The World Bank e-Development Thematic Group, GICT and IT SLC

In Partnership with:

 

and the Development Gateway

Chair
Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer, CITPO, GICT

Welcoming Remarks
Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager, GICT, World Bank
Laura Samotshozo, Information Technology Project Manager, Economic Growth,
Agriculture and Trade Bureau, USAID

Opening Remarks
Bill Piatt, Chief Information Officer, International Finance Corporation (Former CIO for the General Services Administration, the Public Building Service, and the Peace Corps; USA)

Speakers
R.Chandrashekar (Keynote Speaker), Additional Secretary, (eGov) Department of IT, Government of India
Pauline Tan, Senior Director (Government Chief Information Office), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Timothy Young, Associate Administrator of E-Gov, Office of Management and Budget, USA

Discussants
Artyom V. Shamtsyan, Director, eGovernment Center of Excellence, Republic of Kazakhstan
Mary Muiruri, Consultant, Afrika ICT Strategies
Nagy Hanna, Director, International Center for e-Leadership &
Senior Research Fellow, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland

Program Description

A great number of governments have now developed e-Government strategies and are at various stages of implementation. While a significant amount of attention has been given in the past to identifying the key components of e-Government strategies and identifying best practices, little attention has been given to the processes involved in the design of such strategies. Recognizing that the process of designing an e-Government strategy is perhaps as important if not more important than the resulting document, this event will be an opportunity to learn from three different country perspectives. The speakers will address the process of designing successful national e-Government strategies, focusing on the following questions:

• Why is it important to have well-designed e-Government Strategies?  Why might the process be as important as the final document?
• What constitutes successful e-Government strategies?  What are the key ingredients? 
• How should governments go about designing e-Government strategies?  What are the steps and processes that are essential not only to the elaboration of the strategy, but also to its successful implementation?

Target Audience

Clients of World Bank-funded ICT project and components, e-Government officials from a range of developing and emerging economies participating in the June 2007 USAID/USTTI e-Government seminar; World Bank staff, USAID staff, and other stakeholders interested in e-Government. 

Feedback

This event was the last Global e-Government Dialogue of FY07, and a big success! It brought the latest knowledge in this area to developing country clients and Bank staff, and also formed an integral part of the USAID/USTTI e-Government training program for 18 Government officials from developing and transition economies.

In addition to featuring notable experts from various countries and within the Bank, more than 50 people participated in Washington DC, and an estimated 60 people in 9 client countries participated via video conference. Concurrently, over 80 people watched via the Internet and discussed the event using the online chat function, and contributed to the overall discussion. The effective use of videoconference and webcast technology allowed the event to maximize audience participation, while minimizing costs.

The event was rated as outstanding by most participants who noted the very rich content, high quality of organization; excellent combination of speakers from developed (US and Singapore), transition (Kazakhstan) and developing (India) countries; and the highly interactive nature of the videoconference.

Lessons Learnt

The seminar highlighted several critical messages that the global panel consistently emphasized, notably:

• Importance of leadership and a structure to implement leadership, including: people, skills, organization and budget
• How donors can help countries clients create a better institutional structure dedicated to e-government, and what models to use.
• Local versus National, Bottom/up innovation vs Top/bottom implementation
• Mobile Government: How to create the enabling environment (e.g. for mobile banking)
• Some older agency computerization programs were critical in creating "critical mass" of users
• Reaching a critical mass (around 1/3 of total user base) is very important, it is the threshold after which impact and multiplier effects can be witnessed and measured. Cellular phone usage is a perfect example of that.
• The India example was most appreciated as a developing country model.
• The Singapore and USA models were noted for focusing on the organizational structures needed for success
• The need to create enabling environment to foster rural access as rural areas lags behind in using ICTs to improve their livelihood
• How can World Bank, IFC and USAID help countries establish a better infrastructure
• Where to start (applications/services or infrastructure) with a limited budget
• Building of local ICT experts who can create services and local content in languages and dialects that are needed
• Importance of including women in all common access programs and capacity building

The e-Development Services Thematic Group is powered by GICT and ISG in collaboration with WBI, PREM and other partners. Visit us at http://www.worldbank.org/edevelopment to download materials for this and all previous e-Development seminars (over 90 since Sept 2003).