United Nations E-Government Survey 2010

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 2Chapter Two Roles for e-government in financial regulation and monitoringinflows were linked to imbalances in international Most activities of this kind do not have transpar- The complextrade, significant global macroeconomic misalign- ent, regulated venues and counterparties for their international situationments over the last decade, and in particular the transactions. has e-governmentbuild-up of large current account surpluses in in its solution – yetAsian and oil exporting countries. Meanwhile, About half of all hedge funds in existence e-government is usuallythere were growing current account deficits in the in 2008 were registered offshore, accord- national in nature withUnited States as well as in the United Kingdom and ing to estimates. Tax havens were the most a correspondingother European countries. Thus foreign exchange popular location for the offshore hedge funds. potential forsurpluses were accumulated by China, other East Offshore havens were located in places such misalignment ofAsian countries and countries exporting oil in as Bahrain, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, e-government principleslarge volumes.57 Much of this money went back to Cayman Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg and the and practices.the major countries such as the United States and Netherlands Antilles. Onshore havens were lo-the United Kingdom through investing in a large cated in the United Kingdom and United States.capital pool, or buying up substantial portions of Registering in tax havens freed the hedge fundsthe national debts. This provided support for their from paying tax on the increase in the value oflevels of ‘over-consumption’ based on credit and for their portfolios. More importantly, the hostthe prosperity of asset-backed trading and other se- countries of the offshore hedge funds built upcurities, both directly as well as indirectly (via the accommodating jurisdictions, which on the onedomestic credit-fueled booms). hand attracted the relocation and residency of relevant pools of capital, and on the other hand In principle, the international situation has freed the hedge funds from ‘annoying’ regula-e-government in its solution – yet e-government tory interference. Policing such offshore opera-is usually national in nature. Most e-government tions was not impossible, but was considerablyschemes up to the present day, other than those more difficult. Moreover, for a long time thelaunched by supranational or international bodies, general consensus, at least in the United States,start from a national and sometimes rather nation- was that there was no need for such policing.59alistic perspective, with corresponding sets of po- This exacerbated disparities in regulation, andlitical and policy assumptions. These assumptions added to the difficulties of regulators trying tomay not square with the need for international tact identify the prices, values and processes of theand discretion, much less training programmes. shadow banking system.Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs notes the needfor supervision at the global level and what it would International coordination or greaterrequire to be effective: national powers? “As recognized at the recent G20 Summit, the level of global supervisory coordination and com- Potential room for misalignment between national munication should reflect the global interconnect- and global regulatory policy was paralleled by po- edness of markets. Regulators should implement tential room for misalignment in e-government more robust information sharing and harmonized principles and practices. Take, for example, the disclosure, coupled with a more systemic, effective Icelandic banks operating in the United Kingdom. reporting regime for institutions and major mar- As Ross points out in relation to the gap in regula- ket participants. Without these, regulators will tory power: lack essential tools to help them understand levels of systemic vulnerability in the banking sector and “Landsbanki was free to operate in the UK in financial markets more broadly.”58 as a branch over which the FSA [Financial Services Authority] only had limited powers,Regulating offshore funds as responsibility for its prudential supervision rested with the Icelandic regulator. UK deposi-Regulators are presented with a critical difficulty tors were also later dependent on the Icelandicin the case of offshore transactions, and especially deposit insurance scheme, with resources thatthose linked with the shadow banking system. proved inadequate and requiring the interven- tion of the UK authorities.”60 37

2 Chapter Two United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 Roles for e-government in financial regulation and monitoring The ‘options’ seemed to consist of strength- effective e-government can hold is open to debate. ening internal controls on the national front vs. Desiderata such as transparency and integrity may greater external coordination on the suprana- prevail to greater or lesser extents. But any deroga- tional (European) front. The Financial Services tion of decision-making duties to ICT networks Authority could see the benefits of pursuing both must at the same time be sustained by the very di- at the same time, without dwelling too much on versity of the e-government structures which they the costs side of that particular ledger. This is what would already have helped to create. political scientists tend to refer to as ‘multi-level governance’,61 in which spatial hierarchies domi- It seems unlikely that powerful new inter- nate political decision-making, and from time to national agents will be set up to establish inter- time find their ‘solutions’ in setting up top-heavy national e-government that is transparent and bureaucratic nightmares. satisfies international needs. Citizens and nations ought to enhance the potential for information- To manage such contexts satisfactorily, and sharing and harmonized disclosure offered by to avoid their worst excesses, e-government be- e-government, based on existing international comes essential. It is not merely an elegant ac- platforms such as The Group of Twenty Finance cessory but an indispensable tool when one is Ministers and Central Bank Governors, IMF, even considering such a complex system (or ‘sys- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and tem of systems’). Whether the ground-rules for Development, and United Nations.Box 2.1  Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes agreed by the IMF and World 2.4.2  Common standards forBank, November 2002 better regulation Transparency standards The standards in these areas were developed and are assessed by the International Monetary Fund to Regulators have come to realize that common cover issues of data and policy transparency: accounting principles and regulation standards should be implemented in countries where finan- • Data transparency: IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard/General Data Dissemination System cial activities, such as those based on securitized • Fiscal transparency: IMF’s Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency derivative products, have developed Internet- • Monetary and financial policy transparency: IMF’s Code of Good Practices on Transparency in Mon- based connectivity far beyond the country’s bor- ders. There is, however, the additional need for etary and Financial Policies, which is usually assessed by the Fund and the Worl these electronic networks to be inter-connectable, which is what makes information-sharing practi- Financial sector standards cal. For this purpose, cross-national coordination The standards in these areas were developed by other institutions and are generally assessed under is needed during the process of building or reform- the FSAP: ing e-government in such countries. Effective in- ternational cooperation depends on common • Banking supervision: Basel Committee’s Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision standards for data collecting and processing, • Securities: International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Objectives and Principles common or interoperable software platforms and high-speed communications. These elements are for Securities Regulation crucial. The most critical need is for mutual un- • Insurance: International Association of Insurance Supervisors’ Insurance Supervisory Principles derstanding, which would permit the countries to • Payments and securities settlement systems: Committee on Payments and Settlements Systems share data and analysis in real time, and to achieve coordinated action. Perhaps this could be imple- (CPSS) Core Principles for Systemically Important Payments Systems and CPSS-IOSCO Joint Task mented firstly in international alliances, such as Force’s Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems the European Union, OECD, North American • Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism: Financial Action Task Force Free Trade Agreement, and United Nations 40+8 Recommendations Conference on Trade and Development. Standards concerned with market integrity In fact, in the economic stimulus packages Standards in these areas have been developed by relevant institutions and the World Bank is in the lead of different countries, large amounts have been in undertaking assessments. Some of these areas may be assessed under the FSAP. invested in the infrastructure category, which • Corporate governance: OECD’s Principles of Corporate Governance • Accounting: International Accounting Standards Board’s International Accounting Standards • Auditing: International Federation of Accountants’ International Standards on Auditing • Insolvency and creditor rights38

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 2Chapter Two Roles for e-government in financial regulation and monitoringincludes the investment in ICT infrastructure.62 investing in e-government. On the one side are theThis could provide an opportunity to appeal to cyber-optimists (to re-use Norris’s helpful phrase),member countries of these international entities who speak in terms of ‘leapfrogging’ and evento build up harmonized software platforms and overtaking the more advanced industrial coun-coordinated institutions. But at more or less the tries. Being unencumbered with the ‘penalty of ansame time as the East Asian economies – inspired early start’,65 in the form here of large fixed landlineby China in this respect – have begun to embrace communication systems and networks, developingthe concept of harmony,63 western nations have re- nations are supposedly free to invest in cheaper andjected harmonization, in the EU’s case in favour of much more flexible mobile systems. On the other‘open methods of coordination’, i.e. the primacy of side again lie the cyber-pessimists, who envisagenational over supranational systems. these high-tech activities as almost inevitably being dominated by the advanced industrial countries.Standards and codes To be sure, a number of the larger developingAfter the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, the countries, led by the so-called BRIC countriesIMF prepared a set of recommended Standards (Brazil, Russia, India and China), have public sec-and Codes that remain relevant to e-government. tors that are large enough to keep some of the allegedCountries subject to reporting to the IMF and depredations of multinational companies at bay,World Bank would be required to prepare Reports but most of them do not fall into this category. Inon the Observance of Standards and Codes, as ex- the meantime, the countries best equipped in termsplained in a statement made when the recommen- of e-skills (both competencies and capabilities as indations were published: section 2.3.2 above) are likely to wrest away most of the gains which, in their view, would belong to the “The IMF and World Bank have endorsed knowledge-rich, earlier-industrializing countries. internationally recognized standards and codes in In the end, the predictions of the pessimists may 12 areas as important for their work and for which turn out to fit reality better. But at the same time, Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes e-government opportunities are within the grasp of (ROSCs) are prepared. Standards in the areas of each developing country itself – not simply in the data, fiscal transparency, and monetary and finan- hands of over-powerful foreigners. cial policy transparency have been developed by the Fund while others have been developed by other One reason for this positive conclusion is that standard setting bodies including the World Bank, a fairly small country or region may have a com- the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and parative advantage if it has relatively stable existing the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). social networks lodged within a communicative social structure. This may explain the good overall “ROSCs are prepared and published at the re- position of e-government development of countries quest of the member country by the IMF and/or such as Estonia and New Zealand.66 The growing World Bank in each of the 12 areas. ROSCs covering accentuation of a positive role for public procure- financial sector standards are usually prepared in the ment in policy-making is another point that can context of the Financial Sector Assessment Program. favour a small- to medium-sized developing coun- In some cases, detailed assessments of countries’ obser- try, so long as it maintains a clear vision of what it vance of standards are also published.”64 stands for, as in the Republic of Korea’s approach The IMF and World Bank published their list to high-speed broadband.67of ROSCs in November 2002. The areas addressedin this list could also serve as set of principles to The concerns of developing countries in respectguide countries as they seek to use e-government. to e-government lie less in any natural barriers to the diffusion of e-government and more on the side2.4.3  The financial crisis and of human resources and their disposition, i.e. their ‘capabilities’ in policy-making, technology and con-developing countries sumption, as per a study by Guida and Crow. Their main points are quoted in the following page:Developing countries face the challenge of ‘catch-ing-up’ to developed countries when it comes to 39

2 Chapter Two United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 Roles for e-government in financial regulation and monitoringIf e-government • From a practitioner’s perspective, the most chal- The main point to emerge from recent historytechnology is correctly lenging issues in the implementation of technol- is much the same as for the Great Depression: nodeployed and suitable ogy-dependent government services derive from amount of good practice by e-government or othergovernance systems are the governance aspects of the initiatives; means can withstand the consequences of beginningin place, one may end up with a false set of assumptions.69 Included amongwith the happy situation • For governments in the developing world, the these faulty assumptions must be the notion thatof both more government most important benefits of adopting a standards- freedom from regulation is the solution. Anothercapacity to intervene based architecture lie in the area of procurement misleading assumption is that the solution lies inwhen needed and more of applications and application-based services; only allowing self-regulation, which has its limits:freedom for markets tofunction as they ought to • Mobile phones, in providing affordable broad- “For policymakers and regulators, it should bein due course. band network access, can offer a valuable means clear that self-regulation has its limits. At the very of delivering e-government services; least, fixing a system-wide problem, elevating stan- dards or driving the industry to a collective response • There is high risk associated with e-government requires effective central regulation and the conven- investments, and though the rewards are poten- ing power of regulators.”70 tially substantial they may be hard to quantify; That is, in the words of the CEO of Goldman Sachs, allowing the financial world to monitor and • Capacity-building and formal change manage- regulate itself would be a measure based on the er- ment strategies are essential if e-government roneous idea that the effects of systemic and espe- programmes are to be effective.68 cially cross-systemic risks can be safely overlooked. The above factors range quite broadly over the Coping with financial panics requires immedi- ately addressing the first signals of the crisis. This terrain covered in this chapter, including references calls for what we can describe in this summary as to governance, standards, risk and capabilities, as ‘dynamic interactive capabilities’, so as to achieve a well as to technology. It is time to draw some con- robust financial system and effective regulation. It clusions from our study. may be recalled that ‘dynamic’ refers to real-time responses, which probably require a set of relevant 2.5  Conclusions and effective system-oriented competencies to be E-government clearly has a potential role in allevi- already present and at hand. The term ‘interac- ating the worst symptoms of the ongoing financial tive’ refers to functioning two-way interchanges crisis. The benefits in comparison with the costs already in place in the financial system and around are likely to rise over time, as a consequence of two its edges. Both the dynamism and the interac- mutually reinforcing trends: the improvement in tivity could in theory be augmented by new ap- e-government systems themselves, including more proaches based on high-speed technologies, such widespread access, faster operating and transmis- as e-government. These possibilities can be drawn sion speeds, and the increasing capabilities – and on for solving some of the longer-term negative willingness – of the public to make use of the tech- fallouts from the crisis, especially through using nologies involved. e-technologies. All stakeholders admit that there were consid- At the same time, it is all too easy to fall into the erations beyond the previous economic models and trap of advocating little more than a technological regulatory systems that destroyed the stable pattern ‘fix’ for the problems that have arisen. Certainly, of development preceding the global financial cri- such ‘fixes’ by themselves will not work. Potential sis. In the past 20 years, human response in periods roadblocks include inadequate competencies (e.g. of fear ought to be included in these models and hemorrhaging of talent, poor models) and limited mind-sets, as they are at least equally important as capabilities (e.g. lack of exercise of good judgment). those of the “euphoria” noted by Alan Greenspan, Technology alone will not cure these deficiencies, former Chairman of the United States Federal even if it becomes more user-friendly, and fault- Reserve. But this view is not widely welcomed by tolerant. It remains a challenge for e-government to attempt to make processes more transparent as well as more accurate. An example of this would be in formulating credit ratings.40

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 2Chapter Two Roles for e-government in financial regulation and monitoringthe public which, on the contrary, is more inclined social contract between digital consumers and the op-towards the comment from Krugman71 that sys- erators of digital channels will be tested in the comingtemic risks come from neglect on the part of regu- years, as intensified revenue pressure increases servicelators. Therefore, it would seem reasonable that providers’ need to utilise the Internet for intrusionscritics and the general public question the ethical that are both annoying (for example, inbound ad-responsibilities of the model developers, and pos- vertising) and potentially privacy-infringing (‘ deep-sibly the regulators as well. packet’ inspection systems). E-government provides the public with an op- The environmental impact of ICT usage isportunity to have their views expressed. Whether also likely to remain a concern for governments asgovernments take notice may be another matter, long as climate change and carbon reduction re-but they will have their ‘wriggle-room’ drasti- main high on the global agenda… The expansioncally reduced, as a result of the associated in- of one of the global economy’s most essential re-crease in transparency and democratization. If sources – information – is having an unintendedthe technology is correctly deployed and suitable knock-on effect on other precious resources… [E]-governance systems are in place, it still may be readiness is not fostered in a digital vacuum, butpossible end up with the happy situation of both rather in a complex web of social, cultural, eco-more government intervention for a while but nomic and political factors, ultimately driven bymore freedom for markets – admittedly ‘orga- the usage imperative.72nized markets’ – to function as they ought to in In other words, the cross-systemic risk factor isdue course. Thus paradoxically, in this scenario,more government discretion in the short run may evident at the national and global levels, and notlead to less arbitrary forms of government dis-cretionary power over the longer haul. There are just within the ICT sector itself.any number of precedents for such an optimisticoutcome to be realized, yet innate pessimists will Can e-government then be recommended onmatch this story of an upward-pointing virtuouscircle or spiral by citing possibilities of downward balance for financial regulation? Yes, but if gov-vicious circles. ernment policies enable financial players to escape What then of the balance between cyber-op-timism and cyber-pessimism? For the last words scrutiny, then e-government will not improveon this, consider the conclusion of the EconomistIntelligence Unit, which had this to say in 2009 on regulation although it can still enhance efficiency.the subject of e-government development: Overall, e-government is built for speed and for In rich and poor countries alike, however, thorny policy issues arising from the very success of digital de- managing complexity, qualities that make it well- velopment remain largely unresolved… The delicate suited to financial monitoring and regulation. At the same time, it should not be regarded as a tech- nological ‘fix’. E-government especially, of all the e-buzzwords, can only be as good as the ‘dynamic interactive capabilities’ of the policy makers who apply their principles and models to its design, to- gether with those of the people who construct and operate its systems. n 41

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United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 3Chapter Three E-service delivery and the MDGs3.1 Why e-services? 44 Chapter 3 453.2 Delivering e-services with a view 45 E-service delivery towards achieving the MDGs 47 and the MDGs 49 3.2.1 Employment services for 51 The world economic crisis has savaged government finances. poverty eradication 53 Policy makers are facing the harsh reality of substantially di- 55 minished revenues at a time when social protection services 3.2.2 Weathering difficult times and business support schemes are in great demand. Given in education mounting public debt as well as budget deficits ranging from 6 to 12 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in devel- 3.2.3 Gender-inclusive approaches oped regions and 5 to 6 percent of GDP in many developing to public service delivery countries, 2010 looks to be a difficult year for politicians and administrators trying to assure the delivery of essential public 3.2.4 Health care and the advent services.1 Even governments currently using stimulus spend- of m-health ing to compensate for financial shortfalls are discussing so- called exit strategies, in the knowledge that such large-scale 3.2.5 Keeping up environmental borrowing cannot continue indefinitely. management The effects of the deterioration in public finances are3.3 Conclusions likely to extend to official development assistance bud- gets on which many low-income countries rely, depending on the funds to supplement their volatile commodity and trade-related revenues.2 Sub-national governments are in an even tighter bind, with limited authority to raise revenues on their own and no possibility of tailoring monetary policy to local economic conditions. 43

3 Chapter Three United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 E-service delivery and the MDGsE-government can 3.1  Why e-services? In addition to new initiatives, some countriesinject much needed may also benefit from existing e-government in-flexibility and quickly Short of devaluing currencies or defaulting on frastructure. Singapore has provided rapid cashexpand the reach of public debt, governments are finding themselves transfers to those most in need, including olderpublic services at a with few options as they try to balance diminished persons and members of other vulnerable groups,time of economic and revenues and increased expenditures. The most by linking the databases of different governmentfinancial stress. immediate response would be to reduce public departments with the direct deposit systems of services. Indeed, policy makers in both high- and the nation’s banks. These e-government efforts44 middle-income countries are considering austerity can make a difference to citizens, especially in a measures of the sort once reserved for low-income country such as Singapore, which has allocated recipients of multilateral financial aid. In so doing, some 52 percent of its stimulus funds to social social protection, health and education budgets protection measures, and which has a high level will inevitably come under pressure. Another of e-government development and a correspond- approach, less reactive and more strategic, is to ing agility in the delivery of public services under mitigate the effects of the crisis on public finances a variety of conditions.5 by enhancing public sector capacity – providing services more efficiently as well as more effectively In other countries, reports about the slow and aligning them with the results people expect. distribution of stimulus funds to citizens and But how? businesses are reflections of the limited admin- istrative capacity of government agencies. This Here e-government can play a very important situation has prompted some countries to initi- role. Just as technology has always been an impor- ate accelerated service delivery through online tant determinant of productivity in the broader channels. The United States has created a web- economy, so too is the application of information site for processing stimulus grants that guides technology in the rate and quality of public service prospective recipients to benefits for which delivery. In a time of economic stress, improved they may be eligible. The United Kingdom’s communications and faster response times can website Real Help Now provides detailed in- make a critical difference to those most at risk. formation on stimulus opportunities for hom- eowners, pensioners and employers, as well as The overall trend of e-government develop- those looking for a job or needing assistance ment is conducive to such efforts. The number of with personal finances. Initiatives are broken initiatives related to e-government has continued to down by region and accessed through an inter- grow. In Australia, the Internet has replaced contact active map. What these and other initiatives in person and by telephone as the most common have in common is a relatively high degree of way citizens make contact with their government.3 e-government development as a result of prior, Since the United Nations E-Government Survey related investments. was launched in 2003,4 there has been steady prog- ress in the implementation of the electronic delivery Public feedback and collaboration will not of government services (e-service delivery) in both guarantee better service delivery but, at very lit- developed and developing countries, and by now tle cost to the taxpayer, participatory methods the benefits are well known. can help policy makers set priorities, encourage more citizens to ‘buy in’ to programmes, increase Chief among the benefits of e-service delivery are satisfaction levels and thus augment the chances efficiency gains. Efficiency is especially important of successful policy outcomes. For example, so- given the current financial crisis, which has drasti- cial networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube cally increased demand for public services, including and Twitter, as well as blogging software and unemployment benefits, food vouchers, health ser- mobile technology, allow governments to tap vices and the provision of information on debt relief. into the collective knowledge of society quickly The British Financial Services Authority is a case in and directly. In this way, citizens move from point. Overwhelmed by the demand for face-to-face being passive consumers of government services debt advice, the Authority launched a new website to facilitate the provision of debt-related information.

