Report+on+e Governance+in+Latin+America

ICTs and Good Governance:
The Contribution of Information and

Communication Technologies to
Local Governance in Latin America
By Carlos Batista
carlos@finatec.com.br
NP³ - Núcleo de Pesquisa em Políticas Públicas
Universidade de Brasilia, Brazil
January, 2003
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 4
2. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK.............................................................. 9
2.1 Assumptions.............................................................................................. 9
2.2 Aspects considered................................................................................. 10
2.3 Case Studies........................................................................................... 11
2.4 Web site Studies ..................................................................................... 11
3. CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................ 13
3.1 Case Study: Brazil................................................................................... 13
3.1.1 Introduction...................................................................................... 13
3.1.2 Municipality - Sant’Ana do Livramento ............................................ 13
3.1.3 Municipality - Barra do Ribeiro ........................................................ 14
3.1.4 Municipality – Guaíba ...................................................................... 16
3.1.5 Experiences and reports.................................................................. 19
3.2 Case Study: Uruguay............................................................................. 25
3.2.1 Introduction...................................................................................... 25
3.2.2 City of Rivera ................................................................................... 25
3.2.3 Experiences and Reports ................................................................ 26
3.3 Case Study: Peru.................................................................................... 28
3.3.1 Introduction...................................................................................... 28
3.3.2 Municipality – Lima .......................................................................... 28
3.3.3 Municipality – Villa El Salvador........................................................ 29
3.3.4 Municipality of Surco ...................................................................... 30
3.3.5 Experiences and Reports ................................................................ 32
3.4 Case Study: Ecuador .............................................................................. 41
3.4.1 Introduction...................................................................................... 41
3.4.2 Municipality – Quito ......................................................................... 41
3.4.3. Municipality - Cantón Cotacachi ..................................................... 45
3.5 Case Study: Mexico ................................................................................ 50
3.5.1 Introduction...................................................................................... 50
3.5.2 Municipality – Santiago de Querétaro ............................................. 51
3.5.3 México City / Delegación de Iztapalapa .......................................... 56
4. COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PRESENCE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE60
FACTORS ON LATIN-AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE WEB SITES....................... 60
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 60
4.2 Methodology............................................................................................ 60
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4.3 Analysis and results ................................................................................ 62
Tukey,s ..................................................................................................... 62
4.4 Conclusions............................................................................................. 70
5. GUIDELINES FOR ELABORATING A TRAINING PROGRAM FOR ICT
UTILIZATION ................................................................................................ 72
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 72
5.2 Background ............................................................................................. 72
5.3 Justification ............................................................................................. 73
5.4 Objectives ............................................................................................... 74
5.5 Assumptions............................................................................................ 74
5.6 Guidelines ............................................................................................... 75
5.7 Target Population.................................................................................... 77
6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................ 80
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................ 87
7.1 Digital Bibliography – Eletronic Media .................................................... 96
7.2 Digital Bibliography - Internet Sites......................................................... 97
ANNEX 1: GLOSSARY ................................................................................... 103
ANNEX 2: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES ............................................................. 121
List of Interviewees – Brazil ........................................................................ 121
List of Interviewees – Uruguay.................................................................... 121
List of Interviewees – Peru.......................................................................... 121
List of Interviewees – Ecuador.................................................................... 122
List of Interviewees – Mexico...................................................................... 123
ANNEX 3: LIST OF SITES .............................................................................. 125
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1. INTRODUCTION
This work is a survey of the conditions for the use of ICT (Information and
Communication Technologies) in five countries in Latin America: Brazil, Uruguay,
Peru, Ecuador and Mexico. In several municipalities, mayors, leaders and authorities
were interviewed and many local organizations visited.
Both the factors determining good governance at the local level and their
relatedness to ICT were examined in order to increase knowledge on this relationship.
Aspects considered were: decentralization, citizen participation, transparency and
grassroots movements, alternative experiences, popular participation and social-
movements networks
In interviews and group meetings information was collected on whether these

aspects were present or not in the communities or in government guidelines, and
whether, in some way, there was a link between these social expressions and the use
of ICT. The research tried to evaluate the opportunity of, and the interest in, the
implementation of a Training Programme in order to make ICT use more effective and
thereby to improve good governance involving all social actors.
Another point examined was whether certain factors were present or not in web
sites of Municipal Assemblies in some Latin American municipalities. These factors
could be conducive to the presence or absence of good governance. Some of the
factors of good governance adopted in this research took in consideration the
possibility of citizens to interact with their legislators and to obtain information on
legislative procedures. One hundred and twenty (120) municipal web sites were
analyzed, focusing on the web sites of municipal legislative organs.
This research project's main task was to explore the link between ICT use and
the improvement of local good governance as found in Latin American municipal
legislative and executive organs. The answer to this question necessarily involves the
study of alternatives and possibilities of increasing good governance based on ICT
use. One of the proposals derived from this research is the formulation of a training
programme directed to personnel who will use ICT having in mind the improvement of
good governance at the local level.
Today, society is demanding more transparency on the part of governments,

more decentralization, more independence to express demands, desires, prerogatives
and priorities. Citizen participation is one of the more important components of local
governments where leaders are effectively concerned and engaged in the satisfaction
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of community needs. Independently of the size of populations or the importance of
governments, expressions such as “itinerant government”, participative administration”,
“popular ombudsman”, “participatory budget and management” have become
frequently heard, spoken of and implemented in many municipalities.
Today, one can see that in many parts of Latin America popular participation
and organized social movements in the process of governmental decision-making
have increased, and one can see an effort to reach public decisions in co-operation
with the population.
All these instruments of management point to a common phenomenon – which

is the possibility of consolidating and strengthening democracy in Latin America.
Evidently, when one speaks of Latin America, one refers to a complex, heterogeneous
set of countries with diverse experiences that cannot always can be compared.
However, these experiences point to common roads and similar behaviours. Digital
democracy is clearly one of them.
One can be partially optimistic that good governance will improve with ICT
introduction and expanded use. The presence of ICT is likely to invigorate political
relations by allowing direct citizen participation in government, by avoiding mediations
and by thus optimizing the representative process and expanding participative
democracy.
One can also see how the use of these new management instruments, in
addition to increased citizen participation, is correlated with good governance. The
discrepancy from which political structures in Latin America tend to suffer (with
occasional political variations) is well-known, so certainly many additional conditions
must be met for good governance and effective institutional activity.
In this study, 'good governance' is understood to denote an interaction process

between government and society. Good governance is safeguarded as long as
governmental processes are transparent, individuals organize themselves, express
their priorities and demands to government offices. In other words, good governance
manifests itself in the successful interaction with the constituted powers – mainly with
the legislative but also with the executive; at the same time, it requires the
decentralization of decisions and of institutions and budgets. The notion of citizenship
has grown and has been stimulated in Latin America and it is certainly a basic
prerequisite for good governance.
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It is clear that demanding popular movements are trying to participate in
decision-making or in the management of decisions, and this is (whether we like it or
not) a new form of power-sharing. This is valid for both movements which are moving
towards power, and for those movements which already participate in power through
representation by their leaders. Both types of movements have tried to reduce the
centralization of decision-making and to augment their participation in governments.
Conditions for good governance have improved with ICT use in the last few
years in Latin America. This can be proved historically by a few examples, such as the
use of the press for political mobilization, the mandatory literacy campaigns, the
expansion of telephone, radio and TV networks, the increasing number of personal
computers, and finally the spread of the world wide web allowing interactivity between
society and constituted powers.
Information technologies are the benchmark of the 20th Century and the main
feature of the beginning 21st Century. The dissemination of their tools (computers,
internet, mobile communication) has enabled society to achieve the necessary
instruments to make knowledge accessible to the masses, and to augment productivity
in industry, in agriculture, in services, and expanded cultural activity. The greatest
challenge of the information era is to avoid a gap between those who have and those
who do not have access to the goods and skills required in the digital era. Information
technology can be a powerful tool for the development of a new critical and
participation-oriented citizen consciousness.
One of the greatest challenges put on the agenda by technological innovation is

the narrowing of the 'digital gap'. If technology has provided huge advances, it has also
accentuated the distance between those who are (or can be) and those who are not
yet prepared to use it. The 'network society' or 'information society' has been lauded by
optimists as enhancing the chances for growth and development through ICT. They
are considered capable of improving social indicators, of offering new development
opportunities, of strengthening democracies, and of improving the life of the poor in
underdeveloped countries and regions of the world. However, one should be alert. The
profits of technological advances and their advantages for development have not been
equitably distributed, so the impacts of the new technologies affect the rich and the
poor countries in a different manner. Opportunities and benefits have been generated
but also undesirable social risks. The disparities within and among countries are
enormous and must not be accepted.
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However, they can be reduced by using ICT more intensively and in several
sectors of the economy. Its link to local good governance can best be illustrated by the
expansion of educational services, of distance learning, and of cultural activities; by
job incentives; by the expansion of judicial services and the control of justice; by
increasing citizenship, public safety, human rights and more interaction with
authorities; by the engagement of social groups; by the monitoring of public interest
projects; by access to consumer protection agencies; by a more adequate rendering of
services to the handicapped; by expanding the services: “Speak to us” - “Avoid waiting
lines” (banks, elderly persons, post office); by public safety (police, fire department);
social security and assistance; information on the sources and uses of energy and
alternative energy; health; public utility services (transportation, transit, housing), and
so on.
ICT can be very useful for interacting with the legislative, obtaining information
on legislative operations – norms, rights, monitoring of legislative proposals, actions
pressurizing the legislature and contacts with representatives. For example, the
consultation of a 'proposals databank' according to type, number, author, issue, date,
and other parameters, would facilitate a follow-up of the projects, of amendments
made, of related subjects, and it would allow to register through e-mail to receive data
on the progress of proposals of interest.
ICT can be used for rendering services to the public, such as obtaining general
certificates, personal documents – identity, commercial information, transfers,
contracts, deaths, notary information, or facilitating the payment of taxes and dues. In
the area of public safety, ICT can be very useful both in infrastructure solutions
(equipment and personnel) and in building a network (including a database) for
combating drug trafficking and arms smuggling, as well as for the centralized control of
criminals and border patrol operations.
Most importantly, ICT integration generates a democratization factor. ICT

themselves should be a means for creating mechanisms and policies conducive to
learning, a new technology facilitating the sharing of solutions among different levels of
government and population.
The challenges brought about by ICT integration revolve on the question of how
to allow the advancement of different segments of society toward innovation and the
adaptation of new technologies in order to improve government processes and to
reduce economic and social disparities. It is necessary to define public policies which
are capable of boosting ICT use, which itself contributes to social inclusion, the
expansion of human freedom, and the reduction of the digital divide. One thing is sure:
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the problem is less of a technical or economic nature, but more on the side of political
will and the desire for equality.
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2. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Assumptions
The methodological framework of this research considered the well-known

