e-Government in the Pacific Islands: an ‘information ecology’ approach

Rowena CullenGraham Hassall

PACINET 2013Fa’onelua Convention Centre

Nuku'alofa, Tonga9-13 September 2013

1. ‘eGovernment’ 2. An “information ecology” lens3. Are PICs are getting the eGovernment they

want and need, or the eGovernment they are offered by development partners and others? (“who is driving eGovernment in the PICs?”)

4. challenges facing PICs in their adoption of eGovernment strategies & factors impacting on eGovernment adoption

5. some interim findings

The “promise” of e-Government

• Transformational power of e-government, internal and external

•facilitates better business process, efficiency, citizen-focused service•capacity to change relationships, governance, promote transparency, democratic process

• UN advocates for all states, incl LDCs, stages of:• information infrastructure, (connecting govt, citizens and business); integration, (shared information and services); transformation

The reality

1. Regional/global strategies to bring the benefits of e-government to PICs have had limited success

1. Numerous studies, forums, reports, have not documented solutions – hard to learn lessons when evaluations are not made public - eg evaluation of Samoan ICT policy 2004-2009)

2. Knowledge to date limited, descriptive, policies and policy processes not always transparent, particularly in cases of policy failure / implementation challenges

2. Two key factors: lack of ICT infrastructure, policy, capacity, and inappropriate contextual models:

1. Development of e-government needs to take into account unique local culture, forms of governance, knowledge structures (can even include physical conditions: eg Health data collection in Vanuatu – post quake)

Current state of e-government in the Pacific Islands

ICT POLICY•2010-2012 countries having National ICT policies increased from 5 to 12 with ITU support • Pacific Regional Digital Strategy (PIFS), and PIIPP focus on ICT as means to meeting Millennium Development Goals:

Vibrant market driven ICT sectorImproved access to ICT, cheaper ICTImproved access to global ICT backboneImproved regulatory environmentCapacity building (ICT skills)

All critical for economic dev & e-government

E-Government•use of ICT in government is mostly limited to:

• payroll, basic records and statistics, Internet access and email for staff, and basic web presence for agencies

The policy cycle

Agenda Setting

Policy formulation

Decision making

Policy implementation

Policy evaluation

Source: Howlett & Ramesh, 2003, p. 13

Level Government agencies and networks Civil Society

Macro (Global) UN Agencies, WTO, IMF, EU

Dialogue partners (Canada, India, South Korea, United Kingdom, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, Japan, Philippines, France, Italy, Thailand)

World Social Forum, TI, Oxfam, Faith-Based Organizations

Meso (Asia-Pacific, CROP, & other regional organizations and networks

ADB, UNDP, ESCAP, Habitat, FAO, AusAID;

Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) /Fiji School of Medicine (FSMed) Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (PIFFA) / Pacific Islands Development Programme (PIDP) / Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC) / Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) / South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) / University of the South Pacific (USP) / Pacific Power Association (PPA) / Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO)

Eg: Pacific Islands Law Officers Network (PILON); Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand Electoral Administrators Network (PIANZEA), Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG),

PIANGO, Faith-Based Organizations, IUCN, FSPI, PCC

Commonwealth Local Government Programme (CLGF ) Pacific Program;

Micro (Nations, dependent states, Provinces, Local Governments, villages

Cook Islands, FSM, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, PNG, RMI, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu; New Caledonia, Guam, American Samoa, French Polynesia, Pitcairn, Tokelau, Mariana Islands, Wallis and Futuna;

The policy (sub)system

Policy subsystem(s

) - actors, networks,

institutions

State (political)

Society (social & physical)

Private/ Market

(economic)

International regimes/policies

Donor community

Global policy networks

National policy system

International policy system

Policy universe or Policy system

Source: Howlett & Ramesh, 2003, p.54

E-government and an information ecology approach

1. “information ecology” (Davenport 1997) versus ‘technocentric’ model1. An IE approach is required to develop a contextually

appropriate and therefore sustainable model

2. Dialogue between top-down and bottom up is needed3. Forms of traditional governance still dominant in most

PICs :1. Community ownership of land, knowledge of land usage,

resources for food and healing constitute wealth

2. Knowledge and its benefits a commodity for exchange for benefit of own kinship group, not sharing abroad, or for individual gain

Lifeworld (mutually understood culture & language)

System (order ‘imposed’ through articulated rules) Strategic action (monologic)

Communicative action

(dialogic)

Communicative rationality (following Habermas)

Emerging themes

1. Need to adjust to nature of government/governance in the Pacific, specific to each context:1. Limited role of government in developing economies – what are key functions?

1. E.g. Finance, border control, disaster management (is there need to replicate everything done in larger economies?)

2. Important role of NGOs, other aid agencies, and civil society – is this reflected in ICT use?

2. Role of elites1. eGov needs shared vision if national goals are to be achieved.

2. eGov needs leaders / champions – esp. political leaders, public sector leaders

3. ICT infrastructure:1. Challenges of data sharing are underestimated

4. The role of the regulator is crucial but Pacific regulators struggle for resources and capacity just as other actors do

5. Major impact of mobile technology – how is policy adapting? What projects are implemented? With what results? Governments should plan for this immediately – eg, make all portals mobile friendly

6. Information flows and controls – central government, local govt, communities - are governments using ICTs to obtain data or to additionally to share data? Why should people cooperate and be enthused?