88230 ICTs for modernizing government in Africa eTransform AFRICA AFRICAN UNION This document, on the use of ICTs for Modernizing Government in Africa, is the summary of the full sector study which was carried out by a team from Deloitte, led by Kamal Mukherjee and comprising Trish Alexander, Liezl De Graaf and Omri Van Zyl with assistance from Hugo Lotriet, Kirsten Krauss and Debashis Nag. The full report is available at www.eTransformAfrica.org. This document forms chapter seven of the publication edited by Enock Yonazi, Tim Kelly, Naomi Halewood and Colin Blackman (2012) “eTransform Africa: The Transformational Use of ICTs in Africa.” Funding for the publication came from the AfDB Korean Trust Fund, the WB Pfizer Trust Fund and the WB Africa regional department. eTransform AFRICA AFRICAN UNION ICTs for modernizing government in Africa Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform business and government in Africa, driving entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth. A new flagship report – eTransform Africa – produced by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, with the support of the African Union, identifies best practice in the use of ICTs in key sectors of the African economy. Under the theme “Transformation-Ready”, the growing contribution of ICTs to Agriculture, Climate Change Adaptation, Education, Financial Services, Government Services and Health is explored. In addition, the report highlights the role of ICTs in enhancing African regional trade and integration as well as the need to build a competitive ICT industry to promote innovation, job creation and the export potential of African companies. introduction ICTs for modernizing government in Africa 1 3 ICT is fundamentally changing the way aspects as well as the underlying effi- in which government representatives, ciency and effectiveness of back-office citizens, business and other agents of systems. Hence, not only are the deliv- the state interact throughout the world ery tiers of eGovernment and mGov- as well as in Africa. The public service ernment important, but attention must sector has strategic significance as it also be paid to the foundational tier impacts not only on the well-being of and the design, development and im- individuals, families and communities plementation of ICT systems making and on individual national govern- up the enabling tier. A comprehensive ments but indirectly on the stability framework for service delivery com- of the global economy. The associated prising these three tiers is illustrated in high expectations, particularly regard- Table 1. ing the speed and flexibility with which public service providers can respond to Table 1 next page l individual requests, provide feedback on programmes and expenditure and handle national crises, are extremely challenging. Efficient service delivery is frequently hampered by programme developers However, attention to how governments who do not listen sufficiently careful- communicate should not overshadow ly to the poor and hence are not able the importance of the accuracy, com- to identify their needs and prioritize pleteness and relevance of what they them. Planning that focuses on sup- communicate. This requires achieving plier interests rather than those of the a balance between the citizen-facing end-user is also a problem. 4 Table 1 ICT-enabled public service delivery framework Performance monitoring Legal and quasi-legal Institutional structure Foundational Tier: constitutes the core Well-defined service objectives Codified laws and rules in confor- Dedicated institutional structure foundations for service mity with processes for service delivery Monitoring and evaluation delivery indicators Flexibility to enact rules for Appropriately skilled and empowered Monitoring mechanism enhancing service delivery Clear responsibilities Organizational capability Procedures and processes Systems and technologies Enabling Tier: Organizational staff strength Re-engineered and standardized enables efficient and Staff capability regarding rules, processes Integrated data structures effective delivery of services process and technology Clearly defined role allocations Standardized applications Capability related to customer Well-defined timelines and Omnipresent networks service platforms Service delivery External communication Front office or citizen interface Service Delivery Tier: Regular awareness sessions Front office, ambience or infra- in direct contact with Service delivery principles Institutionalized customer structure the service-seeker Service delivery parameters feedback Service delivery channels Redress or escalation mechanisms Consultative mechanisms Helpdesk features Figure 1 represents the vicious cycle ICTs, however, cannot miraculously in which service delivery in develop- turn bad governance into good, al- ing countries is often trapped. A way though they can be used as tools under of breaking the cycle is by investing in the right conditions and circumstances ICTs and other infrastructure as new, to effectively reach out to communities ICT-enabled systems will increase ac- as part of the reform process. ICTs are countability and transparency and im- therefore necessary but insufficient as a prove many other aspects of service de- solution. Associated factors, like pro- livery. When citizens see the benefits, poor policies, decentralized decision- demand for services will grow result- making, education, basic