National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

e-Governance in the 21st century

By Kamal Jnawali

e-Governance or electronic governance means the delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic means. Such means of delivering information is often referred to as Information Technology (IT). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can bring a significant contribution to the achievement of good governance objectives. e-Governance can make government activities more efficient, effective, and bring other benefits too. It is a pragmatic use of the most innovative Information and Communication Technology, like the Internet, to deliver efficient and cost effective services, information and knowledge to the public. It is an unequivocal commitment by decision makers to strengthening the partnership between the private citizen and the public sector.

The main objective of the e-Governance is to support and simplify government's activities for all parties - government, citizens and businesses. In e-Governance, electronic means support and stimulate good governance; therefore; the objectives of e-Governance are similar to the objectives of good governance. Good governance can be seen as an exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to better manage affairs of a country at all levels. The basic objectives of e-Governance can be achieved only through e-Democracy and e-Government, which has its uniquely identified objectives of providing citizen access to information and knowledge about the political process, services and choices available and enabling the transition from passive information access to active between government and citizens.

As e-Commerce is becoming popular day-by-day mainly in business communities and worldwide in our society, the concept of e-Governance has developed. It offers potential to reshape the public sector and build relationships between citizens and the government's collective efforts for social, economic, political development and nation building process.

Around the world, government system faces many challenges in adapting to a knowledge-based society. For the most part, the institutions and structures of the past are ill prepared for this new environment. In this context, developing countries like Nepal has to face the following challenges:

1. Infrastructure of Data: In many countries quality and security of data conditions are very poor and there are very limited mechanisms to convert from hard to soft/digital data.

2. Legal Support: Country's law and regulations require permitting and supporting the e-Governance process but in many countries traditional laws are not in line with this concept.

3. Institutional Infrastructure: In most countries institutional structures are ill prepared to support and stimulate the functional activity for e-Governance. So, there are no institutions to co-ordinate, lead and drive e-Governance.

4. Technological Infrastructure: Fundamental base for e-Governance is communication and computerization infrastructures development and distribution to all parities: government, business and citizen. But in fact most of developing countries are a long way behind and also lacking proper computing and telecommunications infrastructure.

5. Human Resources: In many countries, key gaps relate to system analysis, project design, system design and privacy, accountability, freedom of information and ownership management. There are also 'mindset' gaps: general resistance to change, lack of customer orientation and resistance to data sharing.

6. Leadership and Strategic Vision: Difficult to raise awareness and appreciation of the potential of e-Governance for service delivery, policy formulation, citizen involvement, economical development and international relations. And it is difficult to act as an independent source of advice, vision, support and access to promising international practices for those seeking to operate effectively in the new governance structures of the information age.

Any country's government will concern itself with all of the above issues to overcome the challenges of e-Governance. For example, it will look at the potential for e-Governance to enhance economic development - by bringing together public and private interests to build the digital infrastructure, reengineering organizational structure, enhancing government processes to bring them more into line with the modern age and the operating practice of business as well improving the policy formulation process to make policy more effective and responsive in a changing environment.

Imagine a situation in which all interaction with government can be done through one counter, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without waiting in lines. In the near future, this will be possible if government is willing to decentralize responsibilities and processes, and if they start to use electronic means such as the Internet. Each citizen can then contact the government through a website where all forms, legislations, news and other information will be available. In Nepal, some commercial banks have already adopted this approach. Transactions can be done at an ATM, by mail/mobile or by the Internet, which has saved banks enormous cost. In other words, they are doing more work, with less people, in less time and with less and smaller offices by applying the concept of IT. Government, as a collector and source of information, could follow this trend, to serve its customers better and to save costs by making internal operations more efficient.

New ICT can make a significant contribution to the achievement of good governance goals. This e-Governance can make governance more efficient and effective, and bring other benefits too. The three main contributions of e-governance in the 21st century are improving government processes (e-Administration), connecting citizens (e-Citizens and e-Services), and building external interactions (e-Society). e-Governance is a current, not just future, reality for developing countries. Thus e-Governance has a key role to play in current and future development. It can offer critical improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of governance; and probably offers critical future legitimacy for government.

(Kamal Jnawali is an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheetal Niwas)