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Assessing e-governance

E-Government and local good governance: a pilot project in Fez, Morocco

Can e-government and technology implementation influence good governance?

Authors: D. Kettani; M. Gurstein; B. Moulin
Publisher: Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries , 2008

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This paper presents the results of a e-government project implemented for the transformation of local governance, in Morocco. The technology implementation and deployment project is aimed at transforming an archaic municipal service delivery system. The study assess the effects and outcomes of this e-government installation on good governance. It also identifies indicators for measuring the project’s contribution to good governance.

The authors argue that the e-government system that was implemented influenced the quality of organisational functioning, the relations of the service providers with the local community, local policy making, and circumstances of local governance. The study finds that switching to automated service delivery influenced:

  • transparency - the automated service delivery enabled transparent relations between the administration and citizens
  • efficiency and effectiveness - requesting and receiving birth certificate copies was dramatically simplified, enabling citizens to make optimal use of their “personal time” resources
  • equity - citizens are automatically being served in an equitable fashion since they are all free to individually access the system and obtain immediate results
  • rule of law - the automated service delivery eliminated the need and the opportunity to violate the law through ‘automatically’ ensuring equal treatment
  • responsiveness - the automated service delivery is by design predictable and instantly responsive to citizens’ needs at their convenience
  • accountability - simplified service delivery with a streamlined system improved visibility, transparency, and consistency of operations and service delivery; system consistency created a standard against which employees could be held accountable.
The authors suggest that this system can potentially provide a useful model for the way in which e-government implementation in developing countries can contribute to the realising good governance.