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Richard Boateng, PhD. Email: [email protected]
The Challenge of Taking
Baby Steps in
E-governance in West
Africa
UGBS Seminar Presentation by
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Outline
1. Background of Project 2. Research Issue/Problem 3. Conceptualizing E-governance 4. Method 5. Key Findings 6. Next Steps 7. Future Directions
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Project Background
Basic/Pure research
• The scientific community
• Focus is on the rigour of the process
Applied research
• Policy or Practice
• Focus is on the outcome/implications of results
• Evaluation research
– Assess the effectiveness
• Social Impact Assessment
Neuman, W.L. (2011) Basics of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 2/E, Pearson
Education – ISBN ISBN-10: 0205484379 | ISBN-13: 9780205484379
Taking a Step Back
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Basic and Applied Social Research Compared
Neuman, W.L. (2011) Basics of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 2/E, Pearson
Education – ISBN ISBN-10: 0205484379 | ISBN-13: 9780205484379
Taking a Step Back
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Project Background
African e-governance Academy
To establish a better understanding of e-governance
in five countries sub-Saharan Africa in order to define
appropriate approach for pragmatic support.
The study presents case studies on e-governance in
five ECOWAS countries, namely Ghana, Nigeria,
Burkina Faso, Senegal and Cameroon.
Neuman, W.L. (2011) Basics of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 2/E, Pearson
Education – ISBN ISBN-10: 0205484379 | ISBN-13: 9780205484379
Taking a Step Back
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Is there a case for e-governance?
• Is this research very new?
– Not really
– Has been studied from a number of
perspectives using different terminologies • E-government; digital government
• Teledemocracy, e-democracy; ICT and government
• E-voting, Internet voting; e-participation
Taking a Step Back
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Is there a case for e-governance?
• But is it important?
Two words – electronic and governance
By Governance: the processes and institutions, both
formal and informal, that guide and restrain the
collective activities of a group (Keohane and Nye (2000).
Development analysts and academics alike have
posited that the prerequisite of development is the
promotion of good governance (Sen, 1999)
Taking a Step Back
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Conceptual definitions
The study defines e-governance as the use of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) to continuously transform
the internal and external relationships of governments, the
public sector and other governance stakeholders in a manner
that is citizen-centric, cooperative and polycentric (Saxena, 2005;
Ghayur, 2006; Ray and Mukherjee, 2007).
e-governance encompasses e-democracy and e-government.
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Conceptual definitions
E-democracy entails the structures and processes which
enable government to communicate and interact
electronically with citizens in order to foster democratic
processes;
E-government refers to the electronic delivery of
government services to the public.
Six core interrelated applications– e-information, e-service,
e-commerce/procurement, e-administration, e-voting and e-
participation.
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Conceptual definitions
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The promise of technology
ITU (2010)
Taking a Step Back
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The problem as it defined by development agencies
• There is a need for a study which can
investigate e-governance from a more a
comprehensive approach:
• Lifecycle: – Needs – Design – Adoption & Usage – Impact
– Objectives- Policy & Programmes – Adoption & Usage and
Impact
– Previous studies have a narrow approach eg. UNDP Panos
2011 “e-governance in West Africa”
Taking a Step Back
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exploring extant research
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exploring extant research
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exploring extant research
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The research problem
• establish a better understanding of e-
governance in sub-Saharan Africa in order
to define appropriate approach for
pragmatic support
• five countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina
Faso, Senegal and Cameroon
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Method
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Method
1. Timeline: May 2011 – April 2012
2. Review of literature
3. Development of Country Case Study Guide
4. Selection of Consultants in all the countries
5. Minimum of 3 revisions for each country case study
by independent reviewers
• Data was triangulated from interviews with
country case study, review of policies on
technology and governance, and review of
online presence of government institutions.
