A toolkit to help policy makers and senior executives in developing countries on how and when to start successfully e-government projects was recently published by UNESCO and Indias National Informatics Centre (NIC) as a contribution to promote transparency in public administrations and democratic processes.
The toolkit, that is available on CD-ROM, aims to demystify the concepts behind e-government and strengthen the understanding of all those involved in the planning and execution of e-government projects.
The toolkit offers an action framework involving all stakeholders in developing countries including parliamentarians, government executives, institutions as well as non governmental organizations and guide them through various phases in their e-government initiatives.
In addition to a conceptual overview, the toolkit includes chapters on e-readiness , the preparation of an e-government action plan, advice on how to build human capacity, develop infrastructure and build partnerships and discusses the issue of legislation and regulatory frameworks. Recommendations on the creation of a national portal a single entry point for e-government elements are also included. Finally the toolkit includes guidance on how to develop performance indicators for e-government plan and to assess the usability of government portals / websites.
The toolkit includes a number of case studies which exemplify successful e-government initiatives, the challenges faced and the way they were addressed.
The toolkit comes as one of the contributions to the implementation of the Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, Switzerland, December 2005) that calls for implementing government strategies focusing on applications aimed at innovating and promoting transparency in public administrations and democratic processes, improving efficiency and strengthening relations with citizens. One of the actions proposed is to develop national e-government initiatives and services, at all levels, adapted to the needs of citizens and business, to achieve a more efficient allocation of resources and public goods.
SourceUNESCO
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