cycle of the integration of new technologies into the public sector. Three different
steps can be recognized in the use of information technologies in the public sector.
Initially, expanded computer use is restricted to the management. This is still very often
the case: particularly in small communities, where the computerization of the
administration is the first step to ICT use.
The introduction of computers to public management has been the first step for
the modernization of mainly the internal services of the municipal executive bodies, i.
e. the automation of administrative processes, which then facilitates the organization of
information by means of a classification process and which permits to make it available
to the public.
The second step is implanting e-government (electronic government); in other

words, the rendering of public and governmental services to society via electronic (or
digital) media. Almost always this procedure is unilateral, i. e. from government to
citizen, and in the majority of the cases does not allow interactivity.
The third step, the primary object of this study, is the use of Information and
Communication Technologies – ICT – for good governance. ICT represents a decisive
step in the process of the democratization of public information and in the citizen-
government-citizen interaction. Citizen-government interaction guarantees the
recognition of the priorities and demands of the public, the responsiveness of the
governing group, and the improvement of multiple operational aspects which are
intertwined in government-citizen relations.
The introduction of ICT represents, thus, a new form of political relationship in

which individuals in society and, among others, their representatives, social groups,
social organizations, political organizations, pressure groups, can act directly on public
issues. ICT use as an instrument for better governance has also been stimulated by
the mediation of organized social movements.
The isolated individual tends to make use of ICT only for personal objectives (e-
mail, chat, personal interest web sites, consulting commercial services, etc). However,
within a social movement, or inside a participation mechanism run by some type of
social organization, the individual becomes involved in a finding process for informative
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material (be it of individual or of community interest) and in interaction with
government.
Therefore, accomplishing the three phases above is one of the means of

leading local governments towards the digital or the information society. This cycle
allows the narrowing of the so-called digital exclusion or gap. Vast material on the
subject is offered on a number of web sites, a selection of which can be found at the
end of this paper.
2.2 Aspects considered
Several municipalities were selected according to the criteria of geography and

representation so as to examine local good-governance characteristics and their ICT-
relatedness. Aspects considered were (as already cited in the Introduction)
decentralization, citizen participation, transparency, basic social movement action,
alternative experience, popular participation and social movement networks.
Interviews and group meetings were the first step to detect whether or not these
aspects were present in the community or in the government guidelines, and if there
were links between these social expressions and ICT use. We also tried to assess the
opportunity for, and the interest in, implementing training programmes for a more
effective use of ICT in order to improve local good governance involving all these
social and political actors.
The concept of good governance varies in different Latin American countries.

Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico present relatively distinct concepts for this
term; this and a lack of classification or taxonomy covering different experiences
necessitate the adoption of an operational definition of the term for our purposes.
One should also draw a distinction between the use that is made of this term in
public administration and for official purposes from that in the press, by NGOs and
universities. The importance attached to the differences here can be illustrated by an
example: in Ecuador there is great public interest today in “making public information
transparent”, “the public information is public”, in publishing the budget completely, in
maintaining the budget integrally in the internet. This observation is also valid for Peru,
where, on the other hand, there is a great concern for making bidding processes more
transparent, a concern that is in turn found in Ecuador as well. Generally speaking,
many of these concerns are shared, e.g.: decentralization in Peru has been the object
of public discussion and occupies a relevant space in public administration. In Brazil
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legislation on public bidding for products and services already exists, including its
availability on the internet.
2.3 Case Studies
In considering those aspects, five case studies were carried out regarding the
countries of Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico. The survey was done in two
steps: firstly, interviews with authorities, community leaders, representative groups
(from the community), and directors of social and political organizations; secondly, an
extensive collection of bibliographic material.
In Brazil, the relations between ICT and good governance were examined
through a field study in three municipalities of the State of Rio Grande do Sul:
Sant’Ana do Livramento, Guaíba and Barra do Ribeiro, interviewing the mayors, the
presidents of the legislative bodies, and other municipal leaders.
In Peru, a field study in Lima and neighbouring towns was the basis for an
analysis of ICT use. Some local institutions were visited, while authorities, and
community leaders were interviewed.
In Ecuador, field studies in Quito and the municipality of Cotacachi were

devoted to the connection between ICT use and the improvement of local good
governance. Data was collected by interviewing authorities and local leaders, as well
as by visits to local institutions.
The research in Uruguay was done in the city of Rivera, i.e. in the northern
region of the country bordering on Brazil, by interviewing the Intendente (mayor) of
Rivera, and the President of the Junta Departamental (local legislative body) and other
local authorities.
In Mexico, research was done in Mexico City, in the city of Querétaro, and in
the Delegacion of Iztapalapa, in co-operation with local authorities and leaders.
2.4 Web site Studies
For the purposes of knowing whether or not the web sites of the legislative
assemblies of selected Latin American municipalities contain good-governance factors,
it is assumed that the use of ICT and the improvement of good governance at the local
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level are indeed linked. Therefore, 'factors of good governance' as understood in this
research paper take into account whether and to what extent citizens can interact with
the members of the local legislative bodies and whether and to what extent they can
obtain relevant information on the legislative and its work.
120 municipal web sites were scrutinized, giving priority to the web sites of
municipal legislative assemblies, including those of the capitals of the Brazilian States
and some Latin American national capitals.
The research began with approximately 160 municipalities chosen by size and
location, before it was found out that some 40 municipalities either did not have a web
site at all, or they were unreachable during the search. Finally, the web sites of 120
legislative assemblies were evaluated:
101 web sites of municipal legislative bodies (84.2% of the cases);
sixteen web sites of bicameral federal parliaments (13.3%);
three web sites of unicameral federal parliaments (2.5%).
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3. CASE STUDIES
3.1 Case Study: Brazil
3.1.1 Introduction
The relations between ICT and good governance in Brazil were analyzed by
way of two different procedures. The first of which was based on field studies in three
municipalities of the State of Rio Grande do Sul: Sant’Ana do Livramento, Guaíba, and
Barra do Ribeiro where interviews with the mayors, the presidents of the municipal
legislative bodies, and other municipal leaders were conducted.
3.1.2 Municipality - Sant’Ana do Livramento
The Brazilian part of the research began in Sant’Ana do Livramento in the State
of Rio Grande do Sul. The Vice-Mayor of this city expressed his interest in matters
such as “information technologies for planning and budget formulation”, “citizen
participation”, a training programme and digital inclusion. The situation of ICT use in
this municipality is partially mirrored in his statements, as follows:
• there is community participation in budget formulation, meaning that there is

citizen participation;
• the introduction of a training programme would help borough and local leaders;
• there is no specific concern with “digital inclusion”, a contemporary problem;
• it is possible to improve the agenda through the introduction of ICT; however, it
is still too early for this process to begin;
• communication between the mayor and the people in Sant’Ana do Livramento
happens directly and immediately (“people talk directly to me in the streets”);
• access to information from the municipal executive can be difficult;
• occasionally, information is released on agricultural issues;
• it is necessary to leverage development through information for and from the
municipal executive.
Going into the details of his statements, one can confirm that population
initiatives occur through person-to-person interaction. Consequently, increased ICT
use could offer incentives to citizen participation and make the local community more
dynamic. The Vice-Mayor stressed that personnel training would be essential for his
administration. The municipal executive is still in the first phase of ICT use so as to
modernize its management and to increase the capacity for interaction and
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communication with the rest of the community. In our talks with the Assistant Secretary
for Planning of Sant’Ana do Livramento, it was confirmed that the process of electronic
accounting and the creation of a web site are located within the framework of e-
administration.
Equipment and material, technical and personnel constraints were the issues
raised in a meeting with the President of the Legislative Chamber of Sant’Ana do
Livramento. He was very interested in a training project, and it is clear to him that such
a project would promote citizen participation. According to him, citizen participation
today only occurs through individual demands and personal contacts.
The Municipal Legislative Chamber uses the radio to diffuse its proposals,
perhaps because of the small number of public workers. Radio is widely used to
communicate with the population. The President of the Chamber recognized the need
for formation and training, without which it would not be possible to employ ICT
facilitating the follow-up of legislative procedures. Civil servants must also be trained.
All members of the Chambers have a computer and a printer on the premises of the
legislative body, but they do not have internet access.
The President of the Chamber suggested that a training programme for the
population could use mobile units (trucks or vans) with instructors and pertinent
equipment in different boroughs of the city. This would solve the problem of mobilizing
people and would stimulate public participation at a lower cost.
3.1.3 Municipality - Barra do Ribeiro
The Mayor of Barra do Ribeiro (Rio Grande do Sul) emphasized the difficulties
in modernizing his administration that contradicts his own interest in the matter but is
brought about by the resistance of the public servants and the residents. He intends to
computerize the municipal executive, including an internet site informing the public on
events, courses etc., and to publish a bulletin on line, making the municipal budget and
other information transparent to the public. He thinks that ICT use would foster the
democratization of information, but today such an endeavour is prevented by the high
costs of equipment.
Convinced that everybody will have to “computerize” themselves and to

diminish resistance to this process, the Mayor suggested that citizens should first
become familiar with the new technologies in a very general sense and develop an
14
idea of their openings for access and participation, before courses and training are
provided.
According to the interviewee, there is no public consciousness of, or discussion

on, the phenomenon of digital exclusion. In his opinion, the citizens of Barra do Ribeiro
think they "are out of the world", unbound by its rules and its market; he speaks of a
voluntary exclusion on the part of the citizens of his town.
In order to reinforce his hypothesis, the Mayor states that he is confronting

many difficulties in training professionally the public servants of the local
administration, in modernizing his administration and in creating the idea that decision-
making starts with proposals from the community.
Besides public servants’ great resistance to the introduction of computers, he

referred to yet another difficulty: there is no control of tax payers, of who pays or who
does not pay the city property tax (Imposto Predial e Territorial Urbano - IPTU),
because the municipal administration is not capable of issuing tax-payment slips
effectively. Two years ago, there were only four or five computers for all the
organizational sub-divisions (secretariats) of the municipal administration, but only one
person could handle them (with difficulties). Today there are 24 computers, but
maintenance remains a problem. The local executive is determined to fully
computerize, to create a network intranet, and to reduce the resistance offered by
citizens and public servants alike by making computers seem less unfamiliar and
afterwards through training and courses. However, a "Master Plan of Computerization"
in the municipality has still to be designed.
A web page is under construction for the municipality containing promotion

material on events, information from the secretariats, a bulletin publicizing the budget,
project summaries, space for publicity and links.
If one considers the high costs of hardware and software equipment and bears
in mind that computers are conceived for individual use, it is understandable that ICT
use for the purposes of citizen participation is still difficult in this municipality.
Nevertheless, there are plans for installing a computer at municipal executive office for
collective use by the public.
The interviewee, who is also the President of the Mayors’ Council of the State
of Rio Grande do Sul, mentioned the necessity for all of his State's mayors to become
more conscious about the need for computerization and training municipal servants; he
15
recognized, however, the difficulties in implementation owing to the high costs of
equipment.
He believes that only rarely do mayors base their decisions exclusively on

managerial or administrative aspects. Most of the decisions are political, and because
most of the municipalities are small, friends, relatives, close friends influence decision-
making. He thinks it is necessary to increase the number of professional managers
within the administration. Computerization is fundamental and will provide a stimulus
for public servants to become professional.
Research results for the Municipal Legislative Chamber of Barra do Ribeiro

show the low level of technology use in the municipality. The Chamber does not have
a web site of its own, but it intends to use the web site of the municipal executive board
that is still under construction. The Chamber has in mind to provide computers for the
public to access ICT, but its budget is too small to acquire these technologies and
provide the services.
It can be inferred from the interviews that there is a significant increase in the
demand for ICT training courses and that – proper incentives provided – local
residents may soon profit from the openings for access and participation offered by
ICT. The public follows the activities of the Legislative Chamber through newspapers
and direct contact with councilpersons, particularly in polemic issues.
The lack of professional training within the public service is just another of the
many deficiencies that beset the municipal authorities of Barra do Ribeiro. At the
Chamber's offices, only little research is done in utilizing the internet. Government
needs to invest more money in order to increase the number of computers and make
them accessible to the population.
Few schools and a small number of people have internet access, but it was
suggested that mobilizing school children is the most efficient means to put the
population closer to ICT and therefore increase popular participation and to promote
participation and transparency.
3.1.4 Municipality – Guaíba
According to the Mayor of Guaiba (State of Rio Grande do Sul), a web site of
the municipality exists, but it is dated and seldom visited. He intends to build a new
web site with accounting and budget reports and other information. There is a relatively
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high number of machines (90) installed, as the administration confused
computerization with just buying machines, without worrying about training public
servants on how to use them. These computers are used in a precarious manner, just
substituting old typing machines. Health-service workers use the internet most
frequently of all.
However, interest in training could increase even more through specific

campaigns; one could initiate motivation training for ICT use, followed by specialized
courses. In this town, resistance is already lower, complemented by a higher concern
about the dangers of digital exclusion.
The Mayor intends to double the number of computers in the wake of a

programme on the administrative and financial modernization of the municipalities run
by the Federal Ministry of Planning. ICT are needed as an efficient tool for improved
control over the municipalities. At the same time, providing internet access in libraries
and health stations would bring ICT closer to the public.
More information will be available because of computerization. This is also true

of the local community, who will be empowered to perceive the real problems of the
municipal executive body (e.g. revenues and expenditures), since they could use these
technologies as a "channel", to monitor activities and to make suggestions or
complaints.
People are looking for courses and hope to overcome digital exclusion. The
Mayor stated that the local authorities needed to supply ICT training. However, the
most important priority for the municipality is still to provide food for hungry children
and dispossessed adults.
The Mayor recognizes ICT as a fundamental tool for improving local good
governance and firmly believes that a training programme increasing ICT use would be
necessary.
There is no community radio programme, although he understands radio is an

adequate forum for society to express itself. There were a few clandestine radios, but
now all radios are in the state capital, Porto Alegre.
The Guaíba Legislative Chamber is not capable of communicating with society

in a modern form. Newspapers and letters are still used for communication; however,
there is a plan to install internet at the Chamber offices. The Mayor considers it an
obligation of each member of the Chamber to make information on their activities
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available to the public in order to promote transparency. The political community of
Guaíba does not know, for example, how to obtain information about the 2003 Budget.
In order to encourage and train people to use ICT, it is necessary to improve

programmes and to raise more resources. One cannot use more technologies at the
Chamber simply because they are not available, but there are rising expectations
about their use. ICT use by citizens could be encouraged so that the population could
learn more about how public office holders work.
The President of the Guaíba Legislative Chamber estimates that twenty percent
of the Guaíba population are aware of the importance of computers and have a notion
of digital exclusion consequences. For the remaining eighty percent, encouragement
programmes (such as clarification campaigns, school campaigns) could be
implemented by the local Legislature, thus including the whole society in this
modernization process.
The President of the Industrial Association of Guaíba has no knowledge of ICT

related programmes, but recognizes an improvement in computerization. “They are
another means of communicating with society”, he says, particularly in a society that is
short of channels of communication, therefore making direct communication a relief for
local administration.
There are no local radios or TV channels. For the president of the Industrial
Association, all four local newspapers publicize too few pieces of information, and they
should publish more information on the municipal executive.
Regarding the issue of exclusion, he said that schools and libraries should have
the responsibility of becoming public computer points where equipment could be
installed and connected to the net for digital inclusion. He is also convinced that the
community would respond well to such an initiative, because the community already
uses the Industrial Association equipment, although in a restricted way. A well-drafted
programme with a high factor of implementation and penetration would be a real
alternative that would also enhance ICT accessibility and the computerization of the
population. He stressed the viability of such an initiative, however low the investments
are today.
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3.1.5 Experiences and reports
3.1.5.1 The Executive - the Federal Government
At the federal level, an important initiative to reduce the "digital deficit" of

the population was the creation of the Fund for the Universalization of
Telecommunication Services (FUST). The idea is to democratize telecommunication
through installing telephone lines and internet in public schools, post offices and
libraries, in addition to subsidizing the telephone bills of these institutions. Resources
for this Fund are obtained by charging a tax of 1% of the revenues of the telephone
companies that operate the Brazilian Telephone System (fixed, portable and cable
TV), without altering the final prices paid by consumers.
An important investment of FUST is the Tele-Community Programme, which

plans to install 250,000 computers with internet access in 12,500 of the country's
public high schools, thereby benefiting 6.6 million students. Telephone companies will
be responsible for the costs of connections, and the states and municipalities will be
responsible for the costs of training and adapting schools to the needs of computer
use.
The Federal Government intends to revolutionize computer use through public

schools – with immediate consequences for community life. They will serve to
computerize hospital services and public libraries: only the computer can provide the
facilities of a true and accessible public utility net at the reach of citizens.
Although the programme is being developed by the Federal Government, the

main users are the States and, more importantly, the municipalities. ICT use – today a
powerful pedagogical tool almost exclusively available to private school students – will
be extended to public-school students throughout the territory of Brazil: in each Tele-
Community Project school there will be an internet access point.
FUST is of double advantage: it facilitates social investments in the areas of

education and health, and at the same time it serves as a stimulus and feed-back
forum for the telecommunication and computer industries.
The National Programme of Computers in Education (Programmea Nacional de

Informática na Educação - PROINFO) is an educational programme which considers
19
the introduction of new information and communication technologies in public schools
as a tool in support of the teaching-learning process. This is an initiative of the Ministry
of Education and is developed in partnership with the State governments and some
municipalities.
The guidelines are established by the Ministry of Education and by the National
Council of the Education Secretaries of the States. In each unit of the federation there
is a State Commission of Computers in Education responsible for the introduction of
ICT in public elementary and high schools. ICT are increasingly present in day-to-day
life, in varying degrees of interaction. PROINFO is an educational programme whose
development started in 1997 and whose main objective is to integrate distance
computerization (telematics) into pedagogical practice, making it a strong ally to spur
an innovation process within the school environment and thus to improve the teaching-
learning process. Other objectives are to promote educational approaches taking into
account the scientific and technological progress and to prepare students for
citizenship and participation in a developed society.
The TELENCENTROS (Telecenter for Information and Business) are based on

a joint-venture of the Federal Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade with
business entities, dedicated to the creation of a business-friendly environment.
Persons and companies have access to several opportunities: training, consulting,
electronic commerce, WEB information search, and to public and private services in
the electronic media. The Telecenters for Information and Business will be installed in
representative micro-business entities and small-size companies. This model aims at
the so-called digital alphabetization of these entrepreneurs, as well as at assisting
them in mastering computer applications and Web navigators. The programme's
principal objectives revolve around help for micro-business and small-company
entrepreneurs in their businesses, the empowerment of the population to exert their
citizenship rights, and the reduction of the technological distance that separates micro
and small business from bigger companies.
3.1.5.2 The (Federal) Legislative
The federal legislative organs also have experiences with ICT use and its
advantages for good governance and for channelling society's demands.
The Interlegis programme is an initiative for the modernization and integration
of legislative organs at the federal, state and municipal levels. It is based on a
partnership of the National Congress (the Federal Parliament) with the IDB – Inter-
20
American Development Bank, which began in 1997 and whose objective consists in
promoting greater transparency and interaction with society.
New information technologies such as the internet, video-conferences and data

transmission facilitate communication and the exchange of experiences among the
legislative organs (National Congress, State Legislatures and Municipal Chambers)
and between the legislative branch of government and the public, increasing popular
participation in the legislative process.
The Interlegis web site (www.interlegis.gov.br) is like a "meeting point" of the

Federal Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, the Union Accounts Tribunal, the State
Legislative Assemblies, the Municipal Chambers and the citizens. The State
Assemblies and some Municipal Chambers already have CIP pools, in which 20
computers and a printer are connected to a network, and special rooms prepared for
video-conferences, in which federal and state deputies, municipal legislators,
legislative staff and the community can debate live issues that interest society.
This low-cost system provides for the exchange of experiences, distance

education and the discussion of national problems among legislative members. No
other country has such a communication and integration process. Interlegis provides
distance education, creates a channel of communication among legislators at all
levels, democratizes the access to information needed for the legislative process,
develops computer technologies to support the modernization of the legislative and is
a powerful link between legislators and society.
The Senate TV station was created in 1996 to promote institutional

broadcasting for the Federal Senate and to offer citizens educational and cultural
quality programmes. It covers all plenary sessions of the Federal Senate and of the
National Congress, as well as the meetings of permanent and temporary committees.
Normally, pictures are also made available to regular commercial TV stations, in real
time, via satellite. The legislative activity is the most important part. Newscasts explain
senators’ positions on issues and show clearly how proposals which change the day-
to-day life of citizens go through the Senate. All weekdays long, "institutional videos"
explain the internal structure of the Senate.
The TV Câmara (Chamber of Deputies) began operating on 20 January 1998,