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 3Chapter Three E-service delivery and the MDGsto advisers and innovators contributing ideas 3.2.1  Employment services forthat are in better accord with their individual poverty eradicationand group needs.6 The issue Despite speed, efficiency, citizen participationand other benefits of e-service delivery, the usual Poverty eradication is one of the most urgent andcaveats apply. E-services cannot substitute for compelling development goals. There is serioustraditional methods if citizens do not have ready concern that the ‘near poor’ are becoming theaccess to the requisite infrastructure (including a new poor. The World Bank estimates that an ad-reliable supply of electricity), or if they lack basic ditional 53 million people in developing countrieseducation or the means to pay for access to the will fall into poverty on top of the 130 million toInternet. Measured in purchasing power parity 155 million who became poor due to the impact ofdollars, broadband Internet subscriptions are 10 the food and oil crisis in 2008. This crisis caused atimes more expensive in developing countries than drop in GDP rates in many developing countries,in developed regions.7 Policy makers should also including in African countries, which registered abear in mind problems related to time lags and the 2.9 percent fall, as seen in table 3.1.delayed impact of new e-government applications;the high failure rate of information technology Productive employment is the key element forprojects; and the inevitability of rapid technologi- poverty reduction. The current financial and eco-cal change, with the corresponding obsolescence of nomic crisis exacerbates large-scale structural un-e-government systems.8 Moreover, the proportion employment, under-employment and poverty forof the Internet population providing original con- many developing countries, especially those consid-tent to social networking sites is still very small, ered least-developed. The global economy has beeneven in developed regions, which limits the scope relying on demand fuelled by credit rather thanof participatory public service delivery.9 earnings from productive activity, greatly contrib- uting to the ‘jobless growth’. Therefore, enhancing These are and other constraints are also dis- employment opportunities is an important and ur-cussed in some detail in chapter two of this report. gent issue for the international community.3.2  Delivering e-services with a view Faced with the prospect of a prolonged globaltowards achieving the MDGs increase in unemployment, poverty and inequal-Fewer resources and greater demand – at heart this is ity, and the continuing collapse of enterprises,a public sector delivery and capacity issue. The situ- the International Labour Organization adoptedation calls for greater agility, efficiency and reach of a Global Jobs Pact on 19 June 2009. It is designedpublic services, especially in the sectors of health, to guide national and international policieseducation, gender, environment and employment, aimed at stimulating economic recovery, gener-which are important in their own right and central ating jobs and providing protection to workingto achievement of the MDGs. E-government can people and their families. Although the Pact wasbe of great use in this regard. The purpose of this designed with all regions in mind, it may be dif-section is to present the reader with some potential ficult for developing countries with limited fiscale-government solutions, based on the experiences of and policy space to promote job creation in theothers, which may help public authorities to continue absence of innovative and cost-effective means ofon the path towards internationally agreed develop- implementing the Pact. Against this background,ment goals, despite the current economic situation. e-government tools are increasingly considered asFor each of five priority areas drawn from the United a potential solution.Nations Millennium Declaration, specific develop-ment problems and issues arising from the current Table 3.1  Real GDP growth (percent) before and after the economic crisis of 2008-2009crisis are briefly recalled, followed by possible e-gov-ernment solutions and an account of recent actions. Africa 2008 estimate Before crisis 2008 estimate Real GDP growth GDP change 2009 projection After crisis After crisis 5.9 5.7 2008-2009 5.9 2009 projection -2.9 2.8 Source: African Development Bank (2009) 45

3 Chapter Three United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 E-service delivery and the MDGs Possible solutions job applications via short messaging system (SMS).13 It was one of eight winners in a contest Most of the policy options enumerated in the Global following on the United Nations’ World Summit Jobs Pact appear to lend themselves to a variety of on the Information Society, and is not identified e-government responses. E-service delivery can con- as a direct response to the crisis. Every job applica- tribute to efforts to address poverty, employment tion is processed in a few seconds and the recruit- and the impacts of the financial and economic crisis. ment process is completed in about two weeks. The system simplifies filtering of candidates by in- In many countries, crisis-response measures tegrating the National Manpower Register with aim to attenuate the effects of the economic crisis a mobile-based job application, screening and on employment, and e-government tools can play short-listing of jobseekers. Results of automated a significant role in ensuring that pro-employment screening process are forwarded via SMS. The policies reach their targets. Governments can pro- automated mobile recruitment system saves time, vide online public information services to job seek- cost and effort.14 ers and online vocational and technical training and entrepreneurial skills development for those The current financial and economic crisis has who have lost or are at risk of losing their job as led governments in different parts of the world have well as to vulnerable groups.10 In addition, they can taken explicit steps to reduce unemployment includ- provide ICT-based assessment, tracking and moni- ing the creation of websites as part of their response. toring of the activities of the unemployed through • Employment is among the discussion topics the various parts of the employment services sys- tem, which is useful in the current situation. in My Better Estonia, a civil initiative that invites citizens to brainstorm for a better These potential solutions need to be innovative Estonia and to propose solutions for vari- and geared towards pro-poor services for poverty ous problems, including those related to the eradication and employment, especially in rural country’s financial crisis. Public opinions areas, where the majority of populations in develop- are then published on a website and good ing countries live. Such e-government orientation is ideas yielded by online brainstorming events deemed particularly essential in rural areas, as most nationwide are used in making policy deci- national e-government programmes have tended to sions. As regards employment, the Ministry focus on internal efficiency rather than public service of Social Affairs is currently implementing delivery, and are mostly focused on urban areas.11 a project that will create new jobs, based on citizen feedback collected online.15 Recent actions • Ireland’s website Losing Your Job, provides public service information to the newly unemployed and An innovative e-government response to rural pov- potential job-seekers with a user-tailored design erty and unemployment is India’s e-payment system that make it easy to access relevant information.16 for the National Rural Employment Guarantee • In Belgium, the website Au Travail (Off to Scheme, which makes use of biometric smart cards. work)17 contains an application that allows job- The card uniquely identifies every citizen, with a fin- seekers to find the specific employment mea- ger print scanner to the benefit of illiterate citizens. sures and opportunities that concern them. This card initiative was motivated by the need to en- Users can complete an online form describing sure that the poor and marginalized receive wages their work history before being directed to stim- and social welfare benefits intended for them.12 It ulus measures about work and employment that enhances transparency and accountability. Pension are relevant to their profile. This presentation of and wages underwritten by the scheme are paid measures allows citizens to assess whether they through these smart cards in many Indian villages. are eligible for some form of assistance under the country’s stimulus plan. If so, they are told Another example of an e-government initiative how to apply; if not, they are advised on alterna- in employment is the multimedia project ‘Oman tive measures. Royal Court Affairs – Mobile Recruitment’, which won the World Summit Award in 2009 with an electronic evaluation system that receives46

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 3Chapter Three E-service delivery and the MDGs The most recent initiative, in direct response financial and economic crisis includes a 15-yearto the crisis, comes from the United States. The free education policy that aims to reduce the finan-newly developed SMART 2010 (short for Skills cial burdens on parents and enable Thai children toMatching and Referral Technology) is an e-govern- have equal access to high-quality education.20ment tool connecting unemployed New Yorkerswith available jobs. A completed résumé in elec- The overall impact is too early to assess, yet there istronic format is fed into the State Department of a sense of real danger that some developing countries,Labor’s SMART 2010 system at a career centre. which have made progress towards the MillenniumThe computer program analyses résumés for skills Development Goal of universal primary educa-and work experience and then electronically con- tion, will suffer setbacks as result of the financialtacts unemployed New Yorkers via e-mail, recom- and economic crisis. Countries such as Bangladesh,mending job openings in their areas based on their Ethiopia, Mali, Rwanda and Senegal are at particu-experience and skills. Within 24 hours of submit- lar risk.21 Aid to education had already begun to fallting a résumé, the individual will receive an e-mail prior to the crisis and may further drop by $1.1 bil-message containing job matches from a database of lion in 2010, according to the 2009 Education foremployment opportunities.18 All Global Monitoring Report. Nearly 75 million children are out of school, the report says.22 Case3.2.2  Weathering difficult times studies of countries such as Mongolia show that the financial and economic crisis has had a major impactin education on school attendance and school quality, increasing school dropout rates at every level of schooling.23The issue This finding is in contrast to the past Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, when school enrolment rates didThere has been real progress towards universal not decline as much as feared, partly due to house-primary education in many developing countries hold and school-level adjustment.24since 2000. But the current financial and eco-nomic crisis threatens the significant gains that Possible solutionsthese countries have made in improving educationoutcomes. Governments in developing countries E-government delivery of educational servicehave thus far managed to protect their education can help countries to weather difficult times inbudgets from the crisis, yet it remains to be seen education. It is a powerful medium for educa-how long they can continue to do so. There are tion, with 24-hour Internet accessibility overconcerns over ability of governments to sustain distance. The reach of schools can dramaticallyeducational expansion and maintain the quality of be expanded. The ever-increasing possibility foreducational service.19 The crisis is reducing the abil- remote education is particularly exciting andity of both households and governments to invest important for developing countries. Generallyin education. speaking, potential e-government solutions in- clude provision of information on topics such as At the same time, there are new, beneficial de- finding a school, identifying the right collegesvelopments such as allocation of stimulus funding for students, finding teaching opportunities forto education. Not only developed countries (e.g. teachers, and receiving test results. Solutions mayFinland, the Netherlands) but also some developing also be found in the use of ICTs to enhance stu-countries (e.g. Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Thailand) dent education and teacher training.have been using their stimulus packages for invest-ment in education. The focus differs, however. If these potentials are to materialize, e-gov-Developed countries such as the Netherlands and ernment services for education need to be un-Switzerland have focused on supporting profes- derpinned by affordable and reliable Internetsional schools for the unemployed. In contrast, de- connectivity and other vital infrastructure suchveloping countries (including China) tend to focus as school computers and universal access facilitieson primary education and access to education. The where ICT can be effectively used in educationalThai stimulus package to respond to the current and training tools. 47

3 Chapter Three United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 E-service delivery and the MDGsBox 3.1  Online alerts about schools and H1N1 flu and financial aid. The Irish Government’s website called Student Finance25 is particularly useful inSchools already face the challenges of financial and economic crisis. Add to this the threat of H1N1 flu, which this regard.is leading to increasing efforts on the part of United States government and school districts to put informa-tion online. Through such learning measures people can be alerted to possible closures or teacher and student In many developing countries, the focus hasabsences because of a H1N1 flu outbreak. In particular, the United States Department of Education has asked been primarily on ensuring that students andCurriki – an open-source online repository of free curricular materials from commercial vendors, government and teachers have ICT skills (‘Education for ICT’)professional organizations and educators – to establish a ‘continuity of learning plan’ as part of a nationwide rather than using ICTs for better learning andreadiness initiative. teaching process (‘ICT for Education’).26 An example is the e-Schools Initiative of the NewSource: Ash (2009) Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Despite the current financial and economic cri- The use of ICT in education is too often con- sis, the initiative has achieved some progress.27 strained by a lack of computer stations and other Initiated in 2003, it aims to impart ICT skills to infrastructure. Ensuring the basic infrastructural African schoolchildren, equip them with ICT ap- backbone has been and continues to be a major paratus, and provide teachers with ICT skills. It is concern for developing countries. a good example of integrated approaches with its teacher development framework for teacher train- Recent actions ing and professional development. In developed countries, stimulus packages are prompting substantial new initiatives in the educa- ICT applications are becoming more im- tional sector. The United States’ stimulus package portant for remote education and virtual set aside $650 million to invest in school technol- classrooms. Long before the current economic ogy and broadband, cover expenses for schools to crisis, several developing countries had initi- install or improve Internet connections to broad- ated steps to provide education to students in band, and to help teachers learn how technology remote areas. These include Mauritius’ Cyber can be used to improve their lessons. In the same Caravan Project, Egypt’s video-conference country, several states initiated recent actions to distance learning linking 27 sites across the monitor and analyze the effectiveness of their pro- country to provide learning facilities in remote grammes, such as the use of Economic Recovery areas, Guinea’s adult literacy programmes con- Fund Tracking technology by the Arkansas ducted via the Internet, and Burkina Faso’s Department of Education. Through funding Classe Rurale En Langue Nationales project, a from the American Recovery and Reinvestment distance-learning programme in local languages Act, states are now being encouraged to create targeting rural people, including those who are statewide longitudinal data systems to help track illiterate. E-education services in Australia are student achievement. Also, on a different topic, successfully applied to overcome geographical it is interesting to observe how e-technology has distance and enable educators to reach remote been applied to deal with the outbreak of H1N1 communities (see box 3.2). flu (see box 3.1). Mobile technology is becoming an important The current situation of financial hardship has aspect of educational services, and it is a noticeable motivated countries to place financial information trend in the field of student education and teacher online, including information about scholarships training. In the Philippines, the mobile phone and SMS are being used as the primary means for in-Box 3.2  ‘Shrinking’ Australia with e-education services teractive learning and for providing information to students. In the United Republic of Tanzania,When it comes to Australia, with its vast area and sparse population, going the distance and providing teachers the BridgeIT project used mobile phones to pro-and students with ICT educational tools is extremely important. E-education services help ‘shrink’ Australia. Mo- vide support for teacher training.28 Mobile tech-tivated to invest in ICT by its geographical characteristics, Australia enjoys the benefits of remote education and nology has rapidly gained in importance acrossis now home to many remote e-education companies. the educational sector. Some even say that the current state of mobile education technology, orSource: Smart Technology (2007)48

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 3Chapter Three E-service delivery and the MDGsm-education, may be at the stage where mobile Box 3.3  Promoting free and open source software in schools in a crisis-affected countryhealth, or m-health, was just a few years ago. InBangladesh, more than 50 percent of the popula- The Ministry of Education in Iceland recently announced its plan to promote the use of free and open source soft-tion gained access to mobile phones in the past ware in schools across the country. This is based on the government’s policy on free and open source software fordecade. Mobile applications for English-language all institutions that are operated by public funds, with the objective of augmenting students’ skills in ICTs, whichteachers in Bangladesh enable them to access present cost-effective educational method for schools. The key advantage of open source software for educationtraining materials including audio and video at is its openness enabling any organization or individual to use free of charge, change and improve the softwareall times.29 Soon the mobile applications will be for one’s own use and thereby explore a new idea about learning. When combined with open software standards,linked to the Government’s school curriculum, open source becomes even more powerful, emerging as new kinds of software to support collaborative learning.textbooks and assessment procedures.30 Source: ePractice.eu (2009) Mobile devices (e.g. cell phones, handhelddevices and handheld computers) are among the insecurity, and cuts in social spending also tend tomost ubiquitous technologies in children’s lives disproportionately affect access to education andtoday in countries like the United States. Mobile health services for women and girls. The Unitedapplications are likely to become an important Nations Conference on the World Financial andpart of a more effective approach to learning in Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Developmentthe near future, which has an important implica- recognized that crisis responses need to have ation for governmental educational services as they strong gender perspective. 32prepare to facilitate and encourage ‘anywhere,anytime’ learning. Including women in economic development is an issue high on the current agenda of the inter- In addition to the emergence of m-education national community. There is consensus that theapplications, there is an increasing trend towards adverse impacts of the crisis on women’s economiclearning as a more participative and collaborative empowerment, including women’s employment,process, which should be encouraged by govern- present a major challenge to governments world-ments. Learning is becoming a more participa- wide. Economic empowerment is mainly abouttive and collaborative process in which Web 2.0 securing economic opportunities. It includes mo-tools facilitate activities of teachers and students bilizing women to eliminate gender gaps in accessas co-producers of knowledge and educational to resources and services that are a major obstaclecontent. An illustrative example is the School to women’s development. Microenterprise devel-of Tomorrow project at the Aruba Pedagogical opment, job creation and security, and above all,Institute, which has engaged in group-blog col- availability of microfinance loans are important.33laborations with Dutch students and others, in-corporating ICTs into many aspects of teaching Access to the labour market has much to doand learning in its technology-rich model class- with economic empowerment for women. Womenroom.31 It is also interesting to note that Iceland, are often in vulnerable employment and overrepre-one of the most crisis-affected countries in the sented in insecure, part-time and short-term jobs,world, has started promoting free and open including particularly, in the agricultural sector. Assource software in the country’s schools, which regards women’s unemployment, the Millenniumwill open up new opportunities for more collab- Development Goals Report 2009 highlights itsorative learning processes (see box 3.3). critical importance and notes that the crisis may hold back progress towards gender equality by cre-3.2.3  Gender-inclusive approaches to ating new hurdles to women’s employment. 34 The United Nations Committee on the Elimination ofpublic service delivery Discrimination against Women also warns that the current crisis is likely to have a serious impactThe issue on the realization of gender equality, especially in relation to employment.35Seventy percent of the world’s poor are women, andthe financial and economic crisis has gender-spe- Female employment and microfinance are keycific impacts. Women tend to face greater income issues arising from the financial and economic crisis. According to the World Bank, loss of 49