infrastructure ing in increased government revenue, and political will, are all pre-requisites followed by improved employee mo- for effective service delivery. Insuffi- tivation and prompting more such in- cient fulfilment of these conditions will vestments. Hence this vicious cycle can likely lead to inadequate outcomes. be transformed into a virtuous one. 5 Figure 1 The vicious cycle of ineffective service delivery Rich opt out of Citizens not the government provided space services, poor for participation suffer in government Demotivated employees Services do not work Citizen apathy - little participation in government Service provider credibility drops No transparency Negative vicious cycle and accountability Citizens do not pay taxes and fees Poor infrastructure and networked services Inefficiency and corruption further debilitates providers Fragmented skate- holders compound woes Low efficiency Low returns and effectiveness lead to low further demotivates investment in stakeholders infrastructure landscape analysis ICTs for modernizing government in Africa 2 � Commitment to excellence in public service delivery p7 � Accountability, transparency, citi- zen collaboration and interaction p9 � ICTs as a means of extending social democracy p10 � Convenience and efficiency in service delivery p11 � Reform and re-engineering of government p12 � Exploiting technological advances to meet service delivery objectives p13 7 Landscape analysis of ICT and pub- 6. Reform and re-engineering of gov- lic service delivery in industrialized ernment nations and emerging economies highlight trends in six major categories: Examples of best practice or extended uses of technologies already employed 1. Commitment to excellence in public are outlined below. Also described service delivery are examples of implementations from Africa to illustrate the options, 2. Accountability, transparency, citizen opportunities and constraints. Some collaboration and interaction ICT-enabled public service imple- mentations reveal particularly good 3. ICTs as a means of extending social opportunities for replication else- democracy where. Although there is no inten- tion to suggest that “one size fits all” 4. Convenience and efficiency in ser- or that “best practice” is transferrable vice delivery to all other contexts, these examples can inform and possibly inspire pro- 5. Exploiting technological advances to grammes elsewhere. meet service delivery objectives Commitment to excellence in public service delivery At national level, commitment to excel- that these technologies are acknowledged lence in public service delivery by politi- as being necessary but insufficient in cal as well as executive leaders is generally raising the standards of service delivery. expressed as policies, legislation, regula- Associated factors, like pro-poor poli- tion and contributions to international cies, decentralized decision-making, bodies. Mechanisms and budget alloca- education, basic infrastructure and po- tions are needed so that these intentions litical will are all pre-requisites for effec- can be enforced. This trend is located in tive service delivery. Insufficient fulfil- the foundational tier of the framework. ment of these additional conditions will likely lead to inadequate outcomes even Although ICTs are recognized as being if ICT use is increased. important by the role players at this level and technologies are specifically referred The clearest example of a commitment to in their statements, it is essential to excellence is the Open Government 8 Partnership, launched in 2011 with Brazil, measures towards making ICT widely Mexico, Indonesia, Norway, the Philip- and equitably available. Three strategies pines, South Africa, the United Kingdom pertaining to eGovernment are: and the United States as founding mem- bers. These nations made commitments 1. collaborate widely when designing and to open government, supported by in- implementing eGovernment systems dividual national plans. A further 41 so as to enhance citizen convenience countries undertook to develop their and improve internal efficiencies and own national plans by May 2012. The effectiveness in the government; plans published by the first eight nations include specific actions: publishing infor- 2. undertake key investments for higher mation regarding government expendi- visibility of eGovernment; and tures and budgets, improving access to information laws, harnessing informa- 3. accelerate the uptake of ICT in soci- tion technology, improving means by ety by making it accessible, available, which the public can participate in gov- applicable and affordable to everyone. ernment, and improving corporate ac- countability outside the public sector. Recommendations made in the NICTSP relate to a revamped institutional structure Public service monitoring and evalua- and eGovernment intervention. Imple- tion can be improved by regularly using mentation risks were identified and imple- purpose-built tools such as the Canada mentation and review plans were drawn Common Measurements Tool devel- up in 2010 and set out a course of action oped by the Government of Canada for the following three years (2011-2014). together with the Institute for Citizen- Centred Service. This is an easy-to-use, The Government of the Republic of computer-based, client-satisfaction sur- Namibia (GRN) has formulated a vey instrument that allows jurisdictions National eGovernment Policy whose