World e-Parliament Conference 2016#eParliament28-30 June 2016 // Chamber of Deputies of Chile // Valparaiso

“Digital Parliamentarians: Tools, Opportunities and Challenges for the elected representatives”

L.T. Tobias National Council / Namibia

ICT Gadgets are only as effective to the level they are utilized to facilitate and

navigate daily tasks efficiently and productively to meeting the needs of the people and enhancing the work of

Parliamentarians.

DIGITAL AND SOCIAL TOOLS AT PARLIAMENT

The digital and social tools that is the ICT in its broad sense, has significantly enhanced the Members participation and engagement with the public and in the process has to some degree bridged the gap between Parliament and the Citizens.

It has steadily increased efficiency and reduced costs. Online publicity of Parliamentary papers , Parliament Calender and ongoing events via media such as website and Facebook has lead to a significant reduction of the number of paper copies being printed.

In addition, it is streamlining the process of sending written questions from members to GRN departments and publishing the responses online.

DIGITAL AND SOCIAL TOOLS AT PARLIAMENT Cont.....,

The Parliament website (www.parliament.na ) and the Facebook page (Parliarment of Namibia) which together enhances efficiency and cost effectiveness to the operations of the Members and allows for a better deployment of the available resources to reach out to the citizens.

The system in the chamber; Members use to vote manually and now it’s being done using a card system and so is the attendance of the Members. Members are equipped with gadgets that enable them to be able to communicate and follow what is happening in the country or around parliament. The dynamic mobile SMS, is another tool that members are using efficiently to communicate with their support staff.

TRAINING AND SUPPORT FOR MP’S

Regular training sessions are being organised to train and support the Member’s use of the digital tools. Also, Members are sent on study tours to other Parliaments to observe first-hand use of ICT tools.

IMPACT OF SOCIAL TOOLS ON PARLIAMENT’S FORMAL COMMUNICATION Cognisant that the interaction between citizens and the

Members enhances the work of parliament, our parliament is seeking to institutionalize citizen participation through the integration of social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp) and through the development of other innovative platforms (i.e. Radio/Chat shows) for parliamentary work in order to effect and deliver the required information.

In other words, the integration of the social media in the more formal communication is streaming the delivery of information in a timely manner for all concerned. The quality of the democratic process is thus allowed to function successfully on this platform which is only boosted to become efficient in performing a multi -directional flow of information.

Thank You !!!!!!