3 Chapter Three United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 E-service delivery and the MDGs employment constitutes the first round impact of current stimulus packages contain gender-specific the crisis on women and families, mainly as a re- provisions for empowerment and employment op- sult of the drop in aggregate demand and exports. portunities (see box 3.4). Another important first round impact is the fall in lending resources from microfinancing institu- The gender impact of the economic crisis in tions, as a result of tightened credit markets.36 terms of unemployment rates is expected to be more detrimental for females than for males in most re- It is in view of these problems, the United gions, and especially so in Latin America and the Nations Millennium Campaign has called for the Caribbean. Figure 3.1 shows gender-disaggregated establishment of a ‘vulnerability fund’ in which employment-to-population ratios prior to the crisis. each developed country would devote 0.7 percent of its stimulus package to aid poor countries to set Possible solutions up safety net programmes, including microfinance institutions. Governments are also urged to design E-government can be effectively leveraged for and implement the packages, with explicit con- women’s economic empowerment and employment sideration of the labour market disadvantage that in the crisis. Employment-related e-government women face, and set explicit employment growth solutions include online provision of information targets for women.37 It is important to ask if the on job opportunities for women, in particular for women who can use skills for the global digitalFigure 3.1  Gender-disaggregated employment-to-population ratios economy beyond the limits of their local economy; online skills training for female jobseekers; and Developed Economics and European Union 48.3 69.8 Female 1998 online distance learning. Central and South Eastern Europe (non-EU) & CIS 50.4 67.5 Female 2008 East Asia Male 1998 E-government can also enhance informa- 49.0 68.7 Male 2008 tion service delivery for much-needed women’s 51.0 70.5 Adult employment- economic empowerment. It can help women to 70.0 to-population ratios, weather the crisis by disseminating information by sex and region, on income-generating opportunities, and by alert- 69.3 1998 and 2008* (%) ing women to other relevant information services. Women need information about microenterprise 84.4 loans and other forms of capital for female entre- 82.5 preneurship, as well as local, regional and global market information and market pricing infor- South-East Asia and the Pacific 59.9 mation. Indeed, uninterrupted flows of microfi- 58.7 nance are key to the economic empowerment of 88.6 women, especially in a time of decreased lending. 87.6 E-government can provide information about financial and other forms of assistance provided South Asia 36.7 by governments, international donors and non- 37.6 governmental organizations. In addition to these 89.1 information services, women need to know about 86.2 online business training and support for women- headed microenterprises, online marketing assis- Latin America and the Caribbean 44.2 tance and online financial services. 52.6 82.0 A number of conditions would facilitate the de- 81.9 livery of information to women, including: (a) pub- lic access (e.g. mobile Internet kiosks, especially in Middle East 20.5 rural areas); (b) free access to training on the use 25.0 of the technology; (c) technological solutions that 82.2 promote targeted access to women, such as voice 81.7 recognition for people with little or no formal North Africa 22.6 27.0 81.0 81.7 Sub-Saharan Africa 60.8 62.9 86.2 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 85.4 100 80 90* 2008 are preliminary estimates Prevalence (percent) Source: ILO (2009a)50

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 3Chapter Three E-service delivery and the MDGseducation, graphic interfaces and touch screens; Banking Correspondent status to the Common The advent of m-healthand (d) the provision of information that rural Service Centres equipped with ICT infrastruc- is a harbinger of morewomen in developing countries need in an acces- ture, and have provided microfinance services mobile public servicessible language and format. through them. For the cost of sending an SMS to come. message, the microfinance client uses an applica-Recent actions tion stored on her mobile phone to initiate an ac- count transfer to her bank account. ApplicationsSome countries have taken steps in fiscal stimulus for microfinance may be led by the private sector,packages to protect and increase funding to micro- with government and non-governmental organi-finance lending institutions, which are important zations in support. In this case, the governmentto women’s empowerment. It is also important that has also routed various developmental schemespublic expenditure monitoring systems are in place through microfinance.40to ensure that stimulus funding and other budget-ary allocations actually reach the intended groups, A trend observed is the growing importance ofincluding women.38 In this regard, the latest ICT mobile usage, especially for women entrepreneurs,applications for tracking and monitoring of stim- who need access to credit and capital. This devel-ulus funding are likely to be useful, especially in opment seems similar to the growing importancecountries like Uganda, which is one of the first of mobile applications in other priority areas of thedeveloping countries to successfully implement a MDGs, such as m-education and m-health. Therepublic expenditure tracking system and which has are some indications that it is one of the more acces-already built relevant capacity. sible technologies for women. In fact, women’s mo- bile phone access in Africa is equal to that of men.41 In direct response to the financial and eco-nomic crisis, China focused on women in the 3.2.4  Health care and the adventarea of information service and assistance for fe- of m-healthmale jobseekers and entrepreneurs. The Women’sFederation of the City of LianYunGang made a The issuesignificant effort to improve the female employ- The financial and economic crisis may have a seriousment rate in the city during the current crisis. The impact on the health-related MDGs. In the crisis,Federation reported that more than 60 per cent governments around the world are under increasingof the female population was unemployed. Events pressure to maintain the level and quality of healthwere organized to strengthen employment place- services with limited and decreasing resources.ment services for women, and the Federation es- Even more demands will be placed on public healthtablished a database for unemployed women. The services as income decreases and governments cutqualifications of female jobseekers were analysed their budgets. The crisis is expected to negativelyand the Federation then recommended women to impact HIV/AIDS treatment programmes in onevarious organizations for employment according third of countries surveyed in 2009, with its adverseto their qualifications. The database is updated effects worsening over the year. The crisis will inevi-once every quarter, which aids in monitoring tably impact and exacerbate many of the problemsthe employment situation. The Federation also facing healthcare. Previous crises in Asia and Latincreated a special website column, where women America show the negative impact that crises cancould post their experiences with successful start- have on access to health outcomes. Women andup microenterprises and published handbooks for children are especially vulnerable.female entrepreneurs.39 Possible solutions A good example of a microfinance initia- ICT applications in the health sector can bringtive comes from India, where commercialbanking entities including State Bank of India efficiency gains, much as they can for education,have linked with the respective Service Centre employment and other priorities of the MDGs.Agencies in the states under the framework ICT applications could, for example, improve theof the National e-Governance Plan to provide 51

3 Chapter Three United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 E-service delivery and the MDGs monitoring of demand for and supply of HIV/ medical records has slowly been adopted in many AIDS drugs, which would be highly relevant given developed countries such as Singapore and several the current lack of funding for these drugs. The European countries. In Qatar, electronic health current crisis is intensifying the challenge of main- records are a key component of the national e- taining access to HIV treatment and prevention, health programme for all, which aims to increase especially in high-prevalence countries in Eastern the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare and Southern Africa.42 system. The Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, ictQATAR, will ICT applications can engage citizens in par- first promote the standardization of health records ticipatory decision-making about health care, con- and the creation of the Electronic Patient Record, siderably expanding the scope of e-participation, and will then focus on providing online healthcare These technologies offer the potential to empower information and services through portals and ap- citizens with medical information and knowledge plications with a view to developing an integrated that can facilitate improved decision-making and health network.45 care. They can enable for stakeholders such as pa- tient groups and providers to agree on priorities In the United Kingdom, recent initiatives are and then streamline services to make them more taking advantage of technology in innovative ways efficient, which can reduce costs and help to miti- and building on Web 2.0 technologies. One exam- gate the impact of the crisis.43 ple is the Wii platform development, which extends telehealth and telecare systems to include a range of Recent actions new devices around the home. The technology cre- ates a virtual community of connected carers and E-health, a process of administering health care cared-for, and it enhances community-based care through ICT tools, is rapidly growing in impor- and health information. The aim is to help prolong tance in all parts of the world. Telemedicine, for independent living for elderly and chronically ill pa- example, is a process of accessing health care from a tients.46 Another e-health project is PatientOpinion, distance through ICT tools. Telemedicine has been which allows patients of the British National Health successfully implemented in several developing Service to share their experiences at local hospitals, countries, including Bhutan, Ghana, Indonesia, hospices and mental health services and to rate them Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and South Africa. based on criteria such as standard of medical care, being treated with respect and dignity, clear infor- Electronic health records are another example mation and cleanliness. of ICT use in this sector. The stimulus package in the United States contains $19 billion for health More than half of all patients between the ages care technology spending and the adoption of elec- of 25 and 34 in the United States are influenced tronic health records.44 The use of computerized by social media when it comes to health care de- cisions, recent studies have found. Social media isFigure 3.2  Mobile cell phone subscriptions per 100 people a group of Internet-based applications that allow users to generate and exchange content, including 60 Region blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging and other World social networking and communications software applications. The concentration of such activity 50 Sub-Saharan Africa in the most developed countries may result in an Least developed countries: UN classification accentuation of the digital divide in health care, urgently necessitating a concerted effort for more 40 Low and middle income countries inclusive e-health care on a global scale. 30 Using mobile phones, m-health stands out among the many emerging uses of ICT in health- 20 care. It delivers health services and information (over distance) to patients and has become a critical 10 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 YR2000 YearSource: World Bank (2009c)52

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 3Chapter Three E-service delivery and the MDGssegment of e-health in recent years. M-health is the Figure 3.3  ICT trends in sub-Saharan Africa (2000-2008)fastest growing part of e-health, and its importanceis increasing. Documented results reveal that mo- 30 Indicatorbile technology improves the efficiency of health- Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 peoplecare delivery. The rapidly increasing importance ofmobile phones as a platform for healthcare delivery 25 Telephone lines per 100 peoplein recent years is mainly attributable to substantial Internet users per 100 peopleprice reductions and the resulting rapid expansionof mobile phone use around the world (see figure 203.2).47 There are presently 4 billion to 5 billion mo-bile phones in the world. 15 Mobile phone use has been rapidly expanding, 10especially in Africa (see figure 3.3). When comparedto the growth rate of telephone lines, that of mobile 5phone subscriptions in Africa is dramatically faster. 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Capacities of mobile phones are rapidly expand- YR2000 Yearing to include voice, text messages, email and even fullInternet browsers, leading many experts in the field of Source: World Bank (2009c)technology to agree that mobile access is the commu-nication medium of the future. This offers unprece- The adoption of mobile phones as a platformdented opportunities to improve the health of people for health care delivery can be found even in least-living in underserved communities that lack health developed countries such as Rwanda (see box 3.4).care facilities or medical staff. Information providedvia mobile phones can help to diagnose and treat ill- 3.2.5  Keeping up environmentalness and assist in the early detection and containment managementof epidemics. For many countries, mobile technologymay be the only feasible way to reach out to the wider The issuepopulation, especially in rural areas. The current financial and economic crisis could have an adverse impact on a number of environ- M-health has demonstrated a positive impact mental services. There is concern that the environ-on health care and has the potential to deliver mental agenda could be sidelined, countries couldhealth care more efficiently. To date, key applica- be distracted from addressing climate change andtions for m-health in developing countries and ac- other environmental problems, and they could po-cruing benefits include: tentially make substantial cuts in their investments • Disease and epidemic outbreak tracking and in new technology and environmental services. dissemination of public health information to Cuts in funds could hurt environmental services, citizens (e.g. AESSIMS system in India); but there are also some positive developments cre- • Remote data collection and remote monitor- ated by stimulus packages in response to the current ing to closely track and minimize treatment interruptions (e.g. Cell-PREVEN initiatives Box 3.4  Mobile phones support life-saving HIV/AIDS electronic records system in Rwanda in Peru, Dokoza System in South Africa); • Medication reminders (e.g. reminders for “Rwanda sees mHealth as part of a larger eHealth vision” tuberculosis patients in Thailand) and appli- —eHealth Coordinator for Rwanda’s Ministry of Health cations for protection of patients from fake A major component of Rwanda’s e-health programme is the country’s rapidly growing m-health portfolio, which medicines (e.g. mPedigree application to check is being used to deliver vital health services even in the most remote rural areas.  TRACnet is an electronic records drugs in Ghana); system that can be uploaded to mobile phones. It was created in Rwanda in 2005 for remote data collection by • Diagnostic and treatment support in rural and the TRAC Centre, part of the Ministry of Health. The system is used to manage critical information on HIV/AIDS marginalized areas (e.g. M-DOK project in the patients, ensure drug adherence, monitor anti-retroviral treatment (ART) programmes nationwide, and access the Philippines, Mobile Telemedicine System).48 most up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS care and treatment. TRACnet was designed for use with all types of technology and information systems, but today 90 percent of the system’s users access it on their mobile phones. Given the popularity of mobile phones, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health is piloting a Phones-for-Health programme and has registered interest in using mobile phones to report on maternal mortality and to track progress towards reaching the health-related MDGs. Source: mHealth Alliance (2009) 53

3 Chapter Three United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 E-service delivery and the MDGs crisis. ‘Green growth’ makes up an important por- broadband is green technology. In fact, it is an en- tion of stimulus packages after infrastructure abler of efficiencies that could drive major reduc- investments, education and research and develop- tions in carbon emissions. 51 ment, including specific ‘green measures’ in the proposed or announced fiscal stimulus packages in E-government applications are already in po- China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and sition to bring substantial gains for environmen- the United States. Substantial amounts of money tal transactional services including, for example, are directed at green technology research areas.49 cash-back incentives for green products, subsi- Some tropical countries have announced stimulus dies, tax rebates and environmental permit ap- packages with programmes such as Indonesia’s tree- plications. These efficiency gains are particularly planting and forest rehabilitation programmes.50 significant at a time of financial and economic crisis, when many stimulus packages include di- In most developing countries, the mobilization rect public spending and tax incentives to sup- of funds and the proportion earmarked for green in- port green investments. vestment will be limited. Missing the opportunity to stimulate green investments in developing countries ICT-enabled environmental services also include now, and to unlock low-carbon opportunities, even provision of public environmental information and as their economies are in a downturn, could mean data, and enhance opportunities for monitoring storing up problems for the future that are far larger and public awareness. In an example from the water than the current financial and economic crisis. sector, the Seoul Metropolitan Government in the Republic of Korea recently initiated an online real- Possible solutions time water quality assessment service to assess and Environmental protection needs to be an integral monitor the quality of tap water. With the system, part of countries’ recovery from the crisis, and citizens can check online and in real-time the qual- ICT can help countries to achieve their goals in ity of water supplied to their houses from water pu- more cost-effective ways. It is estimated that ICT- rification plants.52 In an example from the forestry enabled improvements in non-ICT sectors could sector, geographic information systems (GIS) are save about 15 percent of total carbon emissions by considered powerful tools for tracking and moni- 2020. Significant ICT-enabled energy efficiency toring deforestation (see box 3.5). gains are expected to be achievable in the short term in buildings and construction, in transport, Recent actions logistics and energy end-use. It is estimated that the wider use of applications such as online public Only recently have countries recognized the po- services and applications, and advanced collabora- tential of ICT-based innovations to contribute to tion technologies could save at least 1 to 2 percent environmental issues. Yet they are already being rec- of total energy use by 2020 worldwide. For some, ognized for their contributions, as in the case of an e- catalog for procurement by government agencies inBox 3.5  Spatially enabled e-government tools for forest management the United States, which has improved the tracking and monitoring of green purchases.53 The country’sThe Asian financial crisis provides ample evidence that illegal forest activities at both industrial and subsistence General Services Administration has been using so-levels increase in terms of economic strife. Deforestation is an important climate change issue and a significant cial media tools to ask citizens how to do better atcontributor of CO2. procuring environmental goods and services. E-government tools can support the environmental services offered by the initiative Reducing Emissions E-government has a uniquely low-carbon de-from Degradation and Deforestation (REDD) and related initiatives. REDD is a crucial strategy for dealing with livery process for its services, and this is being rec-climate change that requires slowing the growth of agriculture, forestry and cattle ranching to protect forests in ognized for its positive impact to environment. Inplaces such as Brazil and Indonesia. the United Kingdom, a study of the Sunderland City Council demonstrated how e-government GIS can play an important role in assisting government agencies in tracking and monitoring. This system service delivery can serve the environmental ob-enables an effective use of geographic information, designed for the collection, storage and analysis of objects, jectives of government. The study examined thewhere geographic location is critical to the analysis. It aids users in organizing the data about problems, under- carbon footprint of five services provided by thestanding their spatial relationship associations, and analyzing and synthesizing information about them. local government, and found that a shift towardsSource: ESRI (2009)54

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 3Chapter Three E-service delivery and the MDGsgreater provision of these services via e-mail and e-government approaches taken in employment,the Internet would lead to a reduction in the education, women’s empowerment, health careCouncil’s carbon footprint.54 and the environment – five selected priority areas of the MDGs. For example, ICT tools have Governments were already grappling with helped female jobseekers and entrepreneurs findmany environmental issues prior to the crisis. After opportunities for jobs and loans; m-health has de-the onset of the crisis, some existing e-government livered vital health services even in remote ruraltools were being scaled up or new tools were cre- areas of developing countries, including servicesated. The spatially enabled e-government tools for HIV/AIDS; and ICT tools have enhancedsuch as GIS, mentioned earlier, are increasingly environmental monitoring and raised awarenessbeing used to track and monitor environmental through effective provision of public environmen-changes. A case in point comes from the United tal information.Kingdom’s National Weather Service, which fea-tures an interactive map on the Met Office website Across these varied sectors there are commonthat demonstrates the impact of global warming in features and trends, due in part perhaps to the shareddecades to come. experience of the financial and economic crisis. • A major part of the current e-government activity Another trend in e-government is the use of ap-plications that enhance public participation to im- entails the provision and delivery of informationprove environmental service delivery. Social media service, a finding common to the five selected areastools enable active social networking and consensus- of the MDGs. ICT-enabled transactional servicesbuilding among environmental activists, who are have been used to meet the drastically increasingone of the most vocal groups. Some governments demand for social welfare and other benefits, andactively encourage citizen participation in combat- they have gained in importance and usage.ing climate change, using innovative e-government • E-transaction services present an important issuetools. Examples include the Climate Atlas of the in connection with stimulus funding, not only toGerman Federal Environment Ministry on the enhance transparency (see chapter 1 of the Unitednew online portal, Es ist Dein Klima (It’s your cli- Nations E-Government Survey) but from the per-mate).55 The Atlas shows who is committed to tack- spective of public service delivery. E-governmentling climate change in individual municipalities. tools can expand and enhance public service de-The objective is to motivate citizens and encourage livery capacity through, for example, efficient pro-participation in combating climate change. cessing and distribution of stimulus grants. • Another important trend involves e-participa-3.3  Conclusions tion, closely linked to public service delivery.Faced with pressure to do more with less, govern- Many countries, especially developed countries,ments find themselves in the position of having show increasing use of new Web 2.0 and otherto be more efficient and agile in delivering pub- social media tools to create a more interactivelic services in order to meet national develop- environment between governments and citi-ment objectives. The ‘e’ of e-government services zens. Several countries have invested substantialbrings several important advantages in the cur- resources and effort into experimenting withrent financial and economic crisis, most notably these tools, finding innovative ways to use themimproved efficiency. These benefits, however, need for more effective delivery of public services.to be assessed against existing constraints and • One of the most noteworthy developments is thelimitations. Potential and actual e-government rapid and ubiquitous emergence of mobile technol-applications vary across countries and groups. ogy as a powerful tool for public service provisionIssues of public service delivery arising from the and delivery, especially in developing countries.current financial and economic crisis also vary Mobile service delivery is becoming pervasive inacross countries and group. This high degree employment, education, women’s empowermentof variation is reflected in the many different and the environment but nowhere it is advancing more quickly than in the health sector. It is at an 55