on a 24-hour basis. Basically of an informative nature, it televises the plenary sessions
of the Chamber of Deputies and the meetings of its committees live, and records
meetings to be re-broadcast when the Chamber recesses. All the activities of the
deputies are followed by journalist teams. In addition to making the activities of the
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Chamber of Deputies transparent, the TV Câmara intends to serve the promotion of
education and Brazilian affairs by broadcasting culture, arts, regional programmes. It
is a public TV programme, dedicated to citizenship and the information of the Brazilian
people through the diffusion of ethical, moral, social, artistic and cultural Brazilian
values.
3.1.5.3 The Judiciary
In 2002 Brazil experienced its largest democratic process ever – the general
elections for the offices of the President of the Republic, of state governors, senators,
state and federal deputies. This peculiar round of elections saw a very wide use of
technologies in the processes of the voting itself and of the dissemination of the
results.
The electronic balloting process diminishes the chances of frauds, increases

the transparency of the electoral process and consequently increases the legitimacy of
elected governments. Thus, electronic balloting is a technology inserted in this
research, even if indirectly, since legitimacy is indispensable for the good conduct of
affairs of any government. Transparency of the elections increases the legitimacy of
government, consequently increasing the political scope of the elected to obtain the
approval and implementation of their policies. One should take in consideration that
the use of electronic ballots was widely debated by political actors (society, the three
branches of government, media, universities, NGOs) through tests, discussions,
simulations, before the old electoral procedure was replaced. Even if there are some
doubts about the safety of electronic balloting, specialists hired by the Superior
Electoral Tribunal (TSE) approved the new method.
The publicizing of the electoral results itself can be considered a legitimate

instance of ICT use in the interests of good governance at the local level.
If the counting process was quick, the same can be said of the dissemination of
the 2002 electoral results. The co-ordinating Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE)
organized an efficient net for issuing the electoral results. Both the provisional and the
final results of the several electoral contests were available through the TSE web site
(www.tse.gov.br). In addition, any person equipped with an adequate laptop or
computer was able to obtain the data almost in real time from their own home through
a program called DivNet; the same being true of the final results.
The disclosure of the votes took place in a way that would allow for the
verification of the number of votes received by any candidate for any position as
classified according to his or her electoral session or region. Voters, academics, the
22
media, and society alike were able to follow up the electoral results in detail and in
such a way as to increase the transparency of the whole process. If transparency
improves good governance and if information is an indispensable component of
political education, the availability of electoral information is an instrument for the
improvement of good governance and thus of democracy.
The Brazilian experience with electronic voting machines was internationally

recognized. The United Nations signed an agreement with the Brazilian government
that will facilitate the installation of the same technology in other countries that ask for
electoral assistance. One of the facts that impressed UN most was the fact that 115
million Brazilians voted electronically without any accusations of fraud.
3.1.5.4 Civil Society
Transparência Brasil (www.transparencia.org.br) was established in April 2000

by a group of individuals and non-governmental organizations involved in the anti-
corruption struggle. It is associated with Transparency International (TI), a Berlin-
based unique international organization dedicated exclusively to combat corruption.
From an institutional point of view, Brazil has free elections, a freely elected
Congress and an independent judiciary, combined with all the constitutional
guarantees of a typical representative democracy. However, political reality does not
always reflect formal institutional structures.
Corruption is evidently a problem in Brazil, as it is elsewhere. For organizations

such as Transparência Brasil communication is essential. One of the main tasks of TB
is to promote new ideas for combating corruption, with the internet being a strong
instrument to maintain TB's incessant interaction with local organizations. Informative
material – such as guidelines, project monitoring, local experiences, data on good
governance and corruption, databases, modalities of civil-society participation, case
studies on integrity systems – can contribute to a dynamic supply of the information
needed and to TB's endeavour of "disseminating", so to speak, integrity in the public
sector.
The Committee for the Democratization of Computerization (Comitê de

Democratização da Informática - CDI) was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1995. The
principal activity of the CDI is to create "Schools of Computer and Citizenship" (EICs),
and to give individuals in low-income communities and/or with special needs access to
ICT. The course programme helps students to become aware of their living conditions.
23
This means that students are stimulated to critically reflect their needs and their
struggle for citizenship rights.
Each CDI is initially formed by a team of voluntaries, but in the end, a CDI can
legally become an NGO. It is thus capable of raising funds and forming partnerships
with several foundations so as to build a team of professionals solely dedicated to the
democratization of computer use.
The CDI targets young residents of low-income communities, but the project
was developed in a way that allows for its adaptation to the needs of diverse
individuals and groups, to local realities and needs, without loss of quality. Today,
Schools of Computer and Citizenship can be found in correctional facilities for adult
and juvenile deliquents, but also in mental institutions, in institutions for the hearing
impaired, and also in indigenous areas and others.
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3.2 Case Study: Uruguay
3.2.1 Introduction
The research done in Uruguay on ICT use and good governance and on
opportunities for a training programme took place in the City of Rivera in the northern
region of the country, close to the Brazilian border. Both the Mayor of Rivera (the
Intendente), the president of the Local Junta (the municipal legislative body) and other
local authorities were interviewed.
3.2.2 City of Rivera
The Mayor of Rivera (Uruguay) voiced his interest in an ICT training

programme, considering it relevant and appropriate for Latin America, particularly as a
follow-up to the Digital Communal Centres (Centros Comunales Digitales) and the
Ibero-American NET (RED Iberoamericana).
Rivera's Mayor was very receptive to the idea of an ICT training programme for
several sectors. Systematic ICT use can lead to synergy with other on-going
community projects, facilitating an increase in citizens’ participation in local
government activities. He was enthusiastic about the project particularly because it did
not only address technological aspects but also good governance, i.e. political factors.
Rivera's Mayor informed us that 28 borough-communities commissions had

been installed, which would have benefited more if ICT had been available, which
would have increased their capacity for social and political participation significantly.
Digital inclusion is one of the concerns of Rivera authorities. The progress of

on-going files and cases of the local administration can be followed through
computers. In addition, Rivera is part of the Ibero-American NET of Digital Cities, soon
to be complemented by six Digital Community Centres.
Several local factors already contribute to the operationalization of a personnel

training programme in Rivera, involving social and community actors in ICT use so as
to increase decentralization and popular participation processes. One of these factors
is the existence of a computer labouratory providing courses through the Council for
Elementary Education (Consejo de Educacion Primária), a public organization in
charge of basic education. Another factor was the recent inauguration of a branch of
the Universidad de la Republica (the sole public university of the country); a third one
25
is the a video-conference room available at the National Telecommunication Enterprise
(ANTEL) is available.
The Mayor has installed an internal computer system which could be the
embryo of an ICT-implanting process at the local level. A programme improving the
qualification of public servants would be welcomed as they already have a certain
familiarity with ICT usage.
In summary, an ICT training programme could build on existing infrastructure

and qualified locals as well as the political will and the dynamic and entrepreneurial
approach of the municipal authorities. This programme would aim at increasing citizen
participation, and, through it, increasing good governance at the local level.
The president of the local legislative body (Junta Departamental) pointed out
that there is a strong interest in the interaction between citizens and the legislature,
where popular participation, ICT, political demands, and training for Junta personnel
are discussed at length.
In Rivera citizens and deputies interact directly and personally. The municipal
deputies roam the Departamento (the geographical area of the municipality) and talk
directly and personally with members of the community. Citizen demands and
initiatives are channelled exclusively through political parties. Each of the parties has
its own computer at the Junta offices for use by counsellors or advisors.
At the Municipal Legislative Chamber, only one of the computers has internet
access. Resources being scarce, staff members are not yet familiar with ICT use in a
working environment.
The President of the Junta thinks that a project stimulating ICT should be
implemented as soon as possible. This would facilitate contact with Rivera’s
population, and would speed up interaction between municipal legislators and
community members. On the other hand, he stressed that the use of ICT will never
reduce the importance of political parties in citizen-legislature relations.
3.2.3 Experiences and Reports
3.2.3.1 Programme - ProWoman
26
Among the social-inclusion programmes whose objectives could be fostered by
ICT use ranks ProWoman - Promotion of Equal Opportunities for Women Employment
and Professional Training Programme (ProMujer – Programmea de Promoción de la
Igualdad de Oportunidades para las Mujeres en el Empleo y la Formación Profesional
(MTSS - DINAE/JUNAE- Cinterfor/OIT)1.
The general objective of the programme is to promote a proactive employment

policy, particularly with regard to training, aiming at increasing the quality of women's
labour skills, having in mind the new qualifications called for by the labour market.
Specific objectives of the programme include the development of skills that

would enable women to face the challenges of the labour market and to develop a
proactive, adaptive attitude to the market, as well as guaranteeing their employability
and presence in the labour market with a personal project through up-to-date
knowledge.
The programme's goal is to reach a 30% presence of participating women in the

market for each of the professional training courses and to improve by 50% the
employability of this population.
The programme is supported by Cinterfor/ILO (Technical Training Centre

/International Labour Organization) and benefits from funds obtained from the
FORMUJER - Regional Programme for the Strengthening Professional and Technical
Formation of Low-Income Women in Latin America, co-financed by the IDB.
The municipal executive bodies are responsible for implementing the

Programme within the municipality in linking local actors and the population that would
potentially benefit from the programme. Enhancing opportunities in professional
formation, one can foresee that ICT skills could open up new possibilities for
employment for women, considering their multiplying capacity and the increase in
digital inclusion particularly through education.
1 MTSS – DINAE/JUNAE – Cintefor/ILO - Ministry of Labour and Social