to be compared and ensures that public- main objectives are to: sector managers are able to understand client expectations, assess satisfaction, • Provide credible information about and identify priorities for improvement. political processes and government services that will be available to citi- Within Africa, Mauritius and Namibia zens at all times; in particular have demonstrated com- mitment. The National ICT strategic • Progress from passive information plan for Mauritius (NICTSP) includes access to active citizen participation; eGovernment as one of ten domains of concern. The area of strategic impor- • Fulfil citizens' needs and expecta- tance most relevant to eGovernment is tions by simplifying interaction with to accelerate ICT adoption in society by GRN and providing services based embracing eGovernment and by taking on their choices; 9 • Provide speedy, transparent, ac- • Widen access to rural areas and other countable, efficient and effective ad- marginalized sections. ministration; Accountability, transparency, citizen collaboration and interaction The internet and mobile applications that allow input from the citizens back make it increasingly easy for citizens to the government. These new tech- to interact directly with government nologies form the delivery tier of the and social media, such as Twitter and framework. Facebook, can also facilitate dialogue between representatives of govern- One example of a transparency portal ment and members of society and is found in Timor-Leste (East Timor) hence enhance transparency and ac- launched in January 2012 (http://www. countability. Increasing numbers of transparency.gov.tl). Portals typically governments are recognizing this by focus on fiscal transparency but there implementing “transparency portals” are others that focus on particular sec- accessible via the internet, where tors, e.g. forestry. interested parties can find current, detailed information about govern- Open data is the embodiment of ment procedure and process as well the ideal that data should be freely as decisions made, activities, bud- available for everyone to use and re- gets, expenditure and official project publish, without restrictions from reviews. copyright, patents or other control mechanisms. These have generally There are also cases where complete only become available since 2009 but data sets originating from government some collections now house thou- sources are available on the internet for sands of open data sets. Examples access by everyone (open data) but not are from the Australian, Canadian, many of these come from developing Kenyan, Norwegian, United States and countries. These transparency mecha- United Kingdom governments. nisms allow public servants to be held accountable by donors and citizens There are many examples worldwide and form at least the first part of citizen of legislation that protects the citizens’ collaboration and interaction although right to information. One example is they do not necessarily include features India’s Right to Information Act. 10 Mobile applications can provide a data collection in geographically re- versatile, adaptable management in- mote areas with limited infrastructure. formation system for crowd sourcing Extractive industries locations and and hence for citizen collaboration. data are mapped in Ghana. In Dar Es Several applications that have been Salaam community assets, water used by projects in Africa to improve points, etc, are mapped during a series transparency, and hence reinforce ac- of “hackathons” financed by the World countability, involve crowd sourcing as Bank and other donors. The World a means of collecting information that Resource Institute’s Forestry Transpar- is then overlaid on interactive maps. ency Initiative is financing a map of Ushahidi was used to report: post- DRC’s forests, while the WWF is fi- election violence in Kenya in 2008 and nancing Moabi Platform in Cameroon. wildfires in Russia in 2010. In Egypt, FrontlineSMS is used to collect reports Kenya is the first country in Africa to of harassment via SMS. FrontlineSMS launch a national open data initiative is used by a Zimbabwean civil society (national census data, government ex- organization, Kubatana.net, as an in- penditure, parliamentary proceedings formation service for human rights and public service locations). organizations. RapidSMS is useful for ICTs as a means of extending social democracy Social media and mobile devices can Libyan uprising, the US and UK embas- facilitate effective citizen participation. sies in Tripoli used Facebook to con- eParticipation includes contact between nect their citizens with ferries so that people and their elected officials, access they could escape danger. The Haiti to public information, participation in earthquake, typhoon Morakot disaster public decision-making and monitor- in Taiwan and flooding in Thailand are ing how government programmes are recent natural disasters where social being run. Examples of social media for networks were used effectively by citi- the exchange of ideas and requests for zens to obtain and contribute essential comments on government policies are information. Challenge.gov in the United States and the use of Twitter by the Israeli Consulate Examples of eParticipation are grow- in New York City. ing in Africa, e.g. the ADEN project in Burkina Faso, Maison du Citoyen in Social media are increasingly used to Cape Verde, and Abidjan.net launched handle crises. For example, in the recent by the Ivoirian diaspora. 