Press
Release No.2002-68
INTERNET IN THE SERVICE OF DEMOCRACY: A UNESCO SURVEY OF E-GOVERNANCE
IN 15 COUNTRIES
Paris, September 26 - The introduction
of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in government
processes is fostering a closer relationship between citizens
and states, pushing official bodies towards more transparency
and accountability. They are also posing a challenge to traditional
decision-making structures. Such are the main conclusions of a
recent joint study by UNESCO and the Commonwealth Network of Information
Technology for Development (COMNET-IT) on e-governance in 15 countries
Every year before finishing their
military service, some 270,000 soldiers from the Republic of Korea
sit for an exam organized by the Defence Ministry to test their
skills at searching the Internet, leading in some cases to the
awarding of a diploma.
In Seoul, an inhabitant can track
the way the administration is handing his or her case on-line,
getting information about when it has arrived, to which department
and, when, if it is rejected, why. The city government's Open
Procedure Service boasts such a high level of transparency that
citizens can follow the work of civil servants on a daily basis.
In Estonia, where 90 percent of
civil servants are equipped with personal computers, the government
organizes it working sessions on-line. Paper documents for these
sessions have been replaced by digital ones. Over the past eight
years, the country has allocated one percent of its budget to
ICT development in the public service. By the end of this year
all municipalities should be connected to the Internet.
In Tanzania, the government computerized its payroll system, covering
some 280,00 civil servants. This process led to the unmasking
of many phantom jobs.
One of the most visited Internet
sites in Canada - with more than seven million monthly hits -
is the government's official web page (http://canada.gc.ca). The
sites includes the National Job Bank, a comprehensive data base
of job offers across the country. The resources of some 460 organizations
from the public health sector are grouped in the Canadian Health
Network (http://www.canadian-health-network.ca), providing on-line
access to reliable and comprehensive information on health.
E-government refers to the growing
use of ICTs in the development of society. Little by little, these
technologies are changing the ways in which State, private sector
and civil society interact.
A telling case is how civil society,
NGOs and professional associations are harnessing the Internet
to mobilize public opinion in an attempt to influence decisions
that directly affect them. With the Open Plaza service, for example,
South Korean citizens can freely criticize government policies
as well as politicians. This service is accessible on-line to
all citizens, who can use it to communicate directly with the
president, governors and senior officials. Several National Assembly
members experienced the repercussions of this new service first
hand, losing their seats in the general elections of April 2000.
The same year, in Mexico, the newly
elected government of President Vicente Fox launched an initiative
via the Internet to encourage citizen participation in the design
of the National Development Plan for the period 2001-2006. Opinions,
proposals and expectations were collected on some one hundred
themes from the federal level right down to individuals. Based
on 117,040 questionnaires received by Internet and mail, a list
of 196,854 proposals was drawn up. Mexicans residing abroad sent
in 43,000 proposals. After they were collated and analysed, some
were included in the objectives and strategies of the national
plan.
However, in many countries, low
levels of education and poverty still bar large swathes of the
population from accessing public information and participating
in these new democratic practices. Acting on this, several governments
have launched far-reaching training programmes.
Malaysia plans to create a Multimedia
University where curricula will include courses on information
management, knowledge and computer programming. The country faces
a rising demand for highly qualified workers and professionals
, especially in the ICT sector and manufacturing industries.
In the Republic of Korea, computer
technology is now compulsory in primary school and broadband Internet
access permitting fast transmission was provided to 200 localities
in one year. A programme to supply free computers and Internet
access for five years to 50,000 underprivileged children is under
study.
In India, the language barrier
poses a formidable challenge to providing electronic public services.
With roughly one billion inhabitants, the country has two official
languages (Hindi and English), 18 major languages and 418 officially
listed languages. Optical Character Recognition technology should
be developed and perfected since many local databases are written
in local languages.
While there is demand from business
and the private sector for e-government facilities, the advantages
are much less obvious to large proportions of the population in
many countries. Even when the infrastructure does exist, illiteracy,
high transmission costs, access difficulties or linguistic barriers
bar significant numbers from taking advantage of electronic facilities.
Tanzania, for example, counts two personal computers and five
telephone lines for every 1,000 inhabitants. In 1999, there were
hardly any Internet service providers in the country.
This context places governments
before difficult choices. In Botswana, a country that has an enviable
telecommunications network both in terms of coverage and product
diversity, authorities consider that access to information technology,
specifically the Internet, remains too scarce to justify further
investment in developing new e-portals for public services.
In other countries, the Internet
is slowly but surely gaining ground. In Morocco, where there are
more than 200,000 Internet subscribers, there are some 1,800 providers
and cyber-cafés, and
the market is expanding rapidly. Since 1991, computer sales have
increased unabated, thanks partly to a cut in import duties, which
in January 1996, fell from 42.5 percent to 17.5 percent. Moroccans
own some 200,000 personal computers, which represents a market
penetration of 0.7 percent.
****
The report, Country Profiles of
e-Governance (UNESCO 2002) was prepared at UNESCO's request by
the Commonwealth Network of Information technology for development/COMNET-IT,
a foundation sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the
government of Malta. It covers Botswana, Canada, Estonia, Hungary,
India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, New
Zealand, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, and the United Republic
of Tanzania. The country by country analysis is available online
at http://www.comnet.mt/unesco/
Contact
Asbel Lopez
Bureau of Public Information, Editorial Section
Tel: (+33) (0) 1 45 68 17 07
E-mail: a.lopez@unesco.org