3 Chapter Three United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 E-service delivery and the MDGsA country’s capacity early and dynamic stage, and the scope of its appli- Progress in ICT infrastructure will help ad-to achieve the cation is rapidly expanding. The mobile platform vance e-government and service delivery in allMDGs can be greatly is widely seen as the direction of the future and will areas including, in particular, those advancing theenhanced with the continue to play an increasingly important role in MDGs. It follows, for example, that the provisionright e-government public service delivery. Despite the current crisis, of interactive public services is high in countriesapplications. the mobile technology industry shows resilience. with large broadband penetration.57 There are en- Governments responded to the financial and eco- couraging developments in this regard, especially nomic crisis by developing new e-government tools, in Africa, and despite the global financial and eco- scaling up existing initiatives and by refocusing or nomic crisis. Rwanda, for example, continues to stepping up their overall e-government efforts. Some invest in ICT applications and e-government. In governments benefit from pre-existing e-government South Africa, the government has said that ICT systems and initiatives. E-government work, which has sector would be used to deal with the current crisis. already carried out has proven invaluable in the current Plans to develop Internet connections in develop- crisis, allowing some governments to accelerate their ing countries are making steady progress despite e-government programmes, with a view to realizing the global financial and economic crisis. The benefits such as enhanced efficiency, effectiveness and Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System has been financial savings on the delivery of public services.56 successfully launched, which could drastically re- Looking ahead, constant progress in ICTs is duce the cost of Internet access in East Africa and driving rapid change, presenting both new chal- landlocked central regions in the near future. The lenges and new opportunities for public service de- future progress of e-government depends on this livery. Technological developments will continue kind of infrastructural progress. to provide new possibilities for e-government to ad- dress both immediate problems such as those arising E-government is practical today as well as from the current financial and economic crisis and being an investment in the future, yet an exam- long-term challenges for public service delivery. At ple from the past helps make the point. In the the present time, due to pressures on ICT budgets, Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, the Republic many countries have cancelled or postponed their of Korea continued and even enhanced its invest- ICT projects. Ultimately, however, the crisis may act ment in ICT development and use of ICTs for as a powerful catalyst for improvement in the deliv- public service delivery, experiencing particular ery of public services by governments, which could success with its e-procurement system. This con- prove advantageous in the long run. tinuing investment contributed to the country’s economic recovery.58 n56

Part 2The state of e-government around the world 2 57

Part 2 59 83 The state of e-government around the world 93 Chapter 4 World e-government rankings Chapter 5 Citizen empowerment and inclusion Chapter 6 Measuring e-government 58

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankings4.1 Global e-government development 60 Chapter 44.2 Regional comparisons 61 61 World e-government 4.2.1 E-government in Africa 65 rankings 4.2.2 E-government in the Americas 68 4.2.3 E-government in Asia 71 The United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 finds that 4.2.4 E-government in Europe 74 citizens are benefiting from more advanced e-service deliv- 4.2.5 E-government in Oceania 75 ery, better access to information, more efficient government4.3 Economic groupings 75 management and improved interactions with governments,4.4 Progress in online service provision primarily as a result of increasing use by the public sector of 4.4.1 How governments rank in 76 information and communications technology. Most coun- tries have published a tremendous amount of information online services 77 online, many going beyond basic websites to provide national 4.4.2 About the services governments 81 portals that serve as a major starting point for users to con- nect to government services in different ministries. At the provide online same time, many developing countries need to devote ad- 4.4.3 The data behind the rankings ditional energy to transactional services as well as the elec- tronic means of engaging citizens in public consultation and decision-making. To better reflect the higher expectations of e-govern- ment development around the world, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs introduced sig- nificant changes to the survey instrument in this round, fo- cusing more on how governments are using websites and Web portals to deliver public services and expand opportunities for citizens to participate in decision-making. The number of questions increased from 86 in 2008 to 95 in 2010. More spe- cifically, twenty-five questions were added and 16 questions removed from the questionnaire in the 2010 survey round, while 29 questions were modified. 59

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsTable 4.1  Top 20 countries in e-government development As a result of these changes, the world aver- age of the e-government development index regis-Rank Country E-government Rank Country developmenEt-ginodveerxnvmaelunet. tered a slight decline compared to previous years. development index value 0.7476 Nevertheless, the decline should not be interpreted 1 Republic of Korea 11 Singapore 0.7474 as the degeneration of e-government on a global 2 United States 0.8785 12 Sweden 0.7363 scale since the index measures e-government devel- 3 Canada 0.8510 13 Bahrain 0.7311 opment of countries relative to one another within 4 United Kingdom 0.8448 14 New Zealand 0.7309 a given year. More importantly, a drop in a coun- 5 Netherlands 0.8147 15 Germany 0.7225 try’s ranking may serve as a reminder of the need 6 Norway 0.8097 16 Belgium 0.7152 to devote greater resources to improving online 7 Denmark 0.8020 17 Japan 0.7136 services and expanding access to telecommunica- 8 Australia 0.7872 18 Switzerland 0.6967 tion infrastructure. 9 Spain 0.7863 19 Finland 0.6965 10 France 0.7516 20 Estonia 0.7510Box 4.1  United States Social Security Administration leads in customer satisfaction 4.1  Global e-government developmentUnited States: Social Security Administration http://www.ssa.gov High-income countries enjoy the top rankings in the e-government development index in 2010 asAccording to the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the 3rd in previous years. Among the top five countries inquarter of 2009, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is the top the 2010 United Nations E-Government Survey,government portal in terms of citizen satisfaction. Citizens have rated the Republic of Korea received the highest scorethe SSA’s Retirement Estimator and the IClaim as the two highest e- (0.8785), followed by the United States (0.8510),government services with a score of 91 and 90 respectively. Canada (0.8448), the United Kingdom (0.8147) The Customer Satisfaction Index looks at functionality, naviga- and the Netherlands (0.8097).tion, look and feel, site performance and content to determine thelevel of customer satisfaction. The SSA portal receives a high number Figure 4.1 shows that Europe (0.6227) andof repeat customers and has become one of the primary resources the Americas (0.4790) score above the world av-for information on social services in the United States. The SSA portal erage (0.4406). Asia (0.4424) is almost the samehas continued to make improvements to respond to customers’ needs, as the world average. Africa (0.2733) and Oceaniawhich has led to an increase in loyalty and cost savings. (0.4193) score below the world average.Box 4.2  Bahrain embraces Web 2.0 http://www.bahrain.bh/ The majority of positions in the top 20 rank- ings belong to high-income countries, which is notBahrain: Web 2.0 surprising since they have the financial resources to develop and rollout advanced e-governmentBahrain’s e-government programme has been innovative when it comes initiatives, as well as to create a favorable environ-to customer’s centricity. Citizen involvement has been ensured right from ment for citizen engagement and empowerment.the strategy formulation and continuous feedback has been obtained Developed countries have a distinct advantage induring implementation. In continuation to this philosophy, the Bahrain achieving higher rankings in the survey, as nearlye-government program has embraced the Web 2.0 to reach its custom- two-thirds of the weight of e-government develop-ers. Ministers and senior government officials have established an open- ment index is allocated to the telecommunicationdoor policy to interact with citizens. The e-government program has its infrastructure and human capital components,presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and You Tube. In which both require long-term investment. Foraddition, the national portal and ministry websites provide features such emerging and developing countries, the chal-as open forums, blogs, live chats, online polls, e-newsletters and other lenge is to invest in all three dimensions – onlineinteractive services that involve citizens in government decision making. services, telecommunication infrastructure andFor instance, two of the ministers and the CEO of the e-Government education – to narrow the current digital gap. InAuthority have interacted with citizens through such blogs. other words, having a great website does little in Citizens’ participation and constructive feedback was recog- e-service provision if the majority of people in thenized and implemented by changing the national portal and repriori- country cannot read or write, nor if they have notizing its objectives, thereby achieving 85 % of customer satisfaction access to the Internet.on the e-government programme as per the May 2009 Survey.60

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankings What is noteworthy is that some developing Figure 4.1  E-government development index regional averagescountries have begun to catch up with higher-incomecountries despite these challenges. Bahrain (0.7363), Africa 0.2733for example, has made significant strides in the two Americasyears since the previous survey, moving up in the Asia 0.4790rankings to 13th place in 2010 from 42nd place in Europe 0.44242008. Bahrain’s recent emphasis on citizen engage-ment and the electronic provision of government 0.6227services has propelled the country into the top 15in e-government development, somewhat closer to Oceania 0.4193Singapore (0.7476) which is among the global leaders World averagein provision of electronic and mobile public services. 0 0.1000 0.4406 Mobile technology will become an affordable 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000 0.5000 0.6000 0.7000tool to fill in the digital gap between developed anddeveloping countries, given the rapid price decline 4.2  Regional comparisons Table 4.2  Regional comparisonsof mobile products. Emerging and least developed On a regional basis, Europe receives the highestcountries have already demonstrated that they are score, followed by the Americas. These are the E-governmentcapable of narrowing the digital gap by investing in only two regions above the world average. Africa development index valuewebsites and Web portals and by applying tools such continues to lag far below the world average,as telecentres, kiosks, community centres and other given that most of the world’s least developed Region 2010 2008similar outlets to increase access to the Internet. countries are in this region and they generallyThey are adopting the use of mobile technology at a lack the financial and human resources to fully Africa 0.2733 0.2739fast rate, which will trigger the need to develop more implement e-government. The Asian region is   Eastern Africamobile e-government services. The private sector in slightly above the world average, but the Republic   Middle Africa 0.2782 0.2879these countries has an opportunity to work with of Korea is the exception, as it stands at the top   Northern Africagovernment to create and distribute mobile services. of 2010 rankings in the e-government develop-   Southern Africa 0.2603 0.2530The 2010 survey recorded an increase in the use of ment index.   Western Africamobile technology for communication from gov- 0.3692 0.3403ernments to citizens, whether it is simple SMS, alert 4.2.1  E-government in Africanotification or a full-fledged mobile service. Figure 4.2 indicates that all sub-regions in Africa 0.3505 0.3893 fall below the world average. However, there has In general, Member States are channelling more been some improvement in the region, especially 0.2156 0.2110human and financial resources to fulfill the ever- in Middle, Northern and Western Africa sinceincreasing digital needs. the 2008 survey. Northern Africa leads the re- Americas 0.4790 0.4936 gion and is closely followed by the Southern   Caribbean 0.4454 0.4480 The 2010 survey found that some countries are Africa. Western Africa lags far behind the other   Central America 0.4295 0.4604increasingly active in seeking customer satisfac- sub-regions and is the lowest scoring sub-region   Northern America 0.8479 0.8408tion through online polls, blogs, surveys and other in the 2010 Survey.   South America 0.4869 0.5072means. This indicates that a growing number ofcountries have recognized the importance of citi- Table 4.3 shows that Tunisia leads Africa in e- Asia 0.4424 0.4470zen feedback via Internet and are taking advantage government development, followed by Mauritius   Central Asia 0.4239 0.3881of social networking tools to create better websites and Egypt. It also shows that the majority of coun-   Eastern Asia 0.6470 0.6443and Web portals. tries in the ‘top ten’ rankings are developing coun-   Southern Asia 0.3248 0.3395 tries from Northern and Southern Africa.  South- Though emerging and developing countries Eastern Asia 0.4250 0.4290have yet to fill the digital gap, table 4.1 shows that Eastern Africa   Western Asia 0.4732 0.4857those developing countries that have channeled Mauritius (0.4645) and the Seychelles (0.4179)more investment to telecommunications infra- continue to lead the region, though both coun- Europe 0.6227 0.6490structure, education and online services could tries register lower rankings in the 2010 Survey.   Eastern Europe 0.5449 0.5689compete with developed countries and, in some Mauritius dropped by 14 positions and the   Northern Europe 0.7113 0.7721cases, even score higher.   Southern Europe 0.5566 0.5648   Western Europe 0.7165 0.7329 Oceania 0.4193 0.4338 World average 0.4406 0.4514 61

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsFigure 4.2  E-government development in Africa Seychelles dropped by 35 positions. Seychelles has the best infrastructure and education indices,Eastern Africa 0.2782 0.3692 which explains its high ranking in the region.Middle Africa 0.2603 0.3505Northern Africa Zambia (0.2810) and Zimbabwe (0.3230) bothSouthern Africa 0.2156 improved in e-government development. ZambiaWestern Africa 0.2733 jumped 15 positions to stand at 143rd in the 2010 Survey ranking and Zimbabwe jumped 12 posi-Regional average tions to rank the 129th.World average Table 4.4  E-government development in Eastern Africa 0.4406 E-government World e-government 0.5000 development index value development ranking Country 2010 2008 2010 20080 0.1000 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000 Mauritius 0.4645 0.5086 77 63 Seychelles Kenya 0.4179 0.4942 104 69 Zimbabwe United Republic of 0.3338 0.3474 124 122 TanzaniaMap 4.1  Sub-regions of Africa Madagascar 0.3230 0.3000 129 137 UgandaWestern Africa Northern Africa Eastern Africa Zambia 0.2926 0.2929 137 143 Benin Algeria Burundi Rwanda 0.2890 0.3065 139 135 Burkina Faso Egypt Comoros Malawi 0.2812 0.3133 142 133 Cape Verde Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Djibouti Comoros 0.2810 0.2266 143 158 Côte d’Ivoire Morocco Eritrea Mozambique 0.2749 0.2941 148 141 Gambia Sudan Ethiopia Djibouti 0.2357 0.2878 159 146 Ghana Tunisia Kenya Ethiopia 0.2327 0.1896 160 170 Guinea Western Sahara Madagascar Burundi 0.2288 0.2559 161 152 Guinea-Bissau Malawi Eritrea 0.2059 0.2279 170 157 Liberia Middle Africa Mauritius Somalia 0.2033 0.1857 172 172 Mali Mayotte 0.2014 0.1788 174 174 Mauritania Angola Mozambique 0.1859 0.1965 175 169 Niger Réunion Nigeria Cameroon Rwanda … ……… Saint Helena Seychelles Senegal Central African Republic Somalia Sierra Leone Uganda Togo Chad United Republic of Tanzania Zambia Congo Southern Africa Zimbabwe Democratic Republic Botswana of the Congo Lesotho Equatorial Guinea Namibia Gabon South Africa São Tomé and Príncipe Swaziland Sub-regional average 0.2782 0.2879 World average 0.4406 0.4514Table 4.3  Top ranked countries in Africa E-government World e-government Notwithstanding the overall low scores of the development index value development ranking e-government development index in the region, Rank Country some countries have managed to improve their 2010 2008 2010 2008 Web presence either in national portals or minis- 1 Tunisia try websites. 2 Mauritius 0.4826 0.3458 66 124 3 Egypt Kenya’s national portal received the highest 4 South Africa 0.4645 0.5086 77 63 score in the region, followed by Mauritius and 5 Seychelles Madagascar. Ethiopia registered the third high- 6 Cape Verde 0.4518 0.4767 86 79 est online service score in the region, whilst its 7 Libya infrastructure and education indices hindered it 8 Botswana 0.4306 0.5115 97 61 from scoring higher in the e-government develop- 9 Lesotho ment index. 10 Gabon 0.4179 0.4942 104 69 The websites of most ministries in the region World average 0.4054 0.4158 108 104 provide basic information, but e-services are gen- erally not available. The Ministry of Education of62 0.3799 0.3546 114 120 Mauritius scored the highest among ministries in the region. 0.3637 0.3647 117 118 0.3512 0.3805 121 114 0.3420 0.3228 123 129 0.4406 0.4514

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingsMiddle Africa Box 4.3  AfriAfya, KenyaThe majority of countries in Middle Africa gener- Kenya: AfriAfyaally scored higher in the 2010 Survey and improvedtheir respective rankings. AfriAfya, the African Network for Health Knowledge Management and Communication is comprised of seven of the largest health NGOs in Gabon (0.3420) leads the sub-region in the Kenya with the goal of harnessing ICTs to improve community health2010 Survey and has moved up six positions com- in rural and other marginalized Kenyan communities. The networkpared to the 2008 Survey. This should be attributed provides communities with relevant up-to-date health informationto Gabon’s edge in infrastructure and education through a two-way communication with health-care providers.indices. São Tomé and Príncipe (0.3258) standsat the second position in the ranking, followed by http://www.afriafya.org/Angola (0.3110) and Congo (0.3019).Table 4.5  E-government development in Middle Africa Box 4.4  Cyber Ethiopia E-government World e-government Ethiopia: Cyber Ethiopia development index value development ranking The Amharic language has Africa’s oldest script, which has been usedCountry 2010 2008 2010 2008 for written communication since 100 B.C. The CyberEthiopia initiative has converted the Amharic script so that it is Web-friendly, respondingGabon 0.3420 0.3228 123 129 to the challenge of digital multilingualism and the development ofSão Tomé and Príncipe the local script for digital use. The use of the Amharic script on theAngola 0.3258 0.3215 128 130 Internet facilitates Ethiopia’s digital inclusion and full participation inCongo the information society.Equatorial Guinea 0.3110 0.3328 132 127CameroonDemocratic Republic 0.3019 0.2737 135 148of the CongoCentral African 0.2902 0.2890 138 145RepublicChad 0.2722 0.2734 149 149 0.2357 0.2177 158 162 http://www.cyberethiopia.com 0.1399 0.1412 181 179 0.1235 0.1047 182 182Sub-regional average 0.2603 0.2530 in the 2010 Survey, falling to the 86th and 131stWorld average 0.4406 0.4514 positions respectively. Morocco has jumped 14 po- sitions to a global rank of 126th. Libya and Sudan In the area of ‘online service assessment’, have improved their rankings as well since theCameroon’s ministries of health and education 2008 Survey.enjoyed the highest scores among all ministriesin the region. These ministries were the only ones Libya continues to lead in the human capacityin the region to benefit from some degree of citi- index, followed by Tunisia and Algeria. The tele-zen involvement. communication infrastructure in the region re- mains low compared to other regions, with TunisiaNorthern Africa having the highest infrastructure index. Morocco leads the region with the highest ratio of InternetThe region as a whole performed better in the users per 100 inhabitants.2010 Survey. Tunisia (0.4826) received the high-est score in the region, followed by Egypt (0.4518), Table 4.6  E-government development inLibya (0.3799) and Morocco (0.3287). Tunisia’s Northern AfricaMinistry of Finance provides a number of e-servicesand a wealth of information and scored the highest E-government World e-governmentamong all ministries in the region. In addition, each development index value development rankingministry’s websites in Tunisia (health, education,labour and social services) all receive the highest Country 2010 2008 2010 2008scores in the region in its respective category. Tunisia 0.4826 0.3458 66 124 Egypt stands the second in the regional rank- Egypting, but its national portal enjoys the highest rank- Libya 0.4518 0.4767 86 79ing in the region. Egypt and Algeria both regressed Morocco Algeria 0.3799 0.3546 114 120 Sudan 0.3287 0.2944 126 140 0.3181 0.3515 131 121 0.2542 0.2186 154 161 Sub-regional average 0.3692 0.3403 World average 0.4406 0.4514 63