11 The use of ICTs during “The Arab with respect to organization and com- Spring” is another recent example of munication. Social media networks the use of social media. Mass protests played an important role in the disin- sweeping through the Middle East in tegration of Tunisia and Egypt, while early 2011 highlighted the distinct role also contributing to sociopolitical mo- that ICT and digital social media tools bilization in Bahrain and Syria. and networks could play, particularly Convenience and efficiency in service delivery The importance of multi-channel ser- of public services at the lower levels of vice delivery is illustrated by the vari- the framework. There are many African ous SMS-based services in the Philip- countries where eGovernment portals pines that provide citizen feedback, give citizen’s access to services. Angola, information dissemination and service Botswana, Ruanda and South Africa all delivery. have well-designed web sites that offer information about government and In the German Mobile Citizen Services services and some interaction such as (MoBüD) project, currently undergo- application for licences or responses to ing pilot testing, mobile devices are requests for specific information such used by civil servants who regularly as progress of a particular application. visit neighbourhood centres to con- nect with central databases and appli- Service delivery needs to be accessible cations rather than directly by the ser- via more than one channel. Access to vice seekers. Citizens, therefore, do not government web sites via mobile phone need skills or equipment to access the rather than via a computer is one exam- eGovernment applications or interfaces ple of multi-channel service delivery. themselves but benefit from less travel This only addresses the needs of those time, cost and queues as they visit local who have mobile phones that currently centres. allow this. The alternative is to equip community centres with computers, Portals are part of the delivery tier of and to facilitate knowledge sharing and web and mobile citizen interfaces and build capacity. There are many exam- are intended to make it easy for citizens ples of projects to extend access to in- to find information and access ser- formation by setting up multi-purpose vices. They are ideally one-stop-shops, community centres (MPCC), Public backed by integrated procedures and Internet Access Points (PIAP) and tele- processes and the collaborative delivery communications networks to remote 12 communities in rural areas. Amongst Somalia this process will be compli- those in Africa are Nteletsa Botswana; cated by the political situation. Kitsong centres, Botswana; Knowledge sharing initiatives, Egypt; Marwan Related systems involve recording life Project, Morocco; Community Mul- events (birth, marriage, death) – the timedia Centres, Mozambique; and Moroccan eFez system is an example of eBrain, Zambia. renewed efforts in this regard. National identity systems deserve Whereas in the United States and particular attention as several Afri- other western countries the debate can countries are reviewing their na- related to compulsory national iden- tional systems for identifying citizens tification systems regarding cost, ef- and others have recently adopted such fectiveness, privacy and civil liberties systems. Examples include: Angola, starts at the time that the systems are Uganda, Botswana, Nigeria, Sudan proposed, in Africa the debate seems and Kenya. The case of Somalia re- to arise only after these systems have veals important issues. The ePassports been approved and development is and ID cards could be provided by the far advanced. Only then is attention contractor within four months, but focused on cost, challenges involved this is the off-the-shelf technology with accurately identifying and regis- component. The difficult and expen- tering all bona fide citizens and pos- sive process of issuing these will take sible unintended consequences such an estimated five years. In the case of as disenfranchisement. Reform and re-engineering of government Business process re-engineering (BPR) have a latecomer advantage since in exercises have been carried out by the many cases computerization has not public services sector in order to modern- taken place; therefore BPR can be ize government in Ethiopia and Namibia. followed by computerization. Key points arising from these include: • The government needs to pay atten- • Management relies on the rules, tion to change management and ap- procedures and regulations of the propriate awareness raising efforts regulatory agencies. should accompany the BPR effort. • ICT is crucial in re-engineering busi- • BPR strategies for different organiza- ness processes. African countries tions are usually different, principally 13 divided according to the extent to network receives particular attention which organizations are customer- and there are a wide variety of users, facing. whereas in the case of GCNet in Ghana two systems are linked that have com- The use of ICT to create and support plementary functionality but are both collaborative networks are another related to import and export. The third aspect of reform and re-engineering. type of network, iNetwork in Uganda, ICT is used to create and support net- was created to share knowledge and works between different stakeholders information on how to