Security – National Direction of Employment/Local Administration of Employment –
Technical Training Centre/ International Labour Organization
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3.3 Case Study: Peru
3.3.1 Introduction
In Peru, the analysis regarding ICT use and improvement of good governance
at the local level is divided in two parts: the first deals with a field study done in Lima
and neighbouring communities. Local institutions were visited and interviews were
held with authorities and leaders. The second part of the survey deals with a set of
experiences and reports on ICT use in Peru.
3.3.2 Municipality – Lima
Approximately 10 million people live in Lima and surrounding towns. The first
meetings took place at the Transitory Council of Regional Administration – CTAR
LIMA. Interviews were held with the Technical Secretary, the Chief of Investment
Promotion – Regional Management, and the Chief of International Technical
Cooperation and Coordination. This Cooperation Unit organized a discussion with
approximately 30 representatives of social base organizations which focussed on the
advantages of, the opportunity for, and the alternatives of, introducing ICT in their daily
activities and on implementing an ICT and good-governance training programme for
members of the local public service. This was a remarkable experience where all
could freely express their ideas and opinions about digital exclusion and the social and
political situation of Peru, particularly with respect to social assistance programmes
and citizen participation.
In the City of Lima there were other meetings with several community
representatives (Mothers’ Club, Popular Self-Managed Restaurants, Glass of Milk
Committee), where the focus was on the possibility of introducing ICT in routine
activities. They are, in fact, spontaneous initiatives of citizen organizations to render
services to the community. Members of these organizations stressed the difficulties of
communication and the costs of infrastructure, the difficulties of and the high prices of
access to networks. Nevertheless, given the characteristics of their activities, these
citizen-participation initiatives could transform themselves into important bridges for
ICT use, especially to guarantee their communication with government and society.
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3.3.3 Municipality – Villa El Salvador
This is a famous Lima barriada, and also an example of community

collaboration. Many collective initiatives have led to an autonomous and safe
development of this urban zone on the outskirts of Lima, which has become today a
world benchmark of how collective effort can benefit the community. In addition to
collective work for housing and schools construction, for setting up collective
restaurants, for organizing voluntary work, there is a strong concern for the modernity
of ICT and with digital exclusion; in Villa El Salvador, education for the "society of
knowledge" is found everywhere.
An example of this concern for digital inclusion in Villa El Salvador is given by

the “Faith and Happiness” Secondary School, where a computer room is in operation
for children to learn how to use the internet. In doing so, they search for information
about citizenship and for information of community interest, such as geographical
information, projects of interest to the community, procuring school resources, public
interest information, national and international co-operation.
In a meeting with Michel Azcueta, a member of the Municipal Council of Lima

and a community leader himself, he reported his experiences with the process of
popular participation during the creation of the borough Villa El Salvador. In a report
entitled “Combate Global contra la Pobreza: las soluciones existen. La experiencia de
Villa El Salvador” (Azcueta, 2001) he writes:
“…information is fundamental. Within groups and societies or

in regional or world realms. Thus, it is ever important to construct and
to maintain open the access to information and, of course, to
communication means and technologies. When we refer to strategies
to fight poverty, we do it with an integral vision, considering an adequate
management of information and of the means of communication at the
service of development, of the cultural dimensions, and of building
universal relations distinctive from the existing ones”.
In this same report (Azcueta, 2001) one can find some recommendations to
stimulate and to promote ICT use along the following guidelines:
• “Having in mind that practically all successful experiences in fighting

poverty start at the local level or with concrete social groups and then expand their
influence to wider levels”.
29
• “Respect for and development of citizen consciousness from knowledge
and the distribution of rights and obligations of each inhabitant of our unique planet”.
• “To promote communication and information programmes within their

own social group with the objective of guaranteeing its cohesion and of strengthening
its identity. These programmes must result from specific work with journalists,
communication experts, owners of means of communication, so that we generate a
new vision of the problems of poverty. Even so, it is imperative to support all
community radio and TV stations that belong to local communities and minority social
groups, because they represent concrete instances of power in the field of information,
of communication, and of image, besides the use of new technologies (ICT), which
these sectors use”.
The Municipality of Villa El Salvador intends to be a productive district, a

solidarity community and a healthy town. The municipality has several objectives for
its development, above all good governance. Good governance in the municipality of
Villa El Salvador can be improved through a pact between the local government and
the community for an effective and efficient management of the municipality. ICT use
for improving local good governance is a priority. In view of the resources that are
available to the administration and to the population of Villa El Salvador, low-cost
alternatives and sophisticated means were employed as an attempt to enter the digital
world.
3.3.4 Municipality of Surco
In Santiago de Surco, many subject matters were in the focus of the interviews
with local authorities held at the municipal executive office: decentralization,
transparency, popular movements, support from this office to participatory movements
were among the issues discussed with the Chief of the Special Projects Office and with
advisors from the Alcadia (the municipal executive office). They reported on adult
literacy, citizen participation, and participatory budget programmes.
Examining the documentation of Surco one can find a concern with typical
issues of municipal administration, but also a tendency to use new technologies.
Improved citizen safety through the use of radio or centralized information; urban
development supported by greater transparency and the use of computer files to
control private companies executing public works; services rendered to the community
(civil registration, and civil files); supply of services (itinerant rendering, kiosks for
waiting citizen are posts that could be computerized); attention to environmental
30
education through ICT in schools; all these are on-going policies from the municipal
administration. Among the community services one should also stress employment
skills training (such as ICT training/formal educators, internet, TV Education), the
Municipal Children and Teenage Defense Service (DENUMA, where the ICT use
facilitates the organization and the implementation of the database, of registrations and
communication in several social spheres; and ICT use in education controlling school
evasion and student participation. Some suggestions are listed in the official
documentation Surco: a computerized and systematic municipal library catalogue; to
combat illiteracy with the help of ICT, such as School TV and other itinerant schools
with modern equipment; another example is the Environment Bus, an environmental-
education itinerant school, with ecological and educational nature walks for the
children.
It is to be said that ICT-concerned social actors are as active in Surco as they

are in the rest of Peru. For instance, the Social Support Committee has as its
objective the harmonization of the demands for social help, donations and voluntary
work, organization and citizen participation with ICT use, educational centres, literacy
classes (for elderly and young mothers), organizing the “glass of milk project”.
Likewise the programme Serenazgo, an innovative public-safety system established in
Surco, where municipal police functions are linked to citizen safety; to implement this
initiative, central facilities with a computer (digital telephone centre, GPS) were
installed.
As for computerized services, the Municipal Executive Office is proposing a

Integrated System of Administrative Management, a Bidding Base Project, System
Offices and Technological Support (local networks for general services); in addition, it
can help to follow up local-assembly bills and to improve ICT use in the control of
public accounts, for example, expenditures and receipts. This information on
government and services would be available through public telephones in the city.
Some of the programmes such as the donations to the needy in the South of
Peru and the donations from the citizens of Surco, “Programme of Surcano Voluntary
Work”, are examples of how ICT are an important instrument of demand identification.
The Municipal Promotion for Entrepreneurial Development Programme – PROMDE -
allows the design of programmes for implementing joint activities and making use of
digital information to promote municipal management improvement.
31
3.3.5 Experiences and Reports
3.3.5.1 On Decentralization
Decentralization was a key issue in a meeting with the chief Advisor of the
Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation. He has shown a great concern with
the issue, firmly believing that Peru is prepared for digital democracy once all current
conditions are favorable to install ICT to improve good governance. He belongs to the
optimist party of public administration believing that the conditions for stepping up to
the new technologies and for a reduction of the digital gap are there.
The Technical Secretary of the National Council of Decentralization also

declared in a meeting that there is a firm will in Peru but also some uncertainty as for
the procedures of decentralization. The government is promoting a policy of
decentralization and opening bureaucratic facilities for the reflection on, the planning
and execution of decentralization.
The “National Training Plan for the Strengthening of Regional and Local
Governments”2 is a compilation of norms that existed in 2002 and proposes to facilitate
the decentralization process by promoting more transparency at regional and
municipal elections. People are convinced that transparency and freedom are
strengthened through knowledge and access to more democratic instruments.
The current Peruvian government has committed itself to initiate a process of

structural reform of the State. In order to accomplish this objective, it modified the
chapter on decentralization in the Constitution of Peru with the objective of establishing
regional governmental bodies by introducing regional elections. This was done with
the Basic Organic Law of Decentralization (Law N° 277822) that also determined the
end of the Ministry of the Presidency itself.
In order to push decentralization in Peru, the government is now implementing

the Programme for the Development of Regional and Local Capacities for
Decentralization – “Perú Descentralizado” – through the Technical Secretariat for the
Decentralization Process. The Programme “Perú Descentralizado” was developed to
establish provincial, district and “departamentos” capacities in order to foster
decentralization. This process comprises four components:
• concerted plans for departmental development
2 Ministry of the Presidency of the Republic of Peru, 2002.
32
• regional and municipal training and technical assistance
• local and regional funds for development
• local and regional connectivity.
The decentralization of activities creates local public policies adapted to the

context of each locality. The objective of the programme is to contribute to the
democratic reform of the country and to develop mechanisms capable of stimulating
national development. This process involves training of public actors all along.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are used to accelerate
communication among government entities and to promote citizen participation.
The Training and Technical Assistance Sub-programme encourages

municipalities to receive new functions and competencies. New tasks generate more
local resources and investments; thus, the quality of life of the population may
increase. Courses, seminars, video conferences, and other forms of ICT use help to
accomplish that.
The Regional and Local Connectivity Sub-Programme basically consists in the

technological modernization of public administration. This sub-programme's clear
intention is to expand government interaction with other offices through electronic
means. The Peruvian Government has signed an agreement with the Government of
Quebec (Canada) for a project design to that end. Results are yet unclear, but it
seems very likely that decentralization, in combination with training and ICT use, can
improve the quality of life of the population and the development of democracy through
popular participation, transparency and democratic control.
3.3.5.2 On transparency and means of communication
In meetings with the Peruvian Press Council and other representatives of the
press, the problems of access to public information, transparency, the role of the press
in obtaining public information and collective interest were discussed. The
representative of the Institute for the Press and Society stressed their vigilant anti-
corruption role and the role of other NGOs related to anti-corruption, as well as the
opportunity to act together as focal points in an ICT training programme. He stressed
the function of the Veedurias Ciudadanas ("Citizens as mass media observers")
organization .
The objective of the Veeduria Ciudadana is to monitor mass communication. It

has already evaluated four TV programmes which emphasized political issues. The
33
Veeduria Ciudadana is in support of a law that would make the social responsibility of
the means of communication mandatory by promoting ethical and democratic policies.
A National Council for Radio and Television would be created, attracting members
from civil society and from the State, to regulate, to conduct and to monitor operations
of the media. Of course, the promotion of social responsibility among businesspeople
should be accompanied by other developments and responsibilities. By means of
these and other topical proposals ICT can contribute to the construction of full
citizenship.
When asked in which institutions there is particularly high or a very low degree
of participation or no participation whatsoever, the Peruvians affirm that local
institutions and the press are more accessible than the national institutions. In a
country where a Law of Citizen’s Rights to Participation and Control exists
communication media can have a function of controlling power, promoting access to
government decisions, including popular participation through debates and exposing
these decisions to public opinion and social demands.
The means of communication can diminish existing digital and political

exclusion in society. The cultural exchange and the production of knowledge such as
interactivity, multimedia and hypertext supply new forms of acquiring knowledge. But
not only these technologies can make a difference in training and in people's
participation. More accessible means, such as television, can convey knowledge, turn
citizens more conscious and train them, depending, of course, on the content
transmitted.
A seminar promoted by the Peruvian Press Council in Lima had as its main
theme the use of ICT for good governance. Strong concern for matters related to
transparency and information was to be observed on the part of the Peruvian Press.
The opening session of the seminar dealt with the “Law of Transparency and Access
to Public Information”, with participants from People’s Defence and from the Legal
Defence Institute. The presentation and discussion in the workshop “Access to
Information and the Use of New Technologies” treated exhaustively problems of
transparency and access to information in Peru using ICT. A second workshop dealt
with “Transparency and Access to Information in the Hands of the State: the use of
new technologies and the pending agenda of transparency”, participated by the Co-
ordinator of the SYIAF Project - Integrated System of Financial Administration of the
Ministry of Economy and Finances. After that, provincial cases were presented – “The
Line of Access to Information”, by a representative of the Peruvian Press Council.
Other matters treated were “New Technologies of Information and Digital Journalism” ,
and “Investigative Journalism and the New Technologies of Information”.
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3.3.5.3 On citizen participation
Some Peruvian experiences have shown that there is a growing degree of

