[GKD-DOTCOM] How Can Local Governments Use ICT To Improve Their Efficiency?
How can local governments use ICT to improve the efficiency of service delivery to local citizens and businesses? Under decentralization, local governments must deliver more services to citizens, often with little or no increase in resources. These governments, and the donors that want to strengthen them, face a dilemma: ICT purportedly helps improve efficiency, reducing costs while improving services. Yet given their extremely limited resources, should local governments and donors invest in ICT? If so, how? Consider a poor rural county of Romania. In the past, Social Services assistance employees had to hand-write information from applicants, and make time-consuming trips to deliver the information to the Country Social Services Center, creating long delays between citizens' applying for and receiving social services assistance. Under a USAID-supported project, the local administration established a computer-based system with Internet connectivity, which, along with training of local government employees, greatly improved the efficiency of the Social Services Administration application process and helped deliver assistance to low-income residents far more quickly, when they needed it most. This week, we would like to identify projects that are trying to improve the efficiency of local government service delivery -- whether specific applications affecting a limited range of services, or a broader range of applications, such as the Citizen Service Centers mentioned by Gary Garriott (in his message of May 5). We hope to learn from GKD Members the steps local governments have taken to use ICT to improve their service delivery, the outcomes of those actions, and lessons learned from both successes and problems. Key Questions: 1. Do you know of specific local governments that adopted ICT to improve their efficiency? What approaches have been successful? What 'lessons learned' have emerged from their successes? or failures? 2. What key challenges do local governments face when they aim to use ICT to improve local service delivery? 3. Should local governments try to involve the community in planning and decision-making regarding investments in ICT for improved service delivery? (See Eddi Sakti's message of May 6). 4. Can ICT investments improve efficiency and generate a return-on-investments (e.g., by increasing tax revenue) that enables local governments to cover the costs of operations, maintenance, and upgrades? 5. What are some critical factors to consider in terms of technology options and choices? Are there specific technologies that have proven effective? 6. What benefits, (e.g., easier form filing), should citizens experience from local government adoption of ICT? Which of those benefits are most important to citizens? This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For past messages, see: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] RFI: IT Training Curriculum for Rural Community Local Government
We have trained local government people through our now spun-off Internet Learning Centers in Laos. High school teachers who knew IT and ran the centers in each rural locality taught local government people based on their needs as it related to the teachers experience - and charged them a below-market fee. This was part of their sustainability plan. 3 out of 4 of the high school programs we created in 2001 are totally self-sufficient by one means or another, by the way. The other one has been doing OK, but has until recently been hampered by inconsistent connectivity. That has been fixed, but I do not know their current results. Our representative in Laos is Vorasone Dengkayaphichit [EMAIL PROTECTED] He designed the curriculum for the high school teachers and encouraged the teachers and backed them up. I cc him here. Perhaps you would like to consult with him. We developed a process for sustainability for these schools that was one of the reasons we were lucky enough to win a Stockholm Challenge award in 2001. In my spare time I am supposedly writing a book about the Jhai reconciliation methodology which has led to self-sufficient plans and programs in all the areas we work. The upshot of what I am saying is that the more local the solution the more likely sustainability and success. Vorasone is quite expert in this kind of solution. Neighbor-to-neighbor training seems to work best...maybe because everyone gets the same jokes. I know that in the US jokes about Californians go over a little poorly in California but cause great hilarity everywhere else. This principle works in Laos, too. There is social science evidence of this phenomenum, but I prefer to follow the jokes. yours, in Peace, Lee Thorn chair, Jhai Foundation On 5/13/05, Femi Oyesanya [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A friend of mine, Professor Vesper Owei of George Washington University, is in the process of organizing a training seminar for Nigerian Local Government officials. It is a 3 week session. I was working with him gathering information on what would be the most appropriate ICT topics for rural local government officials, most of whom have no formal training in basic computer skills, as the traditional occupation of most people in their community is farming. The challenge is to design an ICT training program for the leadership of the local govenment in a way that exposes them to the benefits ICT can have on the larger rural community. So my question is: Has anyone on this List worked on an IT training curriculum for a rural population's local government? I am curious about the list of topics covered. I will appreciate any inputs. This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For past messages, see: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] RFI: IT Training Curriculum for Rural Community Local Government
Dear Femi, I would appreciate discussing this with you, as CawdNet is also working on a course for Local Government (LG) officials in Nigeria. CawdNet has a long standing interest in local government. Our late founder's inital vision was based on working with all ten local governments in Oke-Ogun. People who know our history know that our founder Peter Oyawale was murdered, in the early days of the project, and therefore things became fragmented - but depite this, the original vision of working within the LG structure has remained. Two of the three chiefs who stepped forward to continue Peter's work were ex LG chairmen. Throughout the history of our project the three Chiefs have made it their business to ensure that all LG chairmen have been updated on progress at appropriate times. These links mean that within CawdNet we have expert knowledge of Local Government systems and needs. One of our chiefs, who now holds a position at state government level, has a long term concern with tackling the problem of what he describes as endemic corruption in local government. I am currently exploring training possibilities, on the Chief's behalf, with a friend of mine who runs courses, in London, on IT in local government for people from many countries, including Nigeria. At the local grassroots level, and completely separate from our Oke-Ogun work, CawdNet has been approached to present a course for LG officials from rural areas in north central Nigeria. I am not sure how this request first came about - other than the way most CawdNet things happen - which is in response to need and as a natural development of other things that are being done in the community. The request seems to have been influenced by local knowledge about work we have done, and are contining to do, with rural teachers. For details about the course for teachers (plus photo) see http://teacherstalking.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/TeachersTalkingCourse You mention The challenge is to design an ICT training program for the leadership of the local govenment in a way that exposes them to the benefits ICT can have on the larger rural community. This is an area I would very much like to discuss. One of my main concerns in designing the CawdNet course is how early we cover certain aspects of ICTs which potentially introduce considerable conflicts of interest - issues relating to improved efficiency (possible job losses) and transparancy for example. Who, amongst LG employees, will welcome greater efficiency - when it is common knowledge that LG offices are already overstaffed, unemployment is rife, and there is no social security system? Who wants transparency, if transparency means loss of income? I look forward to continuing discussion with you, either on or off list. Pam CawdNet convenor www.cawd.net - and click the CawdNet choice On 5/13/05, Femi Oyesanya wrote: A friend of mineis in the process of organizing a training seminar for Nigerian Local Government officials. It is a 3 week sessionThe challenge is to design an ICT training program for the leadership of the local govenment in a way that exposes them to the benefits ICT can have on the larger rural community. So my question is: Has anyone on this List worked on an IT training curriculum for a rural population's local government? I am curious about the list of topics covered. I will appreciate any inputs. This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For past messages, see: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
