Winds of Changes: How the Internet and the Computer have Transformed our World by Ibrahima Doumbya

Author:Ibrahima Doumbya [Doumbya, Ibrahima]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-02-27T08:00:00+00:00

Better Governance

Having an online presence can dramatically increase the visibility of a government towards its citizens, enabling these to interact with public officials and workers, to reduce the distance between them, and to cut the costs associated with requesting official documents for instance. The opportunity to qualitatively enhance communication is literally limitless. Just two decades ago, providing online platforms to deliver services was only possible in a few developed countries. Today, practically every government on earth has some sort of online presence. And while some are slow in increasing and diversifying the options, others are in full swing and well into the world of e-governance. They have expanded choices and have allowed people to access essential services without having to overspend on time and money. The concept of e-governance has been among us for quite some time. In fact, 10 years ago, the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) defined it as, “the public sector’s use of information and communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective.” According to the same organization, the goal is “to engage, enable and empower the citizen”. But for e-governance to continue to be more effective in our present times, governments must continue to lead the way in providing directions and incentives for adoption. It is crucial that they help shape behaviors in this context, and this entails having citizens use online services instead of the traditional methods whenever and wherever possible. Opportunities for e-registration, e-mobilization, e-participation, e-education, e-debate, e-feedback must be created and expanded to allow stakeholders to familiarize themselves with the new tools and to choose them to communicate.

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