social participation in this country and that many of these experiences could become
even more attractive through ICT use. It is worth mentioning the “The Citizen
Caravan”, which consists of an educational and communicative show promoting
debates on the democratic process in the country and on citizen participation. They
use a big, colourful cabin for people to come and express their wants and needs.
Commentaries, “show and tell” and protests (‘grafichanga”) are exposed in strategic
points, in such a way that all see the complaints and needs of the population. There is
a great clay pot where people can deposit suggestions, initiatives and proposals on
how to make authorities more accountable.
Another form of expression are the “Educational Workshops” where a group

reflects on citizenship culture, and promotes conscious, free and valid voting. Several
towns of different "departments” of the country hosted these workshops. Positive
results were obtained as shown by the questionnaires filled in before and after the
workshops. In addition to this process of evaluation of how much the local population
had learned in the workshop, each participant could express their opinion in a ballot,
anonymously.
Opinions expressed in “Educational Workshops” ballots showed that Peruvians

recommend the following as mechanisms of consulting the population during decision-
making:
• telephone, electronic mail, regular mail (21%),
• cabins and voting in public spaces (19%),
• the frequent organization of the public forum (19.1%). (MORENO, 2002)
Peruvians maintain that values such as respect to human rights, autonomy and
independence from the powers of the State, transparency and communication of the
acts of government, decentralization of power, participation and citizen supervision,
well-developed political parties and efficient mechanisms of controlling the State, are
indispensable for a Peruvian democracy.
A policy of the constant evaluation of supervision actions enabled the

Association of Social Communicators – Calandria – to create a report showing the
results and the impacts of their activities. Programmes in which the population can
voice their thoughts created links between social demand and politics. People
35
experienced dialogues with members of the legislative bodies and believed in their
own capacity of influencing them. Above all, the population hopes for good
government as a result of their participation. It becomes evident that if these social
actors had new technologies, in addition to the social involvement process, they could
also have access to organized information, have accelerated transmission of
knowledge, and, most of all, have the possibility of operating in networks.
3.3.5.4 The “National Programme of Food Assistance – PRONAA”
The National Programme of Food Assistance (PRONAA) deals with food

security through a food distribution programme with strong popular participation which
manages the distribution of food at the national level. Besides having many channels
of communication with society through the “Club de Madres” (Mothers’ Club) and the
popular restaurants, this programme is creating a “management committee” open to
the community. It also intends to create a “users’ commission” and a “beneficiaries’
commission”. The PRONAA has a web site and is working on its improvement in such
a manner as to incorporate information technologies for the resolution of logistic and
communication problems with society. Thus, PRONAA intends to solve its
procurement problems and make the whole process more transparent – given the
number of transactions involved – through on-line operation, publishing the bidding
invitation list for products and services on-line and direct buying from small size
producers.
In an interview with PRONAA´s National Head Officer and his advisors it was
possible to confirm that PRONAA is a public, decentralized organism and tries to
improve dangerous nutritional situations. Infant population is PRONAA’s priority as a
nutritional risk group as well as those in emergency situations and organized groups
(“Mothers' Club”, “Popular Self-Managed Restaurants”, “Campesinos Communities”,
schools and hostels). As for the improvement of good governance as understood in
this report, one of PRONAA´s most important objectives is to promote the active
participation of the population in the execution of the programme, as well as in its
supervision and control bodies.
PRONAA aims at institutional strengthening in the acquisition processes,

management and organizational restructuring, including budgetary, as well as
introducing principles of transparency, neutrality, and efficiency in institutions, making
intensive use of ICT. Main current activities are: the Infant Food Programme; the
Children and Adolescent Food Programme; the School Food Programme; the Popular
36
Restaurants Programme; the Food for Work Programme; and the Emergencies
Programme.
37
3.3.5.5 The “Huascarán Programme”
The Huascarán Programme is a Peruvian government initiative for applying ICT

to education in the period of 2002-2006. The programme was created in October 2001
in the Province of Huancayo, Departamento of Junin. This education centre is
representative of how the Huascarán Programme works in remote areas of the
country. Its objective consists in expanding and improving education in the Peruvian
countryside by using ICT.
Smaller investments and a shorter implementation time thanks to the use of ICT
will help to realize advanced networks of communication that reduce obstacles like
distance and poverty, characteristics of vast rural areas of the country. The application
of ICT will contribute to the optimization of the administrative processes within the
Ministry of Education, thus promoting exchange of information that will foster intelligent
organizational interaction and favour development and integration of knowledge sector.
Specific objectives of the Huascarán Programme are to interconnect state

entities to optimize the educational services that rendered to the community; to
improve the quality of education through ICT use in pedagogical practices; to promote
the training and specialization of teachers through ICT use; to increase and improve
access to educational services in the poorest and more remote areas of the country;
to integrate and to support projects from other sectors and multi-sectoral projects
which have educational purposes; to promote the integration of public education
centres into private ones everywhere in the country; to support and to stimulate the
democratization of internet access; to enhance the efficiency of the process of
administering education through ICT use (evaluation, monitoring, control, co-
ordination, communication) and thereby to improve the results and to reduce the costs;
to support and to align ICT use in the communities to make development possible and
making local markets more dynamic.
In order to obtain higher benefits from ICT at the local level in countries such as
Peru, two basic conditions must be met: 1) ample access to these resources by the
population guaranteed by increased ICT infrastructure; 2) the development of
adequate applications to various socio-cultural segments. In summary, the Huascarán
Programme tries to reduce inequalities of access and ICT use and also to diminish the
scarcity of knowledge on the day-to-day use of ICT as a tool for social and personal
progress.
Those involved in the Huascarán Project expect that within five years a learning
environment and a sustainable structure should be established through the application
38
of ICT. Students, teachers, and the administrative staff of the educational centres
should by then be skilled for ICT use. Information transfer between the headquarters of
the Ministry of Education and its several sectoral branches could then be rapid and
efficient; and the education centres and the intermediary organs could be connected in
order to better achieve their objectives. ICT use should facilitate intelligent
organizational interaction.
The target-public of the Huascarán Project are students, teachers, family,

parents, administrative personnel and the community in general. Participants will
receive electronic mail accounts, access to on-line tools, participate in chats and
conferences, but, above all, they will have the opportunity to intervene directly in the
preparation of the pedagogical content and educational material.
3.3.5.6 Electronic Cabins in Peru
According to Sandro Venturo, in “Cabinas, acesso y redes sociales”

(www.yachay.com.pe/especiales/cabinas/2b.htm), internet access in public cabins in
Peru has become an important example of narrowing the digital gap in
underdeveloped countries. Experts even speak of a “Peruvian Model”. Public cabins
were developed so as to enable anybody to be connected to the internet, even if they
do not have a computer or access to networks.
In Lima, “cabinas” are the same concept as “telecenters” or “public cabins to

access the internet”, i.e. an locality equipped with a certain number of computers
offering internet access, including a number of small services rendered, like text
printing, copies, fax, and eventually long-distance phone calls. There are small
differences in the modes of services. The so-called cyber cafes are essentially
commercial enterprises. The public cabins promoted by municipal or by teaching
institutions have a community character. But the idea is the same: to provide ample,
unhindered access to internet.
The original proposal of the Peruvian Scientific Network (RCP – Red Cientifica
Peruana) was to provide universal access to information and communication
technologies, beginning by training more than 50,000 persons through courses. The
first “cabineros” (small cabin entrepreneurs) who saw an opportunity for business, are
participating in a new model of the economy in which information is a primary
resource, the principal capital.
39
However, the idea was to turn cabins into something more than just a
connection point. They should be a centre for training and producing local knowledge
that would assist persons and organizations to expand their potential to sustain their
own development. Therefore, the problem was not only being connected, but also to
generate knowledge which, in the context of globalization, would increase the
productivity of the local economy and the transparency of public administration, and
which would make the social and cultural services more effective.
In fact, the Peruvian internet cabins have become a factor of spreading ICT
given that more than 70% of Peruvian users make use of these cabins. This very
popular model has some peculiar characteristics which leaves open the question of
their sustainability and continuity. In many cases, the cabins are very close to the
informal market, with improvised, second-hand equipment, pirate software and
doubtful quality control. This is an intensive-demand market which leads to reduced
prices, which then keep profits low and difficult to sustain with adequate quality control.
The intriguing question is that of how 2,000 low cost cabins can operate in a brutal,
competitive market, and continue to guarantee internet access to a large population.
If the Peruvian cabins experience is a success thanks to the initiative of small

entrepreneurs, without regular support, then this is a clear signal of the deep interest
that the Peruvian society has in being connected to the digital world. Therefore, it is
possible to imagine ICT use spreading and including the improvement of local good
governance, once popular participation movements start seeing this instrument as a
tool for interaction with the government.
Cabins are no longer just a connection point but are beginning to be

knowledge-generating instruments, for training and for negotiations, in support of
negotiations fora and in support of small business companies. Above all, they are a
mechanism for establishing social networks which need and live for information.
ICT were only recently introduced to the government's agenda, while the
independent development of the cabins evinced an incredible entrepreneurial capacity
of the private sector, at the same time that it showed an immense capacity of social
mobilization. Today, the cabins in Peru are faced with many problems, from brutal
competition to security concerns. Many believe that they have arrived at a saturation
point. However, the cabins have permitted that social segments totally unlinked to
modern technologies begin to have access to ICT. The role of the public cabins in
combating social digital exclusion was responsible for the digital inclusion of groups
and local organizations, like indigenous groups, beginning to use ICT on networks.
40
For the general public to benefit even more from ICT it is important that all
social actors be involved in a large process of participation and training. The cabins or
the telecenters can be the articulating place for this process, given their low costs and
their multiplying effect, as the Peruvian experience very well demonstrates.
3.4 Case Study: Ecuador
3.4.1 Introduction
The study of the relationship between ICT use and the improvement of good
governance in Ecuador is divided into two parts: first, a field study done in this
country, in the city of Quito and in the municipality of Cotacachi, presents interviews
with local authorities and leaders, as well as reports on the visits made to local
institutions. The second part of the Ecuador study is an account of experiences and
reports on the ICT use in the country.
3.4.2 Municipality – Quito
Strategic planning was the focus of discussion in an interview with the Director
of Strategic Prospective and Competitiveness of the City of Quito, as well as an
evaluation of the current status of the QUITO XXI CENTURY DEVELOPMENT PLAN –
ADJUSTMENT (2002-2004). This interview included a discussion on the possibilities
of ICT use considering their inclusion in the development plan as an accepted and
important promoter of good governance.
A meeting at the Pichincha Provincial Government's Directorate for Production