use ICTs. All and service providers but each case of these systems are intended to facili- places emphasis on different aspects tate collaboration, communication and of the network. For instance, in Ethio- partnerships and national agencies play pia’s WoredaNet, the communications some role in each of them. Exploiting technological advances to meet service delivery objectives Examples of how technological advanc- Specifically with regard to Africa, es may be exploited include: mobile telephone solutions are very important although the most recent • Establishment of an automated back- mobile applications are not necessarily end to an open data portal so that the best options for Africa. Biometric data is always up-to-date without re- technologies are being introduced in quiring a dedicated person to main- national identification cards and tain the site or update data manually; ePassports with digital colour photo- graphs. Substantial amounts of addi- • Sophisticated mobile software ap- tional data can be stored directly on plications, e.g. allowing secure pay- the card and are updateable and the ment, as in the US Department of cards are counterfeit-resistant, durable Corrections, Arkansas, inmate de- and do not need access to communi- posit service, property tax payments; cations infrastructure. Other examples include linking social media initiatives • The German Mobile Citizen Services with other technologies, e.g. interac- (MoBüD); tive maps. • Advanced biometrics used for iden- tification. case studies ICTs for modernizing government in Africa 3 15 Deeper analysis of Malawi’s Integrated need to improve Public Financial Man- Financial Management Information agement (PFM) practices and to in- System (IFMIS) allows identification crease development funds substantially. of the circumstances under which Although this case does not aim for to- ICTs can be applied successfully and tal integration of systems or a customer- quickly. This creates opportunities for facing interface (eGovernment), it is an transformation in other African coun- example of reform and re-engineering tries, some of which have a poor track of government as well as providing the record of IFMIS implementation. In necessary high standard financial infor- Africa, the main drivers for most of the mation for accountability and transpar- ambitious IFMIS projects are an urgent ency. The case is described in Box 1. Box 1 Malawi’s Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) In line with the country’s Financial • To enable government to reduce Management and Transparency and domestic borrowing and the ac- Accountability Project, the IFMIS in cumulation of arrears Malawi was developed and imple- mented to modernize the public ac- • To assist government in the pro- counting system. The main aim was duction of timely and reliable fi- to ensure that it was efficient, linked nancial data. to the budget development system and would improve and strengthen Three lessons from Malawi’s IFMIS public expenditure management are instructive: and bring about fiscal discipline. • The Malawian draft ICT policy pro- More specifically, the IFMIS was set vides a framework that has been up with the following objectives in successfully used elsewhere and mind: can be readily embraced in other developing countries. • To integrate all accounting modules • Large ICT projects require buy- • To provide government with a in at the highest levels of gov- state of the art computerized ac- ernment, but also at the low- counting system est levels from those expected to work with and manage this • To ensure that other sub-systems technology. properly interfaced with IFMIS 16 • A comprehensive project plan • Functionality of the IFMIS system must be created as the founda- that fits government strategy; tion on which not only the IFMIS but also all other major national • Strong political will and support ICT projects must be built. from senior management and policy makers; IFMIS systems implementations of this kind are challenging and suc- • Limiting reliance on consultants cess depends on: and developing of appropriate in- house capacity; • Allowing sufficient time for plan- ning and system design; • Carefully designed change man- agement programmes; • Realistic cost/time estimates, procurement plans, disburse- • Sound project methodology and ment schedules and technical collation of information for sys- specifications (bidding docu- tem improvements; ments), including clarification of IFMIS prerequisites; • Small, manageable steps in im- plementation (incremental imple- • Country-specific solutions that mentation); meet functional and technical re- quirements; • Developing the necessary infra- structure including connectivity. The South African government is traders by automating routine pro- proud of the achievements of the South cesses and redeploying the resources African Revenue Service (SARS) which that were released to bolster both has made immense strides through service and enforcement initiatives. eFiling, the online service delivery This programme improves compli- tool that has made the Receiver the ance by improving service to honest front-runner in public service delivery taxpayers and enhancing enforcement in the country. First-world countries for non-compliant taxpayers. This is a are aware of the achievements made clear example of Convenience and ef- and are in constant interaction with ficiency in service delivery as well as SARS to learn