ICT in Governance

E-governance is understood as a set of activities involving the effective contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) to strengthening democracy.

These activities include: the use of ICT in the institutional transformation of the public sector (i.e., e-government activities such as improved effectiveness of public administration and increased access to streamlined public sector services), building trust between citizens and their public sector representatives and the formulation and implementation of public policies in the areas of ICT and expansion of the knowledge economy, as well as their integration into development planning.

E-Government-Latin American Network - GEALC

Electronic Government (eG) can be understood as the use of the information and the communications technologies (ICT) as an intrinsic part of the strategy of modernization of the public administration. In other words, eG is the means by which the modernization of the State can be accomplished as well as a way to make public administration more efficient and transparent. For governments, eG is the prefered way to modernize the public sector, generally through the use of information technologies in search of better practices, greater control and transparency.

For users, eG provides access to public information, at any time and any place without having to visit government offices. For these reasons, Electronic Government has become a fundamental tool for the reform and modernization of the State. Some Latin American counitries, like Brazil and Chile, excel in eG strategies and lead the region in this field; however, that is not the norm for the Region.

Despite the relative progress made in some countries of the Region, disparities remains. Those disparities are not only in the budgetary and technological capacities of the countries, but also in to the lack of properly articulated long-term strategies; strategies that incorporate the vision of the public sector with the needs of the private sector and society in general.

On the other hand, hemispheric organisms, such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization of the American States (O.A.S.) and the Institute for the Connectivity of Americas (ICA) have expressed their concern about overcoming these disparities. In order to reduce the existing divide in the use of ICT for a "good government" in the Region, it is important to share experiences and good practices, and adapt technologies developed in other countries of the region.

In order to meet these needs, the O.A.S., ICA and the countries that are E-Government leaders, carried out three workshops on Electronic Government (Inter-American Forum of Best Practices in Electronic Government, Workshop of Better Practices in Electronic Government, and the Process for the Elaboration of a Database of Best Practices in Electronic Government) in 2003 and 2004.

As a result of such workshops, officers responsible for E-Government in the Region decided to adopt a mechanism of systematic cooperation to share solutions and experiences of best practices in Electronic Government. They also created the Latin America and the Caribbean Electronic Government Network (Network GEALC), which is made up of those responsible for Electronic Government in 18 Latin American countries. The group's immediate goal is to increase membership in the Network by encouraging the Caribbean countries to join.

To support this effort, the Bank included a technical cooperation in a regional public goods (RPG) program that includes activities in the area of management and identifies the potential of the knowledge society and the use of IT in the public Sector.

The GEALC Network project was prepared in collaboration with the Organization of the American States (OAS), the Institute of Connectivity of Américas (ICA) and the Presidential Commission for State Reform, Decentralization and Citizens Participation (COPRE) of Guatemala. In addition, it had the active participation of those responsible for E-Governments in the countries participating in GEALC, who have identified high-priority areas and are fully committed to the execution of this Technical Cooperation.

For more information please contact Guillermo Castillo

Digital Agenda

The use of the Information and the Communication Technologies (ICTs) as part of the short-, medium- and long- term strategies of governments contributes to increase the socioeconomic development and facilitates the accomplishment of objectives in strategic areas such as: legal framework, education, poverty reduccion, access to Internet, electronic government, productivity, competitiveness and trade.

An example of ICT applications in the public sector is the implementation of a Digital Agenda that guides the promotion of the effective use of ICT to harness the national competitiveness, allowing it to potentially eliminate time and space barriers, ensuring access to communications, information and knowledge and enhancing the quality of life of its citizens.

The IDB is working in the area of the ICT, in general, and particularly in electronic government and Digital Agendas, promoting the strenghtening of democracies through the incorporation of ICT in the national agendas as well as building capacity in the area of information technologies for the public sector, financing projects and knowledge sharing activities (lessons learned and better practices) in countries working in this area.

Digital Agenda: Conceptual document for legislation in the Information Era (available in Spanish).

Conceptual document: Update of the Uruguayan legal framework (available in Spanish).

Local E-Government (GEL)

The propose Strategy for Local E-Government (GEL Gobierno Electrónico Local) is based on three fundamental pillars:

Awareness at the highest possible local level authorities of what E-Government is. The main focus is to raise awareness on E-Government from a local level perspective.

Development of E-Government from the central administration is not necessarily the best approach to solve local needs; A GEL strategies involves a series of awareness building exercises to engage local authorities -municipal authorities- to transform their administrations and prepare it to embrace the E-Government concept: To do more with the help of Technology in all its aspects;to develop and offer new and better services, such services in the information Society are called E-Services.

Usually, at the beginning of any mandate, public administrator, in this case the mayors, need to understand their administration and seek alternatives on how to modernize it. Procedures and methods are the first step to modernize the administration; in addition, the IT modernization has to be a foundation for such modernization and should serve to create an efficient Local Government, however, at the core of such modernization should be the vision to prepare the Administration to offer New Services - E-Services, that include traditional services as well as the deliver of new ones with the aid of technology.

The E-Services relate to the benefit of the traditional services (taxes for instance) widely delivered to the general population without concerning of their physical presence. In addition, in order to deliver the E-services a series of issues such as access and connectivity must be solved. (a) Connectivity - it is not possible to be hope to develop the an- E-Government solution to the local level if there doesn't exist a clear connectivity structure; (b) Access: still connectivity without massive access at the local level will only benefit a small group of citizens; a clear access strategy has to be implemented as part of the E-Government initiative. (c) Content: The local administrations participating in the GEL must develop their own thematic content considering local, regional and national plans. In short, the GEL strategy offers the opportunity to potential the Local Government in benefit of the Citizenship. (PPT presentation)

E-Congress

Government institutions of Latin America and the Caribbean have become more transparent and flexible as a result of their efforts to modernize the state. Significant progress has been made as a result of institutional transformation, primarily, in the Executive Branch, and, to a lesser degree in the Judiciary Branch. However, numerous opportunities remain in the Legislative branch.

The Information Technology for Development Division (SDS/ICT), as part of its support to branches of government in the region has been carrying out series of activities involving the use of information and communication technology as part of the institutional transformation of all branches of government. One such activity is the preparation of a conceptual document: "E-Congress. The Legislative Branch in the era of the information: an opportunity for the action", which documents opportunities for deploying these technologies to strengthen democracy, particularly in the Legislative Branch. It provides decision makers with a tool for structuring the technology portion of a modernization program for the legislatures throughout the Americas.

The document is a collective product by a group of experts in the modernization of Congresses, legislative officials from throughout the Americas, private industry and SDS/ICT

Conceptual documents (available only in Spanish):

Contact: Guillermo Castillo guillermos@iadb.org +1-202-623 1797

Global Legal Information Network

E-government Effectiveness Inter Agency Task Force

The E-government Effectiveness Inter-Agency Task Force (EgE IA TF) has emerged as a response to the recognition by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean that more systematic dialogue and collaboration among themselves and with international development organizations is needed in order to improve the effectiveness of their individual and collective efforts to use information and communication technology in the institutional transformation of public administration at the all levels. Task Force members include: the Development Gateway Foundation, the Information and Communication Technology for Development Division (SDS/ICT) of the IDB, the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) of the Organization of American States, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) of the United Nations and the World Bank.
On June 29, 2005, the parties in the Task Force approved and began the implementation of an Action Plan.

Contact: Guillermo Castillo
+1-202-623 1797

Last updated: 01/16/07

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