"Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development." - Kofi A. Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations
Quick Link to this page:
www.unesco.org/webworld/e-governance
UNESCO PROJECT ON E-GOVERNANCE
The project aims at promoting the use of ICT tools in municipalities to enhance good governance.
Training modules on e-governance for local decision-makers are being developed and implemented according to a prior assessment of needs and opportunities in the following participating regions:
This website focuses on the project’s objectives, activities and outcomes in both regions (Africa and Latin America & the Caribbean). It also provides useful information resources on the topic of e-governance, such as online research reports and surveys, as well as links to other projects and important events world-wide.
To read about past UNESCO activities on e-governance click here.
What is e-governance?
e-Governance is the public sector’s use of information and communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective. For a more complete definition, click here
Goals of e-governance
Improve the internal organisational processes of governments
Provide better information and service delivery
Increase government transparency in order to reduce corruption
Reinforce political credibility and accountability
Promote democratic practices through public participation and consultation
Why focus on the municipal level?
Local governments are close to citizens, and constitute for many the main representation of government. The relationship of citizens and local authorities tends to be one based on proximity as the interests at stake for both parties are clearly entwined concerning issues such as public services, urban development, education, public transport, environmental concerns and local politics. It is at the local level that the impact of ICTs on the relationship between governments and citizens can be most effective.
News
Publication : Curriculum Giude on e-Governanace for African Government Institutions
19-12-2007 - The Curriculum Guide is intended to be used as a reference tool by African schools of public administration, when designing short in-service training courses for local government institutions. The purpose of the guide is to facilitate the development of curricula on e-governance and to enhance the capacity of local government institutions in African countries to adopt e-governance programmes.
Paper " ICTs for Good Governance – Experiences from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean by Paul de Guchteneire and Kristina Mlikota
10-10-2007 - The paper “ICTs for Good Governance – Experiences from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean” explores the potential of ICTs to enhance local economic and social development, improve relations between governments and citizens and foster overall capacity-building in developing countries, based on experiences of UNESCO’s project “ICTs as Tools for Improving Local Governance” and other relevant initiatives. The paper has been submitted to the 8th European Conference on e-Government to be held form 10-11 July 2008 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Specialization course on local e-governance: Cegel II (in Spanish) and Cegel I (in Portuguese)
03-10-2006 - This course organized by UNESCO and the Union Iberoamericana de Municipalistas (UIM) in the framework of the cross-cutting project on “ICTs to improve governance” financed by the Spanish Government aims at delivering essential skills to local government officials and will examine how ICTs can be used by the local public organizations and what it can bring to local democracy.
UNESCO supports e-governance project in the Caribbean
21-02-2006 (Kingston) - UNESCO, in collaboration with the Caribbean Centre for the Development Administration (CARICAD), and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) launches a series of electronic governance related capacity development activities in Caribbean.
Spain releases US$ 816,000 for IFAP projects
17-01-2006 (Paris) - Thanks to funds now released by the Spanish Government, four projects of UNESCO’s Information for All Programme (IFAP) can now begin. All four projects deal with e-governance in Latin American countries.
UN Global e-Government Readiness Report 2005: From e-Government to e-Inclusion
16-01-2006 - Constructing a model for the measurement of digitized services, the Survey assesses the 191 member states of the UN according to a quantitative composite index of e-government readiness based on website assessment; telecommunication infrastructure and human resource endowment.
E-government toolkit for developing countries now available
22-07-2005 (New Delhi) - A toolkit to help policy makers and senior executives in developing countries on how and when to start successfully e-government projects was recently published by UNESCO and India’s National Informatics Centre (NIC) as a contribution to promote transparency in public administrations and democratic processes.
