High Level Seminar on E-Governance

Post-event Statement

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Purpose

The seminar will cover the following topics:

• Group discussion of issues of e-government programs
• Demonstration of e-government programs
• Presentation of group discussions on major issues
• Drafting action plans
• Presentation and adoption of action plans

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Background

Information and Communication technologies (ICT) have fundamental impact and huge influence on the human civilization. ICT is changing the economy, society and culture in increasingly persistent and complex ways. The dramatic advancement of the ICT in the recent years has provided all sections of a society with enormous prospective benefits in almost all the fields. This development of ICT even led to advent of e-governance which is now one of the most discussed topics all around the world.

E-Governance is about the use of ICT in the public sector with the aspiration to improve the quality of its services to the citizens. It encourages the active citizen participation in the decision-making process and reinforces the relation between the public officials and communities; leading to more accountable, effective, inclusive and transparent government. In other words, e-governance is the process of using ICT for automation of both internal activities or operations of the government and its external interactions with citizens and other governmental agencies. Automation of internal activities of the government reduces the cost as well as improves their response time. External automation like interaction with citizens and other governmental agencies reduces the overhead thus creating the value of economy.

The main objective of e-governance is to engage, empower and enable the citizens to build their capacities. Good governance is generally characterized by participation, accountability and transparency to manage affairs of country at all levels. It provides the opportunities to transform the bond between the government and citizens in a new way. The use of ICT in the public sectors can enhance the government’s capacity to provide better services to citizens in terms of time and to make the governance more effective, more efficient and more transparent. In addition, the transaction cost can be lowered and the government services and information are more accessible.

Nepal is facing numerous challenges while introducing and implementing e-government programs such as political issues, inadequate human resources, lack of necessary legal framework, little public awareness about ICT, poor ICT infrastructure across the nation, to name a few. Due to lack of integrated planning, ICT resources in the government offices are not fully utilized. Most of the government officials have a mindset that they will lose their jobs if ICT is introduced in their working environment. So they are resistant to the proposed changes. It is a high time to discuss major issues and reach consensus in order to implement e-government programs smoothly.

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Objectives

The goal of the seminar is to get consensus on major issues of e-government programs through expert consultation and group discussions. The specific objectives of the seminar are:

• To critically analyze advantages and disadvantages of e-government programs
• To identify major issues of e-government programs
• To reach consensus on major issues
• To prioritize types of e-government services
• To draft action plans for introducing e-government programs

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Outputs

• Thirty-seven high government officials who are aware of the issues of e-governance in Nepal fully.
• An action plan to introduce e-government programs
• Summary of seminar proceedings

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Participants

High ranking government officials in charge of e-government in Nepal (by invitation only

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How to Apply

Contact
Mr. Jeoung-Keun Lee, ADBI (e-mail: jklee@adbi.org)
Mr. Subarna Shakya, Executive Director, National Information Technology Center, Nepal (e-mail: sshakya@nitc.gov.np)
Ms. Hyeun Suk Rhee, Director, UN-APCICT (e-mail: sukrhee@gmail.com)

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Language

English (No interpretation will be provided)

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Cosponsors

Government of Nepal (High Level Commission for Information Technology), IBM, Microsoft, Nepal Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank

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Partners

National Information Technology Center, Nepal
United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Center for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT)