The purpose of this report is to examine the adoption of e-Government services in countries with

The purpose of this report is to examine the adoption of e-Government services in countries with
developing economies. The day-to-day business of government is built on information.
Information is a critical resource that helps to ensure the accountability of government, enables
governments to manage its operations, and allows the public to participate in the governance of
their country. With the revolutionary changes that ICTs are bringing to our global society,
governments worldwide continue to develop more sophisticated ways to digitize its routines and
practices so that they can offer the public access to government services in more effective and
efficient ways. Across the world, 173 of 190 countries use the Internet to deliver government
services. These activities are broadly referred to as digital government, which is an “umbrella
term that comprises all uses of information and telecommunication technologies in the public
sector” (Garson p. 18). e-Government focuses on the utilization of information and
communication technologies (ICT) to deliver government services. e-Government is part of other
closely related efforts in digital government. The term e-governance characterizes efforts to use
ICTs for political purposes and the organization of political activity in a country. This report
examines e-Government, although some examples could be regarded as e-governance initiatives.
The challenges and issues of implementing e-Government systems will also be relevant to
implementing ICTs to build systems to support e-governance.
In the midst of this excitement, however, their remains a great disparity and persistent digital
divide that constrains the opportunity for countries with developing economies to build and offer
e-Government services. Some do better than others. Even though most every country has met the
minimal WSIS guidelines for having a website and an e-mail address, Professor West observes
from his annual global survey of e-Government (http://insidepolitics.org/), “Most governments
around the world have gone no further than the billboard or partial service-delivery states of eGovernment. They have made little progress at portal development, placing services online, or
incorporating interactive features onto their websites. Not only are they failing to use technology
to transform the public sector, their efforts mostly consist of no meaningful change or small steps
forward”

The goal of this report is not to focus on the disparities between the North and the South in terms

of using ICTs, but rather, the goal is to provide government leaders and policy makers with
strategies on how to assist governments in developing countries to be successful in using ICTs to
do the business of government in ways that genuinely support the human development needs of
each and every person. Paradoxically, the likelihood that developing countries may be successful
at delivering e-Government services goes far beyond just making more investments into ICTs.
More computing power integrated with the same routines for serving the public yields solutions
to do the same thing faster and cheaper than before. As one observer noted, organizations remain
stuck in their ways and use ICTs to “pave over the same dirt path”. Rather successful eGovernment depends on two factors – the willingness of citizens to adopt and use the online
service and the ability of the government to implement e-Government (Prattipati 2003). More
computer power does not automatically generate better government and better lives for its
citizens. Smart use of ICTs will make a difference. Making better choices to align ICTs with a
well developed strategy will leverage this critical resource to give each government the capability
to provide e-Government services that will help each person to get information and services about
educational opportunities, healthcare, commodities, food supplies, housing, land records, and so
on in a way that meets his or her needs.
In many ways, e-Government is not easy. Build a web site and expect users will use it is an
approach that has failed many early government efforts into e-Government. Government
organizations face great levels of uncertainty in developing and providing e-Government services

because of the complexity of the technology, deeply entrenched organizational routines, and great

diversity in the acceptance of ICTs by individuals. Computer systems are like clay that is molded
to shape in reflection of the values and vision of the artist. Similarly, e-Government systems
reflect the values of the stakeholders involved with designing the system. An unfortunate by
product of early e-Government initiatives in developing countries is that the design of some
online services were inadvertently biased towards the values of the government, its contractors,
funding organizations and donors, and not necessarily centrally designed based on the values,
desires, and abilities of the different segments of the public served by the government. As
governments develop greater skills and capabilities to build and manage e-Government
applications, the greater the likelihood that the e-Government system will deliver satisfactory
services to citizens. But, this will only happen when the design of the system indisputably
incorporates the values of the citizen and considers the willingness and ability for citizens to use
the system.
The second goal of this report, therefore, is to examine the challenges of building organizational
capabilities to deliver e-Government services in developing countries. e-Government requires
much more than technical wizardry for developing and operating successful online services.
Significant knowledge barriers arise because the technological and managerial knowledge
required to successfully deploy these complex technologies goes far beyond the simple awareness
of a need for innovation(Fichman and Kemerer 1999). e-Government services are typically
constrained by a combination of political, legal, public policy, organizational, technological, and
human capital factors. As public organizations face great levels of uncertainty in developing and
providing e-Government services, they also must be equipped with the knowledge and
subsequent capabilities to respond to ongoing variations in their environment.

The third goal of this report is to examine how various factors shape the likelihood that

individuals will use e-Government services. Not everyone will go online to use government
services. Understanding this issue is complex. Conditions are very different among developing
countries and each country has its own set of cultural, social, political, economic, and
technological factors that influence whether or not its citizens will go online to use government
services. If the design of e-Government systems and the access to ICTs fails to incorporate the
values of the end user, the citizen, then the e-Government service is designed to do something
very different from what individuals would like to do. The design and functionality of the eGovernment services would essentially alienate segments of the public from useful online
services and limit the ability for individuals to realize their full human development potential.
This breakdown leaves high concentrations of the poor and disadvantaged with inadequate online
services.
This report uses theories from research about the diffusion of ICT-related innovations and user
acceptance to organize how these factors influence the degree to which the public will use eGovernment services. What are the typical behaviors of citizens online? Who is likely to go
online to use government services? What types of barriers and obstacles turn people away from
going online to use government services? What factors encourage users to feel comfortable with
e-Government services? Once a person makes a visit online, will they return? Will they
encourage other people to use the site or not? The report examines what brings users to the site
and makes them want to use the e-Government services. This information will help decisionmakers develop strategies to increase the use of an e-Government service by considering ways to
make the site easier to use, incorporating more content to meet the needs of the public, marketing
and supporting user communities, and addressing issues about ICT access, security, literacy, and
training.

The report develops recommendations to these issues and illustrates ways that developing

countries can overcome the barriers to operate successful e-Government services through in-

Electronic Government for Developing Countries 7/59

www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/e-gov.html
depth case studies. The case studies include illustrations of the use of geographic information
systems for e-Government, the role of public private partnerships as a collaborative approach to
implement e-Government services, and the development of organizational capabilities to support
e-Government in Gangnam-gu, a local government district in Seoul, Republic of Korea. From
these case studies and interviews and workshops with government managers and policy makers
from developing countries, this report makes recommendations to help developing countries
move forward with offering e-Government services. The recommendations include:
• Develop a strategic plan to guide e-Government services;
• Understand the needs of all segments of public to make sure the e-Government system
genuinely assists each citizen to fulfill his or her human development needs; and, enable
citizens to participate in the design of e-Government services;
• Use well established system development practices to carry out the day-to-day activities of
developing, implementing and maintaining e-Government services;
• Create a learning organization where employees are encouraged to participate in developing
and managing e-Government services;
• Develop effective ICT governance mechanisms to assign roles and responsibilities for
managing and making decisions about e-Government services;
• Develop ICT capabilities focusing on building a suitable ICT infrastructure to sustain longterm investments in e-Government, nurturing the development of human capital within the
government to use ICTs for e-Government, and facilitating the skills of employees to develop
and manage partnerships with private sector firms and other possible partners;
• Provide a secure experience for web visitors by developing an e-Government security and
disaster recovery plan.