The future of e-governance in India depends on the availability of shared nationwide infrastructure. R. Chandrasekhar, Joint Secretary, e-governance, Ministry of IT, sees the National e-governance Plan steering India's IT needs to fulfillment.
CIO: Is a consolidated approach to e-governance the way to go?
R. Chandrasekhar: The focus of e-governance in a developing country like India is to enable a great number of its citizens. It is also extremely useful in gauging how citizens perceive the government. When you look at e-governance from a citizen's point-of-view, you sense a need for a common framework and approach. It may not be a grand holistic blueprint for the entire country, but it should be a foundation on which governments and departments can provide citizen services.
What are some of the short-term goals of this blueprint?
There are both physical and conceptual aspects that various players in the framework have in common and these require to be tied in. For example, it is sub-optimal for every department to own a datacenter. It is also not feasible for them to create individual networks. Apart from being expensive, numerous networks could lead to myriad technical snags, which would lead to inefficient service delivery. It is advisable to have common infrastructure that departments and states can draw from.
Second, we need to build capacity. It is evident that there is a serious shortage of capacity to implement e-governance projects. While it's great to propose a confluence of business, technology and financial know-how, it is also true that there is much to be desired in the build-up. People with the required skills, for example, need to be developed. We need to work towards building a common pool of resources across the country.
Third, it is essential to separate the back-end of a project from its front-end. A common back-end can be cared for separately, leaving the front-end in the hands of those at the state and department level.
If e-governance is to be made all-pervasive in India, it's necessary to start work on a national framework that would bring together common physical infrastructure, policies, and standards. This is what the National e-governance Plan (NeGP) is about.
Can you clarify what you mean by separating the back-end from the front-end?
One of the goals of the national plan is to deliver services through shared assisted-service centers. We plan to construct almost 100,000 centers under a public-private partnership so that state governments don't have to deal with the technology and infrastructure hassles associated with the back-end. Evidently, we will need to separate the two ends. There are gateways and middleware to enable this.
What is the status of the NeGP?
The framework has been in place for over a year. We are in the process of getting approval to put it in operation. It is a learning process. Conceiving a network, casting it in stone, only to discover its limitations is not the best approach. It's better to evolve a framework that is approved by a majority. Once we have grasped all the imperatives, we can come up with a composite plan.
This will mean a delay. Is it justifiable?
I don't think it should be looked at as a delay. It is merely a process of evolution. The process of governance in India is very complex, but there is a broadening and a deeper penetration of e-governance applications, which indicates the success of our approach. Individual projects are much more a part of the e-governance plan than they are IT achievements of the department of IT. It is not meaningful to look at the delivery timeline of the program as a whole.
Was benchmarking the projects harder when you drew up the national plan?
We are a multilingual and multicultural society. India is a typical example of a multilayer federal structure that doesn't have many parallels in the world. More relevantly, we are a developing country whose computerization and back-end integration happened much before the mass penetration phenomena of the Internet.
With the advent of the Internet, developed countries only had to worry about connecting their disparate computer systems to enable their citizens to access new services. In India, we didn't have extensive computerization or deep telecom penetration.
Our level of IT literacy requires assisted services at this point, and this means that we have to plan systems that are multilingual. These are complexities that are typical to India. The only cue that we can take from developed countries is to consolidate our back-end, making integration with various front-ends easier. This will enable more citizens to access services immaterial of where they are.
We have also consulted with national and international agencies for different aspects of the national e-governance plan, although there is no one umbrella consultant. To a large extent, we have had to stitch our own quilt.
While building the plan from ground up, which were the areas you sought to concentrate on?
The NeGP admittedly doesn't cover the entire spectrum of governance. It is rather a statement to create efficient systems in high priority areas. There have been strong voices concerned with focusing on areas that affect large groups of people, like agriculture, health, and education, which have been put on top priority.
Is there a level of denial from government employees?
The plan represents a transition from a totally manual to an e-enabled outlook and change brings anxiety. Acceptance -- both inside and outside government -- saw initial apprehensions. There was a belief that only young people could implement and use IT and employees feared losing their jobs. This hasn't come true. Today, the people who plan and implement these projects feel secure. Governments across the board accept that the plan is a priority. Assisted services are a huge success as a concept and if there has been a failure, it has been in making these services available in a reliable and consistent manner. We can achieve this only when we have a strong and shared back-end, which the NeGP addresses.
So far, have people taken to the assisted centers?
Where the services are of a reasonable quality, the centers have not needed selling. Experience has shown that despite a nominal fee, citizens prefer to use the services. But, to make centers all-pervasive we need to improve service-oriented architecture.
How will the NeGP finance itself to ensure continuity?
The cost of delivering any service under the NeGP is the sum of three parts: Back-end systems and processes, front-end and the middle-ware including gateways, datacenters, networks, security, etc. On the other end, there are a range of prices that depend on the kind of service. Some services have recovered their costs, which has enabled a swifter spread because they are not dependent on budgetary allocations. In some cases, however, the price may be different from the cost. Pricing is a matter of government policy.
How much has been allocated in the past years?
Current spending on e-governance is in the tune of Rs 2,000 (US$446 million) to 3,000 crore a year. NeGP budget and spend will not be differ significantly from the past years. At best it may require about Rs 20,000 crore over the next five years, which is not very different from the current spending pattern. It also has the government's willingness to allocate and spend money because the project has very high priority. The real issue before us is implementation. And implementing means doing it all: Changing technologies, changing processes, building capacities, managing transition, ensuring both the delivery of services and that people to use them.
Is there a formula for quicker implementation?
We are already seeing changes. There is no magic wand to enable this transition overnight. We are progressing fast. In a country, as complex as India, when something becomes a movement, it develops very fast. We are seeing the beginning of that movement. We have already seen e-governance go from being supply-driven to demand-driven.
How then do you explain the success of only 15 percent of projects?
We see the harsh reality of that figure. The question before us is how to deal with it. First, we have to do away with both holding someone responsible for failure and with it the fear of failure. We are in an experimental stage -- we are bound to see some failures. What a 15 percent success rate tells me is that the problems were far more complicated than were anticipated. NeGP will deal with some of these issues.
Fifty percent of the failures are typically small pilot projects, which gives us room to make a call on dumping them or starting afresh. Of the 35 percent that were partial successes there is a litmus test. Has it given value for money? If it has, then irrespective of its part success, we should strive to scale it up. We have to keep in mind that successes involve a change in mindset.
This has been a teaching exercise. Some of the lessons we have taken away include the need to invest in people who have skills. Second, failures should only occur at the lower levels. Therefore, our approach is to start small and scale up fast. NeGP is a giant project, but this doesn't mean that we should go the whole hog in a single shot.
What happens to failed projects?
There are several cases of failed projects that other states carved success from. There are many projects around common service delivery models that succeeded but even greater number of such projects that failed. Each of these failed projects has driven a different set of people to make them a success.
How transparent are e-governance projects?
As far as procedures are concerned, they are all laid out. It is a public process. Transparency is an area in which we have taken best practices from across the world. In this respect all governments have the same kind of issues.
Simultaneously, one must recognize that in the knowledge domain there are many services whose deliverables cannot be tacked down to our grid. Those that pose a difficulty include consultancy and advisory services. Their processes are not conducive to evaluation. Therefore, we sometimes look at them through the lens that is applied to a different space. In this paradigm, cost is not the only variable to consider. One of our challenges is to device evaluation methods that are not only consistent to government procedures but also cost effective -- though not necessarily the cheapest solution.
Are there mechanisms to audit these projects?
This is one area we are looking at. Under the NeGP, there is a clause called 'assessment and awareness'. Assessment forms part of what we know as an audit, although it is not restricted to a financial point-of-view.
What is the concept behind e-champions?
Part of the NeGP is to build capacities on a large-scale, including capable people -- or champions. These include CIOs and CTOs, though they don't have to be IAS officers. In fact, most officers will come from government domains. They will drive the overall vision of a project, and not be bogged down with its day-to-day functioning.
