“For the first time in human history, all 193 [UN] member states are presenting themselves online to their citizens,” enthuses Jonas Rabinovitch, a United Nations expert on e-government.
Rabinovitch works in the division responsible for the bi-yearly United Nations’ E-Government Survey, which assesses and ranks country performance across the world.
FutureGov caught up with him recently to discuss the current trends for e-government, the best ways to improve performance, and the next big thing he expects to see public sector agencies adopting.
The big trends
The UN E-Government Survey analyses the key trends that can be seen in the regional leaders. Five clear trends presented themselves, Rabinovitch explains: cross-agency working; e-participation; the digital divide between old and young, rich and poor; open government; and multi-channel service delivery.
Many of the themes can be tackled together. The leading countries are making groups across society feel more included through e-participation initiatives and a mixed approach to service delivery. “It’s not just about computers: it’s about how the government provides services to people,” Rabinovitch says.
Online, citizens “are becoming more and more demanding,” he warns, with private sector developments - particularly in the banking sector - pushing what’s expected from e-government.
E-participation initiatives help prioritise improvements, he says, and also create greater public ownership in project management - putting pressure on politicians to continue reforms even when governments change.
Korea is the leader in this area, but learned a key lesson along the way. It started off by simply obtaining feedback from citizens, but soon discovered the importance of sharing the results of that feedback so they can be used to hold government to account. Sharing that information motivates people to continue contributing and builds a sense of trust, Rabinovitch says.
How to make quick progress
New approaches and technologies are helping some countries “leapfrog” more developed nations, he notes, because they provide an opportunity to dodge key problems.
For example, Sri Lanka has made big progress in the past few years by embracing mobile government, Rabinovitch says. It has avoided focusing on costly infrastructure - using apps to deliver services - and has also prioritised inter-agency working (see our full interview with Sri Lanka’s ICT chief).
Change has to come from senior politicians, though, he warns. “Institutional coordination is something that has to come from the top, and this is why e-government is increasingly linked to the highest levels of decision-making within countries”.
The next big thing
Mobile government is one big trend, Rabinovitch says, while another is enhanced authentication - where citizens are given online identities by the state.
Estonia has now used this technology to run seven general elections online, where people don’t need to leave their homes to vote. “They don’t use biometrics, they don’t use voting machines, they use accounts that give identity and authentication to each citizen,” he says. The United Kingdom has just announced plans to develop online authentication plans.
If others take up the mantle, it may be measured in the next e-government survey (2016). The e-government world rankings could receive a significant shakeup.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Joshua Chambers
Quelle/Source: futureGov, 07.11.2014
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