IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

The Government of Macedonia (GOM) successfully launched the Apply Online System for State Employment in early January 2006. Only two weeks after the system was installed, the number of applications had already doubled. Furthermore, approximately 74% percent of the job applications received were sent via the Internet. These figures are especially significant for a country with a still low Internet penetration rate of approximately 19%.

In the southern Macedonian city of Bitola during the first two weeks of February, over 200 residents applied on-line for positions in public administration. “The new way of employment has many advantages compared to the previous. The procedure is simplified. The candidate opens the web page, chooses the advertisements they want to apply for and fills in the application,” says Petar Vojnovski, the Head of the Working Club of the Employment Agency in Bitola.

The system was created by the Macedonian e-Gov/IMPACT Project, a US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded initiative implemented by Internews’ ICT Policy Development division .

“The deployment of information technologies is helping to increase the level of trust that Macedonians have in their government by making available online government services that are inexpensive, efficient, reliable and transparent,” said Jerker Torngren, e-Gov Project Chief of Party.

Internews Macedonia’s e-Gov/IMPACT project, in collaboration with GOM, concentrated on finding solutions to overcome the issue of having limited access to the Internet for the potential applicants – hence, the software used was specifically designed to allow online applications to be sent from any internet café in the country. Equally important, the procedures were simplified and the cost of applying was lowered to increase the likelihood of Macedonian citizens applying for government jobs.

The GOM launched and promoted the system through pamphlets and advertisements in both Macedonian and Albanian to provide equal access and opportunity to all of the population.

The e-Gov/IMPACT project, and the GOM are also developing and implementing other e-government services such as an e-Procurement system and the recently initiated e-Taxation project. The goal is to implement e-government applications that promote transparency in public administration activities to strengthen relations with citizens and make them more willing to participate in their government.

Autor: Jerker Torngren

Quelle: Internews, 09.02.2006