The program will train people already working on projects and those who have shown an inclination for e-governance. They will be positioned for specific projects and will have fixed tenures. However, a project will only be funded if a person agrees to be accountable for it.
What's your advice to younger government IT leaders who want to drive successful projects?
First, it's important for them to define an e-governance project. They have to look at the outcome of project and evaluate how it benefits citizens. If they cannot spot a social benefit, then it is merely an IT project.
Second, to be able to achieve results, they must keep in mind two mantras: They must work as a team and there is no shortcut to success in e-governance projects.
What can we expect to see in 2006-07?
In 2006-07, we will see extremely exciting developments in the e-governance space. This is the period during which common infrastructure for service delivery across the nation will be put up, including the State Wide Area Networks (SWANs), datacenters and delivery centers. Capacity building will happen simultaneously. Various departments involved in these projects will be ready to deliver services within the next two years.
Dubai Municipality is gearing up for the launch of the second phase of its Building Permit Certification Service, which will be one of the biggest eGo
Dubai Municipality is gearing up for the launch of the second phase of its Building Permit Certification Service, which will be one of the biggest eGovernment implementations undertaken by the Municipality.
The completion of this phase will ensure 100 per cent online transactions between Dubai Municipality and building contractors in Dubai.
The system will offer a host of electronic services to clients and will process large amounts of data related to building permits and construction activities in Dubai. One of the innovative features of the service will be the availability of information on all major construction projects being undertaken in Dubai, in addition to detailed descriptions on existing and upcoming buildings which come under the purview of Dubai Municipality. The Building Permit Certification Service will be integrated with all other electronic services of Dubai Municipality.
The primary goals of introducing this service include, reducing traffic congestion around the Dubai Municipality office, which is situated in the heart of the city; reducing the work load on Municipality staff by eliminating manual processing of documents; providing all services pertaining to building permits - from new building licences to issuance of completion certificates- electronically; facilitating clients to check status of their applications online; facilitating online payment of fees and fines; offering a comprehensive database of all buildings in Dubai and providing important statistics and reports about buildings, that will help decision makers in Dubai in the strategic planning of roads, assist departments such as Police, Civil Defence and Economics, besides consultancy and construction companies.
'The launch of the second phase of this project is a major landmark for Dubai Municipality and reflects our commitment to provide high quality services to our clients. The services that will now be available through Dubai Municipality's portal will significantly help building consultants and contractors throughout the entire process of the construction project, while also providing detailed information on major buildings in Dubai. This project also complements Dubai's efforts towards achieving the highest levels of eGovernance,'said Abdullah Al Shibani, Director General for Technical Service, Dubai Municipality. Al Shibani also said that a dedicated team of specialists and engineers from the IT Department of Dubai Municipality would be responsible for the smooth and successful implementation of this project.
Yousif Shams, Head of System Development & Support Section, Information Technology Department, Dubai Municipality said, 'The new system has been developed with the most advanced information technology solutions - using Java programming language and Oracle database. The service is integrated with other services in Dubai Municipality, such as Geographic Information System (GIS), Pre-Qualification, ePayments, CRA, Electronic Data Management System (EDMS) and No Objection Certificates (NOC)'. The first phase of the Building Permit Certification Service was implemented in July 2005, which offers 24 eServices to consulting companies and the second phase will offer 30 services, mainly for construction companies. The third phase of the project is meant for building owners, and will be introduced immediately after the launch of the second phase.
I think yes. Arab governments should consider this option.
Here is a very interesing study for Arab governments.
About the study:Local authorities should embrace mobile technologies in delivering services, according to a report from the New Local Government Network (NLGN) think tank. Cutting the Wire argues that councils face the choice of directing moves towards the adoption of "m-government", or hoping that existing structures for representation and service delivery can cope with new expectations. It says that mobile communication technologies – phones, wireless computers and PDAs - are a "key catalyst" for transformational change.
This is the first example of Oman's policy to introduce e-Governance, where people will conduct their entire businesses with a public institution, electronically. From April 1 until June 1, 2006, students will be able to apply for upto 20 programmes simply by submitting a single electronic application, from any computer which is connected to the Internet.
In the past, when students got their examination results, they and their parents had to undertake an expensive and time-consuming process to visit many institutions, fill in many application forms, and then had to wait sometimes for weeks, hoping to achieve their aims. In order to make the process much easier and less expensive, the Ministry of Higher Education has decided to centralise the procedures. Accordingly, the Higher Education Admission Centre (HEAC) has been set up to be responsible for the processing of all admissions, using a new computerised system. Centres which have suitable access to the Internet will be available at which applications may be submitted. Through the schools, HEAC will notify students about the nearest local centre at which they may submit their application. The purpose is to ensure that there will be no need for applicants to travel long distances or suffer great expense. Through the schools, HEAC will also distribute a student guidebook. This will provide all the details about the new system.
In this Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) driven 21st century, a major challenge facing the diplomatic community globally is how to adapt to these technologies in their day-to-day activities.
This involves the use of modern technologies in diplomatic activities, be it exchange of information or negotiations, mostly between sovereign states. Thus the application of technologies from telecommunications down to multimedia transcends mere communication on telephone to Internet chat and exchange of information in matter of seconds. Director of Diplo Foundation, Dr. Jovan Kurbalija, noted that online negotiation is very important. He called on developing countries to press for global acceptance of online negotiations' mechanism as a successful means of engaging the rest of the world. He specifically said that online negotiation is basically good for trade among other technical diplomatic issues, thus preferable to be handled online. He also cautioned that by clicking on 'send' on the Internet via electronic mail (email), means commitment for a diplomat of any State. Kurbalija explained that online negotiation saves cost; hence it does not involve acquiring equipment for videoconference among other multimedia tools, and could simply be achieved by mere exchange of emails. He also advised contemporary diplomats to always ensure they have an IT person on their side and develop good rapport with him. Moreover, what this workshop brought to the fore was that ICT is inevitable tool in contemporary diplomacy, even as it is relevant in every citizen's life as in diplomats. And like Dr. Kurbalija stated, LDCs should optimize ICT not only because it is cost effective, it gives room for exploration of the available human resources at a State's disposal.
The White Paper is a call for action on how we can close the gap between the EU and its citizens. Communication on Europe is a matter of democracy.
The White Paper proposes five areas where joint action should be taken: defining common principles to guide communication activities on European issues; empowering citizens; working with the media and new technologies; understanding European public opinion; doing the job together.
We would like to have your comments on the suggestions made under each area. New ideas related to the White Paper are also most welcome.
The full text of the White Paper is available here.
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(BNamericas.com Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The United Nations has recommended its members use open source software, particularly in areas related to health, education and international commerce, UN inspector Dominique Ouredrago said during a speech at the II international open source conference in Spain.
ccording to Ouredrago, in two of its reports the UN considers open source as the most appropriate vehicle for the development of its members.
In Latin America, countries such as Brazil and Venezuela are in the process of migrating all their applications in public entities from proprietary software to open source, while in Peru the local government is discussing a law to promote its use in the public sector.
In the Argentine private sector, nearly half of local companies with over 1,000 employees use some type of open source application, while 18% of the companies not using Linux are planning on migrating to open source in the future.
The commission said today that modern public administration has to be built upon digital services together with streamlined e-government processes.It provided the example of a Swede and an Italian seeking to get married. The couple would need to fill in and provide dozens of papers to get married because the administrations of both countries cannot communicate electronically.
Not only lovers are concerned. Heaps of paper must be piled up when it comes to setting up a company, paying taxes, transferring social insurance rights or participating in procurement activities in another member state.
European Commission vice-president Günter Verheugen, who is responsible for enterprise and industry policy, said: “The single market relies on modern and efficient public administrations which facilitate the mobility and seamless interaction of citizens and businesses. Interoperability is the basis for working together in the internal market. It will contribute to making Europe an attractive place to live, work and invest.”
