E-Government Implementation Toolkit: e-Government Readiness Assessment Framework

Citation:

Work data:

Type of work: Report

Categories:

e-Government & e-Administration | e-Readiness | ICT4D | Information Society

Abstract:

In the area of e-Government, ITU is focused on enabling and assisting governments to communicate efficiently with citizens, businesses and among its different entities at the local, regional and national levels. To this end, ITU, through its Telecommunication Development bureau ITU-D, is developing an e-Government Implementation Toolkit for deploying e-Government services in developing countries. The Toolkit, to be developed in several modules, will examine key dimensions of the e-government environment to help decision makers identify priority areas for action, based on their level of readiness and national development strategies. This is the first module of the Toolkit on e-Government Readiness Assessment Framework. The e-Government Readiness Assessment Framework aims to determine the condition of e-government in developing countries; comparing it to the status of e-government in other economies, and identifying priority areas for further action.

To further facilitate the assessment of national e-government readiness, the framework includes an “e-Government Readiness Quick-check Tool”, a hands-on IT-tool, developed by ITU, that assembles data from six recognized indices and a pragmatic choice of indicators discussed in this framework. The tool provides a graphical illustration of a country’s readiness status on four dimensions of the e-government environment: Infrastructure, policy, governance and outreach. The Quick-check tool also allows users to display simultaneous graphs to compare one country’s scores to those of another, of its peer group –as defined in the World Bank’s income groups–, as well as to those of an ITU world region (Africa, the Americas, Arab States, Asia & Pacific, Europe and CIS countries).

Observations:

This report, Electronic Government for Developing Countries, was commissioned by the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector’s ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division. It was prepared by Dr. Jon P. Gant (jongant@uiuc.edu), associate professor of Library and Information Science in the University of Illinois.