Are we ready for e-government?
HOW ready are we for electronic government?
This is the question that the United Nations has tried to answer every year since 2003 with its E-Government Readiness Survey.
In 2005, the survey assessed e-government Web sites of 191 UN member states to determine how ready governments around the world are to provide access to and use information and communications technology (ICT) to deliver basic social services.
Predictably, the top 25 spots were held by industrialized countries, led by the United States, with an e-government readiness index of 0.9062 (out of a best score of 1.0).
Remarkably, the Philippines fared well, ranking 41st overall and fourth among South and East Asian countries with an index of 0.5721.
Moreover, the UN said the Philippine government portal (www.gov.ph) is a good model “on par with the best in the world” of how to “simply but effectively integrate information across departments and provide a single place for users to find them.”
The UN report also had good words to say about the Department of Finance Web site, which provides “everything from e-services and e-bidding to basic participatory features.”
In Southeast Asia, our 2005 e-government readiness index put us ahead of Malaysia (43rd), Thailand (46th), Indonesia (96th) and Vietnam (105th) but well behind Singapore (7th).
So what are the numbers behind the e-government readiness index and what do they really tell us?
The UN looks at three components: the sophistication of online government services (Web measure), the state of a country’s telecommunications facilities (infrastructure) and the educational level of its people (human capital).
In terms of the sophistication of online services, the Philippines ranked 17th (tied with Austria) with a Web measure index of 0.7423.
The Philippines also scored well with a human capital index of 0.8900, which considers adult literacy and enrolment in schools.
No great surprise, our most serious weakness continues to be infrastructure, which incorporates the number of personal computers, Internet users, phone lines, mobile phones and TVs per 1,000 persons.
In the region, the country’s telecommunications infrastructure index of 0.084 put us below Singapore (0.645), Malaysia (0.305), and Thailand (0.130), but higher than Indonesia (0.049) and Vietnam (0.049).
Notwithstanding this weakness, the country’s overall performance last year was pretty spectacular for a developing economy, a fact that wasn’t lost on the spin doctors in Malacañang.
On the other hand, the person who oversaw the effort to build up the government’s capability to provide services on the Web was already looking forward.
“We’ll have to work harder on infrastructure,” said Virgilio Peña, chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, when I congratulated him on UN findings.
Peña added that the government will try to broaden access this year through its community e-centers, which are aimed at providing affordable, shared online services — including Internet telephony — to rural areas.
As of October last year, there were 45 such e-centers and 50 more were planned by June this year. The long-term goal is to have Internet connectivity in all cities and first, second and third-class municipalities by 2007 and all public elementary and high schools by 2010.
Of course, even a higher infrastructure index in the coming years is no guarantee that we’ll all reap the benefits of e-government. One key measure UN index doesn’t take into account is government responsiveness to feedback from its citizens, whether this comes by way of a phone call, e-mail or snail mail. Feedback mechanisms on a Web site are like suggestion boxes that some stores and restaurants put up. These become valuable only when management learns to act on the best suggestions.
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posted by Unknown @ 10:55 AM
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