Next Generation e-Government: Transformation into Open Government

Editor's Notes

• #5: Government letting go and empowering innovation via Cloud Computing, Open Data and public-private partnerships (PPPs) Active citizen participation (and co-creation) in policy and decision-making and service design and deliveryService-oriented, Modern, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent (SMART) GovernmentLeading Countries:Openness, transparency, and accountability (Open Government, Open Data, Social Media policies): US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, IndiaPublic-private partnerships to deliver services and infrastructure: US, India, Ghana, Czech Republic, EstoniaCloud Computing-based sharing of infrastructure and services via: UK, US, Singapore, Korea, Japan
• #6: Open Government is an evolution of eGovernment. It creates added value around eGov (online services, architectures, interoperability standards) by linking open data, citizen feedback, new eServices and apps, new delivery channels, social media, etc. eGov provides invaluable starting points that Open Government leverages. While e-government has been rightly been done by government to citizens, the next stage is to involve citizens more directly in helping deliver efficient and effective public services - and to feel more ownership of the result. One way to think it: Open Gov applies a more "shared ownership" and co-creation model to the eGov "stack" – from infrastructure to the services and policy layers. This means that top-down pressure for improvement is complemented by bottom-up pressure for improvement too. However it is more complex, and the government must take the lead in creating and managing the “ecosystem” of open government.  World Bank has been working with many other governments and civil society around the world to find best practices. Each country is different, so these cannot be simply applied either at federal or regional level. Bank’s value proposition: World Bank can play a unique role in partnering with Russia on Open Government – as a knowledge bridge to the world’s best practices, leading experts and government peers, as well as a source of targeted support in execution of Open Government ecosystem.
• #7: Leadership: High-level government leadership must be a primary driver for successfully executing any open government strategy. The World Bank's knowledge sharing platforms such as the Leaders for Transformation Network bring together top leaders to share experiences and provide peer support in leveraging ICT. Policy/Legal Framework: A supportive policy and legal framework is essential to open government. Issues such as data management, privacy, information access (including Freedom of Information), data reuse and licensing must be addressed. The World Bank has helped develop policies on ICT related components in a number of countries, including Moldova, Macedonia, Ghana, and Sri Lanka.Institutions:Individual agencies hold primary responsibility for translating open government into real applications and services. Yet, open government on a whole-of-government basis requires high levels of coordination. The World Bank has supported the evolution of institutional partners such as the eGovernment Center in Moldova into first class managers of a major $20 million Government eTransformation Project.Applications and e-Services: The World Bank partners with governments to help translate open government from words into actions that impact people's lives requires the development of innovative applications and e-services. This is happening every day in countries and cities around the world – the Water Hackathon event recently organized by The World Bank teamed up more than 800 water and technology experts in cities around the world to create technology solutions to local and global water challenges.Capacity Building: Open government requires changes to how agencies conduct business, and even how they define their core mission. In the context of Moldova Governance eTransformation (GeT) project through the HELP (High-level Experts for Leaders and Practioners) group of leading CIOs andknowledge exchange activities (e.g. South-South collaboration with India, Singapore, Korea and Estonia) The World Bank has catalyzed policy development on open government as well as contributed to increased capacity of government counterparts and other stakeholders.Citizen Engagement: The World Bank supports creation of citizen-driven initiatives, which are vital to any meaningful open government effort. For example, in Nigeria, the Bank is working with Edo State to launch of crime mapping platform that draws on crowdsourced data reported by citizens.Innovation Financing:A dynamic, sustainable Open Government Initiative requires public investment and PPP programs both to support development of innovative apps and services (including co-creation activities and challenges). The World Bank works with partner countries to design financing mechanisms needed to help develop an Innovation Economy. For example, the Bank is working with Ghana on a PPP for eTax services. In Sri Lanka, the Bank supported the creation of a Partnership Assistance Program to fund innovative services to under-served communities.Technology:Implementing open government on a whole-of-government basis requires enterprise architecture/ SOA, common open standards and interoperability frameworks, apps and adequate infrastructure to ensure connectivity and cyber security. One pioneering example of The World Bank's work in this area is its assistance to Moldova to introduce cloud computing for government using an innovative PPP model.