One of the major challenges of e-government is the multiplicity of government layers in the EU at the national, regional and local levels. Interoperability in e-government requires that all these layers are able to exchange information and to approach each other for services that are being delivered at a different administrative level.
Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is responsible for information society and media, commented: “Our overall aim must be e-government that delivers tangible benefits for citizens and businesses, everywhere in the EU, leaving no one behind.
“I want to put public administrations at the heart of economic growth and will in the coming weeks propose an EU action plan on e-government. In this action plan,I intend to focus on areas where there is European value added. I also intend to take pragmatic approaches to overcoming some of the key challenges such as interoperability and electronic identification across borders,” Reding said.
In a call for new standards, the commission said it sees a need for interoperability at a number of levels such as the interoperability of administrive processes; ‘life time’ events such as births, marriages and social security; and ‘business events’ such as paying taxes, procurement and setting up a company.
The commission said that government IT systems across the EU must be standardised in order to ‘understand’ each other’s information in terms of semantic interoperability. For example, while birth certificates are standardised documents across the EU, they look different from country to country.
مبادرة الإدارة الرشيدة لخدمة التنمية في الدول العربية: مقتطفات حول محاور الإصلاح من مسودة الوثيقة التحضيرية
محور الحكومة الإلكترونية، وتبسيط المعاملات الإدارية والإصلاح الرقابي
أ- الحكومة الالكترونية
1- مقدمة
2- الموضوعات الاستراتيجية المتعلقة بالسياسات
3- الأسئلة المطروحة للنقاش
ب- تبسيط الاجراءات الادارية
1- مقدمة
2- الموضوعات الاستراتيجية المتعلقة بالسياسات
3- الأسئلة المطروحة للنقاش
ج- الاصلاح التنظيمي للمؤسسات
1- مقدمة
2- الموضوعات الاستراتيجية المتعلقة بالسياسات
3- الأسئلة المطروحة للنقاش
أ- الحكومة الالكترونية
1- مقدمة
بدأ عدد من الدول العربية، مثل، دبي، والمغرب، ومصر، والأردن وغيرها في صياغة السياسات المتعلقة بالحكومة الإلكترونية التي تشكل أداة هامة يمكن أن تساعد في تعزيز مبدأ الشفافية والمساءلة في المنطقة مع المساهمة في الوقت نفسه في تحسين القدرة التنافسية. ويعتبر توفير المعلومات عبر شبكة الإنترنت عنصرا هاما يساعد على دعم تبسيط الإجراءات الإدارية بالإضافة إلى مكافحة الفساد لأن ذلك يسهل إمكانية الوصول إلى المعلومات حول الاستحقاقات وتكاليف الخدمات ويقلل من فرص السلوك التعسفي. وفي الوقت نفسه، يرتبط نجاح الحكومة الإلكترونية بالإطار العام لإدارة الحكم، وتتطلب الحكومة الإلكترونية إجراء التطوير ليس على مستوى تكنولوجيا المعلومات فحسب، وإنما أيضاً في البيئة التي تحدد الثقافة المحلية ذات الصلة بإدارة الحكم.
2- الموضوعات الاستراتيجية المتعلقة بالسياسات
- الحكومة الإلكترونية باعتبارها عاملا" يساهم في رفع الكفاءة وتحسين الخدمات.
- الحكومة الإلكترونية باعتبارها عاملا" يساهم في تطوير الإدارة العامة وبناء الثقة بين الحكومة والمواطنين.
- الحكومة الإلكترونية باعتبارها آلية تساعد على تعزيز الشفافية والمساواة في المعاملة في مختلف قطاعات القطاع العام؛ على سبيل المثال، عمليات الشراء والبيع أو النظام القضائي.
- الشروط الواجب توافرها لنجاح الحكومة الإلكترونية وإمكانية تداول المبادئ التوجيهية بشأن الحكومة الإلكترونية الناجحة والتي قامت بصياغتها منظمة التعاون الاقتصادي والتنمية.
- السرية.
- التركيز على المستخدم
- الوصول إلى الناس بما في ذلك الوصول إلى مجموعات معينة والمجموعات المحرومة من الاستفادة من الخدمة الالكترونية مثل كبار السن أو الفقراء أو سكان الريف والمرأة الريفية.
- تمويل مشروعات الحكومة الإلكترونية.
- رصد وتقييم مبادرات الحكومة الإلكترونية.
3- الأسئلة المطروحة للنقاش
- كيف يمكن جعل فكرة الحكومة الإلكترونية تعود بالنفع على الإدارات العامة والمجتمع بأسره؟ كيف يمكن للحكومة الإلكترونية أن تسهم في خلق حكومة أكثر فاعلية يكون شغلها الشاغل المواطنين؟
- ما هي المعوقات التي تحول دون إقامة حكومة الكترونية وكيف يمكن التغلب عليها؟
- ما هي معايير التنفيذ الناجح لإقامة حكومة إلكترونية؟
- ما هي الاحتياجات الواجب تلبيتها لإقامة حكومة الكترونية ناجحة؟ (تقييم العملاء، إجراء استطلاعات للرأي عن رضا العملاء، وغير ذلك من أدوات تحسين تصميم حكومة إلكترونية وإقامتها).
- كيف يمكن حشد الدعم لفكرة الحكومة الإلكترونية؟ وكيف يمكن تحسين التنسيق والتعاون في هذا المجال؟
- كيف يمكن تسهيل التعاون الدولي؟
- ما هي الصلاحيات اللازمة لاتخاذ القرار المتعلق بإقامة الحكومة الإلكترونية؟
- كيف يمكن شرح الأمثلة الناجحة على تعزيز الحكومة الإلكترونية؟ وكيف يمكن أن تكون هذه الأمثلة نموذجا لنقل الخبرات للدول الأخرى؟ على سبيل المثال، كيف يمكن أن تصبح عوامل النجاح الخاصة بحالة دبي (مقدمة عن العناصر التنافسية، الضغط السياسي لإقامة حكومة إلكترونية، الربط بالتجارة الحرة ومنطقة الموانئ، إلخ.) عوامل لإحداث التغيير في الدول العربية الأخرى؟
ب- تبسيط الاجراءات الادارية
1- مقدمة
تركز الدول العربية جهودها بشكل متزايد على تبسيط الإجراءات الإدارية، كما هو موضح في التقارير المقدمة من ممثلي المغرب والأردن ومصر في اجتماع إسطنبول. ومن أكثر الشكاوى المتكررة التي يثيرها المواطنون، في دول منظمة التعاون الإقتصادي والتنمية وفي الدول العربية ما يتعلق بتعقيدات الإجراءات الشكلية الحكومية والأعمال المكتبية. وفي العديد من الحالات، أصبحت الإجراءات معقدة ومرهقة إلى أقصى حد، بل وحتى لا لزوم لها، مما ولد أعباء تنظيمية لا لزوم لها- وهو ما يطلق عليه إسم "الروتين الحكومي" الذي يمكن أن يسهل إنحراف السلوك الأخلاقي لدى موظفي القطاع العام. ونتيجة لذلك، ترتفع التكاليف المفروضة على الاقتصاد ككل ويتم تحديد الروتين الحكومي كعقبة رئيسية تعترض سبيل التنمية الإقتصادية. وكرد فعل إزاء هذه التحديات، ركزت الحكومات بشكل متزايد على إعادة النظر في العبء البيروقراطي وتبسيطه الذي تفرضه. ويشمل رد الفعل هذا إلغاء الأحكام القانونية المتضاربة أو التي عفى عليها الزمن، وصياغة مبادئ توجيهية بشأن اللوائح الإدارية، بالإضافة إلى استخدام أساليب جديدة لتقييم اللوائح الإدارية والتخفيف من أثرها. وقد أعطيت للمبادرات في هذا المجال الأولوية في معظم الدول العربية، ولكن هناك حاجة لزيادة فعالية السياسات التي تم إدخالها.