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsBox 4.5  Algeria alerts citizens to their new national hotline for H1N1 Côte d’Ivoire enjoys the highest online service score followed by Cape Verde, Mali, Senegal andAlgeria: H1N1 National Hotline Burkina Faso. Côte d’Ivoire also experienced the most significant change in rankings as compared toOn the national portal of Algeria http://www.ands.dz/ there is a link the 2008 Survey, gaining 29 positions to rank 144thtitled “Alerte Grippe Porcine”, for the H1N1 flu. The feature takes the globally. Côte d’Ivoire barely had a Web presenceuser to a portal page with a specific section for health care profes- in 2008 but the current survey finds that the na-sionals along with resources for citizens with links to information and tional and ministry websites are much more robustmedical resources, a new telephone hot line number, audios from radio and offer a wealth of information. Mauritania alsospots sharing information on symptoms to watch for and hygiene pro- improved its ranking by 9 positions from the 2008tocol, and weekly health newsletters have been archived. Survey to rank 157th globally. Other countries re- mained essentially unchanged in global rankings. http://www.ands.dz/ Southern Africa Western Africa All the countries in Southern Africa scored lower Table 4.8  E-government development in Western Africa in the 2010 Survey than they did two years ago. South Africa (0.4306) continues to lead the re- E-government World e-government gion, but it also witnessed the most dramatic drop development index value development ranking in rank, to 97th in the 2010 Survey. Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia have maintained the similar Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 e-government rankings in 2010 Survey as com- pared to the 2008 Survey. Swaziland did not re- Cape Verde 0.4054 0.4158 108 104 ceive any scores in the online service index because Côte d'Ivoire none of its websites could be opened during the Ghana 0.2805 0.1853 144 173 review period. Nigeria Mauritania 0.2754 0.2997 147 138 The Western Africa region is the lowest rank- Senegal ing region in the 2010 Survey, showing virtually no Togo 0.2687 0.3063 150 136 improvement since the 2008 Survey. This should Liberia be mainly attributed to poor telecommunications Gambia 0.2359 0.2028 157 168 infrastructure and low human capacity in the re- Benin gion. Broadband access is practically non-existent Mali 0.2241 0.2531 163 153 in the region, and the best case is Cape Verde with Sierra Leone only 1.48 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Burkina Faso 0.2150 0.2191 165 160 Guinea-Bissau Guinea 0.2133 0.2170 166 163 Niger 0.2117 0.2253 167 159 0.2017 0.1860 173 171 0.1815 0.1591 176 175 0.1697 0.1463 177 178 0.1587 0.1542 178 176 0.1561 0.1521 179 177 0.1426 0.1402 180 180 0.1098 0.1142 183 181 Table 4.7  E-government development in Sub-regional average 0.2156 0.2110 Southern Africa World average 0.4406 0.4514 E-government World e-government Any substantive progress in e-government de- development index value development ranking velopment in the region is likely to be a long way off, given its poor telecommunication infrastructure, Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 low human resources capacity and the amount of in- vestment required – which far exceeds the financial South Africa 0.4306 0.5115 97 61 capacity of the region. Despite limited resources, a Botswana few countries managed to improve their e-govern- Lesotho 0.3637 0.3647 117 118 ment. The national website of Benin features pod- Namibia casting and online forums with a dozen thematic Swaziland 0.3512 0.3805 121 114 areas for its citizen’s participation. Ghana’s national website utilizes a ‘social media’ box featuring tools 0.3314 0.3445 125 126 such as YouTube and containing direct links to the Facebook accounts of government officials in the 0.2757 0.3454 145 125 Ministry of Information. Sub-regional average 0.3505 0.3893 World average 0.4406 0.4514 Cape Verde (0.4054) leads the regions thanks to its higher telecommunication infrastructure and human capacity components, followed by Côte d’Ivoire (0.2805) and Ghana (0.2754).64

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankings4.2.2  E-government in the Americas Figure 4.3  E-government development in the AmericasFigure 4.3 illustrates that the status of e-governmentdevelopment in Northern America, which is far Caribbean 0.4454ahead of other regions. The region’s two countries, Central America 0.4295the United States and Canada, enjoy the second and Northern Americathird global ranking respectively in the 2010 Survey. 0.8479Central America is the only region in the Americas South America 0.4869that registered a regional average below that of the Regional average 0.4790world average, though many developing countries inthis region scored above the world average. World average 0.4406 Among the top 10 countries in the Americas, five 0 0.1000 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000 0.5000 0.6000 0.7000 0.8000 0.9000countries are from South America, three are fromthe Caribbean, and one is from Central America.Caribbean Map 4.2  Sub-regions of the AmericasIn the 2010 Survey, the Caribbean region wit- Northern Americanessed some improvement and consequently el- Bermudaevated its score above the world average. In the Canada2008 Survey, its e-government development index Greenlandwas slightly below the world average. Saint Pierre and Miquelon United States of AmericaTable 4.10  E-government development in the Caribbean Caribbean E-government World e-government Anguilla development index value development ranking Antigua and Barbuda ArubaCountry 2010 2008 2010 2008 Bahamas BarbadosBarbados 0.5714 0.5667 40 46 Central America South America British Virgin IslandsAntigua and Barbuda Belize Argentina Cayman IslandsBahamas 0.5154 0.4485 55 96 Costa Rica Bolivia CubaTrinidad and Tobago El Salvador Brazil DominicaSaint Kitts and Nevis 0.4871 0.4911 65 71 Guatemala Chile Dominican RepublicDominican Republic Honduras Colombia GrenadaSaint Lucia 0.4806 0.5307 67 54 Mexico Ecuador GuadeloupeJamaica Nicaragua Falkland Islands (Malvinas) HaitiSaint Vincent and the 0.4691 0.4814 75 78 Panama French Guiana JamaicaGrenadines Guyana MartiniqueCuba 0.4557 0.4943 84 68 Paraguay MontserratGrenada Peru Netherlands AntillesDominica 0.4471 0.4746 88 80 Suriname Puerto RicoHaiti Uruguay Saint-Barthélemy 0.4467 0.4679 89 85 Venezuela Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia 0.4355 0.4306 94 98 Saint Martin (French part) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands 0.4321 0.3990 96 111 0.4277 0.4545 99 92 0.4149 0.3746 105 116 0.2074 0.2097 169 165 Table 4.9  Top ranked countries in the AmericasSub-regional average 0.4454 0.4480 Rank Country E-government World e-governmentWorld average 0.4406 0.4514 development index value development ranking 1 United States 2 Canada 2010 2008 2010 2008 3 Colombia 4 Chile 0.8510 0.8644 24 5 Uruguay Barbados (0.5714) continues to lead the region 6 Barbados 0.8448 0.8172 37thanks to its better telecommunication infrastruc- 7 Argentinature and higher adult literacy and gross enrolment, 8 Antigua and Barbuda 0.6125 0.5317 31 52followed by Antigua and Barbuda (0.5154) and the 9 MexicoBahamas (0.4871). Barbados leads the Caribbean in 10 Brazil 0.6014 0.5819 34 40both Internet users and broadband subscribers per100 inhabitants. This advantage allowed Barbados to World average 0.5848 0.5645 36 48maintain its e-government edge despite the fact thatother countries scored more highly in online services. 0.5714 0.5667 40 46 0.5467 0.5844 48 39 0.5154 0.4485 55 96 0.5150 0.5893 56 37 0.5006 0.5679 61 45 0.4406 0.4514 65

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankings Barbados is the first country in the region to also saw significant drops, with Costa Rica down have an integrated single-sign-on service for its na- by 12 positions, Guatemala by 13 positions and tional portal. Single-sign-on services allow citizens Belize by 13 positions. greater ease and flexibility in performing necessary online tasks with the government. Table 4.11  E-government development in Central America Antigua and Barbuda saw the biggest increase in the global ranking by 41 positions to rank 55th E-government World e-government globally. Cuba and Dominica also had their rank- development index value development ranking ings increase significantly over the 2008 Survey by 15 and 11 positions respectively. Cuba is now Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 ranked 96th and Dominica 105th globally. Mexico 0.5150 0.5893 56 37 The Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago Costa Rica and Cuba led the region in the area of online ser- El Salvador 0.4749 0.5144 71 59 vices. Top scores in ministry sites were received by Panama Education and Labour in the Dominican Republic Honduras 0.4700 0.4974 73 67 along with the Ministry of Health in Cuba. Guatemala Nicaragua 0.4619 0.4718 79 83 The Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Labour Belize offers key user services to citizens, including 0.4065 0.4048 107 110 Empleateya.net, an employment seeking portal with polls and online form submissions and a re- 0.3937 0.4283 112 99 lated website, FlujoMigratorio, for tracking emi- gration and employment in Spain. 0.3630 0.3668 118 117 The national portal for Grenada integrates great 0.3513 0.4102 120 107 design with social media elements that enable its citizens, especially youth, to share information on Sub-regional average 0.4295 0.4604 social networking platforms with the government. World average 0.4406 0.4514 The Ministry of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago Northern America has implemented a Web-based procurement tool, Finance.gov.tt, that allows suppliers to bid online The United States and Canada continue to score for contracts to supply of goods or services. high in the 2010 Survey. The United States (0.8510) was ranked the second and Canada (0.8448) was ranked the third globally. The United States and Canada were also ranked the second and the third respectively in the online service index. Both countries have well-developed portals with a wide spectrum of e-services for their citizens. They have both created a favorable environment to encourage citizens to participate in decision-making around political issues and to provide feedback. Central America Table 4.12  E-government development in Northern America The region of Central America has regressed in relative terms since the 2008 Survey, when it scored E-government World e-government higher above the world average. In the 2010 Survey, development index value development ranking its e-government scoring falls below the world av- erage. The vast majority of countries in the region Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 received lower scores in the 2010 Survey as com- pared to the 2008 Survey. Mexico (0.5150) leads United States 0.8510 0.8644 24 the region followed by Costa Rica (0.4749) and El Canada Salvador (0.4700). 0.8448 0.8172 37 Mexico experienced the most significant drop Sub-regional average 0.8479 0.8408 in global rankings. It fell by 19 positions from the World average 0.4406 0.4514 2008 Survey to the 2010 Survey and is currently ranked 56th globally. The degeneration of Mexico’s Canada has a strong online presence with a na- e-government is mainly attributed to the much tional portal that offers quick access to government lower score for online services, which dropped programmes and information on popular services. from 0.7057 to 0.4413. The following countries It links to Service Canada, a robust e-services portal for citizens, Canada Business for entrepre- neurs and Canada International for Canadians living abroad. The national portal also has a ‘My Government Account’ feature that provides a66

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingssingle point of access for a citizen to manage a Box 4.6  Panama’s Primera Dama http://www.presidencia.gob.papersonalized set of links to the information and http://www.guatecompras.gt/services offered by the Government of Canada. A Panama: The First Lady’s website Primera Damamobile wireless portal is being developed to pro-vide news, directories and other information. The First Lady’s website Primera Dama is making a considerable effort to support the poor and women. Her site can be browsed by a direct The national portal of the United States is a link from the national website and has a national campaign of ‘No Vio-leader in e-government. The USA.gov homepage lence Against Women’. In conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculturallinks to more than 100 online government services Development, a micro-credit initiative was implemented to supportand transactions. A navigational tool bar organizes rural and indigenous women. The initiative, which is promoted on theinformation in categories for citizens, business and First Lady’s website, is geared to improving the economic activity innon-profit organizations, government employees, the community that is dedicated to domestic activities and productionand visitors to the country. It then breaks these cat- for food consumption.egories down even further so users can quickly lo-cate the information and services. In addition, the Box 4.7  Guatemala e-procurementnational portal also offers its general information in88 languages with extensive online services for for- Guatemala: E-procurement Websiteeigners wishing to conduct business, work, study andtravel in the United States. It also includes live per- Guatemala has well-organized e-procurement website linked di-sonal assistance via ‘Live Help/Web Chat’. The site rectly from the national website as well as from most of the ministryalso makes it very easy to connect and communicate websites. It provides information about the contracts and procure-with the government via social media tools such as ment system of the state, with comprehensive e-government fea-YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and the ‘Gov Gab Blog’, tures and services including registration with authentication andwhere bloggers share tips and information from the viewing of contracts awarded. It lists all opportunities for suppliersFederal government and where citizens can com- and products for buyers.ment and share their own experiences. The website of the Ministry of Labour of Peru In response to the global economic crisis, the was the only ministry site in the region to offer anational portal also provides a link to Recovery. page, Revalora Perú, dedicated to unemploymentgov, which offers information and data on the cur- in light of the global economic crisis. It explainsrent economic crisis, tracking of the recovery fund- the government’s reponse and features a specialing, and how citizens can benefit from it. programme on labour restructuring and govern- ment stimulus activities.South America Table 4.13  E-government development in South AmericaColombia (0.6125) enjoys the highest global rank-ing in the region in the 2010 Survey, climbing E-government World e-governmentby 21 positions from the 2008 Survey. It ranked development index value development rankinghigher than Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.Chile (0.6014) and Uruguay (0.5848) stand second Country 2010 2008 2010 2008and third in the region. Colombia 0.6125 0.5317 31 52 The national portal of Colombia features a vari- Chileety of online services, especially with the procedures Uruguay 0.6014 0.5819 34 40and services section, which allows citizens to search Argentinaby department or region. The site also provides a link Brazil 0.5848 0.5645 36 48to Programa Gobierno en Linea, a comprehensive Peruand user-friendly information resource about e-gov- Venezuela 0.5467 0.5844 48 39ernment activities that is easy to navigate. Colombia’s Ecuadornational website also features e-Cuidadano, an ini- Bolivia 0.5006 0.5679 61 45tiative on digital literacy through which citizens can Paraguaytake courses and become certified. Guyana 0.4923 0.5252 63 55 Suriname 0.4774 0.5095 70 62 0.4322 0.4840 95 75 0.4280 0.4867 98 72 0.4243 0.4654 101 88 0.4140 0.4375 106 97 0.3283 0.3472 127 123 Sub-regional average 0.4869 0.5072 World average 0.4406 0.4514 67

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsFigure 4.4  E-government development in Asia Uruguay offers customized online services through Mi Portal, a prominent link on the home Central Asia 0.4239 page of the national website. Mi Portal offers Eastern Asia strong online features organized by thematic areas South-Eastern Asia 0.6470 for citizens, business and government. Southern Asia Western Asia 0.3248 0.4250 Argentina’s Ministry of Health provides an offi- 0.4732 cial page on the H1N1 flu virus with downloadable Regional average videos, informational pamphlets and links to virtual World average 0.4424 libraries. Argentina’s Ministry of Labour dedicates 0 0.1000 sections of its homepage to special topics such as child 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000 0.4406 0.6000 0.7000 labour, women in the workplace and war veterans. 0.5000 Bolivia’s Ministry of Health and Sports (Social Welfare) offers a one-stop portal at Promocion de la Salud that covers special topics ranging from gen- der violence to environmental health to disability.Map 4.3  Sub-regions of Asia 4.2.3  E-government in AsiaWestern Asia Southern Asia Central Asia The Asian region presents a mixed picture with Armenia Afghanistan Kazakhstan Eastern Asia far exceeding the world average for e- Azerbaijan Bangladesh Kyrgyzstan government development while Southern Asia lags Bahrain Bhutan Tajikistan far behind, as illustrated in figure 4.4. This dichot- Cyprus India Turkmenistan omy also mirrors the income disparities between Georgia Iran (Islamic Republic of) Uzbekistan the two regions. Central and South-Eastern Asia Iraq Maldives are slightly lower than the world average, while Israel Nepal Eastern Asia Western Asia is above the world average. Jordan Pakistan China Kuwait Sri Lanka Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China Table 4.14 shows that the Republic of Korea, Lebanon Macao Special Administrative Region of China Singapore and Bahrain enjoy the top three rank- Oman Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ings in the region. Five countries from Western Asia Qatar Japan made the top 10 in the region. Eastern Asia and Saudi Arabia Mongolia South-East Asia, each had two countries in the top Syrian Arab Republic Republic of Korea 10, while Central Asia had one country in the top 10. Turkey United Arab Emirates South-Eastern Asia Yemen Brunei Darussalam Cambodia Indonesia Lao People’s Democratic Republic Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Viet Nam Central Asia Table 4.15  E-government development in Central AsiaTable 4.14  Top ranked countries in Asia E-government World e-government development index value development ranking Rank Country Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 1 Republic of Korea 2 Singapore E-government World e-government Kazakhstan 0.5578 0.4743 46 81 3 Bahrain development index value development ranking Uzbekistan 4 Japan Kyrgyzstan 0.4498 0.4057 87 109 5 Israel 2010 2008 2010 2008 Tajikistan 6 Malaysia Turkmenistan 0.4417 0.4195 91 102 7 Cyprus 0.8785 0.8317 16 8 Kazakhstan 0.3477 0.3150 122 132 9 United Arab Emirates 0.7476 0.7009 11 23 10 Kuwait 0.3226 0.3262 130 128 0.7363 0.5723 13 42 World average 0.7152 0.7703 17 11 Sub-regional average 0.4239 0.3881 World average 0.4406 0.4514 0.6552 0.7393 26 17 0.6101 0.6063 32 34 0.5705 0.6019 42 35 0.5578 0.4743 46 81 Central Asia has made the most significant improvement as a region from the 2008 Survey, 0.5349 0.6301 49 32 with Kazakhstan (0.5578) making one of the most dramatic leaps in the 2010 Survey to continue 0.5290 0.5202 50 57 0.4406 0.451468

