GOVERNANCE GOVERNANCE EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT CivicTech Transparency, Engagement, and Collaboration for Better Governance Supported by the GovTech Global Partnership - www.worldbank.org/govtech EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 1 © 2022 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or currency of the data included in this work and does not assume responsibility for any errors, omissions, or discrepancies in the information, or liability with respect to the use of or failure to use the information, methods, processes, or conclusions set forth. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be construed or considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. >>> Contents Acknowledgments vi Abbreviations and Acronyms vii Executive Summary 1 1. Introduction 6 2. Why CivicTech Matters 11 3. What Is CivicTech For? 15 3.1 Introduction 15 3.2 A Framework for CivicTech 16 3.3 Openness and Transparency 18 3.4 Participation and Engagement 21 3.5 Collaboration and Co-creation, Co-production, and Co-design 25 4. How to Adopt, Implement, and Assess CivicTech 28 4.1 Understand the Problem 30 4.1.1 Select the Appropriate Problem Issue 30 4.1.2 Identify the Stakeholders 30 4.1.3 Choose Stakeholder Representatives 31 4.1.4 Collect Stakeholder Views 31 4.1.5 Analyze What Has Been Learned 31 4.1.6 Document the Problem 32 4.2 Design 32 4.2.1 Identify the Appropriate CivicTech Type 32 4.2.2 Define a Minimum Viable Solution 33 4.2.3 Get Design Help, if Needed 33 4.2.4 Issue a Request for Information 34 4.2.5 Select the Technology 35 4.2.6 Specify the Minimum Functionality 35 4.2.7 Identify Organizational Changes Needed 36 4.3 Develop 36 4.3.1 Choose Development Approach 37 4.3.2 Issue a Request for Proposals 37 4.3.3 Select the Developer 38 4.3.4 Contract the Development 39 4.3.5 Manage the Contract/Development 39 4.3.6 Test the Solution 39 4.4 Implement 40 4.4.1 Build a Stakeholder Communication Plan 40 4.4.2 Plan the Implementation Process 40 4.4.3 Set up a Support Team 40 4.4.4 Launch the Solution 41 4.5 Evaluate 41 4.5.1 Design Assessment 42 4.5.2 Monitoring Implementation 42 4.5.3 Impact Evaluation and Feedback 42 4.6 Iterate 43 5. Key issues for Successful CivicTech 44 5.1 Introduction 44 5.2 Citizens 45 5.2.1 Ensure the Representativeness of Participants and an Inclusive CivicTech Approach 45 5.2.2 How to Manage Conflicting Positions Among Citizens 46 5.2.3 How to Manage Citizens’ Expectations 47 5.3 Government 48 5.3.1 How CivicTech Changes Communication Between the Government and Citizens 48 5.3.2 How to Increase the Responsiveness of Government Through CivicTech Approaches 49 5.3.3 How to Assess the Effectiveness of CivicTech 50 5.4 Technology 51 5.4.1 Which Technology Infrastructure for Inclusiveness? 51 5.4.2 What Considerations Inform Selection of Technological Approach? 52 5.4.3 Building, Buying, Renting, or Repurposing CivicTech Solutions 53 5.5 Foundations 54 5.5.1 What Are the Building Blocks for Successful CivicTech Implementation? 54 5.5.2 How Are Building Blocks of Fundamentals Set Up to Adopt and Effectively Implement Sustainable CivicTech? 55 5.5.3 How to Motivate Citizens’ Participation 55 6. Conclusion 57 Notes 60 References 63 Annex: Types and Examples of CivicTech Solutions 71 Figures Figure ES.1 . Three Levels of CivicTech 2 Figure ES.2. The CivicTech Solution Cycle 3 Figure 1. State of Citizen Engagement, by GTMI Group, as of December 2020 8 Figure 2. CivicTech How-to-Note: Structure of Contents 9 Figure 3. Three Levels of CivicTech 17 Figure 4. The CivicTech Solution Cycle 29 Figure 5. Key Issues of CivicTech 45 Tables Table ES.1. Key Issues for Successful CivicTech 4 Table 1. Guiding Principles for Design Evaluation 34 Table 2. The Pros and Cons of Outsourced Versus In-House Development 37 Table 3. Guiding Principles for Evaluating RFP Responses 38 Table 4. Three Dimensions of Assessment 41 Boxes Box 1. GovTech Dataset on How to Manage Citizens’ Expectations 7 Box 2. Digital City Services in Ronda, Spain 19 Box 3. Kenya Open Data 19 Box 4. Municipal Spending in South Africa 20 Box 5. 311 Systems in United States of America 21 Box 6. Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company’s MajiVoice Feedback System (Kenya) 22 Box 7. Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil 23 Box 8. UNICEF’s U-Report System (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, Nigeria, Mexico) 24 Box 9. Tanzania Living Labs 25 Box 10. Bluemap Environmental Data and Activism in China 27 Box 11. Participatory Mechanisms to Complement CivicTech in Nigeria 46 Box 12. Online Petitions System in Scotland 48 Box 13. Plain Language in Colombia, Peru and the United States of America 50 Box 14. Chatbots for Service Delivery Monitoring: CivicTech Pilot in Madagascar 52 Box 15. Murcia’s Citizen App “TuMurcia” in Spain 54 Box 16. Addressing Local Issues Based on ICT and Citizen Engagement in the Republic of Korea 56 >>> Acknowledgments This how-to-note has been developed under the World Bank GovTech initiative by a team led by João Ricardo Vasconcelos and Youngseok Kim, both Senior Governance Specialists from the GovTech global team and Task Team leaders. The note is co-authored by Judy Backhouse, Senior Academic Fellow, and Antonio Tavares, Adjunct Professor, both from the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV). Additional contributors include Kimberly D. Johns (GovTech Global Lead), Tiago Peixoto (Senior Governance Specialist), Craig Hammer (Program Manager) and Saki Kumagai (Governance Specialist). Overall guidance for the report was provided by Arturo Herrera Gutierrez (Director, Governance Global Practice), and Tracey Lane (Practice Manager). Editorial services were provided by Richard Crabbe. The World Bank GovTech team would like to highlight the relevance of having an analytical deliverable co-developed with the UNU-EGOV. In line with the multistakeholder thinking of the GovTech Global Partnership, the engagement of this relevant partner added experience, quality insights and strategic outreach to the work developed. This report was made possible by the World Bank’s GovTech Initiative and the GovTech Global Partnership trust fund, building on support of financial and in-kind partners that include the Ministry of Finance of Austria, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) of the Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Interior and Safety (MOIS) of the Republic of Korea, the Government of Japan and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< vi >>> Abbreviations and Acronyms COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 FAQ Frequently Asked Questions GTMI GovTech Maturity Index ICT Information and communications technology IDA International Development Association ITU International Telecommunications Union NGO nongovernmental organization OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development RFI Request for Information RFP Request for Proposals SaaS Software as a service EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< vii >>> Executive Summary As economies and societies become increasingly digital, governments around the World are prioritizing the use of digital technologies and data to increase the participation and engagement of civil society in public matters. At the same time, citizen’s rising expectations and demands require public sectors to strengthen civil society engagement. Digital technologies and data have the potential to increase substantially the tools that governments have available to further involve citizens in policy and service design and delivery. This how-to-note provides advice on how to use digitalization to strengthen the engagement between the governments and citizens, with various examples of what CivicTech is and why it is an important element of the GovTech approach. Why CivicTech Matters In order to secure sustained development progress, governance must be accountable and responsive to the different groups of society. Based on the social accountability initiatives supported by the World Bank, CivicTech can build on these efforts expanding beyond accountability and providing particular relevance to dimensions such as engagement and collaboration. Also, civic engagement mechanisms with digital solutions can provide opportunities to generate more equitable national development. Citizen engagement is one of the four focus areas of the World Bank GovTech initiative. As GovTech connects the state-citizen interface with government systems, processes, and services, CivicTech is positioned as one of the built-in features for citizen-centric service delivery. This boosts the potential for improving government responsiveness, which is a critical element for more open, transparent, inclusive and collaborative public governance. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 1 What Is CivicTech For? The definition and framework of CivicTech have been CivicTech activities can be categorized into three levels in discussed widely and diversely by different stakeholders, terms of the nature of the engagement between government connecting key concepts of technology, innovation and and citizens. engagement. This note identifies CivicTech as any innovation in the use of digital technology to improve governance and the interactions between government and citizens. > > > F I G U R E E S . 1 - Three Levels of CivicTech Relationship Examples Openness Government shares information with • Websites, portals, apps and Transparency citizens. The communication is usually in • Social media and newsfeeds one direction. Government decides what • Open data portals will and will not be shared and how. • Public sector information policies and regulations • Accountability and reporting initiatives Participation Government actively seeks feedback • Citizen feedback and complaint and Engagement from citizens about services, consults on handling mechanisms decisions to be made and asks public • Public consultations opinion about decisions. Government • Crowdsourcing is in control of the options presented for • Participatory budget platforms discussion, retains the right to act or not • e-Petitions platforms to on the feedback, and decides how • Digital voting systems to respond. Collaboration, Government works with various • Initiatives to use and act on Co-design, Co-creation, stakeholders to identify and understand open data Co-production issues, as well as to craft and implement • Deliberative democracy appropriate solutions. This (ideally) is an • Hackathons equal partnership between government • Public labs and open innovation and citizens, with all stakeholders initiatives involved in setting the agenda and • Collaborative design and delivery of devising solutions. public services CivicTech offers governments at various levels new ways of informing citizens, getting feedback from citizens and engaging closely with citizens. Technology has the potential to make it easier to reach more people and to provide a wide range of information and digital services at low cost. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 2 How to Adopt, Implement, and Assess CivicTech To go from a CivicTech idea to a fully functioning CivicTech be iterated several times, depending on the complexity of solution is a complex process that can be divided into five the problem, before arriving at an acceptable solution. The phases: understand the problem, design, development, CivicTech solution cycle is represented in Figure ES.2 below. implementation and evaluation. These phases are likely to > > > F I G U R E E S . 2 - The CivicTech Solution Cycle Step 1: Understand the problem 1.1 Select the right problem 1.2 Identify the stakeholders 1.3 Choose representatives 1.4 Collect stakeholder views 1.5 Analyse what you have learned Step 5: Evaluate Step 2: Design a solution 5.1 Evaluate the design 2.1 Identify the appropriate CivicTech type 5.2 Monitor the implementation 2.2 Define a minimum viable solution 5.3 Evaluate feedback from the users 2.3 Get design help, if needed 5.4 Evaluate the sustainability of 2.4 Issue an RFI the solution 2.5 Select the technology 2.6 Specify the minimum functionality 2.7 Identify organisational changes Step 4: Implement Step 3: Develop the solution 4.1 Build a stakeholder 3.1 Choose a development approach communication plan 3.2 Issue an RFP 4.2 Plan the implementation process 3.3 Select the developer 4.3 Set up a support team 3.4 Contract the development 4.4 Launch the CivicTech solution 3.5 Manage the development 3.6 Test the solution EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 3 The process emphasizes the need for deep understanding of 4. When implementing, start with small changes and the problem to be solved, as well as an iterative approach observe whether your theory is correct and whether that allows for low initial investment, early visible results, there are any unintended consequences before investing rapid feedback on the impacts of the system, and immediate more resources. adjustments. Key points of each step are: 5. Examine the outcomes and decide on the next incremental. 1. It is worth investing time to fully understand each problem, from the perspective of different stakeholders, including what solutions have been tried in the past and why they Key Issues for Successful CivicTech failed. Develop a theory as to why the problem situation has arisen and how your intervention will change it. Considering the diversity of contexts and goals, tools available 2. Solutions are systemic and technology is only a small and possible models to embrace, policy makers and task part. Give appropriate attention to everything other than teams face several key issues when designing, developing the technology – the communication, policy frameworks, and operating CivicTech approaches. Four categories can the operational processes, the support mechanisms and be considered having in mind the diversity of questions that the measurement and reporting. can emerge. 3. Look for optimal technology solutions that reuse or build on existing technology but take advice from trusted technology partners on the capabilities and effort involved. > > > T A B L E E S . 1 - Key Issues for Successful CivicTech Category Key issues Citizens • How to ensure the representativeness of participants and an inclusive CivicTech approach. • How to manage conflicting positions among citizens. • How to manage citizens’ expectations. Government • How CivicTech changes communication between the government and citizens. • How to increase the responsiveness of government through CivicTech approaches. • How to assess the effectiveness of CivicTech. Technology • Which technology infrastructure enables inclusiveness? • Which type of technological approach is appropriate and how to adopt scalable and cost-effective CivicTech tools? • Building, buying, renting, or repurposing CivicTech solutions. Foundations • What are the building blocks for successful CivicTech implementation? • How to set fundamentals and building blocks to adopt and implement sustainable CivicTech effectively. • How to motivate citizens’ participation. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 4 CivicTech is more likely to succeed if attention is paid to the 3. Aim for solutions that are simple, open, mobile, inclusive, following key issues: and reusable, looking for optimal technology solutions that repurpose or build on existing solutions. 1. Work to ensure that interventions are inclusive, that conflicting positions are negotiated, and that citizens’ 4. Develop foundational policies, infrastructure and expectations are managed. skills where necessary, taking a whole-of-government perspective and building community engagement. 2. Expect the relationship between citizens and government to change, ensure government is responsive transparent, and publish measures of the impact of interventions. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 5 1. >>> Introduction This how-to-note was developed to provide advice to World Bank staff and clients on how to use technology to strengthen the engagement between the State and non-state actors – citizens, civil society organizations, and the private sector. As economies and societies become increasingly digital, governments around the world are responding to citizens’ demands and prioritizing the use of digital technologies and data to improve public sector operations and services. This note discusses on the use of digital technologies and data to increase the participation and engagement of civil society in public matters. Different policy drivers, such as improving government efficiency and realizing fiscal savings, reinforcing policy effectiveness, reaching citizens with online services especially in the COVID-era of social distancing, boosting public sector innovation, and strengthening resilience of government operations, are pushing this digital transformation of public sectors. The process also enables “government as a platform” approaches and cultivating the relationship with the private sector. The focus on CivicTech is driven when there is a government desire to engage with citizens and to better tailor policy and services to their needs, in order to build trust with citizens, and to realize gains such as more developed and peaceful societies. In a context where citizens in developed and emerging markets are getting more and more used to sophisticated private sector services from providers such as Google, Amazon, and Uber for instance, citizen’s expectations of the quality of services from the public sector are also skyrocketing. Citizens therefore expect governments to be increasingly efficient, responsive, seamless, transparent, and easy to interact with. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 6 At the same time, if public sectors are unable to respond to outcomes.1 With the proliferation of information and demands from citizens, this can be detrimental to the trust that communication technologies, new possibilities have arisen for governments and civil society require to strengthen citizen citizens – the people who live, work, visit, and do business in engagement in the public sector. Digital technologies and the relevant jurisdiction – to be better informed about matters the data that they create have the potential to substantially of governance, to voice their opinions more effectively and, in increase the tools that governments have available to further some cases, to get involved in the design and delivery of public involve citizens in policy and service design and delivery. services. New technologies have also revealed the ways in Citizen feedback and complaint handling mechanisms, public which governance is the result of negotiations, influences, consultations, participatory budgets, crowdsourcing platforms, and power relationships between government and citizens, hackathons, and collaborative design approaches are some of increasing awareness that many stakeholders have a role to the processes that are increasingly using digital tools applied play in governance as well as empowering them to participate. in different sectors and levels of government. The potential to use these tools is there, but how can governments benefit The concept of CivicTech responds to the expectations of from this engagement opportunity, securing it in an inclusive, civil, private, nongovernmental, and academic stakeholders efficient, and sustainable way, deliver on citizen expectations, to participate in the public space and the evidence- and build trust? based consensus about the benefits of engagement and collaboration with non-state actors for cohesive and The World Bank describes the GovTech approach as sustainable policy approaches. Building on concepts such the current frontier of government digital transformation, as social accountability2 and citizen engagement,3 CivicTech emphasizing the need for the public sector to prioritize is a fundamental pillar of a sound GovTech approach, where citizen-centric public services that are universally accessible, citizen engagement is emphasized as a critical mechanism a whole-of-government approach capable of mobilizing to increase government’s digital agenda focused on citizen’s different sectors and levels of government, as well as simple, welfare, improving shared ownership and joint responsibility efficient, and transparent government systems. In line with its towards the policies and services being developed. multistakeholder thinking, the World Bank GovTech initiative embraces citizen engagement as one of four pillars of GovTech. The increasing use of digital technologies and data in the last Developing and deploying CivicTech tools is considered a few decades has enabled civil society to better participate priority in digitally developed and developing contexts, through in public affairs, generating good lessons learned on what the use of simple and open-source applications, to advance can be achieved and where initiatives can be improved. governments’ efforts for achieving greater transparency, While the adoption of CivicTech in developing countries is citizen’s trust, and policy sustainability (WBG 2020). currently slower than in digital leader countries, according to the GovTech Maturity Index (see Box 1), CivicTech tools may This how-to-note provides examples of how CivicTech can provide new opportunities for the state to engage with citizens be used to impact governance, and how technologies and to build trust and tailor policy and services more effectively to systems that facilitate the relationships between government local needs within the fiscal constraints. and the other stakeholders can change governance > > > B O X 1 - GovTech Dataset on How to Manage Citizens’ Expectations GovTech Dataset (2020) shows how 198 economies are managing citizen’s feedback and expectations through identifying key questions, such as whether citizen’s feedback is anonymous, and governments’ response is publicly available on the platform or not. Many countries still need to develop the way of managing citizens’ feedback since only 35 economies publish their responses on the platform and 26 countries publish their engagement statistics and performance regularly. I-25. Is there a national platform that allows citizens to participate in policy decision-making? • 82 countries have; the remaining 116 countries do not have. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 7 I-27. If Yes, Are citizens’ inputs publicly available on the platform? • 56 countries out of 82 publish citizens’ input on the platform. I-28. If Yes, Does the platform allow citizens to provide feedback anonymously? • 30 countries out of 82 allow citizens to provide feedback anonymously. I-29. If Yes, Is government response publicly available on the platform? • 35 countries out of 82 publish their response on the platform. I-30. Are there government platforms such as a website or app that allow citizens or businesses to provide feedback – compliments, complaints, suggestions, information requests – directly to the government on its service delivery and performance? • 75 countries report “Yes,” and 123 countries, “No.” I-33. Does the government publish its engagement statistics and performance regularly? • 26 countries “Yes;” 172 countries, “No” The map below (Figure 1) reflects the Citizen Engagement Index (CEI) that is one of the four components of the GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) (Dener et al. 2021).4 > > > F I G U R E 1 - State of Citizen Engagement, by GTMI Group, as of December 2020 Source: World Bank Data (2020). EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 8 The target audiences of this note are the senior GovTech by public sectors in different regions. Chapter 3 will focus on officials of more digitally developed and developing countries what CivicTech is, presenting and analyzing critical CivicTech and the community of Task Teams Leaders managing public focus areas and activities, and providing the reader with a governance projects in different regions. The note should also conceptual framework to navigate the numerous and diverse serve as an important knowledge piece to secondary target practices and approaches that governments around the world audiences—the broader ecosystem of GovTech stakeholders are embracing to promote citizen engagement through digital including the private sector, academia and civil society. technologies and data. With a clear implementation-driven function, Chapter 4 will guide World Bank partner- and client This how-to-note will provide examples of what we mean by countries on how to adopt, implement, and assess CivicTech. CivicTech and why it is an important element of the GovTech Chapter 5 will highlight key issues that policy makers face when approach. As presented below in Figure 2, the note will discuss designing, developing, and operating CivicTech approaches. in Chapter 2 why CivicTech matters, providing the reader with The Conclusion will provide the reader with key factors for contextual information on the importance attributed by the World a sound CivicTech policy. The Annex provides details of 24 Bank to this topic, as well as the benefits that drive its adoption CivicTech solutions from 20 different country contexts. > > > F I G U R E 2 - CivicTech How-to-Note: Structure of Contents Introduction • Background and contextual information • Target audience Why CivicTech matters • Different angles demonstrate the importance of the topic Structure of contents What is CivicTech for • Concept of CivicTech • CivicTech Levels Framework How to adopt, implement, and assess CivicTech • Understand the problem, design, develop, implement, evaluate, iterate Key issues for successful CivicTech • Citizens, government, and technology-driven issues • Foundations to be considered Source: Authors. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 9 Developing CivicTech solutions is complex and varies the process. Each project will need to select from this note greatly depending on context, the nature of the problem to the elements that they find of value and experiment and be solved, and the people involved in the solution. This how- modify them in application. If this note facilitates improving the to-note is intended to assist those venturing into CivicTech success rate of such projects, it will enhance the relationship developments by exposing what has been done, highlighting between governments and their citizens, contribute to better the key issues and providing some tools that may assist in governance, and develop more harmonious societies. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 10 2. >>> Why CivicTech Matters CivicTech matters because the relationship between state and non-state actors matters for national development. In order to secure sustained progress in development, governance is required to be accountable and responsive to the different groups in society. And although all societies are diverse and power is distributed unequally, governments should guarantee that development dividends can still be equitably disseminated and actually reach the bottom half of the population. Civil society has a fundamental role in supporting governments to be more transparent, accountable, and effective. Citizen advocacy towards public institutions acts as a critical mechanism for better public governance, contributing also to the emergence of innovative solutions to tackle complex challenges. Increasing evidence demonstrates that citizen engagement leads governments to more solid development results by catalyzing improvements in public service delivery, public financial management, governance, social inclusion, and empowerment.5 While individual citizens may have limited capacity to influence the political agenda and the broader public sphere, civic engagement mechanisms provide opportunities to generate more equitable development. Modes of citizen engagement can include elections, political organization, social movements, and direct participation and deliberation. And since each one of them is incomplete, these mechanisms complement rather than substitute each other (WBG 2017). CivicTech can contribute to this process of citizen engagement changing the relationship between state and non-state actors, broadening the number of stakeholders involved, and strengthening policy making and service delivery outcomes for the least privileged segments of the population. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 11 The World Bank has supported the development of social Citizen engagement also receives particular relevance accountability6 policies and initiatives for several years. within projects financed by the International Development CivicTech builds on these efforts, expanding beyond Association (IDA). Improving the interactions between accountability and providing particular relevance to government and nongovernment actors strengthens the dimensions such as engagement and co-development. The policy process. Multistakeholder approaches support inclusive Social Accountability approach is based on civic engagement and sustainable governance through collaboration, deeper for improved accountability.7 This approach promotes the citizen engagement, and social accountability. (WB 2019) In direct or indirect participation of citizens and/or civil society this regard, all IDA investment operations are required to be organizations to demand accountability. The digital transition informed by consultations with civil society. IDA recognizes underway allows new levels of interaction and collaboration the important role of GovTech for strengthening government- between governments and their constituents – see Chapter citizen interaction and considers inclusive governance a 3. Going beyond accountability, the CivicTech paradigm priority to be achieved by further sharpening the focus on enhances digitalization opportunities of partnering and co- citizen engagement (IDA 2022). development for better public governance. In line with the World Bank GovTech Initiative’s philosophy and In 2014, the World Bank Group (WBG) developed its Strategic framework, the World Bank GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement to more has a specific subindex on Citizen Engagement. The subindex systematically foresee and incentivize citizen engagement in is based on 12 indicators providing empirical data on the WBG-supported operations. The framework defines citizen experiences of 198 economies in terms of citizen participation engagement as the two-way interaction between citizens and and feedback, along with government responsiveness and governments or the private sector within the scope of WBG accountability. It assesses elements such as the existence of interventions. The approach is results focused engagement an open data portal and whether or not it is functioning, the through the operational cycle, seeks to strengthen country availability and approach to an open government portal, and systems, context specific, and gradual. This citizen engagement the existence of platforms that allow citizens or businesses approach gives citizens a stake in decision-making in order to to provide feedback. Prioritizing collaboration and reuse of improve intermediate and final development outcomes.8 government-held information, the subindex also uses the UN e-Participation Index as an indicator for the use of online Citizen engagement is one of the four focus areas of the services in providing information to citizens (e-information World Bank’s GovTech work. It foresees the development and sharing), interacting with stakeholders (e-consultation), and deployment of CivicTech tools including citizen feedback and making decisions (e-decision-making). complaint handling mechanisms, using simple technology and free open source applications, as well as use of technology The policy benefits of CivicTech approaches have been to advance government’s efforts at greater transparency.9 widely discussed over the last decades.10 The space and As GovTech connects the state-citizen interface with the time contraction brought by digital technologies allows government systems, processes, and services, CivicTech is governments to consult and engage citizens in a more cost- positioned as one of the built-in features for citizen centric effective way. While face-to-face mechanisms may need to service delivery, beyond the frequent nice-to-have feature be preserved, digital options can provide additional and often approach. This boosts a potential for improving government efficient mechanisms for government to provide information responsiveness, which is a critical element for more open, and services to their constituents, and to engage them in the transparent, inclusive, and collaborative public governance. thinking, planning, designing, developing, and monitoring of public services and policies. Feedback mechanisms can be Recognizing the importance of stakeholder engagement directed to citizens and stakeholders on specific policies or for development is one of the priorities of the World Bank services using technology that often requires much lower Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), which governs marginal costs. For example, sentiment analysis of the the World Bank’s approach to all operations. The ESF provides population can be done through phone surveys, online guidance on stakeholder engagement, instructing borrowers consultation, and data analytics of social media. Although to engage and actively provide information to stakeholders there is still a lot of room for improvement, CivicTech tools have throughout the lifecycle of a World Bank-financed project (WBG the potential to make it easier for governments to reach out to 2022). This is therefore a critical entry point for technology to citizens, obtain their feedback, and engage and collaborate be brought in to facilitate the effectiveness of this process. with them. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 12 The use of digital technologies and data for citizen engagement CivicTech approaches can nonetheless counter these trends, can bring citizens, private sector, academia, and NGOs together better engaging citizens in public policies, generating co- in new ways potentially enhancing the impact of stakeholder ownership as well as joint responsibility, and diminishing the engagement. This goal is aligned with the World Development wide space that frequently separates citizens from public Report (2017) in advocating the strengthening of government institutions. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and commitment to enable effective GovTech and data-driven Development (OECD) underlines the existence of competence service delivery, particularly in low- and middle-income and values as two key drivers of trust: services that respond countries. CivicTech can also help to bring about credible to citizens’ needs generate trust in government competence; government commitment, moving beyond sufficient political integrity, openness and exercise of power in the public interest will and resource allocation, to include the active cooperation generate trust in government values. For instance, instruments and coordination across institutional arrangements necessary such as participatory budgets allow an active engagement of to achieve better outcomes. Moreover, by facilitating the citizens that can generate trust. relationship between state and non-state actors, CivicTech contributes to enhance trust, participation, and value-creation Beyond the benefits highlighted above, CivicTech also brings for governance outcomes. This is closely aligned with the limitations and risks. Since citizen engagement is supported 2021 World Development Report’s central point that a social by digital technologies, concerns regarding the digital divide contract for data and information exists between government can be highlighted. CivicTech can exacerbate existing and the public, which is conditioned by a three-pillar framework disparities, potentiating further exclusion by age, gender, level of trust, equity, and value. A key benefit of CivicTech is its of education and literacy, income level, connectivity, access contribution through civic engagement and transparency to to technology, tech literacy, geographical locations, and improve citizens’ trust in public institutions. The lack of trust disabilities. Hybrid approaches are therefore recommended, in government is one of the most critical political handicaps combining tech and non-citizen-state interfaces, as well as that countries face, undermining the functioning of political balancing the use of basic technological solutions and more systems. Unfortunately, the information age is contributing to advanced and recent technological approaches. Additionally, this phenomenon through endemic trends such as widespread it should be noted that CivicTech tools can have limitations disinformation and increasing social polarization generated to capture actionable feedback, and can easily work as an by social media. It is also worth mentioning that the positive “echo chamber” of established economic, social, and political relationship between trust and transparency is, however, positions rather than contributing to open and plural public not supported by some literature, with some experimental debates. An inclusive, open and accountable design and evidence suggesting that transparency may even reduce trust development is required to mitigate any identified limitations in government.11 and risks.12,13 EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 13 The World Development Report 2016 (WDR16) also long time. But more recently the thinking of engaging citizens underlines that the ability of digital technologies to increase is increasingly mainstreamed, as civil society’s expectations citizens’ voice is conditional on several contextual factors. have increased regarding participation, quality services For instance, the willingness and ability of policy makers is and accountability. critical. A collaborative approach with government has a substantial weight, and significant offline activism supported Nevertheless, the results of GTMI 2021 underline that there by civil society organizations is also determinant to secure that is still considerable room for improvement in the citizen the collective voice of citizens can be heard by governments. engagement dimension. Although good practices can be Additionally, WDR16 also underlines that digital platforms can identified in different sectors and levels of government in support unaccountable governments’ capacity for surveillance countries from different regions and various levels of digital and control. Autocratic governments frequently respond to the development, CivicTech is still not typically embedded- digital transition improving service delivery, but simultaneously by-default in policy making or service design and delivery, strengthen political control over their societies.14 In this sense, being mostly presented as an add-on on top of foreseen the CivicTech approach should not be understood as a simple policies and projects. On the other hand, the COVID-19 and democratic solution for civic engagement problems, but pandemic accelerated the necessity of digital communication rather as a mechanism that supports downward accountability and collaboration between governments and citizens, by enabling the collective action needed to give citizen voice leading to increasing expectations for citizen engagement some strength.15 approaches through digital technologies. CivicTech gained a new relevance and governments are currently expected to The World Bank has been supporting the use of digital reinforce their efforts to respond to this increasing demand technologies to further engage citizens in the public sphere from their constituencies. through the creation of feedback mechanisms that allow citizens to evaluate the services being delivered; the Building on the existing knowledge and work of the World development of open data portals that contribute to improved Bank and the United Nations University, this comprehensive transparency and value co-creation; and the simple launch how-to-note on CivicTech provides concrete and analytical of public portals that secure further services and policy knowledge and insights, responding to the demands from information to citizens. CivicTech is not, in this sense, a new senior digital government officials and GovTech practitioners workstream since some of its rationale has been embedded in from partner and client countries. e-government, digital government and GovTech projects for a EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 14 3. >>> What Is CivicTech For? 3.1 Introduction This section expands more fully on what CivicTech does. It explores the various ends to which CivicTech has been directed and discusses the potential as well as the successes and failures of CivicTech initiatives. But first, there is the need to clarify what the term CivicTech refers to here. There is currently no agreed, cohesive definition of civic technologies, and differences exist in those used by practitioners and the academic community (Mačiulienė and Skaržauskienė 2020). The focus of definitions varied depending on the stakeholder, but reflect the key concepts of technology, innovation and engagement. CivicTech has been described in terms of activism, as “free and openly available technologies and engagement means” for “more direct governance engagement” (Wissenbach 2020). Hou (2018) reserves the term CivicTech for products which enhance democratic capacity, excluding e-government which improves government services, but Rumbul (2015) counts as CivicTech all digital tools that increase government transparency, efficiency, and improve the lives of communities. Some researchers see social change as a necessary outcome of CivicTech (Mačiulienė and Skaržauskienė 2020). More broadly, the Microsoft Corporation defines CivicTech as “the use of technology for the public good” (Stempeck 2016), and the private sector focuses on helping governments to improve service provision (Clarke 2014). Civil society, NGOs, and practitioners define CivicTech in terms of the changes in power balance (Code for America 2017; MySociety 2017). Given the target audience, and in the absence of any agreed definition, this note treats CivicTech as any innovation in the use of digital technology to improve governance and the interactions between government and citizens. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 15 3.2 A Framework for CivicTech Different frameworks have been developed to understand the different stakeholders (Baum and DiMaio 2001; Fath-Allah et range of CivicTech projects and interventions. For example, al. 2014). The discussion in this chapter is framed in terms of Sifry (2014) characterizes CivicTech as systems which the information flows and roles of stakeholders in CivicTech (1) involve citizens in policy processes; (2) involve beneficiaries engagement in order to not limit the function of CivicTech in monitoring service delivery; (3) use structured information projects and to make visible the roles of stakeholders and to inform decisions; (4) leverage technology; (5) make power relations. information more accessible, public and understandable; (6) empower people to hold government accountable; and (7) CivicTech activities can be categorized in terms of the nature democratize elite processes. Verhulst (2015) categorizes of the engagement between government and citizens.16 The CivicTech as related to responsive and efficient city services; table below summarizes the three levels of CivicTech, which open government data and portals; government engagement are discussed in detail in subsequent sections. The examples platforms; community-focused organizing services; and given in the table are not intended to be an exhaustive list geographical services and open mapping data. Dietrich (2015) of CivicTech options, but rather as illustrative examples of identifies three types of CivicTech, which together facilitate the interventions that might be categorized under each. (1) transparency and accountability; (2) citizen-government Also, there is overlap between the levels because the same interaction; and (3) easier everyday life. At present, no one technology may be implemented at different levels. So, framework is widely accepted and used. different technologies are not specific to one level or another, but rather the way in which the implementation enables and These frameworks categorize CivicTech interventions based facilitates the flows of information determines whether a on their function, what they do. This focus is limiting since solution is considered to be at a particular level. new applications of CivicTech are highly likely to emerge. In addition, listing the types or function of CivicTech does The Annex at the end of this guidebook provides a list of not provide a way to analyze their deeper characteristics. different CivicTech projects covered in each of the three levels. Research into information systems and e-government This list could be useful for understanding the types of projects systems, as well as media studies, analyzes systems in and technologies and how they can be used. terms of the flows of information (and hence power) between EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 16 > > > F I G U R E 3 - Three Levels of CivicTech Relationship Examples Openness Government shares information with • Websites, portals, apps and Transparency citizens. The communication is usually in • Social media and newsfeeds one direction. Government decides what • Open data portals will and will not be shared and how. • Public sector information policies and regulations • Accountability and reporting initiatives Participation Government actively seeks feedback • Citizen feedback and complaint and Engagement from citizens about services, consults on handling mechanisms decisions to be made and asks public • Public consultations opinion about decisions. Government • Crowdsourcing is in control of the options presented for • Participatory budget platforms discussion, retains the right to act or not • e-Petitions platforms to on the feedback, and decides how • Digital voting systems to respond. Collaboration, Government works with various • Initiatives to use and act on Co-design, Co-creation, stakeholders to identify and understand open data Co-production issues, as well as to craft and implement • Deliberative democracy appropriate solutions. This (ideally) is an • Hackathons equal partnership between government • Public labs and open innovation and citizens, with all stakeholders initiatives Source: Authors. involved in setting the agenda and • Collaborative design and delivery of devising solutions. public services CivicTech solutions can be initiated by governments, in government structures to enforce transparency, or by NGOs to response to demand, to improve communication with citizens, provoke debate or address issues. In some cases, indices of to improve efficiency of internal operations (Botchway et al. transparency developed by researchers or activists pressurize 2016), or in response to legislation that supports transparency local governments to share information more effectively (da (Sun and Yan, 2020). They can also be initiated by businesses Cruz et al. 2016; Gandía et al. 2016; Sun and Yan 2020). in the private sector for profit, by national or provincial EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 17 3.3 Openness and Transparency CivicTech is premised on the idea that well-informed citizens to look for relevant, timely, and accurate information, and are better able to participate in civic processes and take control correctly interpreting the information provided in order to act of their lives. With quality information, citizens can enhance on it (Backhouse and Chauke 2020; Mojapelo 2020). Since their lives by, for example, accessing services to improve their there are many points of failure in this chain, technology can health, education, retirement, or living conditions. Informed be both a barrier to and a facilitator of access. Consequently, citizens can also make better choices – for example when information sharing necessitates advertising and often also voting, better understand their role in governance, hold requires the provision of access tools, training, and financial governments to account, build more reasonable expectations support for technology access. of government, and contribute constructively to building a good society, however that might be defined by different Common tools for sharing information include central and stakeholders. Thus, enabling the provision of and access to local transparency portals, open data platforms, city websites, information is an important task of government, which can be ministry or agency websites, newsfeeds, social media, mobile facilitated by CivicTech. apps, and text messages or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) menus for cellphones that are not The information that government agencies can share includes: smart. For example, in Bangladesh, the national government has provided a website that indexes all government- • News about local or national plans and local or related websites (https://bangladesh.gov.bd/index.php). This national services. overarching site is intended to make it simpler for people to • Information about policies and relevant legislation locate the appropriate government website. In Egypt, a State or regulations. Information Facebook page is used to share information • Information about the right to information and the widely (https://www.facebook.com/EgyptStateInformation). In processes of claiming those rights. Mozambique, PENSA (Plataforma Educativa de Informação • Information about the processes of governance and how sobre a Saúde), a low-tech mobile app, has been developed citizens can engage with them. to provide healthcare information using USSD menus • Information about government services and programs, (https://www.pensa.org.mz/). eligibility and how to access them. • Information about the progress of individual Information sharing is also facilitated by internal ICT systems service applications. that improve the responses citizens get when they contact • Operational data that gives insights into the functioning of government agencies. These include query tracking systems, a city, district, or country. scripted responses, and call centers with tools that monitor the quality of engagements and track response times. Information For citizens to be well-informed, they need to access the about city processes can help to manage citizen expectations, information. Access, is a multifaceted construct that includes and tracking systems where residents can follow the progress being aware of the information sources and being able to obtain, of their service requests can reduce the number of calls to interpret, and act on information. Information services need to the city (Backhouse and Ben Dhaou 2021). Call centers can be advertised so that citizens are aware of their existence. be effective if they are integrated with operational systems so When information is provided digitally, access includes owning that agents can trace and resolve problems, rather than just or having the use of a digital device, knowing how to use it, logging them (Paul 2019). Box 2 below provides an example feeling safe when using it, having both the financial means of how smaller municipalities in Spain use their operational and the technical know-how to connect a device to a network, systems to share information. It is an inexpensive model that being able to download and use software, knowing where is easy to replicate. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 18 > > > B O X 2 - Digital City Services in Ronda, Spain Ronda is a small city in Spain with fewer than 36,000 people, making it difficult to justify investments in complex digital solutions. The city runs Gestiona, a cloud-based Electronic Document and Record Management System (EDRMS), which allows city procedures to be defined and carried out digitally. The solution includes a website with separate sections for employees and the public. The solution is provided in Software as a Service (SaaS) mode so that the city has not had to invest in computer infrastructure or acquire the technical skills to run it. The website for the public (https://ronda.sedelectronica.es/info.0) includes announcements and a catalogue of city procedures that provides information about which regulations govern that procedure and how the citizen can initiate it. Most of the procedures can be carried out electronically. There is also a section titled “electronic folders” where citizens can check the status of any request that they have submitted. Since implementing the solution, Ronda city has reduced face- to-face interactions at offices, as well as traffic at the Town Hall, by almost half, as residents can access the information they need to initiate processes and follow up on requests independently. Processing times and the use of paper by the city have also been reduced (Backhouse and Ben Dhaou 2021). Open data platforms are another means to share information to address privacy concerns. Unless regulations specify, the with citizens. Such platforms provide data sets, metadata national or subnational governments control the choice of data about the data sets and, sometimes, visualization tools and to be shared, but need to align provision to the areas of city explanatory materials to enable citizens to understand the governance that are most important to citizens, if the data is data. Data sets can be drawn from operational systems to be used and analyzed by citizens, academics, NGOs, or such as maintenance or billing systems, national or sub- other third parties. Arguably the more granular and local the national records such as a land registry or crime records, data, the more useful it is for citizens and the more it can lead or from research conducted by the city, including household to participatory approaches as described in the next section.17 surveys and census data. In each case, the data to be shared Box 3 below provides an example of open data from Kenya. needs to be accurate, clean and complete, and aggregated > > > B O X 3 - Kenya Open Data The Kenya Data Portal is a project of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, sponsored by the African Development Bank that brings together over 40 data sets from 18 sources to provide information about Kenya, Africa and the World. The data is organized in a number of ways, including by topics such as health, education, demographics and agriculture. Graphs and dashboards on key topics provide visual representations of the data. Users are invited to register to use the data portal. The portal can be accessed at https://kenya.opendataforafrica.org. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 19 In order to be able to share such information, governments for openness and accountability (OGP 2011). In order to may need to first establish legislation and policies to be able to join the OGP, partners must meet certain targets, but, since disseminate and communicate government-held information. membership is purely voluntary, they can commit to these There are many examples of governments embracing goals by following different national strategic action plans, openness and transparency as ways to provide information as long as these conform to the OGP principles (Fraundorfer and to build citizens’ trust in the information as well as in 2017). CivicTech tools fit the overall goals of the OGP and government itself, with some passing legislation such as Right their importance has grown as a result of the COVID-19 crisis to Information or Access to Information that mandates the putting an emphasis on online civic engagement. sharing of open data by government departments (EU 2019; Manda and Backhouse 2016; Sun and Yan 2019).18 CivicTech that provides government information to citizens seeks to inform and improve transparency, in the hopes In 2011, eight governments19 and nine civil society that accountability will follow. However, it is not necessarily organizations20 established the Open Government the case that transparency results in accountability, nor Partnership (OGP) as a multilateral initiative designed to to any improvement in services. (Peixoto and Sifry 2017). elicit the commitment of national governments to promote Nevertheless, journalists, bloggers, and civic-minded transparency, empower citizens, enhance accountability, and individuals can put additional pressure on governments to combat corruption by taking advantage of new information and disclose information not yet contained on these platforms, communication technologies. Since then, 76 countries have and use this information to act as “armchair auditors” that joined the OGP and several more are planning to do so in the participate in the policy process, promote accountability, upcoming years. Governments and civil society organizations improve the quality of government decision-making, and can join the OGP if they agree with its principles, mission, and help to prevent and mitigate corruption (da Cruz et al. 2016). agenda. This includes the promotion of freedom of information Box 4 below provides an example from South Africa where about government activities, civic participation, professional information about municipal finances is communicated integrity in public administration, and access to technology to citizens. > > > B O X 4 - Municipal Spending in South Africa In an effort to improve transparency and accountability, the South African treasury provides online information about municipal finances via two websites. Municipal Money (https://municipalmoney.gov.za/) is a site that provides performance ratings for each municipality in the country and explanations of the indicators used. Municipal Data (https://municipaldata. treasury.gov.za/) provides the source data for the performance ratings as downloadable data sets. Both sites include a video that explains in simple terms the different types of municipalities and the basics of their budgeting and financing as well as other resources. These websites are one-way communication mechanisms, with the central government providing information to citizens. No avenues are provided for digital engagement, although traditional face-to-face engagement is encouraged in the videos. Citizens are encouraged to attend local government meetings and give input to budgets and Integrated Development Plans. The videos also suggest that people monitor the performance of their municipality and work with local civic organizations to hold municipalities accountable. To facilitate this, detailed contact information is provided, including the website, office address, telephone numbers, and email addresses of the mayor, deputy mayor, municipal manager, and chief financial officer. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 20 3.4 Participation and Engagement The second type of CivicTech is participation and engagement, be influenced by advertising and effective communication which has the objective of seeking information from the citizen about a service and how to use it. Civic engagement tools to the government and engaging in response to citizens. are also more likely to attract participants if they concern This includes requesting citizens to provide feedback on an issue that people care about and if people think that government services as well as input and opinions from there will be a meaningful response (Asher et al. 2021). citizens on their needs, frustrations, and proposed changes CivicTech increases the capacity of providers to respond to public services. The agency seeking feedback or input because they collect individual responses and accurate data controls the questions that are asked and the options put to about citizen experiences, opinions, and preferences which the public, and thereby the extent to which citizens can provide policy makers and service providers can use to identify and feedback; it also controls the responsiveness of the agency to address problems. However, they do not necessarily result that feedback. in effective response, particularly when the system does not have a built-in incentive for responding. Perhaps the best There are two aspects of participation and engagement example of effective feedback systems are the so-called 311 initiatives: the uptake or extent to which citizens engage systems used in North America that are tied to the tracking and provide feedback, and the response of governments and resolution of citizen requests – see Box 5 below for an to that participation (Peixoto and Sifry 2017). Uptake can explanation of 311 systems. > > > B O X 5 - 311 Systems in United States of America Automated municipal service requests, also known as 311 systems, can improve service delivery to citizens. These systems began as telephone-based complaint hotlines and have evolved to become multichannel citizen relationship management systems, including call center, web, mobile app, and social media platform options (Hartmann 2019). The multi-channel approach reduces the digital divide by catering for preferences of different groups. This has allowed 311 services to evolve from client-oriented services delivered or produced by government to citizen coproduction systems through the submission of pictures, videos, and GPS coordinates (Chatfield and Reddick 2018). In their case study of 311 services in Houston, Chatfield and Reddick (2018) found evidence of the effective localized use of big data analytics in some departments, but these practices were not widespread. Instead, they suggest that departments with a history of use of big data and big data analytics are more successful in promoting the “data-driven government” vision. The 311 system in the City of New York allows citizens to request assistance for homeless persons by anonymously sharing the location of the person. Boston’s system allows the detection of potholes via the Street Bump app. Both Boston and Philadelphia hold hackathons to elicit ideas to help improve their 311 systems (Hartman 2019). Li et al. (2020) found an association between certain 311 indicators, such as code violations, public health and street lighting complaints, and episodes involving opioid overdose events. Currently, there are no professional or data standards in the implementation of 311 systems (Stowers 2021). Important recommendations for improving these systems include adopting standard service categories, developing performance benchmarks, and identifying and sharing best practices (Stowers 2021). In the case of mobile apps, design and usability guidelines should be adopted (de Paula et al. 2014). Additionally, citizen involvement is crucial for success. Many cities have adopted chat functions for communication between citizens and city workers and feedback – for example, photos – as processes are being solved. The latest developments in 311 systems include the automatic reporting of problems based on data from smart city applications (Huang et al. 2016). Smartphone alerts when entering dangerous areas, detection of potholes, noise, or urban infrastructure malfunctions are just a few examples of crowdsourced anomaly reporting in real-time (Hartman 2019; Huang et al. 2016). EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 21 311 systems have expanded to include social media networks but, here again, guidelines are still missing. A study of five American cities found that response to 311 requests via Twitter ranges from 50 percent in Chicago to 97 percent in San Francisco, indicating a high degree of variability in government responsiveness (Gao 2018). The success of feedback systems depends on their uptake by citizens, which in turn depends on the perception among citizens that there will be a meaningful response to the feedback and no reprisals or repercussions for raising a complaint. Research shows that such responses depend partially on the design of the system—as in the 311 systems that track responses, but also to a large extent on the institutional design (Peixoto and Sifry 2017). Box 6 below presents a successful example of a feedback mechanism in Kenya. Systems that disclose the feedback received, in order to inform citizens, are more likely to lead to action. Such systems are, however, limited in what they allow citizens to contribute. The agenda is set by the government agency – what gets asked, how responses are categorized, how and if there is a response – and they decide if and how to respond. > > > B O X 6 - Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company’s MajiVoice Feedback System (Kenya) The Nyeri Water and Sanitation Company (an urban water agency in Nyeri, a town in Nyeri County, Kenya) provides an online service, MajiVoice, for registering and tracking complaints, problems, and questions about their services. The service can be accessed via text message, USSD menu (for cellphones that are not smart), mobile website and website. Issues raised are tracked in accordance with agreed service standards. An explanation of the service is available at (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmGkcte7TWE). This service facilitates direct feedback to the company, which is tied to a tracking system to ensure that each call is responded to. MajiVoice is an example of an effective feedback system with evidence that the institution is responsive, primarily due to the tracking system. It mitigates the challenges of access by providing many avenues for engagement. However, despite being positioned as an ICT-enabled service, three-quarters of the complaints are filed in person, 21 percent by phone, and less than three percent by SMS or online. This blending of digital and traditional forms of access may be necessary to ensure the success of the service for years to come. Source: Belcher and Lopes 2016. Social media platforms can provide a ready solution for Participatory budget platforms, e-petitions, online public government bodies to interact with citizens without having consultations, and e-voting are ways in which governments to bear the costs of developing and managing the platform invite direct input from citizens on decisions to be made for itself, although it requires some effort in terms of change the city. These are designed in a variety of ways and many management and response mechanisms. As a result, many combine both traditional and digital means of engagement. make use of these platforms not only to provide information, Moscow’s Active Citizen platform is one example of a high- but also to solicit feedback from citizens. The Canadian profile initiative that gathers the opinions of citizens and federal government agency, Immigration, Refugees and engages them in decision-making, including participative Citizenship Canada (IRCC), uses social media as a customer budgeting. Polls are often taken to determine the best service tool as users reach out to government agencies at teacher or best city park, the programs for local events, the a time and location convenient to them to obtain responses working hours of sports facilities, the location of facilities and that are personalized to their situation (Gintova 2019). The equipment provision, and rules such as those governing noise, use of social media in emergency management planning developments and upgrades, and the choice of city symbols, and to mitigate the impacts of natural hazards is also well designs, and street names. The system has more than two documented (Chatfield and Reddick 2018; Gascó et al. 2017). million active users, but it has been criticized because voting EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 22 is incentivized through points which accumulate towards following the rains that caused several floods in Senegal rewards such as metro tickets or museum tickets. This means (https://www.ushahidi.com/). that people participate in votes about which they know very little, or which have impacts on parts of the city or services that Participatory budget initiatives aim to contribute to the exercise they do not use (Gritsenko and Indukaev 2021). of an informed, active, and responsible intervention by citizens in local governance processes, guaranteeing the participation Ushahidi’s crowdsourcing platforms are based on open- of citizens in decisions concerning the allocation of resources source software aiming to mobilize communities and improve to local public policies, thus enabling local executives to lives, empowering users to rapidly and purposefully gather, respond to the real needs and aspirations of the population. analyze, respond, and act on data and information. Since These initiatives began in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1989 (see its creation in 2008 as a tool to monitor and map post- Box 7 below), and became extremely popular throughout election violence in Kenya, Ushahidi’s platforms have been several Latin American cities (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, used for the rapid collection, management and analysis of Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay) in the early crowdsourced information in multiple countries and contexts, 2000s, as reported by the Inter-American Development Bank including tracking human rights violations in Syria; improving (2005). Recent data suggests that participatory budgeting COVID-19 responses in communities in Togo and Kenya; has garnered worldwide popularity, with processes initiated in information sharing for assistance requests, assistance offers, cities across the five continents (Ganuza and Baiocchi 2012). and health services needs in Bolivia; and mapping disasters > > > B O X 7 - Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil In 1989, the newly elected mayor of the city of Porto Alegre (Brazil), Olívio Dutra of the Workers Party, initiated the first experience with participatory budgeting. At the time, the main goal was to give voice to the poor in choosing how public resources were to be used by the city’s executive. The institutionalization of neighborhood budget committees aimed to stimulate popular participation in the allocation of resources to the citywide budget. The committees meet regularly to deliberate over proposals initiated by citizens and treated by the different functional branches of the local executive, such as public safety, parks and recreation, transportation, education, among others. After deliberation, the proposals are consolidated into a draft budget to be voted by the population. The cycle is repeated every fiscal year and the top proposals are implemented by the local executive. Since its inception, participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre has evolved to include an online voting option, resulting in an 8.2 percent increase in total turnout (Spada et al. 2015). The participatory budgeting process has been credited with improving popular control over government officials, reducing clientelism, and enhancing the opportunities of social segments that have been historically excluded from development, integrating them as active subjects in decision-making processes. The majority participation of people from the lower classes and the prioritized investments, mainly in the area of infrastructure, attest to the popular appeal of the proposal. Source: Fedozzi, 1998. In Germany, Lindner and Riehm (2011) found that an e-petition system led to more people signing petitions and greater involvement of young people, but that it did not improve representativeness. Those submitting e-petitions reflected a similar profile (educated, male, employed) as those doing so through traditional channels. These concerns regarding a gender bias in e-petitions are tempered by a more recent large-scale study of e-petitions in 132 countries that found that, on a global scale, women sign more e-petitions than men. And though men create more e-petitions than women, petitions created by women are, on average, more successful at generating policy response (Mellon et al. 2017). Still regarding the profile of e-petition signatures, Åström et al. (2017) found that participation in the Malmöinitiativet, an e-petition system in Sweden, tends to attract citizens with weaker connections to formal politics and more dissatisfied with the way democracy works. This study also indicated that among users of the e-petition system, the proportion of those changing predisposition toward government from negative to positive exceed the proportion of those in experiencing the reverse change. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 23 Box 8 below presents a multicountry platform. The Annex to this note provides a table with a comprehensive list of examples. > > > B O X 8 - UNICEF’s U-Report System (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, Nigeria, Mexico) U-Report is a messaging system for young people, launched in 2011 in Uganda and currently deployed in 68 countries with more than 11 million users. Users can access information with the help of automated bots, report issues like violence and school experiences, and participate in polls on topics such as employment, child marriage, and health. Live chats offer one-on-one advice and information with all participation being anonymous. The platform has been used to mobilize the youth to respond to floods (in the Caribbean and Sierra Leone), to deal with health threats (in Mozambique and Liberia), and to improve menstrual hygiene in 20 countries. Young people who use the platform rate the experience as positive. Many say that they have gained information and shared it with friends or family. The results of polls are reported to national governments and policy makers, as well as published in the press, although it is not clear that any changes in policy can be attributed to the influence of U-Report. There have also been criticisms that U-Report is biased towards more educated young people and government employees. Source: https://www.unicef.org/innovation/U-Report. CivicTech, through enhanced participation and engagement, Government responsiveness is improved if feedback is has the potential for increased citizen voice and the aggregation routinely reported, if responses are disclosed, and if the tools of citizen voices into identifiable patterns, that can be used are widely used and combined with offline actions (Peixoto to inform policy, but it may also lead to increased frustration and Sifry 2017). Most importantly, Peixoto and Sifry found that if action falls short of expectations. However, improvements feedback mechanisms that result in meaningful change to in service delivery are not always evident and consultative services, always involve the relevant government structures platforms do not automatically lead to citizen empowerment. in designing the feedback mechanism and response. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 24 3.5 Collaboration and Co-creation, Co-production, and Co-design The third type of CivicTech comprises technologies that are used dialogue between state and non-state stakeholders, often with for and entail collaboration between citizens and governments. a strong user-driven prototyping focus (Bharosa et al. 2021). This more ambitious form of collaboration entails the co- Living labs leverage local resources from strategic networks to creation, co-design, co-implementation, and co-diffusion of develop real-life testing and prototyping solutions to problems initiatives. CivicTech collaboration initiatives are typically more that cannot be solved by the staff in ministries, cities, or single focused on deliberative policy making rather than improving departments alone (Baykurt and Raetzsch 2020). The initial efficiency, efficacy, access, quality, and responsiveness of Kenya Open Data Initiative, for example, was the co-creation service delivery. While many of the tools for participation and of a group of staff/stakeholders from the Kenyan Ministry of engagement reviewed in the previous section can be used ICT and the ICT Board, private sector including Google and to enhance deliberation and democracy, in practice they are Socrata, and civil society including the Open Institute, and limited by both the nature of the technological solution and by Code4Africa, with support from the World Bank.21 the goal assigned to them by government officials. In contrast, the initiatives discussed in this section combine concerns with The development of a living lab entails five stages (Amenta et service delivery and perspectives on individuals as citizens in a al. 2019): co-exploring, co-design, co-production, co-decision, democratic polity – see Annex for a more examples. and co-governance. Living labs have been used to address issues such as circular regeneration of waste-scapes in Living labs is a term used to describe public-private-citizen peri-urban areas in Italy and the Netherlands (Amenta et al. partnerships which aim to co-create problem specific solutions 2019); early warning systems for urban flooding in Belgium, and strategies (Amenta et al. 2019). Because living labs are the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (Veeckman and highly focused on a context-specific identification of needs, they Temmerman 2021; Verbeiren et al. 2018); adoption of are better able to mobilize “tacit knowledge” from local actors and sustainable building technologies in the Netherlands (Puerari involve actors from the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors et al. 2018); crime prevention and urban regeneration in to enhance trust and secure legitimacy in decision-making. Eindhoven, Netherlands (Meijer and Thaens 2018); and prototyping simple telecommunications solutions, providing Openness and user-centric approaches are emphasized agricultural services, and developing ICT solutions for small, in co-creation when using a Living Labs approach, as they rural traders in South Africa (Coetzee et al. 2012). Box 9 below provide opportunities to foster collaboration, interaction, and describes the living lab approach in Tanzania. > > > B O X 9 - Tanzania Living Labs In line with the National ICT Policy implemented by the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology, Tanzania supports a number of Living Labs through the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology. These Living Labs have been studied to better understand their role in innovation in Tanzania. The two best-known are Buni Hub and the KINU hub located in Dar es Salaam. With 4,000 registered users, the Buni hub provides space and networking for projects, businesses, and innovators and attracts mostly university students and graduates. KINU hub was founded by young entrepreneurs and is a co-creation space for technology developers. Both of these hubs are self-sustaining and have advanced technological capacities. Other Living Labs in Tanzania take a different approach. They combine community development, ICT, and local innovation to focus on finding innovative solutions to problems identified by the community, and often develop more low-tech solutions than is traditional for Living Labs. While ICT is not necessarily part of the solutions they develop, they have been successful in building engagement, particularly among young and unemployed school dropouts, and have been able to create businesses and employment opportunities. Source: Hooli, Jauhianen and Lähde, 2016. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 25 Like most collaboration efforts, Living Labs face challenges specialists, such as social and human sciences, economics, related to collective action and trust among the actors architecture or natural sciences, can also enrich the quality involved. These challenges also stem from their deployment of the products to be develop and better respond to citizen’s to deal with complex problems characterized by “conflicting needs. More generally, existing CivicTech can be redeployed demands of inclusion, equality, accessibility and innovation to engage citizens in co-creating public infrastructures, around technological questions” (Baykurt and Raetzsch 2020: applications, and new forms of governance (Brynskov et p.785). al. 2018; Mulder 2012). These initiatives should involve the ecosystem of citizens, businesses and civil society to develop CivicTech tools can also play a role in enhancing trust and partnerships, mature scalable solutions (Mora and Bolici 2017; creating the conditions for the legitimation of public policies. Zygiaris 2013), focus on user needs (Baykurt and Raetzsch Deliberation in citizen sourcing initiatives is regarded as an 2020), and enact changes in digital culture in order to win extremely powerful tool to address problem-solving due trust and acceptance, fostering curiosity, rapid prototyping, to its ability to increase trust, build capacity, and improve and the avoidance of “thinking in silos” (Digitalstadt Darmstadt participation (May and Ross 2018). Administrative rulemaking 2018: 32–33). can benefit from the use of digital deliberative tools to include individuals and organizations that are traditionally excluded Deliberative policy making relies on rational arguments from regulatory processes (Nam 2020). Decisions emerging generated by a wide range of stakeholders. Online from these types of networked interactions are more likely to platforms evolved to explore the diverse perspectives of be perceived as legitimate, based on principles of subsidiarity, different stakeholders and help overcome the limitations of expertise, and reputation rather than on traditional forms of confirmation bias and filter bubbles associated with social representation (Milan and Hintz 2013). media platforms. Digital platform moderators play a pivotal role in facilitating active discussions, encouraging both within- Hackathons are events aimed at developing software group and between-group interactions to avoid increasing applications to solve specific challenges (Robinson and levels of homophily and polarization witnessed in social media Johnson 2016). Hackathons provide a mechanism for platforms (Medaglia and Zhu 2017). These platforms can be collaborative design; the events typically attract a narrow designed to promote tolerance and respect for other people’s spectrum of tech specialists and the problems to be solved, opinions (Kim et al. 2019). They help to increase the number and the approaches are largely controlled by the organizers and diversity of actors engaged in deliberation by including (Berg et al. 2021).22 Hackathons can be used to rethink prior marginalized groups and expand the knowledge available current uses of technology to promote sustainable civic for deliberation, thus improving social equity outcomes as well behavior and enhance social justice, for example. However, as the overall quality of the policy making process. recent evidence also suggests that solutions developed in hackathons may not be sustainable, producing short-lived The design, adoption, implementation, and evaluation projects that fail to address the complexity of issues at hand. of public policies can be significantly improved with civic An empirical study analyzing development patterns of 11,889 technologies. Co-creation involves several steps (Jarke et al. US-based hackathon projects found that only seven percent of 2019): (1) identification of the problem to be solved; (2) co- the projects maintained activity six months after the hackathon generation of ideas to solve the problem; (3) co-design of an event (McIntosh and Hardin 2021). Another large-scale study implementable solution; (4) co-collection and edition of data; conducted by Nolte et al. (2020) found that long term extension and (5) co-diffusion of the solution. While participatory solution of projects developed during hackathons is dependent on the design tends to limit end-users to the role of information skill diversity of team members, their technical capabilities and and feedback providers, co-creation is characterized by the their intention to extend the project. Interestingly, the authors constant iteration between citizens as end-users, developers, also find that success is inversely related to intensive short- and other relevant stakeholders. term activity, suggesting that long-term commitment is not contingent on short-term enthusiasm. Both deliberative policy making and co-creation of public policies require significant amounts of data. More often than New domains of application for Internet of Things (IoT) sensor not, these data are not open, thus requiring an involvement systems can include designs attentive to volunteering civic of co-creators in the collection and edition of data, including behavior, as suggested by DiSalvo and Jenkins (2017) in their data generation, content editing, writing texts and descriptions, investigation of the use of IoT to reduce food waste in social and producing photos and videos (Berker et al. 2018). A project service provision. The engagement of profiles beyond the tech aimed at co-creating a mobile city district guide with and for EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 26 older adults in Bremen, Germany, relied on data walks to and Hintz 2013; Sun and Yan, 2020) and apps developed engage this demographic in co-design activities (Jarke 2019). to empower individuals (Rotich, 2020; Thomas et al. 2022). The project experienced difficulties regarding the availability of Technology reduces transaction costs for collective action. relevant open data, so one of the strategies was to engage Such activists can engage constructively with government. senior citizens in the collection and co-creation of data to serve However, in some cases, these represent an “emerging form the needs, wishes, and interests of the users (Jarke et al. 2018). of organized civil society” (Milan and Hintz 2013) based on loose, informal structures, individual connections, and a Unlike the first two stages of CivicTech, collaboration and co- lack of hierarchy. Where such groups reject principles of creation initiatives can be initiated by any of the stakeholders. democracy such as representation and structured modes of This includes the actions of activists using open data to identify operation, it becomes difficult to collaborate effectively (Milan problems and raise awareness and suggest alternatives (Milan and Hintz 2013). > > > B O X 1 0 - Bluemap Environmental Data and Activism in China The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) is a nonprofit organization in Beijing, founded in 2006 by an environmental journalist. It promotes public participation in environmental issues by making relevant data available and coordinating responses to environmental issues. The activities of IPE are aligned with legislation that ensures the citizen’s right to know about the environment and regulations on open government information. Among their activities, IPE has created a “blue map” which consolidates data on air quality, water quality, and enterprise pollution from national and local government sources and presents it in an accessible format. The Bluemap app is used by more than 3.5 million users to identify local sources of pollution. IPE also facilitates citizen feedback on polluting activities using a micro-monitoring system based on the Weibo social media platform. IPE has also created a Pollution Information Transparency Index that measures how well local governments are adhering to these regulations and uses the index to pressurize them to embrace open data. Because IPE operates in line with established laws, their work is seen as complementary to government efforts rather than confrontational. This has resulted in some local and provincial governments incorporating the Weibo feedback into their operational processes to enforce environmental regulations and ensure sources of pollution are addressed. As a result of its different activities, IPE has been able to influence government, companies, and citizens to strengthen legislation, change polluting practices, and engage to address environmental issues. Source: Sun and Yan, 2020. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 27 4. >>> How to Adopt, Implement, and Assess CivicTech To go from a CivicTech idea to a fully functioning CivicTech solution is a complex process that can be daunting. The process can be divided into five phases: understand the problem, design, development, implementation and evaluation. While these phases generally follow a sequential pattern, they are likely to be iterated several times, depending on the complexity of the problem, before arriving at an acceptable solution. In addition, the rapid pace of technological change may require a rethink of previous stages. The CivicTech solution cycle is below in Figure 4. This cycle may not apply in this exact form to every CivicTech project, but can be adapted as needed. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 28 > > > F I G U R E 4 - The CivicTech Solution Cycle Step 1: Understand the problem 1.1 Select the right problem 1.2 Identify the stakeholders 1.3 Choose representatives 1.4 Collect stakeholder views 1.5 Analyse what you have learned Step 5: Evaluate Step 2: Design a solution 5.1 Evaluate the design 2.1 Identify the appropriate CivicTech type 5.2 Monitor the implementation 2.2 Define a minimum viable solution 5.3 Evaluate feedback from the users 2.3 Get design help, if needed 5.4 Evaluate the sustainability of 2.4 Issue an RFI the solution 2.5 Select the technology 2.6 Specify the minimum functionality 2.7 Identify organisational changes Step 4: Implement Step 3: Develop the solution 4.1 Build a stakeholder 3.1 Choose a development approach communication plan 3.2 Issue an RFP 4.2 Plan the implementation process 3.3 Select the developer 4.3 Set up a support team 3.4 Contract the development 4.4 Launch the CivicTech solution 3.5 Manage the development 3.6 Test the solution Source: Authors. CivicTech solutions are required to evolve and are unlikely is that any commitment to a CivicTech solution also requires to ever be complete. Because of the rapid changes in a commitment to its ongoing support and development. It is technology, any solution developed is going to have to change important to plan for the whole life of any CivicTech solution. on an ongoing basis, and solutions will require ongoing The cyclical model is intended to emphasize that the process financing for sustainability. Operating systems and other does not end. It is also intended as a warning that CivicTech software on which any solution depends will be upgraded development should not be embarked on lightly. Developing a or discontinued; changes in user expectations will require solution and then having to discontinue it may erode trust with changes in functionality, and new tech devices or capabilities stakeholders and hinder future initiatives. will emerge that will need to be incorporated. What this means EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 29 4.1 Understand the Problem Identifying the problem and agreeing on common goals for the Problems are simpler if they: involve fewer stakeholders, are solution is key to successful CivicTech. CivicTech solutions are well-understood; are uncontroversial; and are considered more likely to succeed if they arise out of ongoing engagements low-risk. The fewer stakeholders involved in any problem, with stakeholders through which problems surface. If there the fewer differing viewpoints there will be and the easier it has not already been engagement with the stakeholders for will be to arrive at a common understanding of the problem. which the solution is intended, it is important to begin with a It will also require less time for consultation and feedback general engagement to ensure that all stakeholders share and be less likely to be controversial. Problems are deemed similar perceptions on what is and what is not a problem. What controversial if there are strongly held, opposing views on looks like a problem to one set of stakeholders may not look what the problem is and how to solve it. It is preferable to like a problem to others. address less divisive issues because solutions are more likely to succeed, given overall buy-in. More ambitious efforts can Socio-technical problems look different to different people be built upon this success. Such a gradual approach is likely and the only way to arrive at a common understanding is to to produce increased trust over time. CivicTech developments speak with the people who will use the solution. Research into are high-risk if they involve multiple stakeholders, when there the high failure rates of information systems in developing are multiple opposing views, where they deal with sensitive countries identified a mismatch between the design and the data, where personal safety is at risk, where new, cutting edge reality of the users as the primary cause of failure (Heeks technologies are used, and where developments are going to 2014). CivicTech necessitates engagement with stakeholders be used in a highly volatile context. to really understand the prevailing context and culture. In reality, coming to a clear and common vision about the problem 4.1.2 Identify the Stakeholders to be solved will be messy as will the solution to be tried, and In order to understand the problem, and whether it is participants will need to use various methods to consult and amenable to a CivicTech solution, it is necessary to identify come to a consensus in an iterative way about the goals of the the right stakeholders and to speak to everyone involved. It is project and the most appropriate CivicTech solution and the a common mistake to believe that, because of prior knowledge appropriate technology to make these goals come to fruition. of technology and experience of solutions, the problem is already well understood. Each stakeholder, including 4.1.1 Select the Appropriate Problem Issue those initiating the CivicTech, only understands the problem Not all problems can be addressed through CivicTech from their perspective. Stakeholders in a problem for which solutions and so it is recommended to start with a well-defined CivicTech could be a solution include everyone who is part and manageable problem that can be addressed with an of the problem and those who need to be part of the solution. easy-to-use platform designed to facilitate wide participation These may be different groups of citizens, civic organizations, and deliver effective results (May and Ross 2018). If simple government agencies, service providers, businesses and problems can be solved, then the experience gained will make technical experts. Make as complete a list as possible of the it easier to address more challenging issues. stakeholders and potential stakeholders. Think through each part of the problem and decide who might need to be involved. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 30 Note that for certain CivicTech tools, such as 311 systems, and eldercare to participants of deliberative policy making participatory budgeting, e-voting or e-petition systems, citizens processes that rely on randomization/stratification to ensure are the primary target group. These tools enable individual the group broadly matches the demographic profile of the interaction. In contrast, living labs tend to involve a much community (OECD 2020). more diverse set of individuals and organizations, each with particular contributions and concerns that will be at the core of 4.1.4 Collect Stakeholder Views the successful deployment/diffusion of the CivicTech solution. If the project is already working with the stakeholders, seek opportunities to discuss the following questions through 4.1.3 Choose Stakeholder Representatives existing channels. The nature of the engagement will depend Inclusion is central in the identification of partners in the on the context, the usual ways of engaging, and considerations implementation of CivicTech tools. In some instances, equal like the literacy of the participants and the need for translation. access to the tool is a basic requirement of the system – such In the same way that no business will develop a product as for 311 systems, e-voting and e-petitions – and stakeholders without understanding the market, for CivicTech the equivalent should be selected appropriately to ensure that the views of of market research is needed to understand what the target all are represented. Equal opportunity and fair representation beneficiaries want. This is done by identifying the stakeholders across such boundaries as gender, race, age, religion, sexual involved in dealing with the problem and developing a set of orientation, marital status, employment status, and income questions for each stakeholder. group are particularly important, and should be cultivated from the very beginning, if the CivicTech initiative aims to empower The questions may include the following: people or engage in collaborative design and implementation of public policies. As the level of complexity involved in the 1. Can you tell me about ________________________? CivicTech tool increases, inclusiveness may become more What is happening? difficult to achieve and, simultaneously, more crucial to the 2. Is this a problem? Why or why not? Who is it a problem for? success of the initiative. 3. Why is this happening? How long has it been happening? Was it ever different? Selecting who will assist in the design and development of 4. Does the situation need to change? Why or why not? the CivicTech depends on the nature of the solution and 5. Have there been any attempts to change it? What was the availability of stakeholders. Key considerations include done and what happened? the following: 6. What do you think needs to happen for it to change? 7. Could that happen? Why hasn’t it happened already? • Involve at least people from each stakeholder group. 8. What is the one thing that we could do to help? • Within a group aim for diversity. • The diversity needed depends on the problem and who Decide on the best way to engage stakeholders. Match it affects. the approach to the problem and the type of solution that • Who participates may depend on who is available is envisaged. Ask for their input using surveys, interviews, and willing. focus groups or community meetings. Think about the • If the target users are geographically dispersed, include resources required for different types of engagement—time, people from a number of locations. effort and money. Also consider which approaches will get the best responses for a stakeholder. Be sensitive to power Consider also how to approach stakeholders who have not imbalances that may prevent some people from speaking out been previously engaged and what incentives may be needed in the presence of others. for them to participate. The value of participating may be obvious to a company or business, but may be less obvious 4.1.5 Analyze What Has Been Learned to citizens. Offering rewards for participating may help to It is a good idea to have a team of people analyze the achieve equitable representation and secure a diverse set of information collected to identify what the problem is, why preferences and points of view, but it requires monitoring to people think that this problem has arisen, and what can be ensure that the results still reflect the values of deliberative done about it. Keep notes on the discussions and develop the democracy. While some trade-offs may occur between the document described below during the analysis. use of financial incentives and data quality, international organizations such as the OECD consider it good practice to First identify what the problem is. Describe it in detail, together offer remuneration, and/or providing or paying for childcare with who is involved, why it has arisen and why it is a problem. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 31 It may be necessary to explain the background and context of Share this problem statement with the stakeholders that are the situation. involved and get their feedback on the current understanding of the problem. Refine the document until the majority of Next, try to understand why this problem is happening. The stakeholders agree (or agree to disagree). aim is to develop a theory about how (and why) the negative effect follows from the current circumstances because from This problem statement document also has other uses. that, it will be possible to identify interventions that can solve the problem. The theory may be wrong, but each iteration 1. To support funding applications or to motivate the project. of the CivicTech solution cycle will test some aspect of that 2. To publicize the project. theory and refine it. 3. To guide decisions about who to partner with. 4. In a Request for Information and/or Request for Proposals Finally, see what stakeholders have said about how the to a technology partner. problem might be addressed. Note if different groups have 5. As the primary input to the design process. different solutions and think deeply about which approaches 6. In the evaluation phase to decide if the project goals are will have the widest benefits. Pay particular attention to things being met. that have been tried before and why they didn’t work. This will prevent making the same mistakes again. Be aware that it may not be possible to agree on the problem in divided societies with very low levels of trust. In such contexts, Depending on the level of engagement that is comfortable and focus on building trust before undertaking any CivicTech. practical, and the nature of the CivicTech anticipated, consider involving a number of the stakeholders in the analysis. This can help to make sure all voices are heard. Of course, for a 4.2 Design co-design and co-creation project, this process will be done with the stakeholders. The way in which design will be approached depends on There may be more than one understanding of a problem and the kind of solution to be developed. For a co-designed, more than one theory as to why it is happening. Therefore, collaborative project the steps will be different. as part of the analysis, decide whether it is feasible to accommodate multiple understandings and theories in the 4.2.1 Identify the Appropriate design of the solution or whether to focus on the problem from just one perspective. CivicTech Type Start by thinking about the three levels of CivicTech described 4.1.6 Document the Problem in Chapter 3 to see what problems the different levels of CivicTech have been used to solve and identify how similar End this phase by documenting the problem. The description problems have been addressed using some of the examples should include: shared in this chapter and provided in the Annex. This could provide ideas on how to proceed. • Background information about the history and social context of the problem. CivicTech initiatives focused on information sharing, • A description of what is happening. transparency, and open government allow participants to • Details of who is involved at each stage and what their track relevant information about individual requests, to use roles are. open data for civic purposes, and to stimulate involvement • An explanation of the negative effects or impacts and why in a given initiative. In societies characterized by low levels this is a problem. of trust and social capital, small steps in openness and • Brief descriptions of the theory of why this is happening23 transparency can produce visible results for citizens and help and any supporting evidence. to overcome culturally or historically embedded distrust. Easy- • Any ideas that have been collected about what can be to-use platforms capable of securing effective problem-solving done to solve the problem. could help to build confidence to deploy CivicTech initiatives to • Ideas about how to measure if the intervention is helping. more challenging issues. Openness and transparency goals can be served by CivicTech tools promoting communication This document will be used to ensure consensus or at least in one direction and geared towards sharing information and the majority agree on the problem and the goals of the project. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 32 data, and accountability reporting. If the goal is one-way That means designing a pilot—the smallest possible solution, communication, there is no advantage in using CivicTech tools implementing it and evaluating to see if it is having the right aiming at two-way or multi-way communication. kind of impact—before deciding whether to continue, what to change, and what next to implement. This approach also Openness and transparency involve providing information in means doing the least harm if the solution has any unintended a format that can be retrieved, transformed, used, treated, negative consequences. The project can be stopped or the or analyzed by any of a multitude of stakeholders. Different direction can be changed before much harm is done. CivicTech tools (and technologies) may appeal and provide information to different stakeholders. For example, a municipal The first design step should be to identify a “minimum viable transparency index developed by an NGO is more likely to solution.” That is the simplest solution, with the fewest features appeal and be more relevant to local officials and the general to be functional and have some impact. Develop and implement public living in the municipality, or journalists seeking to report this minimum viable solution and evaluate the impact before on the mismanagement of public funds. On the other hand, considering more features. Remember that, in practice, most a public procurement platform intended to disseminate public CivicTech solutions do not work and are abandoned. The only information on public contracts is likely to attract the attention way to know if something will work is to test it. For this reason, of companies wishing to engage in contracts. it is better to invest as little time and money as possible to get to a working solution that can be tested. It is also important to Beyond information sharing and transparency, civic be ready to abandon the project, or start over, if the desired engagement may focus on consultation and information results are not observed in the test (pilot) phase. gathering from citizens. This level of engagement requires feedback from citizens in order to prioritize public goals and The design may use existing technology components, initiatives, comment on policies, and express preferences to configured in an innovative manner. Technology solutions may decision-makers. When participation and engagement is the necessitate developing new software, but they could equally major goal, consultation, feedback, and other tools that allow involve buying a technology system or renting a service interaction become relevant and may need to be adapted to provided by, for example, a platform – see section 4.4.2. these purposes. Note that CivicTech tools with these aims Even when software is to be developed, it could be done by do not require synchronous communication, but merely the combining or modifying existing open-source software. Very possibility of call and response and a way to register feedback often, solutions can be crafted by combining a number of or preferences expressed by citizens. such components. In any case, it is still necessary to have an overall design for which components will be used, how they More complex problems and more ambitious goals place will fit together, and how the processes around the technology additional stress on CivicTech solutions. Co-creation initiatives will work. For this, someone who knows the technology and citizen empowerment entail a much deeper level of components well and understands how to create a solution engagement on the part of citizens and a firm belief that out of the technology is needed. the time invested in organizing working groups, democratic mini-publics, or living labs, among other initiatives will result 4.2.3 Get Design Help, if Needed in deliberative decision-making, meaningful change, and Technology design is a highly specialized field. While it is lasting outcomes.24 At a deeper level of engagement involving possible for an amateur to design a system, it is the equivalent deliberation, collaborative design, or other forms of co- of designing a house without an architect. The house may creation, synchronous communication is crucial to accomplish be quite acceptable, but an architect can bring professional successful citizen empowerment. The most pressing issues knowledge that will make it much better. An architect will also raised by citizens usually involve complex problems and know how to design for cost savings, stability, and livability. require CivicTech tools able to involve larger and more diverse Likewise, an ICT professional will be able to anticipate pitfalls groups in multidirectional communication. These processes and make recommendations that will produce a CivicTech may run the gamut of steps in collaborative design, from solution that works better, and is more cost-effective and identifying appropriate CivicTech solutions to setting up the easier to use. mechanisms for the joint evaluation of outcomes. Quite often, the best way to get design expertise is to partner 4.2.2 Define a Minimum Viable Solution with a company that provides a design service. The challenge It is virtually impossible to design CivicTech and get it right here is that is that most such companies will be selling a first time, so the process for design needs to be iterative. particular technology and will create a design that uses the EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 33 technology they sell. It is usual to select the technology as part with them or not. It is also an opportunity to learn about the of the design process because what (solution) is possible will technology, what it can or cannot do, and what is involved in depend on what the technology can do. The balance between making it work. the capabilities and limitations of any particular technology involves subtle trade-offs that can seldom be recognized An RFI should include: by anyone without in-depth knowledge of both the problem and the technology’s capabilities. But at the same time, it is 1. The description of the problem that was produced at the important not to be locked into a particular technology and end of the problem definition phase, which includes any provider too early in the process. existing ideas for solutions. 2. Eligibility requirements for the companies or people The way around this is to issue a Request for Information responding and the documents needed to evaluate (RFI) which solicits proposals for the design of technology that eligibility – for example, certificate of incorporation, solutions from a number of potential partners. This gives financial records, proof of similar projects completed, several potential partners an opportunity to propose different references, skills profile, equity profile. technologies and investment models, and the contracting 3. A request for preliminary information about their design organization gets to evaluate a number of solution designs ideas, including technology and investment options that and potential technology partners. Even if your organization they propose. has in-house ICT skills who will develop the solution, it would 4. Details of how the responses should be submitted and still be worth issuing an RFI. Ask the in-house developers the deadline. to respond to the RFI or, if you are the expert who will be 5. Contact details of the person who will answer any queries. designing the solution, you should respond to the RFI. That way you can be sure you are thinking through all aspects of Share the RFI as widely as possible to get a reasonable range the design. Use these responses to compare the proposed in- of responses. Look for companies that might be likely to offer house solution to other proposals. the service required and send it to them directly. Also, ask organizations that have produced similar CivicTech about who 4.2.4 Issue a Request for Information they worked with. Be creative about using networks to pass it on. An RFI solicits ideas about technologies, what they can do and why they might be useful to solve the problem. It does Evaluate the responses to the RFI to identify which partners not include budgets or time estimates, although it might give to continue the work with. Some guiding principles for this some idea of the overall scale of the cost. At this stage, the evaluation are: aim is to learn about the company (or individuals) proposing the technology to inform the decision on whether to partner > > > T A B L E 1 - Guiding Principles for Design Evaluation Evaluate the partner Experience What skills do they have? What is their staff turnover? Have they developed similar systems before? Stability How long have they been in business? Are they likely to remain in business (financial stability)? Customer service How do they engage with clients? What support is offered? Are past clients happy with them? Look for reviews; speak to other/previous customers. Reputation Does the company have a reputation for ethical business practices, particularly with respect to digital rights? EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 34 Table 1 continued Evaluate the design and/or technology Fit for purpose Will the proposed technology do what the system needs to do? (Don’t accept verbal promises, ask to see a working example installed at another client.) Will there be compromises on some functionality? This is common, and some trade-offs will have to be made. Stability How long has the technology been around? Are there readily available skills (on the open market) to implement the technology? How many installations are there? Do clients experience downtime? Currentness Is the technology regularly improved? How often are there new releases? Who owns the technology and are they likely to be in business for some time? Security Is the technology secure? How is security tested? What are the risks? Source: Authors. The same questions should be asked of any design proposed does not give enough depth of technical understanding to by an internal software development team. make these (often expensive) decisions. 