Support was dedicated to progress recently experienced in governmental planning, to
how ICT were incorporated into the decision-making process, and to how its use can
become routine. The feasibility of, and the opportunity for, a training programme for the
improvement of good governance at the local level were also discussed.
Great effort is being taken at the Co-ordination of Management System of the

Presidency of the Ecuadorian Republic towards developing a management system
integrating the presidency and the ministries, that would guarantee the quality of
information for political co-ordination and for decision-making. Nevertheless, it is still
an internal system for the exclusive use of the Presidency.
41
In Ecuador, the ODEPLAN (Planning Office of the Presidency) is an
autonomous entity and an important state instrument for planning development, and
for institutional and political co-ordination. The importance of planned actions are
highly valued, therefore strengthening the legitimacy of the planning process.
ODEPLAN’s mission is to structure and to coordinate the SNPDP (Participatory

Decentralized National Planning System), a set of integrated principles, norms,
processes, actors, and institutions arranged in an inter-institutional network, which tries
to go beyond simple bilateral relationships. It also provides for institutional capacities
(and thereby favours an "organized" society) which aim at promoting co-ordinated
efforts for long-term, systemic perspectives on local, regional, and national
development.
ODEPLAN regards social organization in networks that would bring together

persons from different categories or institutions of differing nature, in which reciprocity,
participation and democracy are adopted values. For their activities ODEPLAN
considers three types of networks: information networks, research networks, and
action networks.
Thus, among ODEPLAN documents one could examine training modules for
experts, public workers in planning, gubernatorial offices, provincial councils,
municipalities, rights councils, NGOs, and civil-society organizations related to specific
themes for the formation of personnel organized in networks who can eventually
generate a new model of planning.
The Public Investment Programming and Follow-up System (SPSIP) is a latest

generation computer management tool operating in a network (in the internet platform)
that manages the Geo-Reference Bank of Social Investment and Infrastructure
Projects, facilitating the consultation of data and information in tabular and graphical
form, and permitting to cross different variables.
The INFOPLAN (Planning Information) System is a geo-referenced statistical

information application in co-operation with the National Statistics and Census Institute
(INEC) and the Municipalities Association of Ecuador (AME). INFOPLAN offers a
plethora of processed data, which can be used in project development, monitoring and
evaluation.
As can be seen, Ecuador's interest in planning relates to the formation of a

participatory mentality based on ICT use.
42
In an interview conducted at the Municipalities Association of Ecuador (AME)
the stress laid on the role of municipalities in the development of the country to
guarantee decentralization, budget decentralization, and the role of AME in supporting
training programmes using ICT as a preferred tool for good governance.
The case of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE )of Ecuador illustrates how
one's effort to introduce information technologies can improve one's Internal
Management System and communication with other offices of public administration.
Starting with a “zero paper” policy the MRE intends to reach all Ecuador consulates
through automated means as well as all Ecuadorians living out of the country. There
are social movements that try to guarantee the right to vote for all migrants (many
without papers) and to allow them to invest their money earned abroad in Ecuador.
Universities in Ecuador also have demonstrated their interest in ICT. Studies

performed at the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar show developments in facilitating
conditions for good governance introduced by the local experiences of social
participation in the cities of Guayaquil, Quito, Babahoyo, Santo Domingo, Esmeraldas,
and Tena. The integration of ICT locally has enhanced this better governance process.
FLACSO-Quito also maintains a Programme in Communication with post-graduate
studies concentrating in virtual instruments.
In the same line of thought, the work done by BONILLA e CLICHÉ (2001),
Internet y Sociedad en America Latina y el Caribe: investigaciones para sustentar el
dialogo, discusses various ICT implementation studies and their results in strategic
areas for regional development such as: education, culture, health, environment,
human rights, productivity, administration, good governance, and democracy itself.
The book emphasizes equity problems and shows how social, economic, and
technological divisions affect excluded groups. In addition, the authors analyze the
implementation of public policies via internet and a conceivable link with processes of
citizen participation and the construction of a new political culture through free access
to information.
References to literature on ICT can be found in Ecuador: su realidad (2002)

which show elements for better understanding the Ecuadorian society, from its
physical and historical characteristics to its current population, economic model and
the realities and issues of the international context. As for information and
communication technologies, the book contains a chapter on culture and
communication which is a reflection on the power that these technologies have over
the societies they act upon. In this informational society, the means of communication
are having a prevalent role in the economic, political, and administrative processes.
43
The authors call for greater social control of communication media as participation and
consensus increases. This work deals with the power of television in building public
opinion and how the print media reaches the public, particularly on urban areas, in
addition to audio and visual media and their possible political use.
Citizen participation has been stimulated and practised in Ecuador as a form of

improving democracy. RIVAS and DONOVAN (2001) in El Diagnóstico Participativo
show that training for participation is a form of insertion in the actions which transform
reality.
Their proposal is first directed to the leaders, to those responsible for education,
and to the people from popular organizations that aspire to overcome mere
voluntarism, immediacy, and the “cortoplacismo” (short-term nature) of organization
practice; how to improve the knowledge of reality; how to plan long-term work; how to
design new methods for an extended participation of organization members in
decision-making; how to contribute through training to higher self-esteem and how to
develop the skills of organization members; finally, how to strengthen the self-
management of education, the autonomy and democratization of organizations. They
suggest that training should be done through "participatory diagnostic proposals" – by
“information” and “motivation”–, in which ICT use could have a prevalent role, and
through research assuming primordial importance.
The authors draw the reader's attention to the success and failures of the
experiences made in "participatory diagnosis". They also warn about the difficulties
arising from leaders' patronage which makes the creation of democratic channels
impossible, as well as about the lack of cohesion among members impairing people
and organizations to participate in a co-ordinated manner by going beyond the
motivation phase.
In Ecuador there is a strong effort to expand the physical basis necessary to the
implementation of ICT. The National Telecommunications Council – CONATEL – is
acting along this line through the Nation´s Connectivity Commission.
The UNDP – Ecuador (United Nations Development Programme - Ecuador),

has published, among other contributions to the ICT debate, a study on Las
Tecnologias de Informacion y Comunicacion para el Desarrollo Humano (2001)–
Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano Ecuador.
44
3.4.3. Municipality - Cantón Cotacachi
Cantón Cotacachi in Ecuador has been designated as an example of

participatory democracy. An interview with the local mayor stressed the concern of the
current administration with issues such as citizenship and citizen participation;
indigenous participation in the administration; decentralization; local development
plans preparing provinces for decentralization; participatory planning; elabourating a
plan regularly, inclusion of all citizens in the local decision-making process; local
participatory management experiences; local councils, and local development.
An effective demonstration of this new orientation was the fact that a computer
was installed on the sidewalk in front of the Municipal Executive for public access with
a public employee to help inhabitants access information where they should vote in the
elections that took place on 20 October 2002.
Another initiative is the School of Leaders, a pioneer experience thanks to

which local leadership receives information about citizenship, rights, local
administration, community action; as soon as they finish, they can proceed proactively
in the community, passing knowledge on to other members included. The School of
Leaders is a good example of how a training programme in information and
communication technologies can improve good governance. The participants receive
training on ICT use, on the possibilities of ICT in relating citizens to their local
government, and on how ICT could intervene to improve good governance. In
addition, they act as multipliers of these ideas and tools in their community.
Beginning in 1996, the local government of the city of Cotacachi, Ecuador

began an ample process of social participation promoting citizen participation as well
as establishing a policy to make local administration compatible with local
development. Furthermore, Cotacachi is such a diverse territory from the ecological,
social, and technological points of view that this compatibility becomes all-important.
Citizen participation is realized through the representatives of several

organizations involved, in the rural or urban areas, congregated at the Assembly of
Canton’s Unity. Canton Cotacachi has a development plan drawn up through a
lengthy process of debating local sectoral problems, in it several projects were
implemented.
An interview with the mayor focused on how the city began gathering
information on priority problems and areas detected by the "participatory diagnosis".
Some recommendations such as ICT use in Cotacachi were made by the diagnosis
45
experts, similarly on how to associate citizen participation experiences and
participatory budget in Cotacachi with ICT use for improving good governance at the
local level.
Regarding the diagnosed problems, some potential solutions were proposed.

Local illiteracy could be tackled with ICT use. Sanitation and hygiene issues, and local
health concerns and problems could be improved with ICT use. Racism and the
absence of “bridges” between different ethnic groups could be addressed via internet,
distance education, and community radios. The isolation of Cotacachi communities
owing to a lack of communication infrastructure could be overcome by expanding the
network of communication and connectivity. There is a large and unexplored tourism
potential (environment and cultural) which could be expanded with ICT use. Finally,
greater ICT use can correct patronage municipal policies that reduce citizen
participation.
One great concern of this municipality is to improve the population's quality of

life and to reach an equitable human development based on intercultural relations. An
additional concern is to consolidate organized participation in social sectors into
decision–making processes in issues of interest to the region as a whole.
The stability of this new model of participatory municipal management is a local

concern. Another local concern is to have an up-dated and effective management
system capable of fostering cantonal development by incorporating new technologies
and considering the changes that take place in this new century. Sustainability of this
kind is based on the following aspects: 1- Social: through consolidating the
organization of civil society; 2 – Legal: through consolidating the local legislative
body; 3- Institutional: by means of structuring permanent committees for cantonal
development; 4-Generational: by an active integration of the youth into the
management process and into planning of the canton; 5 – Economic: through the
rational use of local resources and obtaining external resources.
3.4.4.1 CORAPE – Coordination of Popular Radios of Ecuador
Experiences with popular radios in Ecuador have been successful up to the

point that radios certainly broadcast to isolated regions that are difficult to leave, are
relatively inexpensive to run and can be operated by local people. The Co-ordination
Association of Popular Radios of Ecuador prepared in its Quito headquarters short
46
announcements (“cunias”) on the electoral process mentioning the importance of
voting as an exercise of democracy, the seriousness of the decision to be taken and
the weight of the vote. These announcements were distributed to all 51 members of
the Coordenadora at zero cost and were broadcast by the Community Radios. Many
radio station collaborate in preparing informative material including training courses.
Eight radio stations broadcast in Quechua language to facilitate communication with
Quechua-speaking natives. AMAZONIA NETWORK (RED AMAZONIA) was created to
report on ecological issues and cultural themes of that region. These are indicators of
population participation warranting good governance thanks to the use of
communication technologies.
CORAPE has been airing programmes which well illustrate the use of radio as
a technological instrument for citizenship. The following themes are examples of the
approach used: “Quality of services and products including ‘political products’”;
“Ecuadorian Consumer Protection Law”; “Education through political platforms”; “Don’t
be a Frustrated Consumer”; “Make the Vote an Instrument of Power”.
3.4.4.2 Foundation ChasquiNet
The ChasquiNet Foundation is dedicated to provide internet solutions to

