[huridocs-tech] Call for Best Practices & Case Examples for E-Government Toolkit

CALL FOR E-GOV BEST PRACTICES

SUBMIT BEST PRACTICES, CASES STUDIES AND PAPERS FOR E-GOV TOOLKIT

CDT, in association with the World Bank's InfoDev Program, is looking
for best practices, case studies and papers for inclusion in a
toolkit to guide the evolution of electronic government in developing
countries.

    This toolkit is intended to be used by technology and policy leaders
in the developing world to design their own e-government projects.
Submissions for this toolkit must be of practical value.

Take a look at the outline of e-government that we prepared with our
international advisory board (below) - the outlines gives a good
overview of the issues that will be covered in the toolkit.

Procedure:  Send in your success stories, models, guides, etc,
through the online form at:
http://www.cdt.org/egov/submissions.shtml.  We ask that you designate
your submission as either a best practice/case example or an
overview/paper.

Best practices and case examples should highlight how e-gov
principles have been applied to specific projects in the developing
world.   The advisory board is looking for examples that provide good
models for developing countries to follow.

Overviews and papers should provide generalized guidance to those who
are embarking on e-government, providing advance warnings of the
pitfalls but also highlighting the opportunities and cost savings
available.  Accountability is key to the advisory board's vision of
e-government and the board will be looking for papers that reflect
this.

The advisory board will review the submissions looking for quality,
focus and responsiveness to the outline of issues and approaches.
Authors will be given full attribution and the final product will be
widely distributed by InfoDev.

Submission deadline: March 31, 2002

Questions about the project, submission process, or outline should be
sent to egovtoolkit@cdt.org.  [Submissions sent to this address will
be accepted, but we would prefer you to use the Web submission
system].

---

E- Government Toolkit Outline

E-government is the application of information and communication
technology to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency
and accountability of informational and transactional exchanges
within government, between governments and government agencies at
federal, municipal and local levels, citizens and businesses; and to
empower citizens through access and use of information.


The Tools of E-Government

1) The "PUBLISH" phase of e-government -- tools that facilitate
broader access to government information using information and
communications technologies -
* The public expects (or will come to expect) their governments to
make best-possible use of available information technologies to
improve efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability.
Furthermore, the long term cost savings and productivity improvements
the private sector has found in information technology are available
to the public sector - a powerful incentive as budgets become ever
tighter and expectations of government ever higher.

2) the "INTERACT" phase of e-government -- tools that promote broader
public involvement in participatory government.
* Some governments are suffering from the effects of citizen apathy,
while others are striving to better engage their populace in the
governance process. E-government has the potential to help
administrations achieve their objectives in this field by reaching
out to citizens throughout the political cycles and through all
levels of government. Importantly, strengthening civic engagement
contributes to building public trust in government.

3) The "TRANSACT" phase of e-government -- Tools that make government
services available using information and communication technologies.
* As the private sector in developing countries begins to make use of
the internet to offer e-commerce services, government will be
expected to keep up with technological leaders. In addition, the long
term cost savings, accountability through information logs and
productivity improvements will be important drivers.


Transformation Issues:

Process development: Critical to the success of e-government
transformation is the understanding that e-government is not just
about the automation of existing process and inefficiencies.
Conversely, it is about the creation of new processes and new
relationships between governed and governor.

Leadership: In order to manage this change, leaders who understand
technology and policy goals will be needed at all levels through
government, from elected through to administrative levels.

Strategic investment: Governments will need to prioritize some
programs over others to maximize available funds in view of tightly
limited resources. This will necessitate a clear objective for
programs and a clear route to that objective.

Public policy and law: New technologies have already thrown up a
minefield of legal and policy questions. If e-government and
e-commerce are to be successful, legislatures must be wary of
short-term solutions. They must also take proactive steps to ensure
that good intentions are backed up with policy commitment.

Collaboration: Governments will have to explore new relationships
with the private sector and NGOs to ensure quality and delivery of
government services. Some agencies may also have to overcome
traditional reluctance to work with each other to maximize benefits
of scale in e-government projects.

Civic engagement: E-government initiatives depend, to some extent, on
an engaged citizenry and to that end, efforts to foster civic
engagement are critical to the success of e-government plans.


Challenges and Opportunities:

Development: All countries implementing e-government have struggled
to develop a basic infrastructure to take advantage of new
technologies and communications tools.
- E-literacy: Even in areas where access to technological
infrastructure is nearly ubiquitous, there are still marginalized
groups who are unable to make use of information and communication
technologies because they are not 'e-literate'. E-government programs
will have to be especially wary of marginalizing people who are not
e-literate in countries and areas where literacy rates have
historically been lower.

Accessibility: Governments must serve all members of society
irrespective of their physical capabilities. In many countries more
than one language or dialect will be prevalent -- setting appropriate
standards for accessibility will be difficult. New services will have
to be designed with appropriate interfaces -- this may have
significant cost implications.
- Digital divide: issues of class, race, location and other concerns
could lead to groups of people being disenfranchised and is of
special importance.

Privacy: Privacy is one of the fastest growing issue internationally.
Governments are entrusted with huge amounts of personal information
and must be a responsible custodian -- government programs, Web sites
and services will have to ensure they live up to privacy best
practice. An appropriate balance will have to be struck between
legislative protection for consumers of private-sector services and
self-policing.

Security: Security is costly but security breaches shatter public
trust in government.

Transparency: Government must be transparent in different ways to the
private sector. This will be reflected in their choice and designs of
ICT systems.

Interoperability: Adding new systems on top of outmoded and legacy
systems has been problematic for the private sector and will, in all
likelihood, be problematic for the government sector.

Records management: New technologies are being created to help manage
information. Governments have unique needs in this field.
- Permanent availability and preservation: Historical documentation
is of special importance for governments.

Education and marketing: E-government services are only useful if
people know about them. Education and outreach programs will be
needed. As the boundaries of the state become blurrier, new rules may
be needed to govern the relationship of the public and private
sectors.

Public/private competition/collaboration: Issues of public vs private
collaboration and competition are already part of an international
debate on governance. E-government steps into a difficult area.

Intergovernmentalism: Transforming government means individuals
should be served by the easiest and most efficient means possible.
But, this could raise serious constitutional and political issues
about the relationship between states, federal government, (where
applicable) local government, and the international community.

Workforce issues: Human resources planning needs to be structured
with the new goals in mind.

Cost structures: Investment now, savings later. But planning and
budgeting in an unstable climate is hard.
--
------------------------------------
Ari Schwartz
Associate Director
Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 I Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
202 637 9800
fax 202 637 0968
ari@cdt.org
http://www.cdt.org
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