Speaker:

Tomasz Janowski
Head, UNU-IIST Center for Electronic Governance
Senior Research Fellow, UNU-IIST

Abstract:

Electronic Governance is about the use of Information and Communication Technology to transform government organizations and their relationships with citizens, businesses and other arms of government. Jointly with Public Sector Reform, it is considered as a major tool towards achieving Good Governance.

UNU-IIST Center for Electronic Governance (www.egov.iist.unu.edu) is an international center of excellence with the aim to build capacity and provide know-how and advice in planning, implementing and evaluating programs for Electronic Governance, particularly in developing countries. To realize its aim, the Center engages in applied and policy research, and conducts various forms of development - software development, good practice development, human development, institutional development, and development of communities of practice. The Center selects its activities based on relevance and potential for impact, and carries them out by forming partnerships with governments and universities from developing countries, other centers of excellence, and international and UN organizations.

The Center was established in January 2007 on the basis of Electronic Government activities (research and practice) carried out in UNU-IIST since July 2004. Since July 2004, the Center:

1) Generated 2,200,000USD in external project contributions;

2) Executed 15 impact-driven projects, from research and software development, through strategy and capacity building, to community development and dissemination, 13 of which are externally funded;

3) Produced various kinds of outputs and impact through such projects: software models, applications and frameworks; strategy documents and policy recommendations; toolkits, guidelines and instruments; training courses and seminars; publications, etc.;

4) Organized 93 events (conferences, workshops, schools and courses) in 14 countries, attended by over 5000 participants (government officials, academics, solution developers) from 60 countries;

5) Contributed to 39 events organized by partners or collaborators in 18 countries, including invited talks, panel discussions, paper presentations, seminars, posters and system demonstrations;

6) Developed 18 courses on leadership, managerial and technical aspects of Electronic Governance, offering to teach them indivually (courses) or in series (schools);

7) Established a global community of practice on Electronic Governance with over 700 members from about 50 countries;

8) Published 26 academic papers and two books;

9) Built a network of institutional partners to jointly carry out projects and activities, including universities in developing countries, other centers of excellence, international and UN organizations, and UNU RTC/Ps;
10) Established technical assistance programmes on Electronic Governance to national IT development agencies in developing countries, particularly in Cameroon, Colombia, Mongolia and Nigeria, as well as to local governments in Abuja and Macao;

11) Established strong working relationships with the host government in Macao, offering advisory and program services, in return for multi-annual funding and hands-in experience working across the public administration system (48 agencies);

12) Built a strong and dedicated team, supported by elements of organizational development, to respond to increasing requests for assistance and to execute a growing portfolio of projects.

As a result, the Center is being recognized as one of leading international centers of excellence in research and practice of Electronic Governance, defined through a unique mix of research, developmental and UN dimensions.

The seminar will introduce the Center, explain thematic and organizational context for its work, and present some routes of possible organizational development. The seminar is logically divided into three corresponding parts:

A) Background - The first part will explain briefly the interrelated concepts of Electronic Governance and Public Sector Reform, why they are relevant to the mission of the UN University, and what opportunities and challenges exist in this area for organizational development (for UNU in particular).

B) Center - The second part will present the goals, program and organization of the Center, along with the current projects portfolio and example outputs. It will also explain to what extent the Center is currently able to utilize its potential - exploit existing opportunities and address the challenges.

C) Development - The third part will focus on organizational development and sustainability, including elements of strategic planning, lessons learnt while implementing this plan, and routes of possible organizational development.

Possible points for the following discussion part are: (1) Feedback on future development of the Center; (2) Opportunities for collaboration with UNU Headquarters and RTC/Ps, particularly to promote knowledge management practices at UNU; (3) Emerging organizational growth within UNU, based on the experience of the UNU-IIST Center for Electronic Governance, and the lessons learnt.