2- الموضوعات الاستراتيجية المتعلقة بالسياسات
- دور السياسات الموضوعة مسبقاً. وتفادي فرض أعباء مفرطة أو لا لزوم لها
- إتباع أسلوب تبسيط الإجراءات الإدارية من القمة للقاعدة ومن القاعدة للقمة
- إتباع السياسات الإقتصادية القائمة على السوق للتشجيع على تبسيط الإجراءات الإدارية
- دور تكنولوجيا المعلومات في تبسيط الإجراءات الإدارية
3- الأسئلة المطروحة للنقاش
- ما هي الإتجاهات الرئيسية السائدة في دول منظمة التعاون الاقتصادي والتنمية والدول العربية لتقليص الروتين الإداري؟ وأي من هذه الاتجاهات يمكن أن يكون بمثابة خطوات واعدة ذات أولوية نحو تحقيق الإصلاح؟
- كيف يتم قياس مدى التقدم الذي يحرز في الإصلاح؟
- هل توفر مجمعات الخدمات المتكاملة في تكاليف الخدمات؟
- كيف يمكن تحقيق التوازن بين مساعدة الشركات الصغيرة والأولويات الأخرى؟
ج- الاصلاح التنظيمي للمؤسسات
1- مقدمة
ليس تبسيط الإجراءات الإدارية سوى جانب من القضايا الأوسع نطاقاً المتعلقة بالإدارة التنظيمية، التي تفهم على أنها ذلك الإطار المكون من الأدوات والمؤسسات والإجراءات التنظيمية. وسوف يسهم التنظيم العالي الجودة- أي التنظيم الذي تتوافر فيه عناصر الكفاءة، والشفافية، والمساءلة- في رفع كفاءة السوق وتناسق الإجراءات الحكومية. ويدل العمل الذي تضطلع به منظمة التعاون الإقتصادي والتنمية بشأن الإصلاح التنظيمي على أن الإدارة التنظيمية الممتازة يمكن أن تكون فعالة في رفع كفاءة القطاعات وتحديثها، وزيادة المرونة في شتى مجالات الإقتصاد، وتحفيز النمو، وتحسين مستوى الرفاهية، وزيادة فعالية الحكومة في الحفاظ على المعايير الرفيعة لحماية البيئة والمستهلك والمحافظة على السلامة. كما يمكن أيضاً أن تساعد الإدارة التنظيمية التي تتسم بالتناسق في التخفيف من ضغوط التجارة عن طريق التغلب على العقبات الداخلية المتعددة التي تعترض سبيل التجارة الدولية والاستثمار.
اتفق أعضاء الوفود في اجتماع إسطنبول على ضرورة تعزيز الإدارة التنظيمية عالية الجودة بالتدريج في الدول العربية لتحقيق نتائج مستدامة. وتثبت تجربة منظمة التعاون الإقتصادي والتنمية أن استراتيجية تطوير الإدارة التنظيمية يمكن أن تستند على ثلاث ركائز؛ هي تحديداً: وضع السياسات وبناء المؤسسات، وفرض الضوابط والزواجر من جانب طرف ثالث عند إصدار اللوائح التنظيمية الجديدة بالإضافة إلى الرقابة على الإطار التنظيمي القائم وفقاً لنظام معين. ويبدو أن هناك حاجة أيضاً لاتباع هذا الأسلوب التدريجي في التطوير في الدول العربية التي تنامى وعيها بالمزايا التنافسية لتطوير النظم التنظيمية الخاصة بها.
2- الموضوعات الاستراتيجية المتعلقة بالسياسات:
- عدم التمييز في تطبيق بعد المنافسة والمبادئ التنظيمية
إتباع منهج شامل في تطبيق بعد المنافسة والمبادئ التنظيمية على النشاط الإقتصادي، بما في ذلك السلع والخدمات والأنشطة التجارية الخاصة والعامة. - أسواق تنافسية قائمة على إطار قانوني عام سليم، وحقوق ملكية بالإضافة إلى عدم التمييز، والكفاءة، والفعالية في تطبيق القوانين.
- الشفافية في السياسات واللوائح وكذلك في تنفيذها.
- تحديد مسئولية واضحة داخل الإدارات المحلية عن تنفيذ بعد المنافسة والكفاءة أثناء صياغة وتطبيق السياسات واللوائح.
- بذل جهود التنفيذ الرامية لتحقيق ما يلي: التعرف على أو دراسة اللوائح والإجراءات التي تقيد قدرة الشركات (بما في ذلك المشروعات الصغيرة والمتوسطة) وتحد من فرصتها في التنافس على أساس الكفاءة والإبتكار. اتخاذ خطوات عملية لدعم تطبيق اللوائح على نحو موحد، وإلغاء اللوائح والإجراءات التنظيمية التي لا لزوم لها، وتحسين شفافية أهداف السياسات والأسلوب الذي تطبق به اللوائح. تعزيز الثقة وبناء القدرة على تطبيق بعد المنافسة والسياسات التنظيمية. إقامة تعاون اقتصادي وفني وتقديم المساعدة على نفس المستويين بالإضافة إلى بناء القدرة على تطبيق المعرفة الفنية المتوافرة لدى منظمة التعاون الاقتصادي والتنمية. إيجاد سبل فعالة للتعاون بين الأجهزة المختصة بتنظيم الاقتصاد في الدول العربية وضمان توفير موارد كافية لها.
3- الأسئلة المطروحة للنقاش
- كيف يتم على المستوى السياسي إقرار برامج إصلاح تنظيمي شاملة تحدد أهدافاً وأطراً واضحة لتنفيذ الإصلاح؟
- كيف نكفل توافر قيم الشفافية، وعدم التمييز، والكفاءة في تطبيق اللوائح والإجراءات التنظيمية؟
- كيف يتم التعرف على ارتباط الإصلاح بالأهداف الأخرى للسياسات (على سبيل المثال في مجالات السلامة، والصحة، وحماية المستهلك، وأمن الطاقة) وصياغة سياسات لتحقيق تلك الأهداف بطرق تدعم الإصلاح التنظيمي؟
The first World Congress on Communication for Development will focus on demonstrating that communication for development is an essential ingredient for meeting today’s most pressing development challenges and, as such, should be more fully integrated in development policy and practice.
This 3-day Congress will bring together communication professionals engaged in development initiatives, policymakers, development practitioners, donor and civil society organization representatives, community representatives, and academics from around the world to share experiences and best practices in this growing field. Discussions and presentations will focus on what works, what doesn’t, and how communication for development contributes to better development effectiveness.
he 7th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research is a forum for the presentation and discussion of interdisciplinary research on digital government and its applications in diverse domains. Interested participants are invited to submit research papers, system demonstrations, posters, and proposals for tutorials and workshops for dg.o 2006.
The conference will focus on:
- Research on digital government as an interdisciplinary domain that encompasses inquiry at the intersections of computing research, social, political, and behavioral science research, and the problems and missions of government agencies
- Unique partnerships of university researchers and government partners
- Project highlights and outcomes of digital government research
Keynote Speakers
- Peter Nijkamp, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), will deliver a keynote address on “Cyber Images and E-Governments,” Monday, May 22, 2006.
- Kim Nelson, Microsoft's E-Government Director will deliver a keynote address on "Academic and Business Partnerships to Enhance Digital Government Research," Tuesday, May 23, 2006.
- Dr. John Phillips, Chief Scientist of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), will deliver a keynote address for ISI2006 on Tuesday, May 23, 2006.
(dg.o 2006 attendees are welcomed to attend.)
International Research Workshops and Tutorials
dg.o 2006 is planning to have tutorials and international research workshops in conjunction with the conference. They have been scheduled for Sunday, May 21st, and Wednesday, afternoon, May 24th.
Please refer to Workshops CFPs and Tutorials CFPs for more details.