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingsto lead the region. Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and The Ministry of Finance of Mongolia providesTajikistan have all improved their national and a portal for e-procurement where users can regis-ministry websites. ter for online bids, sort through different types of tenders, see upcoming tenders, and find out results Among national portals, Kyrgyzstan received of previous tenders. E-Procurement is available inthe highest ranking in the region. The national the Mongolian and English languages. There is aportal includes transactional aspects and was is newsletter and additional information regardingstrong on citizen engagement. legislation, bidding and guidelines.Eastern Asia Southern AsiaThe Republic of Korea (0.8785) was the highest Table 4.17  E-government development in Southern Asiaranking country in the 2010 Survey and its na-tional portal also received the highest ranking. E-government World e-governmentIt scored particularly high in providing e-services development index value development rankingand tools for citizen engagement. The ministriesof health, education and social welfare scored the Country 2010 2008 2010 2008highest among ministries. Maldives 0.4392 0.4491 92 95 Iran (Islamic Rep. of) Sri Lanka 0.4234 0.4067 102 108 India Bangladesh 0.3995 0.4244 111 101 Pakistan Bhutan 0.3567 0.3814 119 113 Nepal Afghanistan 0.3028 0.2936 134 142Table 4.16  E-government development in Eastern Asia 0.2755 0.3160 146 131 E-government World e-government 0.2598 0.3074 152 134 development index value development ranking 0.2568 0.2725 153 150Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 0.2098 0.2048 168 167Republic of Korea 0.8785 0.8317 16JapanMongolia 0.7152 0.7703 17 11 Sub-regional average 0.3248 0.3395China World average 0.4406 0.4514Democratic People's 0.5243 0.4735 53 82Republic of Korea 0.4700 0.5017 72 65 … ……… In this region, most portals and websites have remained stagnant since the 2008 Survey in termsSub-regional average 0.6470 0.6443 of developing new features. As a result, the regionWorld average 0.4406 0.4514 as a whole has regressed in the 2010 Survey and remains far below the world average. Maldives Japan (0.7152) ranked second in the region (0.4392) continues to lead the region because itin the 2010 Survey, dropping down one place gained the highest scores for infrastructure andfrom the previous survey. Mongolia (0.5243) education indices. Nevertheless, its online servicesgained 29 positions to be ranked 53rd globally, received very low scores and made very limiteda dramatic rise due primarily by efforts to en- progress in overall e-government development.hance its national portal and ministry websites Iran (0.4234) and Bangladesh (0.3028) are the twoto offer more e-services available and more on-line content. Box 4.8  Kazakhstan – putting citizens first E-Gov.kz China fell slightly in the 2010 Survey and the Kazakhstan: User-friendly siteDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea has a verylimited Web presence as in the 2008 Survey. The national website of Kazakhstan is a user-friendly one-stop-shop that allows a one click access to E-Gov.kz, the country’s e-government portal, The national portal of Japan was ranked the which offers a comprehensive selection of e-services for citizens. The por-second highest in Asia. The portal is rich in e-infor- tal also provides information on the national e-government developmentmation and content and provides extensive links to programme with 17 different projects aimed at improving services toministries and key government resources. the citizen in a convenient (online) and cost-effective manner. E-services include e-payments, e-documents, e-registrations, e-signatures, e-forms, The Ministry of Finance of Mongolia scored etc.The portal also contains videos and educational programmes for chil-the highest in the region for its category. Its portal dren, online discussions and consultations, and other citizen engagementprovides comprehensive e-services and opportuni- tools.This distinctive approach is intended to enhance the role of the gov-ties for citizens to provide feedback. ernment and facilitate building citizens’ trust in government authoritiest. 69

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsBox 4.9  Japanese portal provides access to statistical information exceptions, both having significantly improved their government development scores and globalJapan: Statistical information portals rankings in 2010 Survey.Japan’s E-Stat portal is directly accessible and prominently featured Among national portals in the region, Indiaon the extensive national e-government portal. A user-friendly in- has the highest ranking portal with the highestterface provides users with options to gain easy access to official online services score. It has the most e-services andJapanese statistics, learn about meta data, understand statistical tools for citizen engagement in the region.systems and study statistics. There is also a search option to findfurther statistics by ministries and government agencies. Users can http://www.e-stat.go.jp/ South-Eastern Asiasecurely register to receive email updates on statistics and have the http://www.e-gov.go.jp/option to subscribe to RSS Feeds. A mobile version of the portal is http://e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/mbTopE.do/ The national portal of Singapore has an organizedalso available. and effective online approach to providing infor- mation to its users through portals and micro-sites.Box 4.10  Republic of Korea’s national portal Each main tab directs its site visitors to portals by user group. Businesses access EnterpriseOne, aRepublic of Korea: National portals portal with e-services and information tailored to businesses. Citizens and residents are directedThe Republic of Korea’s national portal is exceptional in its design and pro- to E-Citizen, an e-services portal that features thevision of features to its citizens. It is an integrated system allowing citizens personlized single sign-on site SingPass for pay-easy access to government information and contains features for mobile ment services and mobile services.alerts, forms, transactions and online consultation. For e-participation, us-ers are connected to ePeople, a single online service that integrates the Table 4.18  E-government development in South-e-services of all government agencies.The aim of ePeople is to improve the Eastern Asiatransparency of government administration, improve corruption reportingand engage citizens through petitions, proposals and policy discussions. http://www.korea.go.kr/ E-government World e-governmentUsers are connected to a secure login portal for all e-government transac- http://www.epeople.go.kr/ development index value development rankingtions and form submissions. http://egov.go.kr/ Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 Singapore 0.7476 0.7009 11 23 Malaysia Brunei Darussalam 0.6101 0.6063 32 34 Thailand Philippines 0.4796 0.4667 68 87 Viet Nam Indonesia 0.4653 0.5031 76 64 Cambodia Myanmar 0.4637 0.5001 78 66 Lao People’sBox 4.11  Singapore spearheads development of mobile services Democratic Republic 0.4454 0.4558 90 91 Timor-LesteSingapore: Mobile government 0.4026 0.4107 109 106Singapore’s mobile cellular market is characterized by energy and in- 0.2878 0.2989 140 139novation with some 6.5 million mobile devices in use for a penetra-tion rate of 136 percent. Mobile service delivery is a strategic initiative 0.2818 0.2922 141 144of the country’s iGov2010 master plan. Citizens and businesses haveexpressed a high level of satisfaction and enjoy the convenience of 0.2637 0.2383 151 156accessing more than 300 public services through mobile technology. 0.2273 0.2462 162 155The next wave of mobile services planned by the Singapore InfocommDevelopment Authority will support even more 24/7 transactions, in- Sub-regional average 0.4250 0.4290cluding some that use near field technology to enable payment of World average 0.4406 0.4514train and bus fares, redemption of e-coupons, and even the opening ofdoors with the tap of a phone against a wireless reader. Commercial http://www.ecitizen.gov.sg/mobile/relationships between mobile cellular companies and network provid-ers help ensure availability of the requisite technology. Box 4.12  Malaysia – utilizing mobile technology Malaysia: mySMS system Malaysia’s mySMS system won the 2009 APICTA award given to proj- ects of creativity and excellence in ICT in Malaysia. The system enables users to receive information on demand, documents on demand, and broadcast information from government agencies, including emergen- cy information to basic notifications. The system also allows users to provide complaints to government agencies.70

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingsWestern Asia Oman’s Ministry of Education promotes e- learning by having its own e-learning system thatThe majority of countries in this region have wit- features virtual classrooms and a self-learning sys-nessed noticeable changes in their respective rank- tem. Communication can occur via audio, videoings. Bahrain (0.7363) has emerged as the new and text. The Ministry also employs an SMSleader in the region. feature for parents. Through Oman Mobile, the Ministry has set up a system that allows parents to Launched in early 2009, Bahrain’s e-govern- follow their children’s school performance on mo-ment portal system provides its citizens with a bile phones. Parents can track student attendance,wealth of information, e-services and links to receive calls to visit the school, learn about tem-national and ministry sites. ‘E-Government for porary suspensions, pull student ID, and receivea Better Life’ is the motto for the government’s grade reports.initiative. E-participation and citizen engagementfeatures are accessible throughout the portal sites. Saudi Arabia’s national portal features links toThe government publishes a Customer Charter 215 e-services. While not a single-sign-on system,available in the page footer. the electronic portal easily connects its citizens to the online services of various government agen-Table 4.19  E-government development in Western Asia cies for such purposes as obtaining personal docu- ments, filing complaints, utilizing business services E-government World e-government and paying utilities. In conjunction with this direc- development index value development ranking tory of e-services is SADAD, an e-payment system through which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fa-Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 cilitates and streamlines bill payment transactions.Bahrain 0.7363 0.5723 13 42IsraelCyprus 0.6552 0.7393 26 17United Arab EmiratesKuwait 0.5705 0.6019 42 35JordanSaudi Arabia 0.5349 0.6301 49 32QatarTurkey 0.5290 0.5202 50 57OmanAzerbaijan 0.5278 0.5480 51 50LebanonGeorgia 0.5142 0.4935 58 70 4.2.4  E-government in EuropeArmeniaSyrian Arab Republic 0.4928 0.5314 62 53 All European sub-regions excel in the e-governmentIraq development index and achieve high scores far aboveYemen 0.4780 0.4834 69 76 world average. Drawing on the advantages of the well-developed telecommunication infrastructure 0.4576 0.4691 82 84 and high human resources capacity, Western and Northern Europe perform especially well in e-gov- 0.4571 0.4609 83 89 ernment development, followed by Southern and Eastern Europe. Many countries in Europe are high- 0.4388 0.4840 93 74 income developed countries, and this advantage is reflected in the ranking shown in figure 4.5. 0.4248 0.4598 100 90 0.4025 0.4182 110 103 0.3103 0.3614 133 119 0.2996 0.2690 136 151 0.2154 0.2142 164 164Sub-regional average 0.4732 0.4857World average 0.4406 0.4514 Israel (0.6552), Cyprus (0.5705) and United Table 4.20  Top ranked countries in Europe E-government World e-governmentArab Emirates (0.5349), were ranked as the second, development index value development rankingthe third and the fourth in the region. Although Rank CountryIsrael scored lower in the 2010 Survey, its Ministries 2010 2008 2010 2008of Finance and Labour scored the highest in the 1 United Kingdomregion. The national portal of Cyprus scored high 2 Netherlands 0.8147 0.7872 4 10within the region; it provided e-tools to empower 3 Norwaycitizens to dialogue with the government. 4 Denmark 0.8097 0.8631 55 5 Spain Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Turkey im- 6 France 0.8020 0.8921 63proved their rankings in the 2010 Survey, while 7 SwedenAzerbaijan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Syria 8 Germany 0.7872 0.9134 72dropped to lower positions. 9 Belgium 10 Switzerland 0.7516 0.7228 9 20 World average 0.7510 0.8038 10 9 0.7474 0.9157 12 1 0.7309 0.7136 15 22 0.7225 0.6779 16 24 0.7136 0.7626 18 12 0.4406 0.4514 71

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsFigure 4.5  E-government development in Europe Table 4.21  E-government development in Eastern Europe Eastern Europe 0.5449 E-government World e-government Northern Europe 0.5566 development index value development ranking Southern Europe Western Europe Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 Regional average 0.7113 Hungary 0.6315 0.6494 27 30 World average 0.7165 Czech Republic 0 0.1000 Slovakia 0.6060 0.6696 33 25 Bulgaria Poland 0.5639 0.5889 43 38 Romania Ukraine 0.5590 0.5719 44 43 Russian Federation Belarus 0.5582 0.6134 45 33 Republic of Moldova 0.6227 0.5479 0.5383 47 51 0.5181 0.5728 54 41 0.4406 0.5136 0.5120 59 60 0.2000 0.3000 0.4000 0.5000 0.6000 0.7000 0.8000 0.4900 0.5213 64 56 0.4611 0.4510 80 93Map 4.4  Sub-regions of Europe Sub-regional average 0.5449 0.5689 World average 0.4406 0.4514 Southern Europe Northern Europe Eastern Europe The website of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine Albania scored the highest among ministries based on its con- Andorra Åland Islands Belarus tent and citizen engagement, although e-services were Bosnia and Herzegovina limited. The Ministry of Finance of Romania also Croatia Channel Islands Bulgaria scored high for the region due to the availability of a Gibraltar number of e-services as well as extensive content. Western Europe Greece Denmark Czech Republic Austria Holy See Belgium Italy Estonia Hungary France Malta Germany Montenegro Faeroe Islands Poland Liechtenstein Portugal Luxembourg San Marino Finland Republic of Moldova Monaco Serbia Netherlands Slovenia Guernsey Romania Northern Europe Switzerland Spain The former Yugoslav Republic Iceland Russian Federation of Macedonia Ireland Slovakia Table 4.22  E-government development in Northern Europe Isle of Man Ukraine Jersey Latvia Lithuania E-government World e-government development index value development ranking Norway Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands Sweden Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United Kingdom 0.8147 0.7872 4 10 Norway Denmark 0.8020 0.8921 63 Sweden Finland 0.7872 0.9134 72 Estonia Table 4.20 shows that the United Kingdom Ireland 0.7474 0.9157 12 1 emerged as the new leader in Europe in the 2010 Iceland Survey, followed by the Netherlands. In the top 10 Lithuania 0.6967 0.7488 19 15 list, Western Europe had five countries, Northern Latvia Europe had four countries, Southern Europe had 0.6965 0.7600 20 13 one country and there were no countries from Eastern Europe. 0.6866 0.7296 21 19 Eastern Europe 0.6697 0.7176 22 21 The region as a whole has not changed much since the 2008 Survey. In the 2010 Survey, Hungary 0.6295 0.6617 28 28 (0.6315) has moved ahead of the Czech Republic (0.6060) to lead the region. The national portal 0.5826 0.5944 37 36 of Hungary was ranked the highest in the region. Poland and Ukraine moved down in the rankings. Sub-regional average 0.7113 0.7721 The Republic of Moldova (0.4611) moved up 13 World average 0.4406 0.4514 positions to be ranked 80th globally. The United Kingdom (0.8147) enjoys the highest ranking in Europe. The national portal of the United Kingdom was ranked the third in the 2010 Survey. The Scandinavian countries as a whole scored lower. Sweden dropped from first position in the 2008 Survey to the 12th in global ranking in the 2010 Survey, which is mainly at- tributed to the regression of its online services.72

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingsWith the exception of the United Kingdom, all Spain (0.7516) continues to lead the region andthe countries in the region had lower e-govern- moved up in the global ranking in the 2010 Survey.ment indexes in the 2010 Survey. Spain enjoys a well-developed online e-services por- tal, Red.es, with clear statements to citizens about The United Kingdom offers a comprehensive its purpose and mission, plus services from its na-and user-friendly national portal. The home page tional portal. Slovenia (0.6243) and Malta (0.6129)features 16 categories of information most often were ranked the second and the third in the region.accessed, e.g. Motoring, Parents, Environment The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,& Greener Living, Disabled, Money, Tax & Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina im-Benefits, Government & Citizens’ Rights, proved the most in the region in the 2010 Survey,Health & Wellbeing and Crime & Justice. Atab on the top navigation tool bar titled ‘Do Box 4.13  Belgium’s electronic identification cardIt Online’ also links to the 16 categories, andspecifically to all of the transactions that can Belgium: My Belgium national portalbe conducted online within these categories.Citizens can text in a key word and receive infor- The national portal of Belgium has a link called My Belgium that is themation via mobile phone on job opportunities, single point of contact to government information and services. Over 9public transport delays, train schedules, nearest million Belgians have eID cards that allow them to download authen-passport or doctors offices, emergency and ter- ticated certificates from their personal file from the MyBelgium portal.ror alerts and many other services. The UnitedKingdom’s Web network also features a wide http://www.belgium.berange of public consultations, mostly available http://www.mybelgium.beat specific ministry sites; model-practice portalsfor public tenders and contracts; and e-services Box 4.14  Austria – support for gender equalityat the Government Gateway. Austria: Gender equality website The website of the Ministry of Finance ofNorway was ranked highest among ministries in Austria has a website that supports gender equality. It provides in-the region in the 2010 Survey. formation about current government initiatives such as ‘Equal pay and revenue transparency for women’ and the ‘New Child’ law. TheSouthern Europe website promotes a programme provides parents with additional in- come during the first 14 months of the child’s life, supporting mothers,Table 4.23  E-government development in fathers and single parents during difficult economic times.Southern Europe http://www.frauen.bka.gv.at E-government World e-government development index value development ranking Box 4.15  Germany – applying e-government tools to educate childrenCountry 2010 2008 2010 2008 Germany: Gender equality websiteSpain 0.7516 0.7228 9 20 The national portal of Germany has a link off the homepage to aSlovenia website for children to learn how their government works, Regieren-Malta 0.6243 0.6681 29 26 kapieren. It has tabs for interactive features titled such as ’discover’,Croatia ‘games’ and ‘questions’ and a daily news section. It captures theItaly 0.6129 0.6582 30 29 children’s attention and gives them a better understanding of thePortugal process of government.Greece 0.5858 0.5650 35 47TFYR Macedonia http://www.bundesregierung.de/Andorra 0.5800 0.6680 38 27 http://www.regierenkapieren.de/MontenegroBosnia and 0.5787 0.6479 39 31HerzegovinaSerbia 0.5708 0.5718 41 44AlbaniaSan Marino 0.5261 0.4866 52 73 0.5148 0.5175 57 58 0.5101 0.4282 60 100 0.4698 0.4509 74 94 0.4585 0.4828 81 77 0.4519 0.4670 85 86 … ………Sub-regional average 0.5566 0.5642World average 0.4406 0.4514 73

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsMap 4.5  Sub-regions of Oceania The national portal of Portugal is informational and integrated and provides a clear gateway to ser-Australia and New Zealand Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia vices for citizens, including e-services. The site pro- Australia Fiji Guam American Samoa vides link to all ministries, including links to various New Zealand New Caledonia Kiribati Cook Islands services for citizens, such as Emprego 2009 for ac- Norfolk Island Papua New Guinea Marshall Islands French Polynesia cess to educational and professional resources. Solomon Islands Micronesia (Federated States of) Niue Vanuatu Nauru Pitcairn Montenegro combined effective graphic design Northern Mariana Islands Samoa with efficient navigation for a visually related se- Palau Tokelau ries of portals and websites, including those of the Tonga national government and all of its ministries. It Tuvalu worked well as a result of investment in back office Wallis and Futuna Islands integration. The various sites polling users about what they would like to see changed or improved with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on their government’s websites. gaining 21 positions to be ranked 52nd globally, Montenegro gaining 40 positions to be in 60th The Education Ministry of Serbia had one of position and Bosnia and Herzegovina gaining 20 the best online resources for students including positions to be 74th. These changes were attribut- information on student loans and scholarships, able to the improvement in telecommunication foreign government and foundations scholarships, infrastructure and online services. international competitions, and Republic of Serbia Foundation Scholarships. Students can buy their Western Europe books online and access their school records. The Netherlands (0.8097) continues to lead the re- The website of the Ministry of Health of gion in the global rankings of the 2010 Survey, with Belgium received the second highest ranking France (0.7510) and Germany (0.7309) ranked sec- among that of the health ministries in the 2010 ond and the third respectively. Liechtenstein saw Survey based on the excellent provision of e-ser- the most significant progress and was ranked 23rd vices to citizens. The country’s Ministry of Labour globally in the 2010 Survey, which could be attrib- has a website with a notable usability/user experi- uted to its efforts to improve online services. ence. For example, when a user searches on its site, any results that are associated with an e-govern- Table 4.24  E-government development in ment feature or service will be marked with the Western Europe letter ‘e’ in the form of a red icon next to the search results, cuing the user to click. E-government World e-government development index value development ranking The national portal of the Netherlands offers a gateway to the municipalities of the Netherlands. Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 It also harbors a substantive resource for elderly and disabled individuals wishing to locate online Netherlands 0.8097 0.8631 55 government services. France Germany 0.7510 0.8038 10 9 4.2.5  E-government in Oceania Belgium Switzerland 0.7309 0.7136 15 22 Australia (0.7863) continues to lead the Oceania Liechtenstein region with New Zealand (0.7311) in second posi- Austria 0.7225 0.6779 16 24 tion. Among the island states in the Pacific, Palau Luxembourg (0.4189) and Fiji (0.3925) are the leading countries Monaco 0.7136 0.7626 18 12 in e-government development. 0.6694 0.5486 23 49 The extensive national portal for Australia helps citizens to navigate to key features, government ini- 0.6679 0.7428 24 16 tiatives, services and information. The website promi- nently features the Social Inclusion website with the 0.6672 0.7512 25 14 …… …… Sub-regional average 0.7165 0.7329 World average 0.4406 0.451474

