e-Government practice at the local government level
Douglas CohenSouth African Local Government Association (SALGA)
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80% of G2C = LG
Around the world the overwhelming majority of citizen-government transactions takes place at the local level.
Schmidt, Oliver. 2002. Balanced E-Government: Connecting Efficient Administration and Responsive
Democracy. Gutersloh: Bertelsmann Foundation.
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Presentation Overview
e-Gov @ Lo-GovState of South African Local Government
onlineChanging / Challenging the status quo
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e-Gov @ Lo-Gov
Reported from the Civil Society Colloquium on E-government
What is e-Government?
http://www.wordle.net/create
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e-Gov @ Lo-Gov
What is Local Government e-Government?
• The closer to the ‘front end’ that decisions about service provision can be made, the closer they can reflect local needs.
Decentralisation of government
• Collaborative-design and decision making
Citizen involvement
• Overlapping, inter-related needs
Partnerships of place
Encouraging growth of e-business and
associated opportunities. Providing
access 24 hours a day, seven days a
week
Reducing the cost of delivery
of some government
services
Reducing bureaucratic and jurisdictional
demarcation to provide unified services based on user requirements
Increasing efficiency-saving tax-
payers’ funds
Improving public access to a wide range of government
services, especially by people who live in regional, rural and remote areas and people with
disabilities
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Presentation Overview
e-Gov @ Lo-GovState of South African Local Government
onlineChanging / Challenging the status quo
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State of South African Local Government online
It should be no surprise that not all of the 283 municipalities have functional, effective or active websites
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State of South African Local Government online…
Buts it’s not just a nice to have… Guiding legislation but who’s watching
compliance?
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State of South African Local Government online
http://www.wordle.net/create
The reasons?
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State of South African Local Government online
There are huge disparities in the websites’ functionality, compliance, content and relevance 98% of websites are in English and none
support disabled access No up-to-date listing of Municipal Contact and
/ or Leadership Information Publishing draft Municipal IDP’s and Budgets
appears to be a nice to do rather than a must
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State of South African Local Government online
Transform
Integrate
Transact
Interact
Static Info
Value toCitizens
and Businesses
E-Government Capability
Metros have the plans, budget and resources to Allocate to ICT’s
Towns and rural Municipalities do no have resources or ability prioritise ICT
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State of South African Local Government online
Low Levels of ICT penetration in South Africa
Source Data: Stats SA Community Survey 2007
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State of South African Local Government online
Limited involvement of Local Government in National e-Gov Policy (and visa-versa) No standardisation in terms of the local
government domain No single up-to-date listing of Municipal
Websites
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Presentation Overview
e-Gov @ Lo-GovState of South African Local Government
onlineChanging / Challenging the status quo
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Changing / Challenging the status quo
South Africa now boasts almost 100% mobile phone penetration.
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Changing / Challenging the status quo
Expanding the use of Mobile / WEB 2.0 Technologies eDemocracy eParticipation
• E.g. Emakhazeni LM
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Changing / Challenging the status quo
Stimulate demand Acknowledge the role of Local Government
as an key e-Government channel Think of services (and service delivery) NOT
eServices Local language content Increase access points
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Changing / Challenging the status quo
Stimulate supply Increase the strategic profile of ICT @ LG Drive 100% compliance with legislation Generic standards, supporting guidelines,
shared good practices and solutions and benchmarked costs
Reward performance
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Changing / Challenging the status quo
Waterfall Models
What can we learn from the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?
Spiral Models
Balancing Analogue & Heuristic Approaches
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Changing / Challenging the status quo
"And thus, dear students, we have arrived at the formula for understanding
local government e-Government practice ”
But what is SALGA’s
role?