4.2.5 Select the Technology Technology choice is usually a tradeoff between cost and functionality. Any and all functionality is possible; it is just a The technology to be used will usually be selected as part matter of how much money there is to spend. Start with the of the design process. Technology in this situation refers to budget, consider the technology options that are affordable, the software, platforms, and sometimes (but not always) the and then decide if the functionality they offer is sufficient for physical hardware. Generally, physical hardware is generic the system’s needs. When considering the trade-offs between and can be rented as a service, rather than bought, unless building, buying, and renting alternatives, be sure to examine the system includes specific items, like sensors, that have to the short-, medium- and long-term costs, because a solution fit a particular specification. Refer back to the principles for that looks cheaper in the short-term may often incur higher technology selection in section 4.4.2, and then consider the costs in the long term when maintenance and sustainability points that follow. are factored in. Use tried and tested, well-established technology. New Document the choice of technology for the next step in the technologies, while they may sound sexy, come with the process. This might be a specific platform or software system, challenge that they are not well tested and may have been or it might be a type of technology. The more open the system implemented in a small number of situations. This means that choices can be at this stage, the more options there will unexpected technology problems can hold up the CivicTech be when it comes to development. However, if a particular development, adding to costs. There are also likely to be platform or tool has been identified, a clear record of how fewer skilled people around who can develop using newer that decision was arrived at will greatly simplify matters when technologies. Even if a technology partner has the skills there limitations arise later in the project and it is harder to rely on may come a time when it is necessary to hire people directly memories to remember the current reasoning. to support the system in the long term. Select technology on the advice of trusted technology partners, 4.2.6 Specify the Minimum Functionality not what the popular press is reporting or because the Finally, with some idea of the technology to be used, the technology is in the news. This may seem obvious, but often design can be specified. The design is specified in terms of decisions are made on the basis of well-meaning, inexpert Use Cases (or User Stories). A Use Case is a description of advice. For example, listening to podcasts on new technology something that a user will do with the system, or how they will EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 35 interact with the system. It describes who is interacting with can agree about what needs to be done and how the system the system, what they do, and how the system responds. should respond. If the users cannot understand the use case, they won’t understand the system. To design a minimum viable solution should require three to five use cases. Any more than that, and it will not be possible During this process, record any unusual/new terms down in a to iterate quickly. For example, a simple website to share open data dictionary. This may seem unnecessary, but each system data may include the following use cases in the first iteration: understands terms in a particular way. For example, for an NGO working to assist people to resolve service difficulties 1. The user can find information about the website, who with the city, a client may be a client of the city or a client owns it, the data being shared, and what they can do with of the NGO organization. A data dictionary is useful to make the data. sure that everyone uses the same words to describe the same 2. The user can select one of two views of the data and the things; this prevents confusion and misunderstanding. A data data is displayed at a national level. The user can drill dictionary can also store information that might be helpful for down and display the data for a particular district or city. the developers. For example, developers would like to know 3. The user can download the data set in two that the city uses a 16-digit client code for their clients, but that different formats. the NGO allocates a 5-digit file number to their clients. A simple feedback app to collect information about 4.2.7 Identify Organizational infrastructure that needs repairs may need the following Changes Needed use cases. Any new system will need changes within the organization that will host the system. For example, some staff will have 1. The user can download and install the app, open the app, to take responsibility for things like backups, data protection and agree to the use of camera and location data. and management, and security. If the system is collecting 2. The user can take a photograph of something that needs feedback from citizens, there will need to be a procedure for repair and add optional text and submit. The system how that feedback is recorded, examined, and acted on. As attaches location and time data to the photograph and part of the design, responsibilities will need to be allocated and transmits the data to a database. internal procedures designed for these functions. Functions 3. The operator views the photographs submitted, by will need to be allocated to appropriate departments. It may be location, and creates a work request or associates the necessary to recruit new staff or to change the job descriptions photograph with an existing work request. of existing staff, and there may be a need for training to ensure 4. The user can view the work requests associated with that staff are able to carry out their new roles. These changes the photographs they submitted, and the status of often cannot be made by the contracted developer, although those requests. they may be able to identify the procedures needed and the type of employee that can perform the role. Discuss and agree on the minimum set of use cases among the design team. Note that in these examples, the minimum Document these organizational changes. This document will solution does not include functionality for the user to register, be used to plan for the administrative work and to ensure create a profile, or log in. That functionality can be added in that time is allocated to make the necessary changes another iteration. The idea is to get a first working solution up before the responsibilities become necessary as the system and running in order to see and assess how people use it. is deployed. To select the use cases that will make a minimum solution, consider what the users will want to see and what the technology can do. 4.3 Develop Describe each of the use cases, using a use case template. (There are templates for Use Cases online.) Use cases are written in simple language and should be easy to understand Once a design is in place, the development can by people without any technical knowledge. Design the use start. Remember that the design includes the type cases with the users that are involved in each so that they of CivicTech solution, the minimum functionality, the EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 36 RFI and the analysis of the responses, any technology decisions that have been made and their justification, the use cases and, possibly, the beginnings of a data dictionary. These documents are the inputs to the development stage. 4.3.1 Choose Development Approach Weigh up the pros and cons of different development approaches. Remember that a solution may not need new technology to be developed, it may be possible instead to repurpose existing technology. If there is a choice of developing a solution in-house or engaging a company to develop the solution, some considerations in making this choice are summarized below in Table 2. > > > T A B L E 2 - The Pros and Cons of Outsourced Versus In-House Development Pros Cons Develop in-house Builds in-house expertise. Can be hard to find and retain technical skills. Easier to support the solution in the long-term. Takes time to bring a team up to speed. Not dependent on a supplier company. Hard to find support if the team gets stuck. Greater control of the process and the product. Limits the choice of technology to what the in- Better integration with internal processes house team knows. (if necessary). Can be costly. Contract out Easier access to skills and experience. Requires skill in contracting and managing the development No need to recruit and manage technical staff. delivery of the contract. If the company is good, it can be a Requires good communication with the smooth process. company selected. Can be costly. If problems arise, they can be difficult to resolve. Source: Authors. If the CivicTech project is a co-creation project, development An RFP should include: may be done by one or more partners in the collaboration, which changes this decision. The development process 1. The description of the problem that was produced at will then be a hybrid of the two approaches. It will still be the end of the RFI process, which includes ideas for the necessary to work closely with the development team (as with technology solution. in-house development) and the project’s progress will need to 2. The technology decisions that were made during the be managed. Bear in mind that such projects involve working design phase. with people who are not employed by the same organization, 3. The use cases that make up the minimum required and with varied contractual relationships, so it may be more functionality. difficult to control their work and productivity. 4. A general description of possible future requirements, with the understanding that those may change. 4.3.2 Issue a Request for Proposals 5. Eligibility requirements for the companies or people responding and the documents needed to evaluate that A Request for Proposals (RFP) is similar to an RFI, but asks for eligibility, if not already done in the RFI. details of the proposed solution, the cost, and the timeframe. 6. Respondents should be invited to submit The RFP will form the basis of the contract for development. If the development is going to be done in-house, it is still a. A view on the feasibility of both the minimum solution important to get the same information from the in-house team and the longer-term functionality. because it will be helpful in managing project progress. b. Detailed information about their development process and the timelines. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 37 c. Details about the team that will do the development Distribute the RFP to already selected partners or more (including CVs of key people). widely. If the RFI did not uncover appropriate partners for the d. A detailed budget, including estimated costs development, then the RFP should be distributed more widely. and potential variances over multiple iterations If an RFP (or an RFI) gets no responses, it may mean that the of development. technology providers don’t think that the solution is viable. If e. Any terms that they want included in the contract. possible, discuss with one or two of them to understand their position. Providers who regularly develop solutions have good 7. Details of how the responses should be submitted and insights into what can or cannot be done with technology and a deadline. may be able to prevent costly mistakes. 8. Contact details of the person who will answer any queries. 4.3.3 Select the Developer If the companies that the RFP will go to have already been pre- Once the responses have been received, they need to be selected as part of the RFI, it will not be necessary to screen evaluated. Some guiding principles for this evaluation are: them again. If, however, the call is to be opened more widely, the RFP will also ask for the information in point 5 above. > > > T A B L E 3 - Guiding Principles for Evaluating RFP Responses Evaluate the partner Experience What skills do they have? What is their staff turnover? Have they developed similar systems before? Do they know the context and constraints? Stability How long have they been in business? Are they likely to remain in business (financial stability)? Customer service How do they engage with clients? What support is offered? Are past clients happy with them? Look for reviews; speak to past or current customers. Reputation Does the company have a reputation for ethical business practices, particularly with respect to digital rights? Ease of collaborating Is there a match in terms of process, location, time zone, language, culture etc. Evaluate the proposal Fit for purpose Have they understood the requirements? Are they able to deliver the required functionality within the budget and timeframes? Budget Does the financial proposal fit the budget? Who assumes the risk if things go wrong? What will the worst-case look like? Timeframe Do the time estimates fit with any constraints (like budget cycles) and expectations? Source: Authors. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 38 If the development will be done in-house, evaluate the in-house often provide a project manager, but equally your organization team using the same criteria and understand the functionality, might want to provide a project manager or at least a project timeframes, and costs that can be expected. contact point to facilitate communication. Project management often incurs an additional cost, which is often worth paying, 4.3.4 Contract the Development especially if your organization lacks experience in managing such projects. Any software development done by a third party will need to be covered by a contract. While this document will need to be Regular progress meetings will ensure that the project keeps examined by a legal department or adviser, it is important that on track. Progress meetings can take place once a week, the contract should include the following: or fortnight, depending on the project, but should always include a report on what has been done, any current or • Clauses about what is to be developed, how and within anticipated resource issues (such as staff who are temporarily what timeframe. With iterative projects, the deliverables unavailable), and the financial situation. Progress should be may be agreed as an addendum for each iteration. measured against the original plan. • A clause covering the scope of the development. For When progress deviates from the original plan, ask for example, whether the technology partner will test the contingency plans or agree to a change in schedule solution or whether acceptance testing will be the depending on priorities. Expect the development partner to responsibility of the contracting organization. Another come up with contingency plans to make up any slippage. example would be who is responsible for organizational If they are not able to present alternatives, they may not be process changes. paying enough attention to the management of the project. • Additional items to be delivered, such as system That said, changes can be expected since technology projects documentation. are complex and unpredictable. Find out if changes will result in additional costs. • A clause covering the intellectual property of the solution developed. Where the solution relies on existing platforms Set up the internal approval mechanisms for payments before or other layers of technology, only part of the solution will the project kicks off and ensure that everyone knows the be new intellectual property. process as well as the timeframes for invoicing, approval, and payment schedule. • Agreements as to the basis for charging fees. Usually, the costs will be connected with deliverables, for example, for 4.3.6 Test the Solution each iteration of the cycle. Alternatively, the contract could There are different types of testing for technology solutions. It be based on time spent, which is fair to the developer, if the is not necessary to know all the different types, but it is worth project has a lot of uncertainty, but can be unpredictable understanding the basic types and who takes responsibility for the client as development times are unpredictable. for them. The developer will normally conduct unit testing of individual system components, and integrated testing of how • Agreement as to the timing of payments, which are usually the components work together. Depending on the anticipated made against deliverables. If the development cycles are use of the system, they will also need to conduct stress testing kept small, it would be appropriate to pay at the end of of how the system operates under pressure – for example, each cycle, on condition that quality and functionality with a lot of users all trying to access it simultaneously. These measures are met. tests should be included in the contract. • Incentives for faster delivery, in the form of bonuses, may User acceptance testing is conducted once the functionality be included, but need to take into account the quality of exists to test the use cases specified in the design. This testing the development. Penalties for late delivery, in the form of is often done by the client, with guidance from the technology a percentage reduction in price, are common. partner if necessary. User acceptance testing checks that each use case can be done and that the results are as expected. 4.3.5 Manage the Contract/Development Part of that involves testing the performance to see that the Whether the CivicTech is developed in-house or through a system responds quickly enough to meet user expectations. It contracted partner, the process needs to be managed. A also tests what happens if the user does the wrong thing – like contracted developer or an in-house development team will entering inappropriate data, or tries to access something that EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 39 they should not. The system should give an appropriate error Also think about how the project results will be communicated, message that tells the user what they have done wrong and when, and to whom. It may be good to start quietly and wait how to correct it. until more people are using the system and initial problems have been ironed out before arranging a big, public launch. Designing tests for all the wrong things that a user might do Ensure fulfilment of any reporting obligations to funders is challenging and may require some professional help. The or sponsors. expected behavior of the system is what is defined in the use cases. Defining what tests will be carried out, who will do them, 4.4.2 Plan the Implementation Process and how the results will be recorded can start as soon as the Create a written detailed implementation plan. There are design is complete. This will ensure that testing can start as usually a number of steps in the launch process: soon as system elements become available and operable. 1. Ensure that the hardware environment is set up. 2. Ensure that software is loaded, and data and access 4.4 Implement security arrangements are in place. 3. List steps/process to integrate with other systems. 4. Run final integration testing of the system. 4.4.1 Build a Stakeholder 5. Initialize the database to clear out any test data. Communication Plan 6. Test backup and restore processes. 7. Open access to the system / making an app available. Identify the stakeholders and what they need to know about 8. Monitor the use of the system against expected usage. the launch. The stakeholder analysis may include: 9. Resolve any technical difficulties. 10. Observe user behaviour to see that it aligns with • Information for potential users about the project, why they expected behavior. should use it, and how it might benefit them. • Information for specific users about how they can access The specific steps will differ depending on the type of solution. and use the solution. The implementation plan makes sure that nothing has been • Information for internal staff about the system, their roles, forgotten and that the sequencing and timing of each step is and plans for the launch. thought through. Assign responsibilities for each step of the • Information for partners about their role(s), if any, in the plan. Then communicate those responsibilities, as well as how launch. the process will be coordinated, to everyone involved. Ensure • Information for the press and general public about the that all the necessary people and time have been allocated project, its goals, and why it matters. to the plan and that everyone understands what needs to be done. The plan should also include the abort conditions—the Decide how best to communicate with each kind of stakeholder circumstances under which the launch will be abandoned. This and use multiple communication channels. This may include conditionality is usually not necessary with a low-risk system advertising to make people aware of the project and to but may be important if a system is high-profile and when any motivate its use. This can be direct to citizens, via a website, problems may attract unwelcome attention. and social media, but may also use traditional methods like posters at bus stops or radio advertisements. Internal staff could be informed through a series of meetings and provided 4.4.3 Set up a Support Team with system documentation. Meet with partners to finalise the In the initial days, weeks, and months post-launch its important launch process. to have help on hand. A support team that can resolve issues quickly will ensure that people do not become discouraged Develop any communications materials needed. Decide and give up using the system. First impressions count. who will produce the content for the different media and take steps to ensure that it is appropriate. Involve stakeholders Develop a searchable section on Frequently Asked Questions in the design of communications materials, if appropriate. (FAQ) that can be accessed from the app or on a website. Add System documentation may be developed as part of the to it details of any of the steps that might cause problems. As technical project, but this will usually need to be formatted problems are reported, the support team can identify recurring and published with the help of a designer. Seek the help of issues that users are having and add to the FAQ to make your organization’s communications department or external it more comprehensive. The FAQ is also a resource for the agencies to set this up. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 40 support team because they can use it to identify solutions to Take time to celebrate with the team. problems that they have not yet encountered. Gather information for the evaluation and the next iteration of development. Create/designate a help desk that people can contact. This does not have to be a sophisticated call center; it can be a telephone number, messaging option, and/or an e-mail 4.5 Evaluate address. Ensure that there is a process for logging calls to the help desk so that the kinds of problems arising can be investigated. This will inform the next round of development The assessment of CivicTech solutions entails a set of as well as provide additional items for the FAQ. Designate dimensions that should be programmed from the beginning someone to allocate issues to the people who can deal with of the project. These dimensions can be organized in three them. Some issues will be connectivity problems, and some stages, so that assessment occurs throughout the process: (1) will be related to operational issues that need patient and calm Design; (2) Implementation; and (3) Evaluation. The first stage individuals to respond. Also make sure that the developers – design – consists in assessing the diagnostic of the problem are on hand to spot and promptly deal with any unexpected and the design of the solution. It includes three dimensions, as technical problems. shown below in Table 4. 4.4.4 Launch the Solution Ensure that all in the team have what they need. Deal calmly with issues that arise, keeping a supportive environment. > > > T A B L E 4 - Three Dimensions of Assessment Assessment stage Evaluation criterion Questions Design Relevance Does the CivicTech initiative serve the needs of the stakeholders? Does the design of the initiative match the reality of the users? Pertinence Is the selected technology adequate to the needs of the participants and the goals of the organizers? Coherence Do the resources made available for the CivicTech initiative match the goals? Implementation Efficiency Is the CivicTech initiative oriented toward extracting the maximum output at minimal cost? Efficacy Does the CivicTech initiative minimize the cost for a given level of output? Are the goals being attained? Equity Are all relevant stakeholder groups covered by the CivicTech initiative in a representative and equitable manner? Is there equal opportunity and fair representation across such boundaries as gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, employment status and income group? EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 41 Table 4 continued Assessment stage Evaluation criterion Questions Evaluation Usefulness Does the CivicTech initiative have a positive impact on the target groups/participants? How does the arrival situation compare to the departure situation? Sustainability Does the CivicTech initiative produce long term impacts for the participants? Source: Authors. 4.5.1 Design Assessment high levels of participation indicating an efficient initiative, but if complaints from citizens are not resolved by the City Hall, The first dimension is relevance—the extent to which the then the CivicTech initiative will not be deemed as effective as purpose of the CivicTech tool matches the diagnostic of it could be. the problem. In practice, this means that the needs of the participants and the challenges created by the problem should be considered when choosing the CivicTech tool. A tool is 4.5.3 Impact Evaluation and Feedback relevant if it targets the problem and responds to the needs of The last stage focuses on evaluation of the CivicTech solution the participants in an effective manner. The second dimension and should be concerned with two dimensions: usefulness is pertinence—the way the selected technology responds to the and sustainability. The usefulness of a CivicTech tool refers needs of the participants and the goals of the organizers. While to its impact on the needs and problems of target groups relevance is primarily concerned with the articulation between or participants. Ideally, any CivicTech solution improves the participants and the profile of the CivicTech tool, pertinence is initial condition experienced by participants in order to reach focused on the technological translation of this link. The third an arrival situation that reflects the positive impact of the tool. dimension in assessing the design is coherence. Coherence The second dimension is sustainability. A CivicTech solution is evaluates whether the resources made available for the sustainable if it delivers major changes to participants that are CivicTech initiative match its goals. Lofty goals without proper expected to last in the long run. back up from human, financial, and technological resources are likely to result in failure. Participants’ expectations will be Evaluation of a CivicTech solution means working out whether crushed if a promising CivicTech solution is not supported by the tool/system that was developed is solving the problem as adequate resources, and the initiative will lack coherence. intended. To do this, it is important to revert to the problem document that was produced at the end of the first phase 4.5.2 Monitoring Implementation to review the identified problem and how the solution and improvements were going to be measured. As with the design The second stage is monitoring the implementation of the phase, remember that it is the whole solution that needs to be CivicTech solution. Successful solutions should be both cost- evaluated, not just the technology. Are people are using it? efficient, oriented towards extracting the maximum output How are they using it? Are they getting the intended results? from the solution for a given minimizing the cost for a given Do users have a good experience? level of output, or aiming to attain the goals at minimum cost. Efficiency is concerned with the use of resources to deliver To measure if people are using the solution, count how many results, and seeks to compare costs and benefits to make people engage with the entire solution. This does not mean decisions regarding alternative resource allocations during the counting how many times the app has been downloaded, or implementation stage. A high participation rate, for example, how many people have visited a website. The use of a solution may be an indication of good results for a given CivicTech can be understood as a series of funnels, leading into each initiative, but not necessarily a sign that the initiative is other. If 10,000 people attend a webinar to hear about the producing meaningful change. Thus, efficiency needs to be solution, maybe 1,000 will go to the website to learn more and complemented by efficacy, which assesses the link between perhaps 100 will download the app. Of those, probably 10 will the goals of the CivicTech initiative and its impacts. In the show commitment by creating an account and perhaps one of case of 311 systems, for example, the program may have very the ten will log in and use it daily (or weekly or however often EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 42 it was intended to be used). The conversion rate (from 10,000 partner and technology is going to be used. Again, a small to 1) is the real measure of use. This can be measured using number of use cases will be defined for the iteration. tools like Amplitude. Stage 3: Develop the solution will be an opportunity to review the development approach, but it will not need to change if it 4.6 Iterate has been effective. Likewise, it will not be necessary to select another developer, if the developer has done a good job. Parts of the RFP will still be useful to get a quotation for the next Once the first cycle of development is complete and the results cycle of development, but it is unlikely that a full RFP will be are acceptable, the cycle begins again, with some modification required for each iteration. of each of the five stages, as outlined below. Stage 4: Implement will necessitate communicating about Stage 1: Understand the problem now entails a review of how the new functionality(ies). The communication plan developed the problem was understood and whether that understanding in the first iteration can be modified to address these changes. needs to change in any way. It also entails checking how much Likewise, the implementation plan and the support team will of the problem has been solved so far and deciding what part be based on what has been done in the first iteration. of the problem needs to be solved next. That will inform the design of the next iteration. Stage 5: Evaluate now entails a new review of the overall solution with additional functionality. The same measures that Stage 2: Design a solution involves deciding on the next were used in previous iterations should be applied. This way minimum viable solution that will be released. This is an the improvements to the system over time will be recorded opportunity to add functionality or improve existing functionality and lingering problems will become clearer. Identifying areas in response to how the system is being used, what users are where measures/fixes are not improving the system will inform asking for, and what is necessary to keep the system running the next iteration of the cycle. well. An RFI may not be necessary if the same development EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 43 5. >>> Key Issues for Successful CivicTech 5.1 Introduction This chapter will focus on the several key issues that policy makers face in designing, developing, and operating CivicTech approaches. Considering the diversity of contexts and goals, tools available, and the possible models to choose from, senior public governance officials are confronted with different policy questions that emerge and various possible paths to be followed. Issues to consider here include how to ensure an inclusive representativeness of participants; how to upgrade the required communication with citizens and secure responsiveness; which technology to embrace; and how to guarantee scalability and cost-effectiveness. The capacity of policy makers to adequately navigate these different key issues and the answers/agreements they reach will be critical to secure coherent and sustainable digital tools for citizen engagement. Four categories can be considered having in mind the diversity of questions that can emerge – see Figure 5. A first one focuses on issues that entail the kind of relationship to be established with citizens, providing particular attention to questions such as the representativeness and managing expectation on the CivicTech approach. A second one concentrates on questions that determine the government approach to be followed, specifically how to guarantee responsiveness and effectiveness. The third one is directed to the technology to be used, namely its scalability and cost-efficiency. A fourth cross-cutting category centers on CivicTech foundations that can assure sustainability, such as the skills, talents, and culture in place, the required legal and regulatory framework, and/or the required technical infrastructure. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 44 > > > F I G U R E 5 - Key Issues of CivicTech Citizens Government Technology Communication Representativeness Inclusiveness shift Scalability Conflicting positions Responsiveness and cost-efficiency Building, buying, Expectations Effectiveness or renting Foundations Key building blocks Setting up Motivation Source: Authors. The current chapter will address each of the dimensions link between socioeconomic levels and the capacity and displayed in Figure 5, presenting for each of the key issues willingness to participate, reinforced by the access to a clear identification of the topics being discussed, data digital technologies, it is important to consider how to avoid and country experiences that can illustrate them, as well as overrepresentation of the more qualified and interested possible policy approaches to address them. voices in society. 2. Access and use of the internet reflects the social and 5.2 Citizens economic imbalances of the society, namely in terms of gender equity,25 so how can CivicTech overcome this handicap? 5.2.1 How to Ensure the 3. How can the involvement of different stakeholders such Representativeness of Participants as the private sector, academia, or NGOs be secured in a and an Inclusive CivicTech Approach transparent and balanced way? The levels of representation and the inclusive approach to be adopted are among the critical challenges government officials 4. How to reconcile individual and collective representation, and World Bank task teams face when embracing CivicTech securing a good balance of the different voices to activities. The lack of capacity to ensure that no one is left be heard. behind and to secure the proper representativeness of the policy mechanism will certainly undermine the legitimacy of the Diverse mechanisms can be adopted to tackle these different civic engagement model followed. Key issues to consider are: challenges and develop an effective, representative, and inclusive CivicTech approach. Box 11 below presents an 1. How to reach out to every interested party, reflecting the example of how these issues were addressed in a project. diversity of the society. Since there is typically a strong EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 45 > > > B O X 1 1 - Participatory Mechanisms to Complement CivicTech in Nigeria The World Bank supported Kaduna State in Nigeria to introduce a mobile app – CitiFeed – that allows citizens to identify nearby public infrastructure projects via GPS coordinates and to submit comments with photos. With a smartphone, users can provide feedback on service availability and quality to make government investment more responsive to citizens. But, the lack of mobile internet coverage could discourage the use of this app, so they adopted other participatory mechanisms such as town halls, radio talk shows, and a toll-free call center to maximize citizen’s participation. Such a complementary approach is useful to increase the representativeness of participants through addressing challenges that vulnerable groups have while accessing CivicTech solutions. Source: World Bank, 2022. A clear definition of the audience is fundamental to frame the telephone mechanisms, allowing the use of diverse channels type of CivicTech mechanism to be embraced. The policy as alternatives, are fundamental to ensure that less digitally maker should be able to clearly identify the audience and included segments of the population can also be involved in promote a balanced representation, for instance by gender, consultations and, engage in collaborative processes – see ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religion, language, Box 11. The user-centricity of the platforms to be adopted, economic status, marital status, or health status. A collaborative through simple usability and plain language, can also design of CivicTech projects, consulting with and engaging contribute decisively to guarantee the inclusiveness of the different user profiles, is an important requisite to guarantee CivicTech approach. the representativeness of the initiatives to be undertaken. The use of outreach campaigns that can inform and incentivize the 5.2.2 How to Manage Conflicting Positions participation of the audience in the citizen engagement phase Among Citizens is also critical for the success of the CivicTech initiative. The initial optimism about the ability of the digital transformation to expand democracy and improve its maturity has given way But since leaving no one behind should be a core priority, to some digital skepticism. For instance, instead of being CivicTech projects should not be limited to digital mechanisms enablers and promoters of democracy as they were generally of participation and engagement. Omnichannel approaches considered in the beginning of the Arab Spring, social media that can combine online, app-based, face-to-face, and EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 46 are frequently used as mechanisms to manipulate public mechanism to overcome deep conflicting positions. Bringing opinion, weakening democracies and enabling the rise of together citizens that can represent different communities and populisms. Proliferation of information and the difficulty of various points of view, deliberative democracy practices can traditional mediators and gatekeepers to do their job (e.g., facilitate the generation of agreements on procedures, actions, journalism) are contributing to increasingly polarized public or policies for the generation of public good (Britannia 2022; opinions. Algorithm-driven information consumption is leading OECD 2021). to a reinforcement of existing beliefs, as opposed to the initial expectation that the emerging digital world would generate 5.2.3 How to Manage Citizens’ Expectations more tolerance through exposure to different ideas and diverse In a context where many mechanisms exist that secure world views. interaction and allow the provision of feedback, managing the expectations of citizens regarding their provided inputs is one These trends tend to support the creation of digital tribes of the critical challenges governments face. Setting up models inhabiting social and economic “bubbles” that facilitate the and platforms to collect citizen inputs, such as service delivery emergence of polarized public opinions, where moderation and feedback mechanisms or public consultations, is an important openness to discuss and compromise is gradually replaced by step for citizen engagement. But taking the full benefit of the radical political standings. Given this trend, how will the system received inputs, and being able to really integrate them in the avoid online engagement mechanisms being hijacked by tribal policy making or service design processes, requires substantial dynamics among the participants? How will it ensure that users efforts from the government entities. Frequently, due to the navigate in a digital context where algorithms of social media, lack of follow-up communication with citizens, problems for instance, tend to favor disagreement and heated discussion emerge from the lack of accountability for the outcomes of instead of compromise, concession, and cooperation? the consultation processes. The legitimate expectations from the participants who dedicated their time providing service The capacity of governments to engage different civil society delivery feedback or engaging in a public consultation process partners to mobilize diverse publics is critical to manage end up not being met. conflicting positions in CivicTech initiatives. Engaging and partnering with existing communities, associations, or forums In order not to dismiss the valid expectations of citizens, that support the generation of joint ownership and shared clarity on the process of integrating the feedback received is responsibly towards the CivicTech mechanism being used, critical. CivicTech mechanisms should explain to users from should be an asset for the creation of trust among the different the start how their inputs will be treated – when, by whom, stakeholders. Youth communities, political movements, and and through which mechanisms. It is also important to assure neighborhood associations are some of the stakeholders citizens that, in case their inputs cannot be properly integrated that need to be mobilized and engaged in this process. or considered, they will receive a plain and whenever possible This capacity for community building, supported by high personalized response on the reasons that supported this standards of transparency and accountability, is essential for decision. Citizen engagement initiatives should not end with producing a civic engagement culture across the CivicTech the collection of inputs by the stakeholders. On the contrary, audience, avoiding the creation of unbearable gaps among this should be only a first step on the collaborative journey. the participants that typically would undermine the citizen Transparency is required during the entire lifecycle of the engagement initiative. engagement process, making sure that governments are accountable for acting on the feedback received. The use of deliberative democracy approaches supported by digital technologies can also be considered as an important Tips for dealing with citizen issues • Clearly define the stakeholders in any CivicTech solution. • Use multiple channels to engage with stakeholders to ensure inclusiveness. • Engage existing communities and organizations. • Use deliberative democracy approaches to reduce conflict. • Manage citizen expectations with clear information about the process. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 47 5.3 Government 5.3.1 How CivicTech Changes Governments are now required to bring to the digital world administrative information, consultation, and engagement Communication Between the Government procedures that were designed with analog and paper-based and Citizens thinking – see Box 12. Formal and bureaucratic language is The digital transformation has definitely changed the now considered inadequate for clarity and simplicity, as well communication mechanisms, objectives, and processes as the verticality of some legacy administrative processes. between governments and their citizens. Coming from an But how does one avoid digitalizing the existing bureaucracy? era of letters and paper forms, countries are progressively How does one avoid simply making electronic what was enhancing digital to embrace new models of communication previously analog, missing the opportunity to really transform with clear benefits in terms of immediacy, transparency, and the relationship between government and its constituencies? even informality. Social media and its culture provide a good It is critical to recognize the different natures of CivicTech example of the shift underway. Based on their digital world service-driven approaches and CivicTech policy-driven experience, citizens increasingly expect governments to approaches. The former is mostly administrative, not requiring respond very efficiently to their inquiries, inputs, and demands. high level supervision and commitment, having in this sense Public consultation and engagement processes supported by fewer associated risks. But how can one identify the line of digital technologies are not exempt from this social media separation between the two approaches? How can one avoid culture that privileges informality, immediacy, simplicity, and the risk of dragging the administration into political discussions interactivity, creating a challenge for government to meet in the case of policy-driven approaches? today’s citizens’ expectations. > > > B O X 1 2 - Online Petitions System in Scotland Online petition is a representative example of changing the way of communication between the government and citizens from analog and offline to digital and online. It allows citizens to submit their opinion via the app or system anywhere and anytime, without visiting offices. They can also get the notification of status and result through the online systems. In Scotland, any person or organization can submit a petition to the Parliament using the online petitions system. The system provides easy and clear steps to proceed with the petition, so citizens only need to enter a topic, summary, previous action taken, background, and personal information. Good and bad examples of each step help citizens to have better understanding of how to enter information. Anyone can see the other petitions’ content and status, whether they are in the collecting signatures phase or under consideration by the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee. Source: https://petitions.parliament.scot/ Planning and testing are critical in order to choose the right mechanisms of engagement, enabling developers and project managers to better estimate the effort to be mobilized. This preparation and planning stage of a CivicTech initiative should be used to consider the approach to be employed, considering not only the desired outcome, such as substantial participation by the community, but also the capacity of the public entity to efficiently manage the engagement process, for instance responding to questions and comments from the citizens and openly incorporating the received inputs. In this regard, reinforcing the engagement capacities of civil servants to be involved is a central premise, in addition to communicating across the civil service that engagement with citizens requires concrete but affordable efforts and costs. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 48 Having in mind the greater complexity and risks associated with responsiveness to all the demands and inquiries received as policy-driven engagement mechanisms, public officials should a result of different and easily accessible digital channels? consider prioritizing service-driven goals. This means that, Considering that the lack of response to citizens requests more than starting by discussing broad policies, embracing is increasingly unacceptable, governments are required to a discussion based on existing or forthcoming services can allocate additional resources to manage their interactions be more efficient. This would avoid public entities being with citizens. dragged unnecessarily into complex political discussions that can undermine the spirit of the CivicTech initiative. Analog responses from the administration to citizens tended to A service-by-default mindset, prioritizing from start the be characterized by bureaucratic and administrative language. benefits of involving citizens in service design, development, Citizens frequently need to have high levels of literacy and delivery and monitoring, should be incentivized since policy- proper knowledge of public law to be able to understand what driven CivicTech approaches require a more complex and the administration is really communicating to them. This kind demanding engagement. of bureaucratic and non-plain language approach is frequently brought to the digital world, demonstrating that some 5.3.2 How to Increase the administrations still lack the competencies to communicate Responsiveness of Government Through in the information age. Non-multilingual communication with citizens also frequently represents an obstacle to the effective CivicTech Approaches engagement of different segments of the population. But As digital technologies increasingly become the default how can efficient, plain and multilingual communication with modes of dialogue between governments and their citizens, citizens be assured? How can the right competencies in the the public sectors around the world try to quickly adapt to public sector that would embed consultation and engagement new expectations on responsiveness. The immediacy of in government processes be secured and then managed in a communication and the possibility of doing it without major coherent and sustainable way? Box 13 below provides some intermediaries means that civil servants cannot hide behind examples of addressing issues regarding plain language. bureaucratic walls any more. But how can one secure effective EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 49 > > > B O X 1 3 - Plain Language in Colombia, Peru and the United States of America In Colombia, a guidebook for the use of plain language by civil servants was developed in 2015. The guidebook not only defines the concept of plain language but also presents very concrete steps on how to write using plain language, starting with the need of organizing the ideas, concrete indications on how to write the document, as well as the approach to revise and validate it (DNP 2015). In Peru, a Judicial Manual of clear language, accessible to citizens, was designed in 2014 to be applied as a work tool in the training and in the day-to-day interactions of judges and judicial assistants for improved communication with citizens. The objective of the manual is also to develop better access to justice for citizens through the effective understanding of the messages that judges give and to improve the existing guidance through the judicial processes (Poder Judicial 2014) In the United States, the Plain Writing Act of 2010 was signed into law on October 13, 2010. The law requires that federal agencies use clear government communication that the public can understand and use. The official guidelines for the Plain Writing Act of 2010 were developed to help public officers and their public sector organizations to write clearly, so users can find what they need, understand what they find, and use what they find to meet their needs. (GSA 2022). The first step for administrations to bring their interactions with Some important technologies and approaches should also be citizens to the digital world is to avoid the transfer of analog mobilized to support the responsiveness of the administration. responsiveness to digital modes. The models of response Always using plain language, the administration should and interactions with citizens nowadays require some deep constantly develop Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and rethinking in order to be adapted to the paradigms of simplicity deploy call centers to support CivicTech initiatives. More and efficiency. Administrations should strengthen their skills advanced models such as chatbots can also be mobilized, to be able to really listen and be able to learn from citizens in allowing citizens to more quickly see their questions answered order to secure responsiveness. Civil servants’ digital skills are for engaged participation in the public sphere. Today, in this sense a priority in order to secure their capacity to fully multilingual communication with citizens is also a requisite. work in the digital age.26 An engagement culture needs to be The combination of automatic translation and human review promoted across different sectors and levels of government, for written communication with citizens can be increasingly with high levels of political support and commitment. obtained without representing significant additional financial and human effort to the administration. Institutional and technological design issues can also be determinants favoring government responsiveness. An 5.3.3 How to Assess the Effectiveness institutional design that is user-friendly and efficient has an of CivicTech important role in enhancing government officials’ ability to Measuring the effectiveness of CivicTech approaches is respond to citizens’ comments and demands. The proper one of the challenges governments regularly face. Beyond engagement of the users in the design of these solutions is public communication that underlines the benefits of citizen then critical to secure their usability and effectiveness. From a engagement and the effective uptake of the different initiatives, technological perspective, more than the front-end technology what monitoring mechanisms can be used? What can be solution being used, such as SMS (text-messaging) or website, measured? In addition, how will expectations be managed it is frequently the back-office task management solution that and overstatements avoided? How can stakeholders ensure is determinant, assisting government officials to process and that the CivicTech tool developed is not just a trendy and handle the complaints inputs received using responsive- fashionable approach to policy making or service design, driven defined workflows. This improved responsiveness from but an efficient and useful policy instrument to capture inputs government is able to motivate citizens’ participation, creating from citizens? a virtuous circle motivating citizens’ participation – see also section 5.5.3. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 50 In order to manage expectations and avoid overstatements • Outcomes: the short- and medium-term effects of regarding the results of civic engagement, it is critical in the these products and services – for example, the levels of planning phase to consider what can be expected and what participation on the CivicTech platform and how the results can be considered a good policy outcome from the CivicTech were reflected on a given service or policy. engagement process. This initial exercise will support the policy actors to focus on the concrete objectives of the • Impacts: positive and negative, direct or indirect long- CivicTech initiative. Communicating this exercise will raise term effects of the undertaken policy – for example, awareness on what can or cannot be expected among the increased citizen satisfaction towards the service or policy different interested parties. and improved trust in the public sector. Distinguishing between activities, outputs, outcomes, and Additionally, the involvement of different stakeholders in impacts is also a fundamental requisite to best access the the definition of measurement and monitoring mechanisms effectiveness of CivicTech. In brief, note the following: can contribute to better alignment with the community demand for the CivicTech initiative. It would help to manage • Activities: the action or work developed – for example, expectations, improve the ownership regarding the initiative working on a CivicTech platform. being undertaken and foster a common responsibility towards its outputs, outcomes, and impacts. • Outputs: the products and services that result from the activities such as a CivicTech Platform. Tips for tackling government issues: • Begin with service-driven CivicTech interventions to avoid the complexity of policy-driven interventions. • Assess the capacity of the public entity to manage the engagement. • Make use of plain language and multi-lingual communication. • Ensure that back-office processes exist to deal effectively with citizen feedback. • Plan how to measure the success of CivicTech as part of the design process. 5.4 Technology 5.4.1 Which Technology Infrastructure are the limits of government intervention to secure inclusive technology infrastructure to enable citizen engagement? for Inclusiveness? Although there is impressive progress on access to the internet More governments are enabling policies and building by the population in different regions, this prerequisite for infrastructure to increase accessibility to all constituents. inclusive CivicTech approaches cannot be taken for granted. However, there are CivicTech tools that do not require The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates broadband access, smartphones, or high technology. Many low that 63 percent of the world’s population was using the internet tech/low code options can be implemented in these contexts. in 2021 (ITU 2021) and ninety-six percent of the non-internet Since many of the obstacles to connectivity require broad- users live in developing countries. This means that significant based policy making and are beyond the CivicTech scope, segments of the world’s population are still not part of the practitioners have to adapt citizen engagement approaches digital age. Issues of lack of connectivity, weak development to deal with the contextual constraints, always maximizing of the ICT market, high access costs, and low levels of digital the inclusiveness and sustainability of the initiatives to literacy are some of the contextual factors that explain this be undertaken. digital gap. So, how can governments ensure that no one is left behind in citizen engagement campaigns? And what EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 51 To secure access, governments are more often moving to developing solutions that potentially already exist and could omnichannel approaches for access to CivicTech initiatives. be repurposed. There is, for example, evidence of uneven use of 311 services across race, education, and income. Hispanics’ The diversity of technological solutions available requires use of the Boston 311 system was reduced when it moved CivicTech promoters to consider principles that can help them from call centers to the internet and smartphones. Poorer in the selection process. The following may prove useful: neighborhoods are less likely to use 311 services (Clark et al. 2013), although in the city of Tallahassee, Florida, minority • Simple by default: Solutions should be as simple as groups were more likely to use 311 service requests to report possible. If a basic technology approach responds to power service problems post-Hurricane Michael in 2018 (Xu the needs of the CivicTech initiative, more complex and Tang 2020). These researchers argue that, provided alternatives should be avoided. multiple channels are used, the 311 system can improve equity in service delivery. Mobile apps also facilitate access and • Open by default: The use of open source and open data can reduce bias because of their widespread use (Hartman, reinforces the accountability of the process, contributing 2019). As a result, the combination of online, telephone, face- to increase trust among the participants. to-face, or other analogue approaches is critical to include all segments of the population. Improving access to the citizen • Mobile by default: Access through smartphones or engagement initiatives can also be achieved by partnering simpler mobile phones (through SMS technology) with existing networks from the public, private, or civil society increases the capacity to reach different segments of sectors such as public libraries, post office stations, youth the population. forums, or other community spaces. • Inclusion by default: The use of selective omnichannel 5.4.2 What Considerations Inform delivery, plain language and, accessibility to citizens with special needs27 increases the universality of the adopted Selection of Technological Approach? CivicTech technological solutions. Choosing the right technological approach is a core decision when planning and designing CivicTech initiatives. Since there • Reusability as a priority: The possibility of reusing are no one-size-fits-all solutions, the technological model the adopted solution(s) in future contexts reinforces the to be followed should combine the needs of the CivicTech sustainability of the human and financial efforts to be made. promoter, the capacity and willingness of its potential users, and diverse contextual factors such as the availability of digital Although not exhaustive, the principles stated above can infrastructures or the legal and regulatory framework. It is provide policy makers and implementers with good guidance important to determine how to ensure that the best approach on how to secure the scalability, cost-effectiveness and, most is being adopted, bearing in mind the different variables to importantly the sustainability of the CivicTech solutions to be considered, and how to learn from others and avoid be achieved. > > > B O X 1 4 - Chatbots for Service Delivery Monitoring: CivicTech Pilot in Madagascar The CivicTech pilot launched in 2019 in Madagascar supported the development of Facebook chatbot for third-party and citizen monitoring of service delivery operations for the Madagascar Public Sector Performance Project. Identifying suitable and sustainable CivicTech solution for the pilot was critical for the project team, such as deciding whether to use the existing open source solution or develop a customized solution. The project team decided to adopt the Facebook Messenger chatbot as a CivicTech tool after considering several factors: types of communication and interaction needed, built-in chatbot functions, cost and timeframe, familiarity of potential users, and uptake of applications. Understanding the country context and users’ background is important to enable designing suitable and sustainable CivicTech approaches. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 52 This chatbot solutions enabled citizens who were using Facebook to monitor public works in their area by allowing users to receive information about public works projects, submit information about the status of public works, report anonymously potential irregularities, and invite other Facebook friends to join the monitoring efforts (World Bank 2020). 5.4.3 Building, Buying, Renting, with ongoing operational costs that can become heavy in the long-term, as well as limited internal capacity development. or Repurposing CivicTech Solutions One of the most challenging questions managers working in a The solution involving repurposing is based on redeploying digital economy context face is, “what is the right investment existing open-source software for free. Beyond potentially solution to be adopted in a fast-changing and innovation- lowering the costs and time for governments to deploy their driven digital technology sector?” In line with section 4.3.1 CivicTech solutions, this approach allows governments to above, choosing a development approach is a hard decision. use software that already benefited from multiple testing and Should one buy, build, or rent a CivicTech solution? iterations. This approach also has the advantage of allowing governments to contribute to community-based public goods Buying a solution typically involves the benefit of having a by supporting further code development. ready-to-use solution with all the technical support associated. But it can also lead to high costs in the medium- and long term There is no one solution that can be recommended for the without significant internal knowledge of development, leading diversity of contexts and needs that CivicTech addresses, to technical dependency and even vendor-locked situations. although the repurposing approach presents particularly desirable benefits when considered, in light of the potential Building solutions traditionally requires a stronger investment cost savings and contribution to the development of public in internal skills, increasing the short and medium-term costs. goods. In this sense, a detailed cost analysis is critical, It also implies assuming a bigger effort and risk of competing estimating current and futures needs, the applicability of with existing solutions in the market owned by private the technology, and the existence of internal knowledge sector stakeholders with typically deep know-how, stronger and skills to manage it. This short-, medium-, and long-term experience and larger resources. But internal development analysis of internal demand is necessary to understand the brings benefits such as expanding internal competences of the dimension and type of investment to be made. Learning from work force, improved parametrization responding to specific the experience of others is also fundamental for improved needs and the important ownership of the developed product. maturity when embracing CivicTech initiatives. Learning from the experience of different levels and sectors of government The option of renting solutions is an emerging one in a context as well as peer governments from other countries can enable where platform-as-a-service and software- as-a-service are governments to leapfrog along the learning curve and support becoming increasingly mainstreamed due to cloud computing. more sustainable and resilient approaches from the start. It This kind of approach means that clients are not required to avoids reinventing a wheel that is probably already being used make big investments from the start and can benefit from by peers with similar needs. advanced solutions available on the market. Nevertheless, some of the inconveniences associated with renting are linked Tips for addressing technology issues: • Use multiple channels and low-tech solutions to increase inclusiveness. • Adopt the principles of simple, open, mobile, inclusive, and reuse by default in technology selection. • Consider building, buying, renting, and repurposing technology options. • Undertake detailed short-, medium- and long-term analyses of the costs and benefits. • Learn from peers in similar contexts who have implemented similar solutions. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 53 5.5 Foundations 5.5.1 What Are the Building Blocks for 40 per cent of the 76 countries for which data are available, less than 40 per cent of individuals reported having carried out Successful CivicTech Implementation? one of the activities that comprise basic skills, such as sending Public decision-makers around the globe inclined to embrace an e-mail with an attachment or copying/moving a file or a CivicTech approaches ought to consider if certain policy folder, in the previous three months (ITU, 2021). Access to the foundations need to be in place in order to secure successful internet and digital skills are, in this sense, critical dimensions CivicTech implementation. Considering the different to consider on the preparedness of a country or region to administrative cultures, levels of digital development and embrace CivicTech initiatives. policy drivers to be found in diverse countries, what are the CivicTech foundations that need to be in place? Although the minimum prerequisites for a successful CivicTech approach can vary substantially depending on Is there a minimum level of access to the internet or digital different contextual variables, an assessment framework of literacy among the population above which CivicTech the different foundations is needed to ensure that the solutions approaches should be considered? What are the to be embraced can be adapted to be responsive to the competencies and skills required from public officials to lead environment. The approaches to be adopted should bear in CivicTech approaches? And what are the minimum technical mind the maturity levels of the different foundations in place to infrastructures to run CivicTech approaches? Is there a digital, secure sustainability of the initiative – see Box 15 below. The openness, and participatory mindset in the administration that assessment should be considered during the design of the supports these kinds of approaches? Is the legal and regulatory technological solution. If the respective levels of digital literacy framework, namely in terms of access to information, personal of the population and competences of the public officials are data protection and cybersecurity, sufficiently updated to low, the CivicTech initiative should be particularly simple and embrace CivicTech policy models? inclusive in order to leave no one behind. If the legal and regulatory framework is not sufficiently developed or updated, The ITU estimates that 63 per cent of the world’s population the CivicTech initiative should adapt its way of working and was using the internet in 2021. However, this leaves 2.9 billion outreach to this limitation. Where minimum requisites for the people still offline. On the other hand, insufficient digital skills deployment of CivicTech approaches are lacking, a consistent are an obstacle to fully benefit and engage in our progressively effort should be made by policy makers and implementers to digitally transformed societies. Also, according to the ITU, in adapt the CivicTech initiative to the contextual reality. > > > B O X 1 5 - Murcia’s Citizen App “TuMurcia” in Spain TuMurcia is a citizen application in Murcia, Spain, that enables citizens to communicate with the Municipality. Citizens can suggest ideas, notify imperfections in their neighborhood, and provide feedback on municipal strategies and regulations via their mobile devices and computers. This online CivicTech tool has been implemented successfully while ensuring inclusiveness based on the Tallin Declaration on eGovernment principles that are acting as building blocks: (1) the process is open to all and assistance in using app is available through the direct chat or telephone call; (2) the app is straightforward and easy to understand with clear instructions; (3) the municipality has enough network of libraries with computers and internet access for people who do not have mobile devices; and (4) people can directly interact with the local administration for participation and engagement. Source: www.usercentricities.eu. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 54 5.5.2 How Are Building Blocks • Engagement by default initiatives: More than being considered a trendy policy mechanism to create value of Fundamentals Set Up to on top of existing policy priorities, CivicTech should be Adopt and Effectively Implement properly embedded from the start in different initiatives Sustainable CivicTech? as an imperative for stronger citizen engagement and Developing some of the building blocks in order to provide reinforced capacity to respond to constituents’ needs. CivicTech approaches with the right pillars is one of the foundational challenges governments face. Investing in • Skills and talent: Government officials and civil society strengthening these basic conditions for sound citizen should benefit from capacity building that can create engagement is an important step for effective, inclusive and the basis for the development of a CivicTech culture sustainable policy development in the digital age. However, capable of securing coherence and sustainability of there is not a one-size fits all approach. Some good practices citizen engagement. applied in a specific country would not apply to other countries. Diverse contextual factors determine different solutions to • Community-building: Engaging the ecosystem of be embraced. CivicTech stakeholders towards community development is essential to boost collaboration and create a Reinforcing CivicTech building blocks on different fronts sense of joint ownership and responsibility toward requires prioritizing policy actions that can have a widespread CivicTech initiatives. effect across the different sectors and levels of government. Although not exhaustive, the following policy work streams 5.5.3 How to Motivate Citizens’ Participation can be highlighted: Governments frequently develop advanced CivicTech approaches that do not result in significant use by the • Whole-of-government approaches: CivicTech should community. Although well intentioned and expecting the be properly reflected in different components of the involvement of citizens, many citizen engagement initiatives whole-of-government approach, benefiting from high level do not result in a substantial uptake. Public communication political support, properly articulated in national and sub- approaches certainly need to be reinforced, and stronger national GovTech strategies, being one of the priorities investment should be made toward diminishing the different of the public sector organization coordinating GovTech gaps that separate public institutions from their citizens. But policy, and adopted as a fundamental requisite in policy what kind of approaches can be taken? And what kind of levers such as pre-evaluation of ICT investments or mechanisms may be mobilized to manage expectations and GovTech procurement. improve trust? EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 55 Effective engagement of the community in the public sphere • Regular and coordinated statements from politicians is increasingly understood as a fundamental requisite for and high-level officials highlighting the civic engagement sound CivicTech approaches. This entails moving from ad process underway. hoc approaches to continuous prioritization, and sustained efforts of the public sector to involve the citizens in the • Public relations activities involving the ecosystem of public, development of its different policies, processes, and services. private, academic, and civil society stakeholders to raise Governments should understand the users’ needs and avoid awareness and positively influence citizens’ participation. building solutions that do not respond to effective demand – see Box 16 below. Embedding this imperative in the fabric of • Campaigns through traditional media (radios, newspapers, government operations is one of the challenges that public television) and social media (ads) inviting citizens to be officials face. Investing in a CivicTech culture is, in this regard, engaged and effectively participate. a central priority which governments are required to embrace. In line with section 4.4.1 above on building a stakeholder communication plan, governments should consider: > > > B O X 1 6 - Addressing Local Issues Based on ICT and Citizen Engagement in the Republic of Korea The Ministry of Interior and Safety in the Republic of Korea has implemented a project to address local problems that citizens were facing in their daily life by adopting digital technologies with citizens and local businesses since 2018. For example, Busan Metropolitan city developed the dental health management system for local elementary students to create their oral health database and provide customized health information. In the Jeju Province, a service to check the real-time locations of school buses was launched for students in special schools through participation of teachers and parents. The entire processes of this project, from identifying challenges to discussing solutions, were initiated by citizens since they have better understanding of local issues and context. Subnational governments, local businesses, and the Korea Local Information Research and Development Institute are supporting this process by sharing expertise or developing digital solutions. This project has contributed to increasing local governments’ responsiveness through adopting a co- creation approach. As citizens play critical roles in addressing local issues, local governments have to respond more proactively and in advance. Source: https://mois.go.kr/. Tips for working on foundational issues: • Assess the digital skills of citizens and public officials using one of the many existing assessment frameworks before designing CivicTech solutions. • Assess the legal and regulatory frameworks needed as part of the design of any CivicTech design. • Use a whole-of-government approach to embed digital transformation in government. • Embed engagement in all government processes. • Ensure that there is a demand for the CivicTech solution before building it to avoid poor uptake. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 56 6. >>> Conclusion Although governments have increased their use of digital tools to deliver services and interact with the people they govern, new pressures have arisen to both get better at digital provisions and to change the nature of those provisions. On the one hand, people have expectations that are formed by their interactions with the private sector for high-tech, responsive, and slick digital tools and interactions which are driving a demand for better and more comprehensive e-government. On the other hand, a growing appreciation of governance as a collaborative process between many stakeholders is driving a need for more inclusive, collaborative, and co-created digital solutions. These pressures are driving an interest in CivicTech as a means of improving communication and increasing opportunities for collaboration among stakeholders. CivicTech provides opportunities for sharing information in ways that are clear and comprehensive in order to create greater understanding and commonality. Technology has the potential to make it easier to reach more people and to provide a wide range of information and digital services at low cost. The provision of relevant information and data in accessible formats is not easy. Governments that wish to have an impact with CivicTech need to first research and understand the access and affordability concerns of citizens, their priority needs, and preferences. Governments also need to have good data sources to be able to share information in appropriate ways, using intermediaries to reach citizens if necessary. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 57 It also offers ways in which stakeholders can voice their drawn from established, successful practices in software opinions and concerns, giving feedback to government in development. The process emphasizes the need for deep ways that facilitate action and follow-up. CivicTech offers understanding of the problem to be solved, as well as an space for collaboration as equal partners in co-creating new iterative approach that allows for low initial investment, early services, policies and responses to local concerns. CivicTech visible results, rapid feedback on the impacts of the system, can solicit feedback and citizen views, or it can be approached and immediate adjustments. The process is designed to as co-creation with other stakeholders as equal partners. be accessible to those outside of the information systems These kinds of engagement can improve trust between profession, giving a simplified glimpse of the tools used in citizens and governments, but that depends on many external understanding complex technology systems that should be factors including the environment that surrounds state citizen useful to those encountering this challenge for the first time. relationships, the levels of state responsiveness and citizen satisfaction with the outcomes. Finally, there are some key foundations that need to be in place for CivicTech initiatives to succeed, such as digital This report has identified three levels of CivicTech: infrastructure availability, digital skills of public servants, (1) openness and transparency; (2) participation and the legal and regulatory framework. And different contexts engagement; and (3) collaboration, co-design, co-creation, warrant diverse policy strategies to address these foundations and co-production that reflect the increasing complexity since there is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Therefore, associated with the various CivicTech capabilities. This the technology choices to be made need to consider issues report has reviewed the existing literature on CivicTech and such as different modes of investment and accessibility. presents an overview of how CivicTech is currently being Most importantly, governments should have the capacity to used, describing solutions in each of the three levels. Since embrace whole-of-government approaches and engage the CivicTech interventions are not always government-driven, ecosystem of stakeholders to guarantee the sustainability of we include examples of applications that have been initiated CivicTech initiatives. There are also issues to be considered by the private sector, by non-government organizations and around the people that will use the Civic Tech, such as by other bodies. An appendix provides a reference table of ensuring representativeness of participation, and managing different types of applications, their purposes and the range of expectations and conflicting positions. For governments, technologies employed. it is important that CivicTech initiatives are supported by responsiveness and effectiveness so as not to undermine The how-to-note has provided a detailed process for the citizens’ trust. design, development, and evaluation of CivicTech solutions, EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 58 Key Points for Practitioners 4. When implementing, make small changes and observe whether your theory is correct and whether there • The three stages of CivicTech framework can be are any unintended consequences before investing used to understand the types of CivicTech and the more resources. requirements to implement each; higher stages involve increasing complexity. 5. Examine the outcomes and decide on the next incremental. • CivicTech implementation can be understood as a cyclical process that is never complete, but always in a process • CivicTech is more likely to succeed if attention is paid to of being refined. Every CivicTech intervention should the following issues: therefore be treated as a long-term project that will require ongoing support and development. • Work to ensure that interventions are inclusive, that conflicting positions are negotiated and that citizen • There are five stages in the CivicTech cycle: expectations are managed. 1. It is worth investing time to fully understand • Expect the relationship between citizens and each problem, from the perspective of different government to change, ensure government is stakeholders, including what solutions have been responsive transparent and publish measures of the tried in the past and why they failed. Develop a theory impact of interventions. as to why the problem situation has arisen and how your intervention will change it. • Aim for solutions that are simple, open, mobile, inclusive, and reusable, looking for optimal technology 2. Solutions are systemic and technology is only a small solutions that reuse or build on existing solutions. part. Give appropriate attention to everything other than the technology – the communication, policy • Develop foundational policies, infrastructure and frameworks, the operational processes, the support skills where necessary, taking a whole of government mechanisms and the measurement and reporting. perspective and building community engagement. 3. Look for optimal technology solutions that reuse or CivicTech solutions inherently are required to evolve and are build on existing technology but take advice from unlikely to ever be complete and final. Because of the rapid trusted technology partners on the capabilities and changes in technology, any solution developed is going to effort involved. have to change on an ongoing basis, and solutions will require ongoing financing for sustainability. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 59 >>> Notes 1. Governance is the process through which state and nonstate actors interact to design and implement policies within a given set of formal and informal rules that shape and are shaped by power. The World Development Report defines power as the ability of groups and individuals to make others act in the interest of those groups and individuals and to bring about specific outcomes (Dahl 1957; Lukes 2005; WDR, 2017). 2. “Social accountability can be defined as an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement, in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organizations who participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability. 10 Mechanisms of social accountability can be initiated and supported by the state, citizens or both, but very often they are demand-driven and operate from the bottom-up.” In WBG (2004) Social accountability: an Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Practice, available at https://documents1. worldbank.org/curated/en/327691468779445304/text/310420PAPER0So1ity0SDP0Civic0 no1076.txt. 3. Citizen Engagement (WBG 2022), available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/citizen- engagement. 4. The difficulty to collect quality information on CivicTech domains was one of the limitations recognized by the team responsible for the 2020 edition of the GovTech Maturity Index. Nevertheless, the data collection and validation process for the 2022 edition is running as this report is being written. Significant improvements are expected as the information is being jointly validated by country representatives and the GTMI project team. 5. Citizen Engagement (WBG 2022), available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/citizen- engagement. 6. Social accountability: an Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Practice (WBG 2004), available at https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/327691468779445304/text/3104 20PAPER0So1ity0SDP0Civic0no1076.txt. 7. Ackerman, John (2005). Social Accountability in the Public Sector: A Conceptual Discussion, available at https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/514581468134386783/ pdf/357330Ackerman.pdf. 8. Citizen Engagement, (WBG 2022). 9. What is GovTech? (WBG 2022), available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/ govtech/priority-themes; accessed on July 28, 2022. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 60 10. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, emerging from conflict, citizen trust was very low. The government of the South Kivu Province introduced participatory budgeting, enabling citizens to vote on budget allocations. When citizens saw roads and schools being repaired that they had voted for, tax collection jumped 16-fold, a clear measure of the increased trust in government resulting from open, participatory approaches (Pradhan 2021). 11. Peixoto, Tiago (2013). Does transparency lead to trust? Some evidence on the subject; available at https://democracyspot.net/2013/06/19/does-transparency-lead-to-trust-some- evidence-on-the-subject. 12. Grandvoinnet, Helene and Margaret Chasara. 2019. Engaging Citizens in Countries Affected by Fragility, Conflict, and Violence, available at https://openknowledge.worldbank. org/handle/10986/33451. 13. Peixoto, Tiago and Tom Steinberg. 2019. Citizen Engagement: Emerging Digital Technologies Create New Risks and Value. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/handle/10986/32495. 14. World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0671-1. 15. Peixoto, T., and J. Fox. 2016. “When Does ICT-Enabled Citizen Voice Lead to Government Responsiveness?” WDR 2016 Background Paper; Washington, DC: World Bank. https:// openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/23650. 16. The term “citizen” is used broadly here to include civic stakeholders such as individuals, businesses and civic organizations and others residing in the jurisdiction where government is responsible for their services and or they are responsible for paying taxes. 17. See https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/subnational-data-desks-set-stage-more-efficient- participatory-development. 18. See https://www.article19.org/data/files/RTI_Principles_Updated_EN.pdf for principles for right to information legislation; and https://www.rti-rating.org for an assessment of the quality of the legislation globally. 19. Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 20. The Brazilian Institute for Socioeconomic Studies INESC; the Indian Association for the Empowerment of Workers and Peasants MKSS; the Mexican Institute GESOC (Gestión Social y Cooperación); the Open Government Institute, Moldova; Twaweza, Tanzania; Publish What You Pay, Indonesia; the British Transparency and Accountability Initiative; the Revenue Watch Institute from the US; and the International Budget Partnership. 21. See https://alkags.me/lessons-from-kodi-completing-the-job/. See https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17221?locale-attribute=es for 22. lessons learned from water and sanitation sector Hackathons and https://www.worldbank. org/en/news/press-release/2013/04/19/world-bank-awards-three-mobile-developer-teams- for-apps-addressing-sanitation-needs. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 61 23. If there are competing theories, explain them, who holds them and the evidence that exists for each. 24. PeoplePowered. https://www.peoplepowered.org/digital-guide-home. 25. According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in 2019 the proportion of women using the Internet globally was 48 per cent, compared to 58 per cent of men. In relative terms, this means that the global Internet user gap is 17 per cent. In all regions of the world, more men than women are using the Internet. The gap is small in developed countries and large in developing countries, especially least developed countries (LDCs). The proportion of women using the Internet is higher than that of men in only 8 per cent of countries, while gender equality in Internet use is found in just over one-quarter of countries (ITU 2020). 