Increasing Efficiency and Accountability through

e-Government

Lessons Learned from a Project Implementation

Perspective

Sarah J. Tisch, Ph.D. and Mary Muiruri, ADB

Internews Network, Inc. www.internews.org 23 January 2006

Why we are here:

Transparent, effective, and efficient e-Government applications can change how governments work and expand citizen

access to communication and information.

We think e-Government is an important bridge to a freer flow of information, more open media, development of the public

interest and contributes to a more democratic society.

efficienteffectivetransparent

Internews and e-Government• We work to improve access to information for people around the world by fostering

independent media and promoting open communications policies. • Our programs are built on the conviction that providing people with access to vibrant,

diverse news and information empowers them to make their voices heard and to participate effectively in their communities.

• Since 2001, we’ve worked on ICT policy reform and e-government issues through the USAID dot-GOV Cooperative Agreement and the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI) jointly with the Center for Democracy and Technology.

• This donor-funded work involves advocating through NGOs and media for the required legal framework needed to support e-Government, planning e-Government approaches and implementing e-Government activities.

Advocacy: Why Non-Profit Organizations care about

e-Government

• With the proper policy framework e-Government can lighten the regulatory burden on businesses and NGOs, increasing their efficiency and delivery of services.

• e-Government advances the concept of “the information society” and stimulates the business environment for use of ICT tools as well as in other economic and social sectors.

• Greater access to information and transparency help citizens demand more accountability from government and strengthens civil society.

• Many of the benefits of e-Government for the citizen are practical – time and money savings, 24/7 availability.

• e-Government makes it easier to track administrative services, reducing the opportunities for corruption

• e-Government can provide an opportunity for continual dialogue with citizens and stakeholder groups and how government should operate and what governance means in a particular society.

• Lessons can be learned and borrowed from other countries, but each country has a e-Government strategy unique to their circumstances , especially regarding the enabling legislation and the first e-Government applications that make sense for that country.

Advocacy: e-ReadinessCitizen Participation Critical to Success

• Most developing countries’ e-Readiness is low and models assume a limited power grid, poor telecom infrastructure and ICTs, and the populations’ limited capacity to utilize ICTs. This model is capital extensive as most countries particularly in Africa will be starting from scratch.

• “Chicken and egg” problem: which should government policy promote first, widespread and cheap Internet access or useful online content and services aimed at segments of population? Answer: availability of online services will drive demand for Internet access,

• BUT citizens have to know about these plans. The media, the private sector, educational institutions and NGOs need to be engaged as key stakeholders to inform citizens and stimulate dialogue

• Citizen use of applications is critical. e-Government projects need to have a value measurement component aimed at ordinary citizens. That value will drive demand for Internet access. Administrators must develop projects that are responsive to citizen and business needs.

Advocacy, Planning and Implementation of Projects: Fundamentals

ADVOCACY: Governments need a Reason the Policy Reform required for e-Government

• Organized stakeholders can help government see what services are needed and how to make them cost-effective. • Consultation with the private sector, NGOs and consumer groups helps orient ICT training, development of software,

and provide feedback.• Raise awareness to build shared interests: many stakeholders don’t know about each other. Use conferences,

workshops, and training with government officials to increase information sharing.• Regional organizations can help government officials thr4ough sharing experiences and co-learning.

PLANNING APPROACH: Gains from Work with Stakeholders

• How: dialogue with government and stakeholders to identify the first targets for implementation of an e-Government program.

• Goal: reducing corruption, improving and expanding citizen services.• Required: a plan is a plan is a plan without the active role of Government leadership.• Challenges: lack of experience with Internet, computers, on-line resources; slow bandwidth, poor Internet penetration.

IMPLEMENTATION: Quick Impact Activities-Showing it is Worth the Effort

• Demonstrate increased efficiency of government services through an application for one office or Ministry.• Identify the right applications through a collaborative effort with Government, Civil Society, and donors.• Review Telecommunication regulation and digital communication policies enable use of e-Government applications.• Build awareness: share lessons learned within the region and seek regional collaboration, educate Media.

Planning:

Laying the Foundation in Madagascar

• GOM wants concrete results in the next two years with the support of several aid organizations .

• We used a “rapid results approach.” and found that the private sector had not been really been engaged in discussions about the national e-government strategy.

