1. World Bank E-Government Websites:
Increasing Voice and Transparency Using ICT Tools: (E-Government, E-Governance) PRMPS Workshop: Decentralization and Intergovernmental Fiscal Reform March 26, 2003
Arsala Deane
World Bank E-Government Websites:
The world Bank Experience
Conceptually what do we mean by electronic applications
Case Studies
Challenges

2. Presentation Structure
World Bank Experience To Date
Some Conceptual Issues
Case Studies – Successes and Failures
Challenges
Critical Success Factors

3. What is E-Government?
E-Government: The use of ICT tools such as Internet, mobile computing and cellular phones by government to streamline processes and transactions.
The resulting benefits include:
Make the working of the government more efficient and effective
Disseminate information about government procedures and rules
Save costs and capture revenue
Improve service delivery to citizens and businesses and other arms of government
TOP DOWN APPROACH NOT TO BE CONFUSED w/ EGOVERNANCE – Often terms used interchangeably

4. What is E-Governance?
E-Governance implies the use of ICT channels to change the way citizens and businesses interact with government to enable:
Citizen Involvement in Decision Making: Giving citizens a voice in gov’t planning
Increased Access to Information: empowering citizens and civil society with knowledge
More Transparency: increasing the openness of government processes and procedures, reducing intermediaries
Civil Society Strengthening: Empowering civil society to create a meaningful public debate
Government doesn’t necessary take the lead, can play the role of hosting an application
Allow citizens to participate in dialogues, both public dialogues with the gov’t and citizen-to-citizen dialogues hosted by the government.
Two concepts are inter-linked, some of the case studies – show e-governance and e-government concepts

5. World Bank Supporting E-Government Projects
IFMS
E-Procurement
Service Delivery
Information Online and Information disclosure

6. 3 Stages of E-Government/E-Governance Evolution
Less about technology and more about a process of reform in the way government conducts its business, delivers services, and interacts with citizens.
Information Dissemination
Interactive Transactions
Online Monetary Transactions
Paying taxes, fines, fees
Disclosure of budgets, assets of civil servants
Rules, regulations
Publishing Procurement Notices online
Requesting Forms online
Filing Grievances
Commenting on Legislation

7. Access to ICT Infrastructure Part of Broader Reform Efforts
ICT can contribute towards public sector reform goals if the following 6 key dimensions are taken into consideration in design and implementation phase
Political Will
Access to ICT Infrastructure
Part of Broader Reform Efforts
Enabling Factors for E-Applications
E-Skills for Citizens and Government
Institutional Capacity
Relevance to Citizen Needs

8. Local Gov’t Responsiveness in Madhya Pradesh, India
Gyandoot: 40 rural cyber cafes. ( Serving ½ million inhabitants in rural areas.
Total cost: $50,000 for network, set up of one kiosk is $1, 250
Nearly 35 Services Provided
Commodity marketing information services and village auction site
Applying for a copy of land records, driving license, caste certificate
Filing a complaint in local language: Hindi
Impact:
Government: More responsive, transparent, accessible.
Community:limit role of intermediaries and travel time. Complaints responded to within one week.
Challenges:
Lack of Institutional Capacity: Inadequate value delivered to clients -- unsolved grievances and price data not updated.
Poor access to ICT infrastructure
Results in problems of sustainability – economic viability
Total cost: $50,000, set up of one kiosk is $1, 250
Challenges: Low quality of content, kiosks running only 50% of the time, Maintenance costs have been high, so a number of them have been shut down.

10. E-Democracy in Yalova Municipality, Turkey
Interactive municipal services offered through website.
Delivery model: Internet Kiosks, contact centers, municipal personnel
Information Provided:Municipality budget and cash flow, tenders and their results, Assets of City Council Members
E-Democracy:
Citizens can put forward their views online
Citizens vote on investment proposals
Impact:
All investments at the district level have to be in accordance with public views expressed by citizens
Rustempasa District: 75% of all investments have been made with citizen participation and input
Citizens can voice their needs and priorities
Challenges: ICT literacy and Monitoring Capabilities
Too early to tell impact, Monitoring capabilities

11. NGOs use E-Governance to Create an Informed Citizenry in Lithuania
Citizen Advisory Services in Lithuania: An intermediary between the municipality and citizen.
Provide information and offer consultative advice on legal, social and other issues, and influence the development of social policies locally. Target clients come from socially vulnerable groups (youth, elderly, unemployed).
Set up of 15 offices, some of them located within municipal offices with volunteer advisors. Offices provide access to Internet and to CDROM that provides information on laws, social services, setting up of business.
Citizens seek advice and information on: social security; health care; employment; housing; human rights; legal advice; education and training; business; customs duties.
Goal: help to promote effective, transparent and accountable public administration and policy making and create informed citizenry.

12. The Challenge of E-Government
Political will and culture of openness is critical
Citizen and Government capacity to interact over online channels
Transparency of processes/automation is seen as threatening to jobs
Institutional capacity to adapt to new way of doing things: can government effectively respond?
Few efforts made to create assessment tools to evaluate e-government projects – evidence is anecdotal

13. Critical Success Factors:
Political Leadership required for guiding government agency through transition
ICT is not a magic bullet, can contribute to better governance only when it is used as a tool to complement broader reform initiatives
Policies need to support new processes: I.e. Information Access and Disclosure Policies
Citizens are the e-government experts: e-government services should be piloted with the full participation of citizens before a government invests in a project. (citizen steering committees, focus groups, NGOs can help with design and evaluation)
Citizens who participate must receive some “return on involvement.”
ICT is a neutral tool, can contribute to decentralization in the right institutional environment and committed reform agenda.

15. Thank You
Arsala Deane