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Method – Case Study Guide
a) E-governance Objectives
b) E-governance Policies
c) E-governance Programmes and Projects
d) Online Presence of Government Ministries, Local
Government and Political Parties
e) E-governance Impact on key stakeholders including:
National Development Agenda, Millennium
Development Goals, Principles of Democracy, Local
Government, Climate Change, and Citizens and
Society.
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Findings
Government readiness to reform its public sector
operations and pursue an ICT-led development agenda
tends to be the major enabler or driver of e-governance
initiatives.
Thus, ICTs are either used as enablers or drivers to the
development of e-governance objectives.
Enablers – Ghana and Cameroon
Drivers – Senegal and Burkina Faso
Blurred Distinction – Nigeria
e-governance objectives
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Findings
1. National ICT policies tend to support the
achievement of objectives
2. Most Policies are still at the implementation stage – Implementation agency (often comes late): Ghana (NITA); Nigeria
(NITDA); Cameron (ANTIC); Burkina Faso (ARCE)
3. Policies need revision and consolidation;
strategic focus 1. Nigeria consolidates ICT policies (Draft National ICT policy – Jan 2011)
2. ANTIC and UNU-IIST worked on EGOV.COM (Jan 2010)
4. Poor Promotion of Policies and Programmes
5. Confusion on the between implementation agency
and other government agency on responsibilities
6. Structural and Endogenous Challenges
e-governance policies and programmes
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Findings
1. Very informative in nature; low interactivity
2. Web 2.0 are on websites of political parties and
personal pages of politicians
3. In local government institutions, there is also low
incentive to build a website - low levels of
literacy, lack of local content in local languages
online presence of government institutions
Burkina Faso
demonstrates a good
example of how ICT
drives policy
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Findings
1. Criticism: only two objectives - regional
marketing and political patronage
2. E-governance fears and resistance:
– Transparency in processes
– No more kickbacks and bribes
3. Administrative hurdles affect website
updates
4. Parliamentarians attitude – constituents are
not online
5. Confusion between Implementation agency
and local government
online presence of government institutions
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Findings
1. National development agenda
– Easy to demonstrate contribution of e-governance
2. Millennium Development Goals
– More about potential
– Project/Programme Maturity
3. Citizen Participation
More informative and less interactive
Interactivity is primarily on low cost/social
technologies (radio and recently social media)
4. Climate Change/Environmental Protection
Lack of policy on e-waste
Lack of eco-spirit
No direction/example by government
e-government impact
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Next Steps 1. Revision of policies
2. Ensuring sustainability
3. Going Mobile
4. Interoperable platforms
5. E-governance Education
6. Local content production
& multilingualism
7. Contributing to MDGs
Policy readiness
Infrastructure
readiness
Culture & Actor
readiness
Emerging
presence
Networked
presence
Transformative
presence
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Next Steps – For Research
1. Multidisciplinary Approach
– The place for ICT for development
in universities??
– Why – eg: Talking Book by Literacy
Bridge
2. Evidence-based Policy
Development
3. More Process-based research
- how and why
Thank You
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References
• Funilkul, S. and Chutimaskul, W. (2009) The framework for sustainable eDemocracy
development, Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Volume 3, No. 1 pp. 16-31
• Kamal, M.M. (2009) "An analysis of e-Participation research: moving from theoretical to pragmatic
viewpoint", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 3(4), 340 – 354.
• Keohane, R.O. and Nye, J.S. (2000), “Introduction”, in Nye, J.S. and Donahue, J.D. (Eds)
Governance in a Globalization World, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC.
• Ray, S. and Mukherjee, A. (2007) Development of a framework towards successful
implementation of e-governance initiatives in health sector in India. International Journal of Health
Care Quality Assurance, 20(6), 464-83.
• Sen, A. (1999) Development and Freedom, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• UN E-government Survey (2010) Global E-Government Survey 2010, Leveraging E-government
at a Time of Financial and Economic Crisis, Available:
http://www.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/08report.htm
• UNDP-PANOS (2011) E-governance and Citizen Participation in West Africa, UNDP-PANOS,
Available: http://www.undpegov.org/WA-epart.html.
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