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingsvision of society in which all Australians feel valued Table 4.26  Top ranked developing countries E-government World e-governmentand are equipped with the opportunity to participate development index value development rankingfully in society. New features on the site include State, Rank CountryTerritory and Local Government Search within the 2010 2008 2010 2008national site, smart forms for enrolling to vote and 1 Republic of Koreamaking complaints, and new e-consultation features 2 Singapore 0.8785 0.8317 16for public consultation, blogs and a feature called 3 BahrainBright Ideas where citizens can provide new ideas and 4 Israel 0.7476 0.7009 11 23perspectives on a specific or any subject. 5 Colombia 6 Malaysia 0.7363 0.5723 13 42 7 Chile 8 Uruguay 0.6552 0.7393 26 17 9 Barbados 10 Cyprus 0.6125 0.5317 31 52 11 Kazakhstan 12 Argentina 0.6101 0.6063 32 34 13 United Arab Emirates 14 Kuwait 0.6014 0.5819 34 40 15 Jordan 16 Mongolia 0.5848 0.5645 36 48 17 UkraineTable 4.25  E-government development in Oceania 18 Antigua and Barbuda 0.5714 0.5667 40 46 19 Mexico E-government World e-government 20 Saudi Arabia 0.5705 0.6019 42 35 development index value development ranking 21 Russian Federation 22 Brazil 0.5578 0.4743 46 81 23 QatarCountry 2010 2008 2010 2008 24 Peru 0.5467 0.5844 48 39 25 BelarusAustralia 0.7863 0.8108 88 0.5349 0.6301 49 32New Zealand World averagePalau 0.7311 0.7392 14 18 0.5290 0.5202 50 57FijiSamoa 0.4189 0.0000 103 … 0.5278 0.5480 51 50TongaVanuatu 0.3925 0.4156 113 105 0.5243 0.4735 53 82Solomon IslandsPapua New Guinea 0.3742 0.3761 115 115 0.5181 0.5728 54 41KiribatiMarshall Islands 0.3697 0.3950 116 112 0.5154 0.4485 55 96Micronesia (FederatedStates of) 0.2521 0.2510 155 154 0.5150 0.5893 56 37NauruTuvalu 0.2445 0.2748 156 147 0.5142 0.4935 58 70 0.2043 0.2078 171 166 0.5136 0.5120 59 60 …… …… 0.5006 0.5679 61 45 …… …… 0.4928 0.5314 62 53 … ……… 0.4923 0.5252 63 55 … ……… … ……… 0.4900 0.5213 64 56 0.4406 0.4514Sub-regional average 0.4193 0.4338 Annex provide the raw scores for the telecommuni-World average 0.4406 0.4514 cation infrastructure, human capacity and online service indexes of these countries.4.3  Economic groupings A number of countries are engaged in the de-Table 4.26 illustrates the top 25 developing coun- velopment of regional e-government strategies, astries in the 2010 Survey. Many developing countries illustrated by the examples in box 4.16.have been investing in streamlining the national andministry portals and websites to better offer more 4.4  Progress in online servicee-services and more actively engage citizens in dia- provisionlogues with government. The digital divide betweenthe developed countries and developing countries is The number of e-services available on governmentgradually closing in the e-government arena. websites continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Every year it is evident that more and more e- Table 4.27 provides a list of the least developed services are put into operation in governmentcountries, which face severe constraints to e-gov- websites. A country’s strength in online serviceernment development. provision is measured against four benchmarks. • Does the national government provide basic Finally, some countries do not appear in theranking of the 2010 United Nations E-Government information services online?Survey. The Survey lacked data in significant areas • Does the national government use multimediafor these countries, which made it impossible toeither construct an index on infrastructure or technology and promote two-way exchangeshuman resources capacity, or both. Tables in the with citizens? 75

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsTable 4.27  E-government development in least developed countries1 • Does the national government use the Internet to deliver public services and solicit occasional E-government World e-government input on matters of public interest? development index value development ranking • Does the national government connect publicRank Country 2010 2008 2010 2008 service functions and routinely consult with citizens on matters of public policy? 1 Maldives 0.4392 0.4491 92 95 If there is clear evidence that a country does all 2 Samoa 3 Lesotho 0.3742 0.3761 115 115 four of these things well, and therefore has estab- 4 São Tomé and Príncipe lished a digital foundation for citizen empower- 5 Angola 0.3512 0.3805 121 114 ment and inclusion, then it will be highly placed 6 Bangladesh in the online service index. 7 United Republic of Tanzania 0.3258 0.3215 128 130 8 Equatorial Guinea Overall, the bar for online service has shifted 9 Madagascar 0.3110 0.3328 132 127 up and the global index average is down in the 10 Cambodia 2010 Survey as compared to 2008. The present 11 Myanmar 0.3028 0.2936 134 142 Survey gives more weight to more advanced stages 12 Uganda of online development, e.g. availability of trans- 13 Zambia 0.2926 0.2929 137 143 actional services and promotion of the connected 14 Rwanda approach to e-government. Half of the total avail- 15 Lao People’s Democratic Republic 0.2902 0.2890 138 145 able points for online services are assigned to 16 Bhutan these stages. Specifically, the survey instrument 17 Nepal 0.2890 0.3065 139 135 allocates 68 points to characteristics of an emerg- 18 Sudan ing online presence (16.9 percent), 116 points to 19 Vanuatu 0.2878 0.2989 140 139 an enhanced online presence (28.8 percent), 169 20 Solomon Islands points to a transactional presence (41.9 percent) 21 Mauritania 0.2818 0.2922 141 144 and 50 points to a connected presence (12.4 per- 22 Democratic Republic of the Congo cent) for a maximum possible score of 403. 23 Malawi 0.2812 0.3133 142 133 24 Comoros 4.4.1  How governments rank in 25 Mozambique 0.2810 0.2266 143 158 26 Timor-Leste online services 27 Senegal 0.2749 0.2941 148 141 28 Yemen First position in online services is held by the 29 Togo 0.2637 0.2383 151 156 Republic of Korea (1.0000), followed by the United 30 Liberia States (0.9365) and Canada (0.8825). Several of the 31 Gambia 0.2598 0.3074 152 134 top-ranked countries in 2010, as seen in table 4.28, 32 Afghanistan are newcomers or have otherwise made significant 33 Haiti 0.2568 0.2725 153 150 gains in the last two years. Notable climbers in- 34 Djibouti clude Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Singapore and the 35 Ethiopia 0.2542 0.2186 154 161 United Kingdom, which have joined the world’s top 36 Benin performers in online service development. 37 Burundi 0.2521 0.2510 155 154 38 Eritrea Growth of online services is especially strong in 39 Mali 0.2445 0.2748 156 147 the case of middle-income countries. In 2010, mid- 40 Sierra Leone dle-income countries accounted for four positions 41 Burkina Faso 0.2359 0.2028 157 168 among the top 10 in the online service development 42 Guinea-Bissau index, and 14 positions among the top 35 countries. 43 Guinea 0.2357 0.2177 158 162 44 Central African Republic A country’s strength in online service provision 45 Chad 0.2357 0.2878 159 146 correlates positively with its use of new technology 46 Niger such the emerging tools for social networking. 47 Kiribati 0.2327 0.1896 160 170 The 2010 Survey put greater emphasis on online 48 Somalia service provision and networking with citizens, 49 Tuvalu 0.2288 0.2559 161 152 0.2273 0.2462 162 155 0.2241 0.2531 163 153 0.2154 0.2142 164 164 0.2150 0.2191 165 160 0.2133 0.2170 166 163 0.2117 0.2253 167 159 0.2098 0.2048 168 167 0.2074 0.2097 169 165 0.2059 0.2279 170 157 0.2033 0.1857 172 172 0.2017 0.1860 173 171 0.2014 0.1780 174 174 0.1859 0.1965 175 169 0.1815 0.1591 176 175 0.1697 0.1463 177 178 0.1587 0.1542 178 176 0.1561 0.1521 179 177 0.1426 0.1402 180 180 0.1399 0.1412 181 179 0.1235 0.1047 182 182 0.1098 0.1142 183 181 …… …… …… …… …… …… World average 0.4406 0.451476

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingsengaging and empowering them to be part of the Table 4.28  Top 20 countries in online service developmentgovernance process. Social networking tools enablegovernments to consult with citizens and expand Rank Country Online service index value Rank Country Online service index value.opportunities for participation in decision-making 0.6825processes. They can be used to garner feedback and 1 Republic of Korea 1.0000 11 France 0.6794opinions and to elicit support for public policy. To 2 United States 0.9365 12 Netherlands 0.6730engage citizens, more countries have developed 3 Canada 0.8825 13 Denmark 0.6730sites in the social networking arena and more are 4 United Kingdom 0.7746 14 Japan 0.6381in the process of doing so. 5 Australia 0.7651 15 New Zealand 0.6317 6 Spain 0.7651 16 Malaysia 0.6254Figure 4.6  Nearly all governments have websites 7 Norway 0.7365 17 Belgium 0.6095 8 Bahrain 0.7302 18 Chile 0.5841 9 Colombia 0.7111 19 Israel 0.5556 10 Singapore 0.6857 20 Mongolia Governments 4.4.2  About the services governments without websites provide online An increasing number of governments are en- 2% deavouring to meet the needs of the citizens by providing more online content and e-services Governments and by creating a level of online dialogue that with websites was not in place even a few years ago, according 98% to the 2010 Survey. Portals are becoming more integrated and streamlined. It is easier than Some low-income countries are lagging far ever for citizens to find information and ser-behind the world trend towards more and bet- vices online. This is especially true in developedter e-government development. Some countries and middle-income countries. Least developedhave no national portal or ministry websites for countries are starting to incorporate many of theeducation, finance, health, labour and social ser- online tools that developed and middle-incomevices. Consequently, these countries receive a score countries now use, including videos and socialof zero for the online service index. Countries networking tools. Only a few countries are ablewith no online presence include Central African to offer many secure transactions online, how-Republic, Somalia and Swaziland. These countries ever, although the trend is toward more e-formscould not be ranked for online services develop- and e-payments.ment because they had no government websites.However, Central African Republic and Swaziland Box 4.16  Regional e-government strategiesreceived an e-government development score be-cause the country had sufficient data to calculate Ministers responsible for e-government policy in the European Union issued a “Ministerial Declaration on e-Govern-the indexes for telecommunications infrastructure ment” in November 2009 that shared a common vision, objectives and implementation approach for 2011-2015.and human capacity. The Persian Gulf region has developed e-government standards and structures that are implemented Sometimes e-government development can throughout the region. The countries in the Gulf Cooperative Council are working together and sharing theirchange quickly. The 2008 Survey reported that e-government experiences to advance the region as a whole. All GCC countries were represented at a regionalZambia had no online presence and yet by the e-government conference in December 2009 in Oman. Awards were presented for innovative e-government2010 Survey the country’s national sites were read- programmes, services and solutions in the region.ily available and easily assessed. African Ministers confirmed their willingness to promote inter-governmental cooperation in having common frameworks for e-Government regional development at a meeting in Mexico in September 2009. In February 2010, ICT will be the focus of the Summit of the African Union, with the theme ‘Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development.’ A draft regional Caribbean e-Government strategy 2010-2014 was prepared in 2009 with the active participation of senior e-government representatives of Caribbean States and UNDESA support. It produced by Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD), an agency of CARICOM. This strategy contains a consensus on e-government vision, goals, strategic initiatives, immediate outcomes and implementation plan for Caribbean countries. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is planning to organize a series of regional summits, strategies and products, including the Arab States and the Americas.The effort is part of its ‘Connect the World by 2015 initiative’. 77

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankings Ninety-eight percent of countries have some countries do not have websites at all. Citizens visiting presence on the Web, either by having a national national portals with links to only five or less minis- portal or ministry website, as illustrated in figure tries in their homepages must search outside for infor- 4.6. This number has not changed since 2008. mation that should be readily accessible. Ideally, the homepage of a country’s national portal should have Certain features are common across many web- links to all ministry and government agency websites. sites. Table 4.29 reveals that most government web- sites have a section for archived information and a Figure 4.7  Number of ministries linked to a section called ‘What’s New’. These features enable national portal users to find information on past activities that are no longer highlighted on the website and encourage 6-10 ministries 0 ministries users to browse updated information. In contrast, 10 countries 49 countries only 44 percent of governments have a section that 5% 26% provides ready answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ). The use of FAQs can reduce the amount of 1-5 ministries time and human resources devoted to public inquiry 15 countries functions, and improve public perception that the 8% goverment is responsive to citizens’ concerns. Table 4.29  Characteristics of an emerging More than 10 Ministries online presence 118 countries 61% Feature Number of Percent countries What’s new? 81 Frequently asked questions 156 44 Archived information 85 86 166 Most national portals have direct links to their Site maps can be found on slightly over 50 per- respective ministries. The 2010 Survey finds that 61 cent of national portals, as per table 4.30. This very percent of national portals contain links to more useful feature helps citizens to find pages on the than 10 ministry websites, as illustrated in figure 4.7. website without having to guess where informa- These links allow citizens visiting a national portal tion might be found. Links to other public sector to link quickly and directly to the information and services are provided on 67 percent of national por- services offered by a particular ministry, avoiding tals, which makes them a one-stop shop for infor- separate searches. They can simply go to the national mation and services. homepage and access the ministry websites. Table 4.30  Site maps and linkages from national portals Figure 4.7 also shows that one quarter of national portals do not have links to any ministries, which Feature Number of Percent means that they are either completely segregated from countries the websites of ministries, or the ministries in these Site map is available 53 Links between national home pages and 102Box 4.17  Leaders in transactional and connected e-government ministries/departments Links between national home page and public 143 74Who are the world leaders in transactional and connected e-government? The following countries are in the third sector servicesor fourth stage of online services development: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, 129 67France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Spain, Swe-den, United Kingdom and United States. More than 50 percent of ministry websites have site maps, help or FAQs available or are integrated These countries have been integrating back-office operations and providing e-services to citizens in a seam- with the national portal, as shown in figure 4.8.less manner. Information is efficiently transferred between agencies and departments. In addition, these countries Ministries of finance are more likely than otherhave a proven track-record of using Web 2.0 tools to communicate with citizens and regularly receive inputs ministries to be integrated with the national portalfrom them. These inputs are used to shape public policy and law. The level of public trust in government is higher and to include a site map.among advanced e-government countries than in many other places. Even static forms are not widely available on national portals. Figure 4.9 indicates that 6378

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingspercent of countries have not provided citizens Figure 4.8  Features of ministry websiteswith the capability of downloading static forms,let alone forms that can be filled-out and submit- Site map Integrated with Help orted online. In many least developed countries available the national partal FAQ availablecitizens can download forms, complete them byhand and manually submit them to the relevant Finance ministries 92ministry or department. Education ministries 61 Health ministriesFigure 4.9  Availability of static online forms Labour ministries 81 Social service ministries 62 83 68 51 90 706-10 forms 60 835 countries 62 3%More than 10 forms 8353 countries 5228% 69 1-5 forms 11 countries 0 forms 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 6% 123 countries 63% Multimedia is gaining importance in the config- uration of most national and ministry websites, with 49 percent of national portals supporting audio and/ or video content, up from only 38 percent in 2008. Table 4.32  Support of mobile access Some 49 percent of national portals or websites Feature Number of Percentare in more than one language. Where a site has countriesmore than one language, English is usually the Site supports WAP/GPRS access 13second language, demonstrating the continued im- Site offers service to send alert messages to 24portance of that language on the Internet. In a few mobile phones 13cases, ministry websites are in English only, while User can apply for registration or application by 25English is not the first language of that country. mobile phone 7 Users can pay registration fees, fines, etc. by 14 mobile phone 4 17 Figure 4.10  Selected countries with high transactional presence scoresTable 4.31  Website design features: RSS, audio, United States 110video, language 107Feature Number of Percent Republic of Korea 110 120 countriesSite meets provides at least minimal level ofweb content accessibility 24 13 Canada 99Site support audio and/or video content 95 49 Colombia 89Site provides real simple syndication (RSS) 68 35 ChileSite offers content in more than one language 95 49 Bahrain 74 France 72 The use of real simple syndication (RSS) feeds Israel 72jumped from 10 percent of national portals in the United Kingdom 662008 Survey to 35 percent in the 2010 Survey. This Australia 66means that more national portals are automatically 64releasing information and content to individualsubscribers. Citizens are informed whenever any 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100updates are made. 79

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsFigure 4.11  Number of ministry websites with online forms and transactional services national portals? The majority of countries in table 4.33 were middle income countries. Since 2008, Finance ministries 31 69 there has been a slight increase of governmental Education ministries 29 63 online payment facilities. Health ministries 52 Downloadable forms Labour ministries 23 Transactional services Social service ministries 18 Online forms 0 10 Transactional services Only a few countries are able to offer many transac- 27 tional services online at this time. However, coun- 27 66 tries with the highest scores in figure 4.10 offer a 62 wide range of integrated transactional e-services 36 50 60 70 80 that cater to many segments of society. They have 26 comprehensive back office integration systems and secure networks on which these e-services oper- 24 40 ate, giving citizens security and confidence. The 25 United States, the Republic of Korea and Canada are the top three countries in terms of transac- 20 30 tional opportunities. The developing countries are well-represented in the top 10 with four countries: Wireless devices such as mobile phones are being Bahrain, Chile, Colombia and Israel. used by some governments to provide services in the form of alert messages, applications or fee payment. Table 4.34  Online submissions Number of Percent Table 4.33 indicates a slight increase in the number countries of national portals using wireless application pro- Feature 28 tocol (WAP) for wireless communication. In 2008, 53 32 19 national portals had WAP implemented. Online forms 60 17 Online transactions 32 10 Wireless devices such as mobile phones are al- Application for government benefits 19 most equally popular in developing countries as Acknowledgement of receipt they are in developed countries. In 2008, 14 na- tional sites offered mobile alerts, while in 2010, Table 4.35  Connected presence Number of Percent that number increased to 25. Such an increase is countries minor compared to the major opportunity that Feature 16 wireless devices offer to governments interested in 31 providing electronic content and services to their Single sign-on citizens. Meanwhile, only in seven countries can Electronic identity management and 33 17 users pay registration fees, fines, etc. via mobile ac- authentication 130 68 cess provided through their national portals. These One-stop shop 74 39 countries are Bahrain, Croatia, Estonia, Israel, Information in machine readable format 61 32 Mongolia, New Zealand and Sudan. Interaction with Head of State Table 4.33  Online payment Table 4.36  Connecting to citizens Number of Percent countries Payment type Feature Number of Percent 21 11 Taxes countries Citizens can request personal information 74 Registrations 18 about themselves 16 8 Permits, certificates, identification cards 34 19 Users can tag, assess and rank content 12 6 Fines 36 17 Users can initiate proposals Utilities 33 11 Users can personalize the website 22 11 22 9 Government has committed to incorporating 18 e-participation outcome in decision making Compared to mobile payment options, more Fewer than one-third of governments provide are offered through online portals. How many citizens with the possibility of online transactions countries allow online payment of taxes, fines, and the online submission of e-forms, as shown in registrations, utilities, and certificates from their table 4.34 on online submissions. In addition, less80