about the eFiling system. Accountability, transparency, citizen A modernization agenda was adopted collaboration and interaction. The case in 2007/08 to improve services to tax- is described in Box 2. payers, educate taxpayers and engage 17 Box 2 The South African Revenue Service (SARS) eFiling System The environment within SARS is quick turnaround time and pay- one that supports innovation, im- ment is made quickly. provement, change and efficiency including annual improvement of • A taxpayer can amend a return the eFiling system. Surveys are con- without going through an objec- ducted regularly to get feedback to tion and can appeal online. enhance these systems and pro- cesses. The eFiling system is now • eFiling can be done when conve- operated, extended and managed nient and where convenient. in-house as outsourcing as a per- manent solution is not ideal. SARS The eFiling system has resulted in: believes that it is important to own these systems fully and to bring the • Greater compliance in submit- associated skills in-house. ting tax returns, identifying and automatically registering new The eFiling system is designed to be taxpayers and enforcement, easy to use, has a secure interface resulting in increased revenue and is easy to access via the inter- collection; net. SARS has automated as many functions of the system as possible. • Simplified tax returns including Their aim is to incentivize citizens to absolving those with low income register on eFiling rather than pro- and only one employer from sub- vide manual submissions. mitting a return; • A wizard pre-populates the form, • Improved service and turnaround asks a few questions and pro- time with efficient support servic- vides a four-page tax return. es for tax professionals; • No substantiating documents • Continuous improvements to the are required unless requested by eFiling system including exten- SARS. sive usability research; • A record of contacts made with • Improved communication: SARS SARS is kept on file electronically. communicates with users via SMS and email; • VAT returns can be submitted five days later – on the 31st of every • Engagement with stakeholders: month. Many tax professionals repre- senting large companies in South • Assessments or re-assessments Africa sit on the advisory com- of submissions (audits) have a mittee; 18 • Improved general perception of • Resistance to change among in- SARS; dividual taxpayers and even tax practitioners. • Easier client management for tax professionals – the client manage- • SARS under-estimated the dif- ment process is easier as eFiling ficulties experienced by small provides a client database and ac- businesses when using eFiling. cess to a statement of accounts. • Lack of adequate skills by SARS Although the eFiling system is effi- call centre operators. cient there are some challenges and limitations: • The electronic system still re- quires a manual process: • When the tax computation be- This is seen as the biggest chal- comes complex the use of the lenge of SARS’s service offering. system becomes complicated An example includes tax clear- and the system cannot assist the ance certificates that are request- individual leading to frustration. ed online but still require users to collect from the branch. • Some individuals lack the skills to complete tax returns correctly. It should be noted that the introduc- tion of SARS followed a lengthy pe- • Users cannot always gain access riod of cleaning up basic processes to the system when too many and organizational issues as a nec- users are online. essary step to enable the move to eFiling. • Many taxpayers still do not have access to the internet. 19 The modernization approach of SARS 1 2 3 4 Increase revenue Improve service Build future Enforcement collection efficiency and revenue pipeline capacity through reduce costs by increasing effectively increased specialization by streamlining compliance culture through relocation to handle and automating compliance activities complex cases processes Human Resources recommendations ICTs for modernizing government in Africa 4 � Recommendations to policy makers and regulators p21 � Recommendations to the donor community p23 21 Recommendations to policy makers and regulators Recommendation 1 Develop new organizational and legal support structures Individual countries should develop delivery should address aspects such over-arching national eGovernment as cybercrime and misuse, electronic plans that look at the public service signatures and data protection. Aware- of the country as a whole. By inte- ness campaigns need to drive home grating existing systems, agencies can the message among communities that share information and communicate payment over electronic channels is quickly, easily and frequently and ac- safe and that the data they share with cess and participation by the citizens governments is confidential and will can be facilitated. A complete legal not be used to their detriment. framework for ICT-enabled service Recommendation 2 Eastablish national identification systems Accurate, effective and efficient na- Cost, including the cost of reaching tional identification systems, incor- citizens in remote areas and issuing porating technology that reduces national identification cards, privacy, fraud and identity theft (e.g. bio- risk of disenfranchisement and other metric technologies that comple- civil rights issues need careful atten- ment textual information), mean tion. Technology is necessary but by that people can be identified even no means sufficient for a successful without having a document at hand. outcome. 