26. The World Bank GovTech Maturity Index highlights that 47 percent of the 198 countries surveyed do not have a strategy to improve digital skills, underlining the importance of further efforts and investments by public sectors worldwide to tackle this skills challenge (WBG 2021). The World Bank report, Tech Savvy: Advancing GovTech Reforms in Public Administration, provides sound empirical-based analysis on public sector digital skills and guidance on how to improve competences in a fast-changing technological context. 27. The World Bank estimates that 15 percent of the world’s population – one billion persons – have a disability, and 80 percent are living in low and middle-income countries. When designed for such user groups, the deployment of digital technologies can break traditional barriers to communication, interaction, and access to information for persons with disabilities (PWDs) (WBG, 2021). In this regard, the World Bank GovTech initiative developed a World Bank Guidebook for Accessible GovTech, available at https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/ doc/3fcff7a44bd530a0413e23245ace2f03-0350012021/related/EFI-Insight-Accessible- GovTech-4-1.pdf. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 62 >>> References Ackerman, John. 2005. “Social Accountability in the Public Sector: A Conceptual Discussion.” https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/514581468134386783/pdf/357330Ackerman.pdf Asamoah, K. 2019. “E-governance in Africa’s local governments: Do district assemblies in Ghana optimize the use of websites and social media?” Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries 85(4): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/isd2.12082. Asher, T., Hollie R. Gilman, and Abigail Anderson. 2021. Digital Tools for a Responsive Government: A Report for the NYC Civic Engagement Commission. New York: Columbia University. Åström, J., Magnus E. Jonsson, and Martin Karlsson. 2017. “Democratic innovations: Reinforcing or changing perceptions of trust?” International Journal of Public Administration 40(7): 575-587. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2016.1162801. Baack, S. 2018. “Practically Engaged: The entanglements between data journalism and CivicTech.” Digital Journalism 6(6): 673–692. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1375382. Backhouse, J., and Soumaya Ben Dhaou (Eds.) (2021). Simple ways to be smart, United for Smart, Sustainable Cities (U4SSC). https://www.itu.int/en/publications/Documents/tsb/2021- U4SSC-Simple-ways-to-be-smart/files/downloads/21-00126_U4SSC_Simple-ways-to-be- smart.pdf. Backhouse, J., and Hlelo Chauke. 2020. “Development Impacts of Free Public Wi-Fi in Johannesburg.” In R. Boateng (Ed.). Handbook of Research on Managing Information Systems in Developing Economies (pp. 374–395). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978- 1-7998-2610-1.ch018. Baum, C. and Andrea DiMaio. 2001. “Gartner’s four phases of e-government model.” Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/317292. Berker, F., Frank Reins, and Helmut Heck. 2018. “Co-creation of a Mobile City District Guide with and for Older Adults.” In Computers Helping People with Special Needs (pp. 379-382). Klaus Miesenberger and Georgios Kouroupetroglou (eds.). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Berg, S., Veza Clute-Simon, Rebecca-Lee Freudl, Niklas Rakowski, and Thorsten Thiel. 2021. “Civic Hackathons und der Formwandel der Demokratie.” Politische Vierteljahresschrift 62: 621– 642. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11615-021-00341-y. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 63 Bharosa, N., Federica Marangio, Claudio Petti, and Marijn Janssen. 2021. “Engaging citizens in digital public service innovation ecosystems-insights from the Netherlands and Italy.” In 14th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (pp. 509-512). Euripidis Loukis, Marie Anne Macadar, Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen, and Mário Peixoto (eds.) Botchway, E. A., Ezer O. Yeboah-Boateng, and Titus E. Kwofie. 2016. “Benefits of e-governance implementation in physical infrastructure development at the local government level.” In Electronic Government, an International Journal 12(4): 395–405. https://doi.org/10.1504/eg.2016.080441. Code for America. 2017. “Code for America brigades.” Retrieved from http://brigade. codeforamerica.org/brigade/. Coetzee, H., Ina-Mari du Toit, and Marlien Herselman. 2012. “Living Labs in South Africa: An analysis based on five case studies.” eJOV: The Electronic Journal for Virtual Organizations and Networks 14: 1–29. Chatfield, A. T., and Christopher G. Reddick. 2018. “All Hands on Deck to Tweet# Sandy: Networked Governance of Citizen Coproduction in Turbulent Times.” Government Information Quarterly 35(2): 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2017.09.004. Clarke, R. Y. 2014. Civic tech fuels U.S. state and local government transformation. San Ramon, CA: Accela. Compagnucci, L., Francesca Spigarelli, José Coelho, and Carlos Duarte. 2021. “Living Labs and user engagement for innovation and sustainability.” Journal of Cleaner Production 289: 125721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125721. da Cruz, N. F., Antonio F. Tavares, Rui Cunha Marques, Susana Jorge, and Luis de Sousa. 2016. “Measuring local government transparency.” Public Management Review 18(6): 866-893. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2015.1051572. Dahl, R. A. 1957. “The Concept of Power.” Behavioral Science 2(3): 201–215. https://doi. org/10.1002/bs.3830020303. de Paula, D. F., Bianca H. Menezes, and Cristiano C. Araújo. 2014. “Building a quality mobile application: A user-centered study focusing on design thinking, user experience and usability.” In International Conference of Design, User Experience, and Usability (pp. 313–322). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Dener, C., Hubert Nii-Aponsah, Love E. Ghunney, and Kimberly D. Johns 2021. Govtech Maturity Index: The State of Public Sector Digital Transformation. International Development in Focus. Washington DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36233. Departamento Nacional De Planeación. 2015. “Guía de lenguaje claro para servidores públicos de Colombia.” Available at: https://rb.gy/nmm3lj. Dietrich, A. D. 2015. “The role of civic tech communities in PSI reuse and open data policies.” Retrieved from http://www.odbms.org/2015/02/asked-open-data-platform/. DiSalvo, C., and Tom Jenkins. 2017. “Fruit are heavy: a prototype public IoT system to support urban foraging.” In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (pp. 541–553). EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 64 Eagan, J. L. 2016. “Deliberative democracy.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica. com/topic/deliberative-democracy. European Union. 2019. “Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information.” https://eur- lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1561563110433&uri=CELEX:32019L1024. Fath-Allah A., Laila Cheikhi, Rafa E. Al-Qutaish, and Ali Idri. 2014. “E-government maturity models: A comparative Study.” International Journal of Software Engineering and Applications 5(3): 71–91. Fedozzi, L. 1998. “Esfera pública e cidadania: A experiência do Orçamento Participativo de Porto Alegre.” Ensaios FEE. 19(2): 237–256. Fraundorfer, M. 2017. “The Open Government Partnership: Mere Smokescreen or New Paradigm? Globalizations 14(4). DOI:10.1080/14747731.2016.1236463. Gandía, J. L., Lucía Marrahí, and David Huguet, D. 2016. “Digital transparency and Web 2.0 in Spanish city councils.” Government Information Quarterly 33(1): 28–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. giq.2015.12.004. Ganuza, E., and Gianpaolo Baiocchi. 2012. “The power of ambiguity: How participatory budgeting travels the globe.” Journal of Deliberative Democracy 8(2): . General Services Administration (GSA). 2022. “Plain language.” Available at plainlanguage.gov. Gintova, M. 2019. “Understanding Government Social Media Users: An Analysis of Interactions on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Twitter and Facebook. Government Information Quarterly 36(4): 101388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2019.06.005. Grandvoinnet, Helene and Margaret Chasara. 2019. Engaging Citizens in Countries Affected by Fragility, Conflict, and Violence. Washington, DC : World Bank. Available at: https:// openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33451. Gritsenko, D., and Andrey Indukaev. 2021. “Digitalising City Governance in Russia: The Case of the ‘Active Citizen’ Platform.” Europe - Asia Studies, 73(6): 1102–1124. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 09668136.2021.1946013. Hooli, L., Jussi S. Jauhiainen, and Kristiina Lähde. 2016. “Living labs and knowledge creation in developing countries: Living labs as a tool for socio-economic resilience in Tanzania.” African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 8:1, 61–70, DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2015.1132534. Heeks, R. 2002. Information Systems and Developing Countries: Failure, Success, and Local Improvisations, The Information Society, 18:101-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972240290075039 Hou, Y. 2018. “Understanding the design and implementation of civic technologies in resource- limited public organizations.” Doctoral Dissertation. The University of Michigan. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 65 Huang, C., Wu, X., and Wang, D. 2016. “Crowdsourcing-based urban anomaly prediction system for smart cities.” In International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, Proceedings 24–28-October 2016. p. 1969–1972. https://doi.org/10.1145/2983323.2983886. International Development Association. 2019. IDA19. Special Theme: Governance and Institutions. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/ en/696731563778743629/pdf/IDA19-Second-Replenishment-Meeting-Special-Theme- Governance-and-Institutions.pdf. _____. 2022. IDA20 - Building Back Better from the Crisis: Toward a Green, Resilient and Inclusive Future. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ en/163861645554924417/IDA20-Building-Back-Better-from-the-Crisis-Toward-a-Green- Resilient-and-Inclusive-Future. International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2020. “The digital gender gap is growing fast in developing countries.” Available at https://itu.foleon.com/itu/measuring-digital-development/ gender-gap#. _____. 2021. “2.9 billion people still offline.” Available at https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/ Pages/PR-2021-11-29-FactsFigures.aspx. _____. 2021. Measuring digital development: Facts and figures 2021. Available at: https://www. itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/FactsFigures2021.pdf. Jarke, J. 2019. “Open government for all? Co-creating digital public services for older adults through data walks.” Online Information Review 43(6): 1003–1020. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR- 02-2018-0059. Jarke, J., Ulrike Gerhard, and Herbert Kubicek. 2019. “Co-creating digital public services with older citizens: Challenges and opportunities.” In David, K., Geihs, K., Lange, M. and Stumme, G. (Hrsg.) INFORMATIK 2019: 50 Jahre Gesellschaft für Informatik–Informatik für Gesellschaft. Pp. 51–64). DOI: 10.18420/inf2019_08. Kim, H., Ko, Eun-Young, Donghoon Han, Sung-Chul Lee, Simon T. Perrault, Jihee Kim, and Juho Kim. 2019. “Crowdsourcing perspectives on public policy from stakeholders.” In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–6). https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3312769. Lindner, R. and Ulrich Riehm, (2011) “Broadening Participation Through E-Petitions? An Empirical Study of Petitions to the German Parliament.” Policy & Internet 3(1): 1–23. https://doi. org/10.2202/1944-2866.1083. Lukes, Steven. 2005. Power: A Radical Review. 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Mačiulienė, M., and Aelita Skaržauskienė. 2020. “Building the capacities of civic tech communities through digital data analytics.” Journal of Innovation & Knowledge 5(4): 244–250. Manda, M., and Judy Backhouse. 2016. “Addressing trust, security and privacy concerns in e-government integration, interoperability and information sharing through policy: a case of South Africa.” CONF-IRM 2016 Proceedings. 67. https://aisel.aisnet.org/confirm2016/67. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 66 May, A., and Ross, T. 2018. “The design of civic technology: factors that influence public participation and impact.” Ergonomics 61(2): 214–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139 .2017.1349939. McIntosh, L., and Caroline Hardin. 2021. “Do Hackathon Projects Change the World? An Empirical Analysis of GitHub Repositories.” In Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 879–885). https://doi.org/10.1145/3408877.3432435. Medaglia, R., and Demi Zhu. 2017. “Public Deliberation on Government-Managed Social Media: A Study on Weibo Users in China.” Government Information Quarterly 34(3): 533–544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2017.05.003. Meijer, A., and Marcel Thaens. 2018. “Urban technological innovation: Developing and testing a sociotechnical framework for studying smart city projects.” Urban Affairs Review 54(2): 363-387. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087416670274. Mellon, J., Hollie Russon Gilman, Fredrik M. Sjoberg, and Tiago Peixoto. 2017. “Gender and Political Mobilization Online: Participation and Policy Success on a Global Petitioning Platform.” Ash Center Occasional Papers. Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Harvard Kennedy School. https://ash.harvard.edu/files/ash/files/gender_and_political_mobilization_ online.pdf. Milan, S., and Arne Hintz. 2013. “Networked collective action and the institutionalized policy debate: Bringing cyberactivism to the policy arena?” Policy & Internet 5(1): 7-26. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.20. Mojapelo, S. M. 2020. “The Internet Access and Use in Public Libraries in Limpopo Province, South Africa.” Public Library Quarterly 39(3): 265–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161 6846.2019.1622980. MySociety (2017). mySociety. Retrieved from https://www.mysociety.org/about/. Nam, C. 2020. “Behind the Interface: Human Moderation for Deliberative Engagement in an eRulemaking Discussion.” Government Information Quarterly 37(1): 101394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2019.101394. Nolte, A., Irene-Angelica Chounta, and James D. Herbsleb. 2020. “What happens to all these hackathon projects?: Identifying factors to promote hackathon project continuation.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 4(CSCW2): 1–26. Open Government Partnership (OGP). 2011. The open government declaration. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/open-government-declaration. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2017. Trust and Public Policy: How Better Governance Can Help Rebuild Public Trust. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264268920-en. _____. 2020. Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions: Catching the Deliberative Wave. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/339306da-en. Otioma, C., Ana M. Madureira, and Javier Martinez. 2019. “Spatial analysis of urban digital divide in Kigali, Rwanda.” GeoJournal 84: 719–741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-018-9882-3. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 67 Paul, A. 2019. “Assessing the value of a government call centre in India: A case study.” IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review 8(1): 23–33. DOI: 10.1177/2277975218817403. Peixoto, Tiago, and Tom Steinberg. 2019. Citizen Engagement : Emerging Digital Technologies Create New Risks and Value. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank. org/handle/10986/32495. Peixoto, T., and Micah L. Sifry. (2017). Civic Tech in the Global South, Assessing technology for the public good. Washington, DC: The World Bank and Personal Democracy Press. Peixoto, T. 2013. “Does transparency lead to trust? Some evidence on the subject.” available at https://democracyspot.net/2013/06/19/does-transparency-lead-to-trust-some-evidence-on- the-subject/. Peixoto, T., and Jonathan Fox, J. 2016. “When Does ICT-Enabled Citizen Voice Lead to Government Responsiveness?” WDR 2016 Background Paper. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/23650. PeoplePowered. n.d. Guide to Digital Participation Platform. https://www.peoplepowered.org/ digital-guide-home. Pradhan, Sanjay. 2021. “Tackling the crisis of citizen trust in governance: The World Bank Group Imperative.” https://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/tackling-crisis-citizen-trust-governance- world-bank-group-imperative. Poder Judicial. 2014. Manual Judicial de Lenguaje Claro y Accesible a los Ciudadanos available at https://www.pj.gob.pe/wps/wcm/connect/7b17ec0047a0dbf6ba8abfd87f5ca43e/MANUAL+J UDICIAL+DE+LENGUAJE+CLARO+Y+ACCESIBLE.pdf?MOD=AJPERES. Puerari, E., Jotte I. De Koning, Timo Von Wirth, T., Philip M. Karré, Ingrid Mulder, and Derk A. Loorbach. 2018. “Co-creation dynamics in urban living labs.” Sustainability 10(6): 1893. Rakotomalala, O., Tiago Peixoto, and Saki Kumagai. 2020. “Chatbots for Third-Party Monitoring : CivicTech Pilot in Madagascar. Governance Notes; No. 23.” Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/34076 Robinson, P. J., and Peter A. Johnson. 2016. “Civic hackathons: New terrain for local government- citizen interaction?” Urban Planning 1(2): 65-74. DOI:10.17645/up.v1i2.627. Rumbul, R. 2015. Novel online approaches to citizen engagement. London: mySociety Publishing. Sifry, M. L. 2014. “Civic tech and engagement: In search of a common language.” Retrieved from http://techpresident.com/news/25261/civic-tech-and-engagement-search-commonlanguage. Spada, P., Jonathan Mellon, Tiago Peixoto, and Fredrik M. Sjoberg. 2015. “Effects of the Internet on Participation: Study of a Public Policy Referendum in Brazil.” Policy Research Working Paper No. 7204, World Bank Group. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank. org/handle/10986/21643. Stempeck, M. 2016. “Towards a taxonomy of civic technology.” Retrieved from https://blogs. microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2016/04/27/towards-taxonomy-civictechnology/ EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 68 Sun, Y., and Wenjie Yan. 2020. “The Power of Data From the Global South: Environmental Civic Tech and Data Activism in China.” International Journal of Communication 14(20): 2144–2162. Thomas, T. H., Kailey Go, Natalie J. McKinley, Kayla R. Dougherty, Kai-Lin You, and Young Ji Lee. 2022. “Empowerment through technology: A systematic evaluation of the content and quality of mobile applications to empower individuals with cancer.” International Journal of Medical Informatics 104782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2022.104782. User Centri Cities. n.d. Murcia Citizen App – “TuMurcia” – Murcia. Retrieved June 10, 2022, from: https://www.usercentricities.eu/services/murcia-citizen-app-tumurcia. Veeckman, C., and Laura Temmerman. 2021. “Urban living labs and citizen science: from innovation and science towards policy impacts.” Sustainability 13(2): 526. DOI:10.3390/su13020526. Verbeiren, B., Solomon Dagnachew Seyoum, Ihab Lubbad, Tian Xin, Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis et al. 2018. “FloodCitiSense: Early warning service for urban pluvial floods for and by citizens and city authorities.” In International Conference on Urban Drainage Modelling (pp. 660-664). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Verhulst, S. 2015. Unpacking civic tech – Inside and outside of government. New York: GovLab Digest. Wissenbach, K. R. 2020. “Accounting for power in transnational civic tech activism: A communication-based analytical framework for media practice.” International Communication Gazette 82(6): 545–563. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048519832779. World Bank. 2004. “Social accountability: an Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Practice.” available at https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/327691468779445304/text/310420P APER0So1ity0SDP0Civic0no1076.txt. _____. 2016. World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0671-1. _____. 2017. World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. Washington, DC: World Bank. _____. 2019. “Special Theme: Governance and Institutions.” Available at: https://documents1. worldbank.org/curated/en/696731563778743629/pdf/IDA19-Second-Replenishment-Meeting- Special-Theme-Governance-and-Institutions.pdf. _____. 2020. GovTech Dataset. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://datacatalog.worldbank. org/search/dataset/0037889/GovTech-Dataset. _____. 2020. “GovTech: The New Frontier in Digital Government Transformation.” https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/805211612215188198-0090022021/original/ GovTechGuidanceNote1TheFrontier.pdf. _____. 2021. World Bank Guidebook for Accessible GovTech. EFI Insight-Governance. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/3fcff7a44bd530a0413e23 245ace2f03-0350012021/related/EFI-Insight-Accessible-GovTech-4-1.pdf. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 69 _____. 2021. World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives. Washington, DC: World Bank. _____. 2022. “Citizen Engagement.” Webpage consulted on July 28, 2022; available at: https:// www.worldbank.org/en/topic/citizen-engagement. _____. 2022. “Environmental and Social Framework.” Webpage consulted on May 2, 2022; available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/environmental- and-social-framework. _____. 2022. “IDA19 Replenishment.” Webpage consulted on May 2, 2022; available at: https://ida.worldbank.org/en/replenishments/ida19-replenishment. _____. 2022. “Nigeria: Participatory Governance to Strengthen the Social Contract in Kaduna State.” GovTech Case Studies: Solutions that Work. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/ en/099120406302234570/pdf/P1755300cad4a80310a1690f06de6c3f3d4.pdf. _____. 2022. “What is GovTech?” Webpage consulted on July 28, 2022; available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/govtech/priority-themes. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 70 >>> Annex. Types and Examples of CivicTech Solutions CivicTech Problem to Type Solution Examples be solved Link Central or local Municipal Improve knowledge https://municipalmoney. transparency money of municipal gov.za/ portals website funding; Encourage (National gov/ responsible spending South Africa) and accountability. Openness Human Data and https://www.he-r.it/project/ and Transparency Ecosystems visualizations of hub-human-ecosystems- Bologna human collaborations bologna-2/ (Local gov/Italy) in Bologna better understand how these happen and their impact. Government The Official Provide online https://www.berlin.de/ websites Website of Berlin city services and (Local gov/ information (ranked Germany) no. 1 in LOSI 2022). Comunidad Provide online https://www.comunidad. de Madrid services and madrid/ (Local gov/Spain) information (ranked no. 2 in LOSI 2022). Mobile apps My Columbus The app gives https://www.columbus. (Local gov/USA) access to gov/technology/ city services, innovation/Mobile- information (such Application/ as bus schedules), healthy living tips, environmental initiatives, and a 311 reporting tool. Text messages Pensa A low-tech mobile https://www.pensa.org.mz/ or USSD menus (Civil society/ app that uses Mozambique USSD menus to provide healthcare information in Mozambique. Operational Digital city Provide information https://ronda. systems services about city services sedelectronica.es/info.0 in Rhonda and progress (Local gov/Spain) on requests. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 72 CivicTech Problem to Type Solution Examples be solved Link Open data The Gauteng Improve knowledge https://gcro.ac.za/ platforms City-Region of economic and Observatory social conditions in (Sub-national the province. gov/South Africa) Asia Open Data To improve https://dataportal.asia/ Partnership - cooperation and home Dataportal.asia explore potential (Regional gov/11 opportunities of open Asian countries) data across Asian countries. Legislation Measures Ensure that https://ijoc.org/index.php/ mandating on Open environmental ijoc/article/view/13440 data sharing Environmental information is Information 2008 made public to (National gov/ improve monitoring China) and accountability. Citizen feedback New York City Centralized call https://portal.311.nyc.gov and complaint 311 system center for city handling (Local gov/USA) services. mechanisms Public CitiFeed public Enables citizens to https://kadunaeyesandears. Participation consultations expenditure support government org/ and Engagement and feedback in tracking public e-participation (Sub-national expenditure by gov/Nigeria) reporting on public infrastructure projects, service availability, and quality. Public Democracia To build practice, https://democraciaenred. consultations en Red technique and org and (Civil society/ poetry to imagine e-participation Argentina) and implement innovations of the political system, to open up decision processes, to redistribute power, and to incorporate EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 73 CivicTech Problem to Type Solution Examples be solved Link participative processes that have impact in terms of public policies. Mobile apps Monitorizare Vot A tool for election https://medium.com/ (Civil society/ observers to capture code-for-all/mobile-app- Romania) observations at helps-bring-election- polling stations, in monitoring-into-real-time- line with accepted fe3e3609d05a standards, and for citizens to report irregularities they observe. Participatory National To improve trust, https://politicsreinvented. Budgeting Participatory bring people closer eu/model/portugal-the- Budget (National to politics, and worlds-first-national- gov/ Portugal) promote connection participatory-budget/ and integration between territories. Porto Alegre To allow citizens to https://opdigital.prefeitura. Participatory make proposals, poa.br Budget vote in citizen (Local gov/Brazil) consultations, propose projects, decide on municipal regulations, and open debates. E-Petition Scottish Enables individuals https://www.parliament. systems Parliament to raise issues scot/get-involved/petitions/ e-Petitions with the Scottish about-petitions (National gov/ Parliament. Scotland) Digital voting Electronic voting To allow votes to be https://www.id.ee/en/ (National gov/ cast via the internet. article/e-voting-and-e- Estonia) elections/ https://www.valimised.ee/ en/internet-voting-estonia EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 74 CivicTech Problem to Type Solution Examples be solved Link User Driven Digicampus To connect the https://www.tudelft. Prototyping TU Delft fragmented nl/en/2019/tu-delft/ (Academia/ innovation landscape, digicampus-accelerates- Netherlands) so that science, innovation-in-digital- government, market government-services parties, and citizens Collaboration, Co-design, can jointly shape the Co-creation, Co-production public services of the future. Living Labs Siyakhula To develop and field- https://siyakhulall.org Living Lab test the prototype (Private sector/ of a simple, cost- South Africa) effective and robust e-business/ telecommunication platform, to deploy in marginalized and semi-marginalized communities. Co-Creation of Bremen co- To support and https://www.mobile-age. digital services creation collect information eu/ project-outcomes/ with older adults (Civil society/ and services videos-new/ bremen/ Germany) related to health, videos-about-co- creation. social security, and html day-to-day activities that interest senior citizens through the “MyOpenBremen” mobile public service. Civic Hackathons Code for America To bring together a https://codeforamerica. (Civil society/ mix of technologists, org/ United States) designers, urban planners, social https://medium.com/code- Code for Africa scientists, NGOs for-africa (Non-profit/ and CSOs, and African countries) government to approach and solve social and civic problems using technology, data, and digital tools. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 75 CivicTech Problem to Type Solution Examples be solved Link Public Internet Fasprk To lower the amount http://urbiotica.com/en/ of Things by Urbiotica of time required to solution/urban-parking- (Private sector/ find parking and guidance/ Barcelona) traffic congestion. Crowd-sourcing Tana River To contribute https://tclirp.ushahidi.io/ Climate Change to enabling views/map & Livelihoods environmental policy Restoration implementation, Project by governance, and Ushahidi environmental (Non-profit/ management Kenya) through evidence generation using crowd geotagging. EQUITABLE GROWTH, FINANCE & INSTITUTIONS INSIGHT <<< 76 Supported by the GovTech Global Partnership - www.worldbank.org/govtech