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 4Chapter Four World e-government rankingsthan 20 percent of governments allow citizens to Table 4.37  Breakdown of online service scores for top ranked countriesapply for government benefits online. The mainreason for this low number is the complex integra- Emerging infor- Enhanced infor- Transactional ser- Connected ser- Totaltion that is required among different systems to mation services mation services vices (stage 3) vices (stage 4) Scoreensure compatibility and a seamless interaction.All administrative or financial transactions need (stage 1) (stage 2) (%)to be performed over a secure network. The threatof identify theft or financial fraud is too great on an Rank Country Points Score Points Score Points Score Points Score Points 78unsecured network. (%) (%) (%) (%) 73 1 Republic of Korea 315 69 The websites of ministries of finance have the 2 United States 66 97 106 91 112 66 31 62 295 61most downloadable forms and online transaction 3 Canada 278 60services available for citizens, while the ministries of 4 United Kingdom 62 91 97 84 115 68 21 42 244 60labour have the most e-forms, as seen in figure 4.11. 5 Australia 241 58 5 Spain 59 87 83 72 104 62 32 64 241 57 Governments are having some success in cre- 7 Norway 232 56ating a ‘connected presence’ with their national 8 Bahrain 61 90 87 75 71 42 25 50 230 54portals. Table 4.37 shows that they are creating 9 Colombia 224 53websites that support citizens by making it easier 10 Singapore 58 85 76 66 69 41 38 76 216 53for them to find information, by integrating sites 11 France 215 53into a one-stop shop, and by creating single-sign-on 12 Netherlands 60 88 88 76 68 40 25 50 214 53for access to all government services. The level of 13 Denmark 212 50sophistication of the single-sign-on varies greatly 13 Japan 61 90 85 73 69 41 17 34 212 49among countries. Very few single-sign-on systems 15 New Zealand 201 49have reached the level of Singapore’s Sing-pass. 16 Malaysia 63 93 72 62 72 43 23 46 199 48 17 Belgium 197 46 Governments are inviting citizens to become 18 Chile 57 84 51 44 89 53 27 54 192 43more actively involved in determining the design 19 Israel 184 43and content of portals and websites. Table 4.36 lists 20 Mongolia 54 79 82 71 64 38 16 32 175 42a variety of ways this is being done. Some countries 21 Germany 173 41allow users to personalize their own ‘Mysite’ from 22 Jordan 54 79 71 61 77 46 13 26 168 41the information found on government portals. Six 23 Egypt 167 41countries allow citizens to tag and rank content, 24 Kazakhstan 60 88 80 69 55 33 19 38 166which allows them to have more control of the in- 24 Sweden 166formation provided in the portals. 54 79 88 76 52 31 18 364.4.3  The data behind the rankings 59 87 78 67 56 33 19 38What kind of data goes into measuring a coun- 59 87 76 66 46 27 20 40try’s performance in online services? Table 4.37shows categories on online service data including 51 75 73 63 55 33 20 40emerging information services, enhanced informa-tion services, transactional services and connected 57 84 66 57 54 32 20 40services. The scores include the total scores for thenational portal and five ministries. The maximum 57 84 44 38 74 44 17 34points that a country could attain is 403. 49 72 45 39 66 39 24 48 Table 4.38 shows online service data for se-lected developing countries. Most developing 47 69 49 42 54 32 25 50countries are still limited in the transactional as-pect of e-government. None of the countries listed 54 79 76 66 23 14 20 40were able to obtain over 50 percent of the pointsavailable in the transaction stage. 50 74 44 38 57 34 17 34 55 81 51 44 49 29 12 24 66 97 53 46 24 14 23 46 54 79 67 58 26 15 19 38 Table 4.38  Online service levels in selected developing countries Emerging Enhanced Transactional Connected Total information information services (stage 3) services (stage 4) Score services (stage 1) services (stage 2) (%) Rank Country Points Score Points Score Points Score Points Score Points (%) (%) (%) (%) 38 30 Tunisia 152 37 32 Uruguay 52 76 40 34 50 30 10 20 151 36 36 Kuwait 145 34 39 Mexico 51 75 43 37 36 21 21 42 139 33 40 El Salvador 134 32 44 Argentina 41 60 39 34 58 34 7 14 130 32 45 Peru 129 31 49 Philippines 45 66 52 45 26 15 16 32 124 30 53 Uzbekistan 119 29 54 Cyprus 48 71 30 26 46 27 10 20 117 29 55 Brazil 116 29 55 China 53 78 42 36 22 13 13 26 116 29 55 India 116 29 55 Oman 53 78 37 32 26 15 13 26 116 29 59 Dominican Republic 115 27 62 Turkey 48 71 25 22 35 21 16 32 109 27 62 Ukraine 109 27 65 Trinidad and Tobago 52 76 39 34 18 11 10 20 107 26 67 Thailand 105 26 68 Russian Federation 44 65 39 34 19 11 15 30 104 53 78 34 29 10 6 19 38 54 79 40 34 42 18 36 45 66 41 35 22 13 8 16 47 69 33 28 26 15 10 20 46 68 30 26 24 14 15 30 57 84 29 25 95 14 28 55 81 31 27 74 16 32 50 74 39 34 12 7 6 12 50 74 31 27 15 9 9 18 49 72 28 24 15 9 12 24 81

4 Chapter Four United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 World e-government rankingsTable 4.39  Online service levels in least developed countries1 Least developed countries have no real e-ser- vices, nor are they providing citizens with trans- Emerging Enhanced Transactional Connected Total actional opportunities, as presented in table 4.39. information information services (stage 3) services (stage 4) Score The vast majority of the sites surveyed primarily services (stage 1) services (stage 2) contain e-information and the beginning stages of (%) citizen engagement with polls and feedback forms.Rank Country Points Score Points Score Points Score Points Score Points The top two positions among least developed (%) (%) (%) (%) 28 countries in the online service assessment went to 60 Bangladesh 112 27 Bangladesh and Angola. n 65 Angola 48 71 44 38 53 15 30 107 21 95 Lesotho 85 21106 Afghanistan 52 76 38 33 95 8 16 83 18111 Ethiopia 73 16114 Bhutan 52 76 29 25 11 12 63 15116 Mali 59 14120 Senegal 41 60 25 22 53 24 14121 Rwanda 58 32 47 23 20 32 5 10 56 14 United Republic of 14121 Tanzania 30 44 21 18 64 24 55 13124 Mozambique 55 13125 Nepal 29 43 12 10 95 8 16 54 13126 Madagascar 53 13127 Maldives 32 47 14 12 32 7 14 52 12129 Burkina Faso 51 12129 Sudan 34 50 14 12 21 5 10 49 11134 Samoa 49 11135 Cambodia 34 50 21 18 … … … … 45 10138 Timor-Leste 32 47 13 11 3 2 6 12 43143 Benin 30 44 22 19 … … 1 2 42145 Zambia 28 41 13 11 4 2 7 14 37146 Uganda 27 40 24 21 … … … … 33 26 38 13 11 … … 10 20 Democratic Republic 23 34 16 14 2 1 8 16 32150 of the Congo 24 35 21 18 … … … … 28150 Mauritania 25 37 13 11 2 1 3 6 28150 São Tomé and Príncipe 23 34 16 14 … … 3 6 28154 Gambia 20 29 10 9 4 2 3 6 26154 Myanmar 21 31 8 7 … … 4 8 18 26 11 9 … … 3 6 26 Lao People’s 25156 Democratic Republic 17 25 7 6 … … 4 8 22160 Togo 11 16 13 11 1 1 3 6 20163 Liberia 21 31 7 6 … … … … 15167 Djibouti 16 24 9 8 … … 1 2 15167 Yemen 19 28 7 6 … … … … 14169 Solomon Islands 13170 Burundi 12 18 9 8 2 1 2 4 12172 Niger 6 9 8 7 3 2 5 10 11173 Guinea 11 16 7 6 … … 2 4 10174 Equatorial Guinea 9 13 3 3 … … 3 6 9175 Comoros 9 13 4 3 … … 2 4 9175 Kiribati 7 10 6 5 … … 1 2 7179 Eritrea 8 12 2 2 … … 3 6 6181 Chad 46223236 6181 Haiti 57223212 5184 Guinea-Bissau 2 3 5 4…… 3 6 5184 Malawi 5 7 3 3…… 1 2 4186 Tuvalu 4 6 5 4………… 4186 Vanuatu 3 4 4 3…………189 Sierra Leone 3 4 2 2 1 1…… 1 3 4 2 2…… 1 2 … Central African …… 3 3 1 1 1 2 … Republic 3 4 2 2………… … Somalia 1 1 3 3………… 1 1 2 2…… 1 2 ……………… 1 2 …………………… ……………………82

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 5Chapter Five Citizen empowerment and inclusion5.1 Progress in e-participation 84 Chapter 5 84 5.1.1 About e-participation Citizen empowerment 85 and inclusion 5.1.2 How governments rank in 88 e-participation E-government can be used by governments to empower and 88 include citizens. Individuals and their democratic governance5.2 Questions of access and diversity systems as a whole stand to benefit from better access to in- 90 formation and services, and from more opportunities for their 5.2.1 The digital divide and inclusive voices to be heard by decision makers. The United Nations e-government E-Government Survey assesses citizen empowerment and inclusion by reviewing channels for online participation in 5.2.2 Unequal benefits for women public affairs. The area of online services that opens up chan- and men nels for online participation in public affairs is termed ‘e-par- ticipation’. Given special attention by Survey, it is measured using an index that isolates Internet-based consultative and decision-making mechanisms. A country’s strength in e-par- ticipation is measured against three benchmarks: • Does the national government publish information on items under consideration? • Are there ways for the public to engage in consulta- tions with policy makers, government officials and one another? • Can citizens directly influence decisions, for example by voting online or using a mobile telephone? Countries that have been actively developing participatory features fare better in e-participation rankings. 83

5 Chapter Five United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 Citizen empowerment and inclusion 5.1  Progress in e-participation index is indicative on how governments create an environment in which citizens can be more active The provision of online services, as described and supportive of their governments. above, provides a transformative platform for the public sphere. It intersects with the process of so- Citizens express their views in environments cial communication where opinions are expressed, they feel are acceptable. The 2010 Survey assesses synthesized and coalesced. There are many types how governments are interacting with citizens of public spheres operating across many different using popular Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, chat platforms, including the traditional mass media rooms and SMS as well as communication tech- of television, radio and newspapers. The Internet nologies such as Facebook, Twitter and other social is transformative because it allows anyone to be a networking tools. publisher. This changes the power relationships in the public sphere in profound ways. It affords polit- Web 2.0 and social networking tools have ical leaders new routes to power. It affords citizens empowered citizens to become more active in ex- new ways to have their say. Even the voices of the pressing their views on many issues, especially on marginalized can now be heard making the public issues concerning environment, health, education sphere increasingly rich and diverse.1 and other areas of government policy. Citizens use Web 2.0 and social networking tools to galvanize 5.1.1  About e-participation other like-minded citizens to share ideas and to develop collaborative approaches in tackling the Many governments are engaging citizens for feed- issues that are important to them. Politicians and back via their websites. The majority of sites have other decision-makers need to tap into this wealth polls or surveys or feedback buttons, but this is just of information and knowledge in order to be more the tip of the iceberg. Web 2.0 (and Web 3.0 in responsive to their constituents. the near future) will provide citizens with an av- enue for direct impact on how government oper- As more and more people create their own ates. E-participation goes well beyond e-voting; it blogs and issue-based social networking groups, changes the dynamics between government and they are becoming power-brokers in influencing citizens. Web 2.0 and social networking tools have governmental policies. Today, many citizens are in- created an environment that politicians and deci- terested in the views of bloggers and those of other sion-makers must adjust to and incorporate in their members of their social networking groups. This daily work. In the United States, for example, more new-found power and influence is contributing to than 2 million followers subscribe to the Twitter higher standards of transparency in government. feed of President Barack Obama. Politicians have been inclined to embrace and encourage the use of The United Nations E-Government Survey these e-participation and e-tools. They are provid- recognizes the importance of e-participation in all ing information directly to citizens, which may its aspects ranging from e-information, e-consul- help citizens to have a better understanding of tation to e-decision-making. Politicians and politi- their politicians. E-participation is one of the key cal decision makers represent the voice of citizens assessments of the current e-government survey. It within government. Now these politicians and reflects on how well governments are keeping citi- decision makers are soliciting information and zens at the centre of e-services. knowledge from the constituents online and in real-time, seeking to respond more efficiently to Many governments have enhanced their na- their constituents. tional and ministerial websites to incorporate interactive tools to strengthen citizen e-partici- There is a growing global trend towards listen- pation. As citizens are empowered, they create a ing to citizen’s voices and engaging their participa- different relationship with their respective govern- tion. This trend is likely to continue and expand ments, characterized by enhanced effectiveness, as in the next few years and beyond. Citizens are em- government are able to respond to the needs of citi- ploying more e-participation tools. Politicians and zens in a more direct manner. The e-participation decision-makers seem to be inclined to listen to the citizens. Although this movement is primarily tak- ing hold in high-income countries, middle-income84

United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 5Chapter Five Citizen empowerment and inclusioncountries are not far behind. Governments are Table 5.1  Top 20 countries in e-participation 2010 e-participation 2010 rank 2008 rank Change +/(-)now creating portals on social networking sites in index valueorder to reach out to citizens and promote their Rank Country 1 2 1programmes, messages and policies. Citizens using 1.0000 2 5 3e-participation tools have influenced several major 1 Republic of Korea 0.9143 3 34 31presidential elections in recent years. 2 Australia 0.8286 4 6 2 3 Spain 0.7714 4 25 21 E-participation goes well beyond presidential 4 New Zealand 0.7714 6 11 5and parliamentary elections; it is the empower- 4 United Kingdom 0.7571 6 1 (5)ment of citizens to have an open dialogue with gov- 6 Japan 0.7571 8 11 3ernment. In densely populated countries, one sees 6 United States 0.7286 9 8 (1)e-participation working at the local levels, where 8 Canada 0.6857 9 10 1district and village leaders are able to communicate 9 Estonia 0.6857 11 36 25with their constituency by using different e-tools. 9 Singapore 0.6714 12 41 29In smaller countries, e-participation can take place 11 Bahrain 0.6571 13 3 (10)at the national level, where decision-makers can 12 Malaysia 0.6429 14 74 60have direct access to citizens. 13 Denmark 0.6143 15 3 (12) 14 Germany 0.6000 15 16 15.1.2  How governments rank in 15 France 0.6000 17 28 11 16 Netherlands 0.5857 18 98 80e-participation 17 Belgium 0.5571 19 20 1 18 Kazakhstan 0.5286 20 55 35The e-participation index shows how govern- 19 Lithuania 0.5143ments performed in 2010 compared to 2008. The 20 Slovenia2010 Survey included a comprehensive review ofhow governments are including citizens in their national portals allow citizens to initiate theirdecision-making process, how governments are own proposals, which the government reviews inproviding information and knowledge, and how the decision-making process. Citizens receive angovernments are consulting citizens to obtain feed- acknowledgement that their inputs on e-delibera-back and opinions. tions or e-opinions have been received. The national portals allow discussion via social networking tools The best performing e-participation countries and they also post past forum debates. Their senioras expressed in the e-participation index are listed officials respond directly to the opinions from thein table 5.1. The e-participation index combines the online forums.cumulative scores from the national portals plusthe scores for the citizen-empowerment. Figure 5.1  Geographic distribution of best performing countries in e-participation The Republic of Korea leads the e-participa-tion index, followed by Australia, Spain and New OceaniaZealand. More than one third of the countries in 6%the top 35 list are new and, notably, the majorityare middle-income countries. Since 2008, a num- Americasber of middle-income countries have revamped 14%their websites to obtain more feedback and startthe dialogue process with citizens. Europe 51% ‘Best practices’ were noted in Chile, Croatia, AsiaCyprus and Mongolia. The countries placed more 29%emphasis on obtaining feedback and inputs fromcitizens and also included more e-participationtools such as blogs, discussion forum, social net-working sites, polls and citizen feedback. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan stand out forembracing the concept of e-participation. Their 85

5 Chapter Five United Nations E-Government Survey 2010 Citizen empowerment and inclusion Figure 5.1 is a graphical presentation of table What is the level of interaction between gov- 5.1. The European continues to dominate the top ernment and citizens? How does government track list with almost 50 percent of the countries from citizen usage of its websites? Figure 5.2 is about the region appearing in the list. The Asian region government interactions with citizens. It also is next with a little over 30 percent followed by shows the number of countries that have created a the Americas and Oceania. There were no African secure network for citizens to participate. As figure countries in the top 35. 5.2 indicates, a very limited number of countries carry out surveys and report the results online.Figure 5.2  Government interactions with citizens Figure 5.3 shows the best-performing countries Online surveys 21 with the largest number of aggregate points for 18 connected services. Australia had the highest con- Survey results posted online 13 nected score in 2010, followed by Canada and the Republic of Korea. The top 10 countries are evenly Web usage statistics posted onlinet distributed with 50 percent coming from develop- ing and developed regions. Australia 42 40 The quality of e-participation in government 0 10 20 30 50 websites is shown in table 5.2. The e-participation Number of countries section of the survey was strengthened for the 2010 Survey by adding more questions to the survey in-Figure 5.3  Countries with high points for connected services strument. As a result, countries generally scored lower. Also, more countries have some aspects of Australia 10 32 38 e-participation on their websites, with seven ad- Canada 31 40 ditional countries receiving scores above zero for Republic of Korea 27 participation. More specifically, 20 countries re- Colombia 25 ceived scores of zero for e-participation in 2008, Mongolia 25 while this figure has been reduced to 13 countries Spain 25 in 2010. In addition, as the threshold for the e- United Kingdom 24 participation section was elevated due to changes Israel 23 in the survey instrument introduced in 2010, fewer Bahrain 23 countries could receive scores above the 60 percent Hungary 15 20 25 30 35 of the maximum points. Total points 05 Figure 5.4 shows the breakdown of countries and their respective e-participation range. ThereFigure 5.4  E-participation utilization levels was a slight increase from the 30 percent to 60 percent range and a slight decrease in the over 60 60% to 100% 33 142 percent range in the 2010 Survey. 4 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 E-information 30% to 60% Number of countries The assessement of e-information determines 1% to 30% if governments are providing the kind of infor- mation that encourages and empowers citizen 0% participation. This includes online publishing of 13 e-participation policies, a calendar of online dis- cussion forums, and electronic notification tools 0 20 to alert citizens who want to participate. Australia scored the highest on the e-information assessment in the 2010 Survey. Japan, Mexico and the Republic of Korea tied for second place. Of all86