• Our analysis showed that G2G is the easiest target: G2G pops up as a “first choice

for many developing countries for e-Government applications.

• Donor Support: USAID is funding three pilot regional government sites to enhance G2G with national government.

• Expected outcomes: • streamline voter registration to address citizen concerns for voter malpractices;• Provide birth certificates and identity cards to over two million unaccounted

Malagasy citizens.

• Lesson for the region: COMESA

Planning: e-Leadershipfrom the President of Madagascar

• Strong E-Leadership: Unlike many African countries where e-Governance is lead by the private sector, the e-Governance program is championed by the President.

• The President’s leadership has led Ministries to buy into the e-Governance strategy.

• A model Ministry network exists to facilitate communications between Ministries which will help coordinate use of e-Government applications.

• Even though Internet access and bandwidth is low, the repeated commitment to move forward from the makes all the difference.

• A new effort needed to reach out to stakeholders (private sectors and NGOs) is recognized.

From Planning to Implementation: Towards a

Citizen-Centered Government in Kenya

• e-Government Strategy developed in March 2004. • Overall Goal: be more citizen-centered, result oriented, and efficient.

• An e-Government Directorate based in the Office of the President is in place and an e-Readiness assessment has been undertaken.

• Extensive consultations with GOK’s Director of e-Government has resulted in funding commitments from USAID.

• Foundation G2G: A USAID funded project to promote communication for Ministry top level executives.

• E-Government Directorate has received Cabinet approval to obtain an e-procurement system for the Ministries of Finance and Health to address citizen allegations of high level procurement corruption.

• Previous funding results: today GOK is in an advanced planning process to implement the e-procurement system that is made possible through existing infrastructure, previously funded by USAID.

• GOK is keen to demonstrate procurement integrity through the system and demonstrate the use of e-Government in curbing corruption, gaining citizen trust, and attracting investment.

• Legal Progress: a Procurement Bill addressing digital communication has passed.

• Although, GOK believes the e-procurement system will produce quick impact, they have had a hard time convincing the donor community of the benefits of implementing such a program.

From Planning to Implementation:

Donor Opportunities in Kenya

Implementation: Changing the way the Macedonian

Public Sector Works

• Five year USAID funded project in Macedonia to develop and implement e-Government applications for government offices in partnership with the Macedonian private sector.

• Engagement with the National Information Society Plan was key to government agencies interest in trying new applications.

• Evaluation of the policy environment is essential: a small omission in the digital signatures law delayed legal implementation an e-procurement system.

• The project has successfully implemented an e-taxation system and an on-line government job application system, in the Albanian and Macedonian languages.

• The project uses a webpage, www.impact.org.mk to build the a case for openness and transparency in the tendering and procurement process.

Implementation:

Identifying the Right Applications for Macedonia

• Informed and trained end-users are essential. Without identified end-users and creating a dialogue with them, “white elephants” are created instead of functioning e-Government applications.

• Involving relevant institutions to discuss appropriate applications and to stimulate interest, as well as the creation of public relations campaigns are an important component of e-Applications.

• The use of a transparent and open online tendering process is one of the project’s innovations.

• Tendering process: • identify the application and relevant legislation• develop a system description to determine software• identify end users• present to the relevant authority• formal invitation for online bid • review of applications and tender

• Government officials seeking to create online services are innovators and integrators. They should form partnerships and select capable vendors, and manage e-Government applications contracts.

Implementation: Telecommunication Liberalization’s Role in

Romanian e-Government Development

• USAID funded Romanian Information Technology Initiative: Policy (RITI) enabled a collaborative relationship with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the Regulatory Agency (ANRC) to liberalize the telecom market.

• RITI initially assisted the Romanian government in creating policies to create an independent regulator, stimulate a competitive market, and meet universal access obligations.

• The RITI project helped government officials understand and remove policy barriers that prevent implementation of e-government solutions with a special focus on cyber crime training and information security.

• In September 2005, RITI and the MCTI showcased the region’s progress in e-Government. Participants shared concepts, best practices, and implementation techniques for effective e-government and public-private funding at the municipal level.

• As of 2005, the competitive ICT market (which was facilitated in part by RITI’s policy recommendations) has resulted in a greater emphasis on e-Government projects at the central and local level of the Romanian government.

