Economic governance
Ten guiding principles for E-government
Guiding principles for implementing e-government
Authors:
D.C. Misra
Publisher:
Digital Divide Network, 2008
This paper outlines ten guiding principles for e-government that are more suited to developing countries:
- e-government is about government rather than “e” - nine-tenths of e-government practice is expended on technology with the remaining one-tenth on governance while it should be the other way round
- e-government is citizen-centric and criteria-based - citizen-centric e-government calls for an e-government which is focused on the citizen needs (for public service delivery) and aspirations (for active participation in decision-making processes)
- e-government prefers in-house expertise to out-of-house expertise - the private sector does not appreciate the complexity faced by public sector in an e-government project and the political environment in which the public sector is forced to operate
- e-government is wary in introducing private sector practices - e-government needs to thoroughly examine the private sector business model for its suitability
- e-government prefers open source to proprietary software - open source software has particular appeal to e-government due to its lesser cost, amenability to change, and greater reliability as compared to proprietary software
- e-government is networked government and not integrated government - a networked government (n-government) in which various agencies are “joined” together, and not merged, and keep their identities intact, is a practical proposition and deserves to be pursued
- e-government promotes the CIO concept in e-government - the Chief Information Officer (CIO) concept needs to be promoted so that e-government has a prime mover independent of political leadership
- e-government is introduced through an organisation-wide e-business plan - e-government should be introduced through an “e-business plan,” which is: citizen-centric and criteria-based; lays emphasis on “e” aspect of plan; treats government working in a “business-like” manner; is organization-wide
- e-government provides multi-channel delivery of public services - two types of public service delivery channels have come into being: online and offline, and these different channels must not offer different “levels” of service but must be mutually consistent in content
- e-government promotes causes of e-citizen and e-democracy - e-citizens have e-rights and e-duties, which are required to be spelled out and statutorily recognised