Principal Investigators Meeting
The dg.o 2006 conference also hosts the annual Principal Investigators (PIs) meeting of Digital Government and Information Technology Research (ITR), held at lunch on Wednesday, May 24, 2006. The meeting is managed by the NSF's Digital Government Program.
dg.o 2006 to Collaborate with ISI Symposium and Fed Web
We are very pleased to announce that dg.o2006 is being organized in collaboration with the IEEE 4th Symposium on Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI2006) and FedWeb. The conferences will be collocated and overlapping
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Conference Chairs: Paul Alpar, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
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Programme Chair: Dr Dan Remenyi, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
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Keynote Speaker: State Secretary Harald Lemke, The State of Hesse, Dept. of Interior / Dept. of Finance. Commissioner for e-Government and information-technology “The value of strategic information systems in the public administration”.
This years conference takes place in the beautiful Philipps-Universität Marburg and is supported by the State of Hesse.
Registration News
Your contacts for this conference are:
To receive notifications about this conference please click here hazel@academic-conferences.org
Publication Opportunity
Selected papers from the Conference will be considered for publication in a special issue of the Electronic Journal of e-Government www.ejeg.com
Conference status
Details of abstracts selected as full papers are now available on the Abstracts selected page. The review process is now underway. It is due to be completed by 24th February and shortly thereafter we hope to publish the preliminary timetable.
Purchase previous conference proceedings
You can download this page in .pdf format for easy printing.
| "Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development." - Kofi A. Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations |
MUSCAT — This is the first example of the Sultanate’s policy to introduce e-governance, where people will conduct their entire businesses with a public institution, electronically.
In the past, when students got their examination results, they and their parents had to undertake an expensive and time-consuming process to visit many institutions, fill in many application forms, and then had to wait sometimes for weeks, hoping to achieve their aims. In order to make the process much easier and less expensive, the Ministry of Higher Education has decided to centralise the procedures. Accordingly, the Higher Education Admission Centre (HEAC) has been set up to be responsible for the processing of all admissions, using a new computerised system.
From April 1 until June 1, 2006, students will be able to apply for upto 20 programmes simply by submitting a single electronic application, from any computer which is connected to the Internet.
The 20 choices may be taken from all the external or internal scholarships, as well as all the programmes of study available in all the public and private institutions in Oman. A minimum of six choices must be made.
When applying for the 20 choices, applicants must put them in order of preference. This is very important because the basic aim of the system will be to offer each applicant the highest preference to which they are entitled.
Centres which have suitable access to the Internet will be available at which applications may be submitted. Through the schools, HEAC will notify students about the nearest local centre at which they may submit their application. The purpose is to ensure that there will be no need for applicants to travel long distances or suffer great expense.
Through the schools, HEAC will also distribute a student guidebook. This will provide all the details about the new system.
In addition, the guidebook will also show the details of every scholarship and all the programmes which are available in all the institutions. This will include information about the entry requirements, programme content, etc.
For the first time, therefore, in a single guidebook, applicants will be able to get details about all programmes, instead of having to contact each institution as in the past.
JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia has been urged to pursue its e-governance initiative and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the public and private sectors in the kingdom, and also create knowledge societies that drive economic growth and development.
During recent meetings with senior government officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Dr Juan F. Rada, Senior Vice-President, Industries, Oracle Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), highlighted Oracle's commitment to training and human resources development in the kingdom. He explained that support for Arabic software development was a key focus for Oracle and the company develops products and applications specifically to serve the needs of users across the Middle East and North Africa region.
"Saudi Arabia's e-governance initiative focuses on enhancing the provision of access to government-related services and information for public use and knowledge," he said. "The initiative also aims to enhance public services through online systems that assure affordability and accountability. Rada also delivered a keynote address at the 3rd Annual IT Managers Forum.
Leading public sector IT bosses have told silicon.com they would welcome moves by the UK government to adopt federated identity in order to provide the public with faster, more efficient access to online services. But one expert believes the government has been too preoccupied with the controversial ID cards project to consider such as solution.
Federation would essentially mean government departments would share the public's identities across their systems and authenticate against one another. This would speed the process of signing in and using multiple online services and would eliminate layers of administration.
My main concern with federated identity is that the rise in identity theft means that if someone's identity is stolen then the thief potentially has access to a lot of information in one go.
-- Alan Brown, director of information management and technology, West London Mental Health Trust
Richard Steel, head of ICT at London Borough of Newham, gave such a system a ringing endorsement. "I see it as the way forward," he told silicon.com.
He said: "I believe there are major benefits to people being enabled to 'single sign-on' to government and other web services, while maintaining control of their own identities."
Steel added: "For me, federated identity, together with tiered authentication depending upon service context and sensitivity is the key to opening up pan-government services and driving service uptake."
Richard Hall, CTO at Avenade, said: "How do you deal with a member of the public who may have various identities within your databases? They may be a home owner, a voter, a congestion charge payer, a customer for street sweeping and all these identities may be separate."
That is indicative of the levels of inefficiency Steel, for one, says needs to be ironed out.
Alan Brown, director of information management and technology at West London Mental Health Trust, told silicon.com: "I am generally in favour of all organisations - especially in the public sector - being as joined up as possible.
"I can see the benefits in having a person's identity verified and certain demographic information already available. It would help in the delivery of social services, health, education, etc."
Brown said his experiences as both a public sector professional and as a member of the public have led him to believe federation can make for smoother, more efficient e-government.
He said: "I have personally submitted my tax returns online and the process of getting a username and password was rigorous and intensive and I would support the same 'identity' being available for me to access other services."
However, Brown expressed concerns that in an age of identity theft federation could play into the hand of criminals. "My main concern is that the rise in identity theft means that if someone's identity is stolen then the thief potentially has access to a lot of information in one go," he said, though he proposed developments in hard-factor authentication and biometrics could resolve such issues in the future.
Brown said he would also expect to be able to manage how his identity is used. "I would favour transparency in knowing which services have access to the identity and having an opt-out from some of this information sharing if I so wished," he said.
Pre-empting arguments some members of the public may bring up, Newham's Steel added: "I am sure there will be those who have concerns about 'big brother' and civil liberties - but I think that benefits include the fact that we will be establishing overt controls, rather than the many 'covert systems' - credit cards, mobile phones etc, that already exist."
Andrew Lloyd, VP security management at CA, agreed it is of paramount importance that governments ensure federation is not akin to open season on identities - and he said it should be implemented to ensure only relevant data is viewable by relevant departments and the user maintains ownership of their identity.
But with strong incentives for the government and the public, Lloyd urged the powers that be in Westminster to look at federation.
However he said there is "real irony" in the fact consideration of federation as a way to better-provide government services and public identity management may have been on-hold due to the focus on ID cards - a more controversial and more widely questioned identity issue.
He said major IT projects within the NHS, for example, are also likely to have severely hindered the process: "The government now needs to use this next time period to ensure joined up government is there."
