Session III: Internet and public service delivery

Transcription

1 WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2016: INTERNET FOR DEVELOPMENT Regional Consultation Conference: Nairobi, January 26-27, 2015 Session III: Internet and public service delivery Dr. Jabiri Kuwe Bakari CEO, e-government Agency, Tanzania

2 Introduction E-government has expanded rapidly over the past decade in Africa and there are numerous exciting initiatives underway open government, citizen feedback mechanisms, crowd-sourced social monitoring to make governments more transparent and to empower African citizens to hold governments accountable Is the potential of the internet for improving governance and service delivery being realized in Africa? Why is it that many countries continue to underinvest in e-government, or fail to effectively utilize these technologies to improve G2G, G2B, and G2C services? Is the internet empowering the poor or further marginalizing them? Are citizens using social media and other channels mostly for personal entertainment or to make their voices heard? What is required for the internet to transform public service delivery in the way it has transformed the retail sector and numerous other industries?

3 Is the potential of the internet for improving governance and service delivery being realized in Africa? - YES to some extent Some of the services which are delivered through internet has ease the way the citizen access the services, increased transparent and lower the cost of service delivering and access In Tanzania, through the Portal at ( ) Various reports (CAG Reports, Budget Reports, Parliamentary Proceedings, Circulars,1,427acts, forms, Government Gazette, policies, national leaders speeches, schemes of services, budget speeches, international contracts etc.) which are available online and citizens are easily accessing them. Tax returns, various payments, motor vehicle licenses, are now done through mobile phones Government Job Adverts, Applications Although, there are some improvement but also still we need to increase internet accessibility to large part of citizen who lives in rural areas. + Education without education will be limited to benefit from a vast pool of information & ideas from the Internet

4 Wakala ya Serikali Mtandao 4

5 e-government Agency - Tanzania

6 e-government Agency - Tanzania

7 Why is it that many countries continue to underinvest in e-government, or fail to effectively utilize these technologies to improve G2G, G2B, and G2C services? Is the internet empowering the poor or further marginalizing them? Most of the countries, in Africa have invested a lot in buying technology and forget to invest on important factors which could drive and manage that technology which is people and processes. The investment in terms of people and processes is extremely low OR is not being done in a correct way. The reason here is poor understanding and awareness of what can contribute on successful implementation and utilization of e-government. believing that the technology can do everything. People Governance, Agency, MDA/LGAs Process Attention on Business Process Improvement/Re-engineering If no clear benefit realization in the egov investment, it is difficult for the decision makers to spearhead the e-government Agenda and invest more! It took sometimes for us as a new Agency to restore the confidence back!

8 Implementation of Tanzania e-government ega Strategic Plan Mapping e-government Agency 8

9 e-government Agency - Tanzania

10 Is the internet empowering the poor or further marginalizing them? Although, there are some improvement but also still we need to increase internet accessibility to large part of citizen who live in rural areas. We have special attention to mgovernance For those poor who have access to internet we can say, it has helped them to some extent based on their usage. Farmers have access to what they need on farming processes. To get this right, we need to make sure we bridge the digital divide. In Tanzania there are a lot of initiatives of bridging the gap. To mention few extension of infrastructure to the villages through UCAF. This is happening with the installation of electricity.

11 Are citizens using social media and other channels mostly for personal entertainment or to make their voices heard? Recently the social media has been a strong tool which some of the citizen utilize to make their voice heard in various aspects. Those who have gone to the extent of using social media for raising up various issues, we can term them as advanced users, but new comers or those who are rarely using social media are using it for their personal entertainments. Though there is no a comprehensive research on this, but based on the Internet penetration rate in Tanzania, one can confidently say that the large group is on (personal entertainment). Another driving factor which rises up the usage of social media particularly on transmitting a certain message particularly to Government is when there is an issue which has drawn a lot of citizen s attention.

12 What is required for the internet to transform public service delivery in the way it has transformed the retail sector and numerous other industries? Transformation of the people who are in Public Sector and their business processes. This is the main factor when comes on transforming service delivery. The technology (internet) itself has no issues, but the big issue is making sure, the people in power and in public services are ready to embrace the advantage of internet and transform themselves. Business process and legal frameworks are also the issues to be dealt with. It is very hard to realize the benefit of internet in service delivery, without re-working on the existing Business Processes and Legal Frameworks to accommodate the new emerging technologies or the way things need to be done. Empowering of citizen is very important in terms of access to internet, awareness and building of trust.

13 Thank you for kind attention