships. The National University of Lesotho (NUL) played a central role as the technical partner, providing application development, system configuration, and ongoing support. This collaboration strengthened local technical capacity and ensured that knowledge and ownership remained within Lesotho.

The private sector also played a critical enabling role. Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL) zero rated the Lehokela application, eliminating data costs for both citizens and police officers. This partnership ensured equitable use of the platform regardless of location or income, removing financial barriers and enabling broader community access.

UNDP recognised early on that digital platforms are only as effective as the institutions and people who use them. Targeted capacity development was therefore prioritised. LMPS technical personnel were trained in ICT systems management, server environments, cybersecurity, and application administration to enhance institutional ownership and sustainability.

Between 2023 and 2024, structured training was rolled out across eleven LMPS policing districts. Police stations and posts received hands on training on daily use of the application, incident handling workflows, and escalation protocols. This was tailored to different levels of digital literacy and aligned with existing LMPS operational procedures.

As Lehokela transitioned from an innovation experiment to a national system, it became clear that technology alone was not sufficient. Sustainable deployment required institutional and governance reform. Under the Peacebuilding Fund, UNDP and LMPS jointly developed and adopted key strategic frameworks, including the LMPS Digital Transformation Policy and Strategy, the LMPS Strategic Plan 2026 to 2031, and the Community Policing Unit Strategic Plan 2026 to 2029.

These instruments provide the governance backbone needed to embed digital innovation within LMPS, strengthen accountability, and align community policing with national peacebuilding objectives. Crucially, they position Lehokela as a core policing system rather than a standalone application.

Despite technical readiness, Lehokela’s official launch and national deployment faced an unexpected but consequential challenge related to public sector digital service governance. While the Lehokela mobile application is now available on the Google Play Store, reaching this milestone required overcoming nontechnical institutional barriers.

Between 2020 and 2024, Lehokela was distributed through an Android Package Kit (APK) hosted on LMPS servers. This approach supported piloting and controlled use during the experimentation phase. However, for national rollout, deployment through the official Google Play Store was essential to ensure accessibility, security updates, and long-term sustainability.

A key constraint emerged when it became clear that Google Play Store deployment requires a once off prepaid developer subscription fee of USD 25, payable via a debit or credit card. Like many government institutions, LMPS did not have an existing financial modality to make prepaid digital payments using bank cards. Public finance systems were designed for traditional procurement, not for digital platform subscriptions.

Resolving this required extensive consultations, legal interpretation, and risk mitigation discussions across government. The breakthrough came through the Office of the Accountant General, which approved the establishment of a dedicated LMPS bank account with a linked debit card specifically for the Lehokela prepaid subscription.

This outcome went beyond an administrative solution. It reflected cross government responsiveness and recognition of Lehokela’s broader national value, not only as a crime prevention and social cohesion tool, but also as a platform contributing to a safer environment for investment, economic activity, and public trust. The experience highlighted a critical lesson that digital transformation depends as much on adaptive institutions and financial governance as it does on technology.

On 9 April 2026, Lehokela reached a historic milestone with its official national launch. This marked its formal transition from experimentation to full institutional adoption and signalled LMPS’ commitment to digitally enabled, community centred policing.

Building on this momentum, LMPS and UNDP have agreed on a phased national rollout starting in June 2026. Informed by readiness assessments and pilot experience, this approach prioritises technical stability, trained personnel, and community preparedness, ensuring that expansion is both controlled and sustainable.

Lehokela’s journey illustrates what is possible when innovation is grounded in community realities, institutional reform, and long-term partnership. Through continuous learning and deliberate embedding within national systems, Lehokela has evolved into a trusted platform that strengthens public safety, enhances community trust, and supports responsive policing in Lesotho.

As it rolls out nationally, Lehokela stands as a powerful example of how digital tools, when co created, inclusive, and institutionally anchored, can advance peacebuilding, governance, and development outcomes.

Lehokela is now available on Google Play Store, and deployment on Apple App Store is currently underway.