Implementation: Building Awareness of Local E-Government Eastern Europe - Lessons Learned:

National strategies for e-Government need to cover all three phases: publish, interact, transact.

• The e-Government strategy needs to be part of the national ICT strategy, addressing affordability and accessibility.

• e-Government initiatives should be monitored and measured by government, NGOs, and reported by the media, to replicate successes and achieve citizen trust, and avoiding wasting resources on projects that aren’t serving genuine needs.

• Partnerships and collaboration among public institutions, the business sector, and non-governmental organizations will help ensure e-Government success. Involving the citizens is key to success.

• Eastern Europe has sufficient talent and experience to make e-Government a broad reality. Public administrators do not need to re-invent the wheel.

• e-Government is not separate from the other fundamentals of government; rather e-Government projects must be related to broader goals of transforming public administration.

• The e-Government vision has to be connected to local culture and local administration.

Implementation: Nepal Digital Signatures

• Creating a more enabling policy environment for electronic transactions: building e-Payment and e-Signature infrastructure that meets user needs. The need of collaboration between the government and the private sector

• Bringing key stakeholders together to build a common understanding: Nepal is at a critical stage in its economic development. Recent government initiatives highlight the desire to create an environment free of negative forces that drag down local initiative and socio-economic change. Nepalese infrastructure needs to match local and international expectations, including support of electronic commerce and e-government. One of the challenges is to raise the awareness and understanding of related issues across a diverse stakeholder community without an open media environment..

• Capacity building and cross-training: One of the important aspects of policy and regulatory development is the process of bringing stakeholders together for collective capacity building. In areas of specialty - like the rule-of- law, technology and business development - experts from each discipline need to expand their knowledge of the other relevant areas. This cross-training is critical to the collaborative process.

• Follow up potential and the donor role: USAID/Nepal is figuring out how it will follow up this activity. At the end of the 21st century, future generations in Nepal may sing, in our grandfather’s time, they counted money in the computer (instead of a basket).

Key Challenges of Funding e-Government Strategies

• Developing countries’ greatest hurdle still remains the gap in funding vital policy reforms.

This is where development partners such as the World Bank and USAID can have a real impact—through linking assistance to transparency and anti-corruption benchmarks.

• Governments respond well to sharing of lessons and regional cooperation--regional ICT regulatory associations are a great network for sharing lessons learned and professional training.

• Getting various stakeholders and governments to talk together in neutral environment and requires a change of mindset by civil servants.

Challenge: Human Resource Development

• The greatest challenge to e-Governance is limited exposure and expertise of civil service and citizens to the Internet and use of computers.

• Vigorous ICT human capacity development to create the necessary critical masses is crucial for success.

• Funders and national governments should investment in ICT human capacity building especially for the underserved rural populations, and especially for women and girls.

• When introducing an e-government application, role-playing training for civil servants really impacts the success of the launch.

Lessons Learned

• e-Government depends on a policy and legal framework for digital communications. that supports innovation, expands access, and generate trust in an online system. Privacy and information security issues must be addressed directly.

• e-Leadership is necessary; the President or provincial leader must make it clear that the civil servants must use the process of adopting e-Government tools to manage differently, and reach out to citizens, NGOs, the private sector, educational institutions and youth groups.

• Training on use of technology and accepting feedback are important ways to gain support of civil servants.

• Use of e-Government services will become widespread if there is a national commitment to fostering the information society, starting with expanded and cheaper access to the Internet.

• NGOs can play an important role in bringing stakeholders together, even donors, to ensure dialogue throughout the planning and implementation phases.

• Media has to be involved: for reporting on experience and effectiveness and to foster discussion.

• Ordinary citizens need to see what’s in it for them!

Internews gratefully thanks the donors that since 2001 have made work on e-government-related policies possible through the dot-GOV and GIPI Programs, some of which include:

U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentU.S. State DepartmentAOL Time WarnerThe Markle FoundationThe Open Society Institute (and affiliated national foundations)Carnegie Corporation of New YorkThe John S. and James L. Knight FoundationThe GE FoundationMicrosoft CorporationRealNetworks FoundationVeriSign Inc.The Swedish Development AgencyThe Armenia Chapter of the Internet Society

For more information: Contact Sarah J. Tisch, sjtisch@internews.org and Mary Muiruri, mmuiruri@internews.org