| E-democracy: tied up in red tape
The government was talking sense when it decreed that all local councillors should have their own web presence. But take-up has been slow. Michael Cross finds out why
Since the end of December, by central government edict, every English council has had to "provide every councillor with the option to have an easy-to-manage set of public web pages". Most authorities claim to have met the target in theory. In spirit, however, it has been missed by a mile. Paul Evans, head of the Councillor.info scheme to provide elected members with a web presence, says only a tiny percentage of councillors use their sites to do anything more than list contact details. In an era when blogging is commonplace in public life, this disengagement by local democracy is an anomaly. One reason is a rule banning local authority sites from carrying material that could be deemed political. Councillors wanting to do anything adventurous with the web have to set up personal sites, which are often at least four clicks from the council's home page. Deterrent Lewisham councillor Andrew Brown, who this week celebrates two years of blogging from his site www.20six.co.uk/cllr_andrew_brown says the ban is a deterrent. The 36-year-old charity worker created his blog on his own initiative, entirely separately from his "official" council site. "The policy means I have two sites to keep up to date. It would be nice if I just had the one, and it was the one I wanted it to be." Brown's blog gets about 80 unique visitors a day. Significantly, more find it via Google than through the council's website, he says. The visitors are "a bit different to the usual people who contact me. Some are officers, some are political opponents hoping I'll slip up, but I keep coming across local people." Overall his blogging experience has been "almost entirely positive". Legal guidelines on blogs published by the local e-democracy project, sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, say that a council could technically get into trouble even by linking to a personal site containing political content. "The government's code of recommended practice on local authority publicity states that council resources should not be used to publicise individual councillors." However, the guidelines say that as creating a link involves only a minimal use of resources, so long as a council offers links even-handedly to the blogging pages of every individual council member who wants them, then this is unlikely to infringe the rules, "although there is no clear guidance or case law on this point". Brown says he has shown the guidelines to his council's lawyers , but they are taking a fairly cautious line. "They're waiting for what the government has to say rather than what the national project has to say," he says. London borough of Kingston councillor Mary Reid, who chairs the e-democracy project - and runs her own blog at www.maryreid.org.uk - says that councils should not worry about links, provided there's a disclaimer. "They're already linking to MPs, why not to their councillors?," she asks. Kingston already has six blogging councillors, from all three parties. Evans says that most councillors need a great deal of hand-holding before they get to this stage. Councillor.info, a service offered by the internet cooperative Poptel, has done deals with 21 English authorities to give them facilities to create a basic web presence. "The only way to get councillors to run good sites is to remove all the obstacles and give them as much advice, help and encouragement as they need," says Evans. Councillor.info has launched a new mentoring service to help councillors get on the web. A new study on the benefits of e-democracy carried out for the national project finds that if just one councillor at each local authority blogged, between 350,000 and 2.5m citizens would read a councillor blog each month. Business case The report, produced by the Improvement and Development Agency, claims there is a clear business case for e-democracy, which it defines as any application of e-technology that enables or enhances the interaction between government and its stakeholders with the goal of raising engagement and participation in democratic processes. E-democracy's paybacks include helping councils meet the demands of central government's comprehensive performance assessment in areas such as safer and stronger communities, sustainable communities and transport, healthier communities, and children and young people. There are also cash savings. The report says Bristol conducted 12 consultations in 10 months using e-panels at a cost of £40,000. "To do this by conventional means would have cost a total of £96,000," says the report. Elections pose a new challenge for councillor bloggers. The legal guidelines warn that resources spent on the web may count towards total limits on election expenditure: "Even if the limits on such expenditure are not exceeded by a councillor there may be a separate obligation on local authorities that should exercise caution in providing links to party political blogging pages during a pre-election period. Such links might be treated as donations that are not permitted under the legislation or may unlawfully confer a benefit on candidates who are sitting councillors, over other councillors." A new study, Political Blogs - Craze or Convention? published by the Hansard Society charity, says that blogs are a potent new force, but advises politicians not to get carried away. "Politicians, who are used to shouting through megaphones and broadcasting through microphones, will not find it easy to adjust to a communicative ecology where the stage belongs to everybody," it warns. "The problem facing politicians who blog is that they are professionally implicated in the very culture that blogging seeks to transcend," says the report. "Blogging politicians are always going to be seen as a little bit like those old Communist apparatchiks who had to sit in the front row at rock concerts and pretend to swing to the beat." |
|
This piece of news is relevant for Arab politicians.
 Mr Campbell says politicians need to wise up to the web |
Tony Blair's ex-media chief Alastair Campbell says he never sent an e-mail or used the internet during his near decade working for the Labour leader. "I never used a computer other than to write - I used it as a word processor," he told BBC Radio 4's Start the Week.
The man who drove the communications strategy for New Labour said he had been in the technological "dark ages".
Mr Campbell, an ex-newspaper reporter, said he now believed politicians needed to use the internet more.
He pointed to the fact that polls suggested that at the 2005 general election about a third of young voters turned to the internet as their primary source of political information and news.
"It's still not become a revolution, but it's getting there," he said.
Playing catch up
Mr Campbell, who worked with Tony Blair from 1994 to 2003, told the programme "I never sent e-mails or used the internet".
He said that aides would sift e-mails sent to him and type up and send responses for him - e-mails sent "on his behalf" and appearing to be from him direct were part of the evidence during the Hutton Inquiry.
"Who knows whether that(not using e-mail or the internet) meant I did the job better or worse than I might have done," Mr Campbell asks in an essay covering the role of the internet in politics.
In the essay he said his former boss was not much wiser.
"He's definitely a paper and pen person as well. He tries - he's got a computer screen on his desk... it's pretty idle."
Mr Campbell said he had been getting to grips with modern technology since leaving his official Downing Street post - including using a blackberry.
However, he said the web was "unlikely to replace TV as a medium to broadcast communications to mass audiences".
Instead, its future for politics lay in areas such as encouraging campaigning networks for political parties, in raising funds and in giving localised information to people.
The area which most needed developing for politicians was getting a "genuine two-way process of debate and engagement", he argued.
They needed to be more aware that younger people used the internet as their core, or one of their core, communications channels.
Lack of trust
"I think the public out there are just consuming news in a completely different way which is way beyond what we did when we were sort of growing up in our 20s and 30s," he said.
"In a sense they're getting in the driving seat of their own media consumption and their own political consumption and they're saying: 'Well what I'm interested in is X'."
People did not trust politicians or the media to explain what something meant.
"They know that most newspapers and a lot of journalists have their own agenda and that's what they're pursuing," he said.
But internet users could find other people to agree or disagree with, plus information which helped them to develop their arguments, he said.
And people could decide what they wanted to see and read, "rather than have anyone tell them what to think".
'Not optional extra'
Mr Campbell, a former Daily Mirror reporter, said that since leaving Downing Street he had been inspired to find ways of using the internet and other forms of technology to bring people into politics when he realised many were being "turned off" by the "conventional media".
"We are now in a media age. I think the politicians have just got to in a sense let go a bit ...
"Above all they've got to start to understand the younger generation, in particular, is thinking about its political consumption in completely different ways.
"And I think if they are not careful, they are going to fall behind a curve and this whole business of disengagement from conventional politics becomes a bit of a problem."
He said political parties were going to have to view the web "as an essential part of their campaigning mix rather than an optional extra".
He concluded his essay: "They should also see that with the press as negative as it is, with TV and radio reporting as frenzied and press influenced as it is, that is an opportunity not a threat.
"Even I, technophobe that I am, can see that."
Najat Rochdi, Regional Coordinator for the UNDP in the Arab Region, talks to eGov monitor about creating knowledge economy in the Arab Region and the role of international organisation
Q1 Can you give us a brief high-level overview of your role as a Regional Coordinator with the UNDP?
Since I joined the Regional Bureau for Arab States as a Regional
Coordinator, my main role was:
- Institutionalization of the Regional Program initiatives
- Conceptualization of initiatives
- Mobilization of resources
- Discussion of agreement, advocacy and awareness raising with the Governments of the Region
- Establishment of a sustainable knowledge sharing and collaborative
platform among Arab government and private sector - Policy advice role: Scaled-up the programme and the ICTD applied experience and practices in the Arab Region
- Synergy with other regional programs as well as with other partners (either bilateral, multilateral or national)
- Strategic partnership with private sector
- Synergies with UNDP Country Offices in the field
- Strategic positioning of RBAS ICTD programs
- Outreach and media coverage
- Mainstreaming ICT in UNDP practice areas
- Effective management of ICTDAR with the team as per the changing needs and demands of the Arab Governments, the Partners and the donors
Q2 What role do you think international organizations should play in assisting governments in creating a knowledge economy?
I believe that the main role includes:
- Policy advice
- Skills development for decision makers as well as for practitioners
- Advocacy and awareness raising
- and more importantly the implementation of quick wins where we walk into the talk and use those as to demonstrate feasibility and impact.
- Act as a knowledge sharing platform where by allowing exchange of information, experiences, results, business models there is an accumulation process which lead to shortcuts and optimization of all kinds of resources
- Act as a bridge to facilitate PPP
Q3 In the UK partnership between the public and private is a well established model for public sector reform and growth of the knowledge economy. Do you think the same model is applicable in the region, and what you think should be done to encourage partnerships of this type?