22 Recommendation 3 Address socio-economic and digital divides The digital divide in African countries access via mobile phones can rem- is wide. Without access to ICT-related edy the problem to some extent and infrastructure the poor cannot easily connectivity can be addressed by benefit from other eGovernment ini- exploiting mobile phone networks. tiatives. Those in rural communities, A second strategy is building and the poor and women are least likely to equipping internet-enabled commu- have access to technology. However, nity information centres. Recommendation 4 Recognize the power of social media Public agencies should exploit social and invite comments on government media to their advantage. Governments policies, handle crises, and build politi- can use social media as a platform to cal opinion among the masses. enhance transparency, exchange ideas Recommendation 5 Exploit economies of scale Projects should be identified that have disaster recovery to host applica- the greatest potential impact, that can tions for all agencies provide benefits simultaneously to more than one large group of stake- • A government-wide ICT network holders, and that have the potential for with high availability and adequate quickly recovering development costs. redundancy Economies of scale and scope can also be brought about by intra-public sec- • Common citizen helpdesks for tor collaboration, leading to better trouble-shooting and general assis- cost-benefit factors in at least the fol- tance lowing ways: • Shared information systems (e.g. hu- • A unified data centre with adequate man resources management systems, 23 financial management systems, and • Sharing the same service delivery in- inventory and asset management frastructure through citizen service systems) centres. Recommendations to the donor community Recommendation 6 Support citizen-centric initiatives with social media Learn from existing initiatives. This could information or intimidation. Ensure that be notably applicable in countries with legislation and institutional requirements upcoming elections, particularly where imposed by government do not restrict previous elections have been tainted by adoption and use of Web 2.0 and social allegations of corruption, suppression of media technologies. Recommendation 7 Pilot cloud computing in independent election monitoring Funding will be needed for pilot proj- concept for the use of cloud computing ects that could serve as a proof of in election monitoring. Recommendation 8 Establish technology platforms for anonymous whistle-blowing Pilot a technology system using anony- identity of whistle blowers who expose mous web communication and other corruption in the public sector. technologies to completely hide the 24 Recommendation 9 Create incubation spaces for innovative technical solutions Create incubation spaces for collabora- can assist sites in sharing data and soft- tion and innovation for applications in the ware, hence only occasional face-to-face public service sector. Cloud computing meetings are required. Recommendation 10 Support capacity building programmes for open data projects Replicate open data capacity building projects for transparency and accountability. Recommendation 11 Empower public sector workers in rural areas Reduce administrative burden on work- development of mobile applications to ers. This could be achieved through the replace paper-based solutions. reduction of paperwork through the 25 Further reading Gray, M. (2007) “The impact of ICT on the design and delivery of public services” Third Sector Foresight, National Council for Voluntary Organisations http://www.3s4.org.uk/news/the-impact-of-ict-on-the-design-and-delivery-of-public-services Heeks, R. (2008) “ICTs for government transparency” eGovernment for Development, University of Manchester's Institute for Development Policy and Management http://www.egov4dev.org/transparency/definitions.shtml Kagoda-Batuwa, S. (2009) “Development of the EAC Regional E-Government Framework” Presentation to UN Public Administration Conference on Electronic/Mobile Government in Africa: Progress Made and Challenges Ahead, 17-19 February 2009 Addis Ababa http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan033659.pdf Panos Institute West Africa and the United Nations Develop- ment Programme (2011) E-governance and Citizen Participation in West Africa: Challenges and Oppor- tunities http://www.undpegov.org/sites/undpegov.org/files/UNDP-IPAO-Report-English.pdf United Nations (2012) United Nations E-Government Survey 2012 http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/12report.htm www.eTransformAfrica.org Publications for eTransform Africa include the Summary Report, Main Report which includes an overview chapter and summary chapters of the full reports, and the full reports themselves covering the following sectors and cross-cutting themes: Sectors themes: Agriculture Climate Change Adaptation Education Financial Services Modernizing Government Health Cross-cutting themes: Regional Trade and Integration ICT Competitiveness For a more detailed presentation on the role of ICT in modernizing government in Africa, see the full eTransform Africa sector report: http://www.etransformafrica.org. Graphic design by Marie-Anne Chambonnier eTransform AFRICA AFRICAN UNION