I always use to refer to the UK PPP model as a good practice not to apply it as it is everywhere but to learn from the concept, the model and the framework. It is indeed a practice which could benefit to several countries provided that there is a room for localization and customization as well as an appropriate climate between public and private in the recipient country.
Q4 The knowledge economy builds first and foremost on human capital, economic and educational opportunities are vital to support this. What strategic plans do you have to reduce the knowledge gap in the region?
We have done it through our different initiatives. I am attaching FYI a summary of each of our regional initiatives which are addressing the knowledge gap. Needless to remind you that the second Arab Human Development Report main focus was about knowledge and this is the reason why ICTDAR (ICT for Development in the Arab Region) was created.
Basically we believe that lack of knowledge is weakening and that knowledge is empowering!
There are six initiatives being promoted under the "Opening the gates of opportunity for the Arab people" banner:
Q5 How do you plan to enhance knowledge sharing and best practices across the Arab Region?
We have put 3 mechanisms in place: we have set up a portal with Arabic interface (as the use of the appropriate language is crucial). The portal is in the same time a collaborative platform but also has communities of practices for practitioners. We implemented a Regional e-Governance Institute to serve the Arab Region and act as a depository of all the practices as well as a knowledge and experience sharing platform. Finally, we organize on regular basis regional workshops as to allow face to face discussions and information sharing. As ICTDAR we also act as a channel for knowledge sharing where we always make sure there is no duplication and that all our intervention is based on business models for replication from a pilot country to others.
Q6 The UNDP has set out a capacity development program for 2015, what do you hope to have accomplished by then?
We hope that we will have skilled people and knowledgeable as to allow a new citizenship, leadership and entrepreneurship. Where they know about their rights but also about their duties, where they help actively in the building of an open, democratic Arab knowledge society.
John Hooper in Rome
Monday February 20, 2006
The Guardian
It is a three-storey, redbrick building with smoked glass windows and a touch of the postmodern in the design. There are not many police stations in Italy as smart as this one, which could be why the patrolmen at the door are wearing such broad smiles.
Too good to be true? Absolutely. This, according to the Italian government, is Europe's first "virtual" police station. The interior minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, launched the online project yesterday, calling it "the latest achievement in close-up policing". The website - Commissariatodips.it - can be used to report crime, get advice, and turn "cyber nark" by registering a nickname and passing on tips anonymously.
Initially, the site offers a full range of services only to those wanting to report online crime. Maurizio Masciopinto, who developed it and is the head of the criminal investigation division of Italy's postal police, said he hoped the virtual station would attract tip-offs on child pornography sites and electronic fraud such as identity theft.
Journal of E-Government, Vol. I, Issue 4:
EDITORIAL
Gregory G. Curtin
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of E-Government
USA
ARTICLES
“A Proximity Indicator for e-Government: The Smallest Number of Clicks”
Olivier Glassey
Competence Centre for Electronic Applications in Government
Fraunhofer FOKUS Institute
Berlin, Germany
Olivier François Glassey
Institute of Logistics, Economy and Management
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Lausanne, Switzerland
“E-political Empowerment: Age Effects or Attitudinal Barriers?“
Lisa E. Thrane
Mack C. Shelley, II
Iowa State University
Stuart W. Shulman
University of Pittsburgh
Sally R. Beisser
Teresa B. Larson
Drake University
“Party E-newsletters in the UK: a return to direct political communication?“
Nigel Jackson
Bournemouth Media School
Bournemouth University
United Kingdom
“Analyzing Processes for E-Government Application Development: The Emergence of Process Definition Languages”
Leon J. Osterweil
Department of Computer Science
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Charles M. Schweik
Department of Natural Resources Conservation and
Center for Public Policy and Administration
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Norman K. Sondheimer
Department of Accounting and Information Systems
Isenberg School of Management
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Craig W. Thomas
Department of Political Science and
Center for Public Policy and Administration
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
CASE STUDY
“Incentives in e-government”
Christian Bock
Deputy director general and chief financial and information officer Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI)
Switzerland
BOOK REVIEWS
“Managing Strategic Enterprise Systems and e-Government Initiatives in Asia: A Casebook” by PAN Shan-Ling
Reviewed by Wing Lam
Universitas 21 Global
Singapore
“Congress Online” by Dennis W. Johnson
Reviewed by Kim J. Andreasson
Journal of E-Government
Dr. Juan F. Rada, right, senior vice president, Industries, Oracle Europe, Middle East and Africa, advised that e-government is not about reproducing the past electronically. | |
 | |
RIYADH, 21 February 2006 — It is always good to have an international expert come to town to take a look around, especially if that individual is willing to speak his mind on what he sees. That is exactly what happened last week when Dr. Juan F. Rada, senior vice president, Industries, Oracle Europe, Middle East and Africa, was in Riyadh to make a presentation at the Saudi CIO Summit 2006.
On Tuesday after his presentation, Rada had quite a few thoughts on issues critical to progress in the Kingdom. While he had been at the CIO Summit to show how e-government in other nations is being implemented successfully and bringing good returns, Rada observed that there are difficulties with the ways in which Saudi Arabia is approaching the e-enablement of its government. Rada also believes that large chasms are about to open up in the so-called “digital divide” and he advised that urgent action must be taken by those in authority in Saudi Arabia to stave off a crisis in this regard.
Rada began by explaining that many governments around the world, including the Saudi government, are in the process of enabling electronic services for citizens. This is because electronic systems allow ministries and government agencies to be available around the clock for citizen services. This makes citizens happy and can increase efficiencies for all.
“What is e-government all about? Rada queried. “The No. 1 issue is services, because the government is in a sense a service industry. Secondly, it is about savings and effectiveness and thirdly it is about security and safety. The third point has nothing to do with the political context. It has to do with the fact that the transactions that a person does online will be legally binding. The government will manage a huge amount of information and it must have safety and security. For example you wouldn’t want people to be able to use false identities in such transactions. You cannot have a true e-government infrastructure that does not guarantee to both the citizens and the government that it is safe and secure.”
Setting up e-government can be a very methodical process. This is happening in some places such as Dubai where the whole government is on the same platform and there is a central shared system.
“Dubai is an example of what is possible when there is a central authority,” said Rada. “It is an e-government system that works. For instance, the entire procurement system for the government is done electronically. This has reduced waste and increased transparency. The suppliers of the government have been obliged to become e-enabled as well and that has brought many small- and medium-sized companies in Dubai onto the Internet.”
While the e-government system in Dubai is working, the e-government effort in Saudi Arabia leaves something to be desired. Rada pointed out that the current fragmented approach to installing IT solutions in various ministries, agencies and municipalities across the Kingdom does not bode well for a unified e-government system in Saudi Arabia.
“If I look at the successful e-government implementations, in my view one of the challenges Saudi Arabia has is that the institutional framework to implement e-government (is lacking),” Rada said. “If you look at the more successful e-government implementations there always has been some form of very strong central coordination. You cannot give the power to one minister to coordinate this. Historically, we have all the figures, so my comments are based on fact. In one government where the Minister of Finance was given the task to oversee e-government, the implementation was only ever done in the Ministry of Finance. Other ministers found 325,000 reasons not to do it. The model that I have seen, that is most successful, is one that is very close to the head of state. In Saudi Arabia that would be the king and the king’s office. Plus, the individual in charge of the e-government effort must have the rank of minister. This person must ensure that there are similar standards and be responsible for coordination and the interoperability of the e-government systems. It is very hard for a government to become interoperational in the back office.”
If back office functions are not interoperational then ministries can’t share information with each other easily, files can’t be automatically exchanged and any issue that involves several steps and probably several ministries or agencies to resolve, can’t be handled effectively online.
“One typical example of what I am saying is that if you want to have this coordination in the back office, so the file that you put in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs goes automatically to the Ministry of Interior to complete a specific process — rather than having to be moved manually from office to office — for that you need to have an infrastructure that will link the systems,” Rada explained. “That requires a highly safe and secure dedicated government network. The problem when this network does not exist is that somewhere there will be a weak link and other government ministries and departments will be very reluctant to share or exchange their information with that weak link. That’s when the e-government process will halt. Right now this network does not exist in Saudi Arabia and no one has the responsibility to create it.”
Another issue involves electronic identity and electronic signatures. Just exactly how can a Saudi citizen prove who he or she is online in order to make a transaction or document created through e-government legally binding? Without legislation to solve this problem and e-enable the government, all that’s happening now is that ministries are trying to reproduce the past electronically. Who should be introducing such legislation the Kingdom? Rada stated that no one he spoke with was certain whose responsibility that legislation was. Rada also felt that the missteps with e-government in the Kingdom are not because Saudi Arabia is a developing country.
“On the issue of e-government there are not developed and developing countries,” Rada said. “Some so-called developing countries are far ahead of developed nations in the area of e-government. The application of the technology varies depending mostly on if there is a driver for the nation’s e-government effort or not.”
Just because the Kingdom is not winning the e-government race does not mean we should consider the effort lost.
“In regards to e-government you can have significant systems and processes up and running in 12-24 months,” Rada commented. “The question now in Saudi Arabia is how institutional orchestration of the effort can be achieved? If the ministries are not joined, then the effort is diminished. There has been a situation in Europe with some governments, that citizens can do all sorts of things with e-government on the Internet, but then on the back of that, the civil servants print out the documents and move them around. An e-government is that you have a transaction, which from the origin to the end, is electronic.”
E-government initiatives will never be successful of course unless citizens are willing to utilize the electronic systems being made available. This is all part of conquering the “digital divide,” that afflicts the Kingdom and other developing nations. There is no silver bullet to solve this problem. There have to be programs of education and awareness. Rada gave as an example, the efforts in Chile, his homeland.
“First computers and broadband connections were introduced into all the schools,” he explained. “Then on certain afternoons, the children taught their parents to use computers at school. It is essential to come up with new ways to bridge the digital divide. One thing about computing is that the learning is different generationally. Children teach the parents and not the other way around. The technological change has been so fast, that even the middle aged generation never had it in their basic training. This means that programs aimed at certifying e-literacy must also be promoted so that employers can choose to hire someone who has computer skills over someone who does not. This encourages adults to take courses and become e-literate.”
The bottom line is that the government and the society here must implement many different strategies simultaneously in order to quickly close the digital divide. But simply having access to a computer and acquiring e-literacy skills may not be enough. Rada advised that technology is moving quickly and the digital divide is about to become much wider.
“This year, the major vendors will introduce broadband operating systems conceived for the broadband environment and this will shift the web over the next two to three years to a broadband environment in the developed world,” Rada said. “The effect will be that there will be great difficulty for those still in a narrow band environment. Trying to squeeze broadband content into a format for a narrow band environment would make it less interesting and interactive.”
He continued, “What will happen is that the digital divide will no longer be a divide just between people who have computers and those who don’t have computers. It will grow to become those who have broadband and those who are limited to narrow band. The shift to broadband needs to be immediately considered in Saudi government policies. I believe if the government is informed at the highest levels of the critical nature of this situation, directives will be given to the telecoms to make the appropriate moves immediately. In this situation much can be done quickly and essential moves must be made now.”
"Saudi Arabia's e-governance initiative focuses on enhancing the provision of access to government-related services and information for public use and knowledge," said Dr. Juan F. Rada. "The initiative also aims to enhance public services through online systems which assure affordability and accountability."
In order to create knowledge societies that drive economic growth and development, Saudi Arabia must pursue its e-governance initiative and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the public and private sectors in the Kingdom, said Dr. Juan F. Rada, senior vice president, industries, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) 
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
At meetings with senior government officials, from ministry of communications to information technology, Dr. Rada highlighted Oracle's commitment to training and human resources development in the Kingdom.
Supporting Arabic Software
Support for Arabic software development is a key focus for Oracle, and the company develops products and applications specifically to serve the needs of users across the Middle East and North Africa region.
"Saudi Arabia's e-governance initiative focuses on enhancing the provision of access to government-related services and information for public use and knowledge," Dr. Rada said.
"The initiative also aims to enhance public services through online systems which assure affordability and accountability. By catering to the needs of both enterprises and consumers, Oracle solutions can provide decision-makers with accurate data at the right time to increase return on investment."
Dr. Rada also delivered a keynote speech at the recent 3rd Annual IT Managers Forum in Riyadh.
Burgeoning Market
Rada took the opportunity to meet with a number of Oracle's key customers and partners on the sidelines of the three-day event in the Kingdom.
The Saudi Arabian market is one of Oracle's fastest-growing geographies in the Middle East and Africa region, and is a critical element of its global strategy.
"The commitment to e-government strategies and initiatives in the Kingdom across all of the ministries clearly shows the pace of growth in Saudi Arabia today," commented Abdul Rahman Al Theheiban, Oracle Saudi Arabia's managing director.
"Dr. Rada's visit is an opportunity for us to leverage Oracle's global expertise in working with process-oriented change in the public sector and apply it to specific examples in the Kingdom, to achieve the best results for the country."
The International ICT Strategies and Investment Forum" ICT investment and partnerships for Development''
THEMES
1st Theme (T1): National ICT Strategies
It shall address countries and organizations’ strategies in terms of ICT (as enabler and as industry), their experiences in terms of implementation, success stories, failures and lessons drawn from such initiatives. (limited to the official country representative)
Participant shall present a paper that details the national Information and Communication strategy (ICT) in his/her respective country in six main domains:
1. Policies and Regulations2. Human Resource Development3. Infrastructure4. National Content5. Innovation and Flagship Projects6. ICT Sector (Industry)7. The countries experience:
a. Developing and implementing national ICT initiatives. b. The crucial role these initiatives have played in developmental process and how it has helped improve the socio-economy and other sectors of development.c. Problems and difficulties in evolving and implementation.d. Appropriate measures and the best course of action to be adoptede. The learned lessons and best practices.
8. The future plans that country envisages for ICT industry and the prospects and potentials it holds for the future in the overall development.9. Any guidance in terms of know how, expertise etc. required to:
a. Evolve / develop a National ICT strategy.b. Maximize the benefits of IDB Model and other organizations' models of ICT Strategy.c. Encourage, assist and emphasize the development of ICT in member countries through IDB programs and in other countries through other organizations' programs.
2nd Theme (T2): Future ICT technologies, opportunities and impact on national ICT initiatives
As technology is progressing fast and globalization is getting momentum, strategies have to be continuously revisited. This theme shall address current and future technological trends, discuss their impact on national strategies and how countries should refine their existing strategies according to technological innovations.
Presented paper shall address current and future technological trends, discuss their impact on national strategies and how countries should refine their existing strategies according to technological innovations. The future ICT trends might cover:
E-GovernmentE-Business (B2C, B2B, Banking, etc.)E-LearningE-HealthICT InfrastructureWireless networksTechnology hubsTechnology transferNational ICT capacity buildingNational content and communities
3rd Theme (T3): ICT Experiences, projects and investment opportunities
It shall address countries, organizations and companies’ current and future experiences, projects and investment opportunities to investment companies, private investors, banks, capital venture firms…etc.
Direct and clear investment opportunities will be presented through standard forms detailing project vision, objectives, beneficiaries, size, funds needed, return on investment, contact information, etc. Project holders will be given the opportunity to present, in 15 minutes, before audiences of investment providers an introductory executive summary followed by a quick Questions and Answers session and an announcement of his/her scheduled time for bilateral negotiations with investors.
Submission of PapersThe proposed paper to be presented should be electronically submitted not later than January 20st, 2006.
click here to submit
He's definitely a paper and pen person as well - he's got a computer screen on his desk and it's pretty idle 