individuals and institutions engaged in the social change in Ecuador. It contributes to
improve the living conditions, education, and cultural life of the people through ICT
use.
ChasquiNet is a sophisticated project intending to provide visibility to all groups

and communities which did not yet have, or do not have, the opportunity of using
modern instruments to make their activities more dynamic, to divulge their ideas, to
motivate participation and to be present in national and international scene.
ChasquiNet was created in 1998, and has the seal of approval from the Ministry
of Education of Ecuador, aiming at being a resource centre, a space for promote and
strengthen the community, and of a diffusion of activities, all having the ultimate goal of
social change. The ChasquiNet Foundation promotes a productive work environment
in non-profit organizations and works in reducing the gap of information and
communication.
In order to accomplish its objectives, ChasquiNet has entered several

agreements and partnerships with other institutions. These strategic alliances can
47
provide solutions for access and connectivity to excluded population sectors in
Ecuador.
The ChasquiNet Foundation also has developed some other projects such as
community telecenters. Given that the majority of the population does not have access
to computers nor to telephone lines, ChasquiNet and the communities themselves
have adopted and spread the concept of “telecentro”. ChasquiNet supported the
creation of telecenters and handed them to user communities which manage them like
micro-business.
3.4.4.3 UNORCAC – Cotacachi Indigenous Campesinos Union
UNOCARC is a class organization constituted by 41 communities and several

indigenous and mestizo campesino grassroots organizations, located in the Andean
Region (Canton of Cotacachi in the Province of Imbabura). It was created in 1977 by a
group of academically trained Cotacachi Indians, struggling to change poverty and the
discrimination suffered by the majority of the indigenous campesino population of the
region.
UNOCARC is striving to obtain extensive participation of campesinos and

indigenous people in the construction of a more equitable and just society. Guided by
this purpose, UNORCAC tries to accomplish the following objectives:
• Provide unity and solidarity among “comunas”(communes) and “comuneros”

(commune members) in order to impel their economic and social development
• To defend and restore indigenous and mestizo cultural values.
• To train community members in the management of agricultural production and
the methods of cattle-breeding, as well as artisan and commercial ones.
• To foster recreational activities and sports as well as other techniques
improving the formation of the “comuneros”.
• To require the government to create educational, technical, and artisan
community centres.
UNORCAC implements programmes, projects and activities with related

community action in the areas of health, environment, education, communication,
construction of community infrastructure, training, agricultural production and cattle-
raising, culture, recreation and sports.
48
Among UNORCAC projects with ICT use, Sumac Ñan is worth mentioning for
its communication in education and development through the radio.
49
3.5 Case Study: Mexico
3.5.1 Introduction
In Mexico research on ICT use and improvement of good governance is also

divided into two parts: the first deals with field studies in Mexico City and Santiago de
Querétaro. Local institutions were visited, local authorities and leaders were
interviewed. The second part deals with a set of experiences and reports on ICT use
in Mexico.
The main conclusions on the use of ICT are presented here, starting with the
interviews done with government political and social actors and from in loco
observations in the municipality of Querétaro and in the Delegación de Iztapalapa
(delegación is a kind of regional administration of the city within the Government of the
Federal District). Elements of Mexican administrative organization, the political context
of the country and of the places studied are also presented.
In the federal plan, political parties offer different perspectives and proposals for
the organization of the public administration, of transparency on public information and
for the relationship with society.
PAN identifies itself with structural adjustment policies and opening to foreign
trade, accompanied by the modernization of the management of the State. Starting
with a concern with State transparency, the Federal Law of Transparency and Access
to Public Governmental Information was initiated, making it mandatory for government
offices to make sufficient information available so that citizens can analyse public
management, using necessary mechanisms and technologies. It also establishes that
any citizen can access information, through the internet, from his home or by
computers made available by government (CHAVEZ, 2002).
The case studies chosen to represent action from PAN – “Partido de Acción
Nacional” and PRD – “Partido Revolucionário Democrático” are office holders: the
municipality of Querétaro is now governed by PAN while the Delegación of Iztapalapa
is governed by the PRD. These examples cannot be considered as a pattern for
parties’ behaviour, but they indicate the existence of certain patterns of public policies.
50
3.5.2 Municipality – Santiago de Querétaro
The municipality of Santiago de Querétaro is situated 200 kilometers north of

Mexico City. Throughout its history, Querétaro was the center of national political
articulations. Today Querétaro is a Historical and Cultural Patrimony of Humanity.
Currently administered by a PAN mayor who had prior experience in the private sector,
the municipal administration undergoes a profound reform based on the application of
principles under the model “Customer Relationship Management” (CRM) to the public
sector. These changes presuppose not only the creation of a new administrative
structure, but also generate a new culture that places priority on the citizen’s access to
information and public decisions.
Santiago de Querétaro presents, in a similar manner to other investigated

municipalities, a strong strategic concern for citizen participation. Local authorities are
striving to effectively administer this municipality on the basis of social welfare,
sustained by the capacity of acting jointly with society. In fact, the Municipality
programme called “Citizen’s Attention” reports investments to acquire a tool called
CRM (Citizen Relationship Management) that would allow prompt electronic follow up
of the several demands of the population. Other actions by the municipality are:
• Citizen Wednesday
• Personalized Attention
• Attention to the Communication Media
• Citizen Mail
• Electronic Mail
As it can be seen in details later, the procedures for obtaining citizen

participation are based on consultations by different citizens through various channels:
meetings and seminars, meetings of the thematic councils, invitations to civil
organizations, educative institutions and sectoral chambers, invitation to the public in
general through communication media. Reported conclusions point to a clear and
ample citizen proposal regarding adopted concepts and wanted objectives. In addition
to citizen consultation, Querétaro promoted studies of public opinion trying to sense
what were the expectations of the population with respect to Government activities,
and to have a feeling of which sectors should receive more investments from the
municipal government.
The Director of Citizen Attention, appointed by the Municipal President,

explained the relations between citizen and administration. The Social Participation
Head (Jefia de Participación Social), in charge of coordinating the Municipal Council’s
51
System, formed by the Thematic Councils and by the Delegacion Councils is part of
them.
The Thematic Councils meet every month and they operate informally due to
the fact that they were not foreseen in the legislation. When they were created, all
citizens participating in meetings had a voice and voted, but there was a norm
instituted by which it is necessary to participate in at least 50% of the meetings held in
the prior six month period in order to have a voting right. The Jefe de Participacion
Social stated, in an interview, that the fact of the meeting being just consultative in
character and of aiding/supporting the government, it is a disincentive to experts in
specific themes. The following existing Councils were cited: Environment, Health,
Sports, Public Safety, Culture, Tourism, Urbanism, Youth, and Rural Development
The Delegacion Councils put together the legal representatives of the

Association of Borough Residents and the Communitarian Councils located in
respective Delegacion (a kind of regional administration of the city). Presently the
administration is being decentralized; the Councils of Delegacion are becoming
responsible for establishing priorities for the resources meant for the so-called social
works (urbanization, electrification, drainage, water, schools, sports playing fields,
etc).
One can observe that the running of these councils does not utilize ICT. Even
though people´s participation is considered very important, the Ayuntamiento (the
Municipal Executive) still convokes people to council meetings using leaflets, posters
and direct invitation to specialists and community leaders. The councils do not have a
structure of their own, nor internet web sites or Radio/TV programmes, or another
appropriate means of communication. Councils operation also does not rely on a
computer system to monitor debates and register in tapes suggestions presented to
the administration.
The Thematic Councils and the Councils of Delegación have an important role
in city planning, particularly in recent years. Long-term planning is a concern of the
current administration forecasting what the city will be in 2025. The fact that
counsellors’ mandate does not coincide with the municipal administration´s mandate
was raised. No permanent links can be established, provoking an endless debate
between different administrations. An important participation experience in
Delegacional Councils and other forms of participation of society in city decisions was
the Zoning Project and Dignification of Public Street Commerce in the City of Santiago
de Querétaro, developed during the 1997-2000 administration.
52
The project promoted the organization of street vendors in the Historic Center,
and was a prize-winning project in a competition promoted by CIDE-Center of
Economic Research and Teaching. It was among the ten best administrative
experiences of the country. However, it did not use intensively ICT. Meetings were
convoked through leaflets, posters, sound cars and through press releases to private
communication media (radio, TV and newspapers). In this case, one can observe that
substituting traditional means by ICT could bring obvious benefits to citizenship
practices.
The Redesigning Government Structure Project aims at placing the citizen at

the center of attention by having as a principal objective the promotion of full attention
to the citizen by means of personal access, by telephone and by internet.
In this way, Miercoles Ciudadano (Citizen Wednesday) is an unique experience,

where the Mayor (the Presidente) of the Ayutamiento (City) and his main department
heads (first echelon secretaries of municipal executive) receive directly on working
tables the population at the doors of the Municipal Government Palace. Thus, the
population can be promptly served, having their answer, or their demand expedited to
competent sectors. In 27 December 2002, when the field research was done in the
City of Querétaro, there were 21 tables organized, involving different municipal and
state secretaries. There were 7 tables referring to different delegaciones (regional
administration) of the municipality.
In order to facilitate coordination of government offices and citizen access to all

sectors of municipal administration a “Civic Center” is being built where all
administrative offices will be housed. Today 28 different rented offices are spread out
throughout the city. The objective is to facilitate citizen access simultaneously to all
offices he/she needs, as well as to facilitate and to expedite the decision-making
process. Decision-making is already more agile as more graduated public workers
have special cellular phones, which work as radios. In this way, they can easily talk to
each other.
With the construction of the Civic Center, 7 regional delegaciones of the

Ayuntamiento will be strengthened with a greater number and variety of citizen
services. The citizens will not have to recur to central offices for filing demands and
seeing them solved. Within the “Miercoles Ciudadano” Project, the “System of
Municipal Windows” will be implemented; the citizens can do whatever they need at
the Civic Center to solve their problems. The citizen can monitor his/her demands or
file via internet or through 070 phone-service. It is worth mentioning that the 070
service (“acciones... la responsabilidad de estar bien informados”. Ano 2, nº 22,
53
noviembre de 2002) is utilized for both municipal information (72% of the cases in
2001) and reports, denouncing or complaints (11% of the cases in 2001).
To follow-up on demands, a data base was created through which it is possible

to monitor the person responsible for the office of the demand, and the schedule for its
processing. If the schedule is not met, the system shows an alert so that the person
responsible has to act in order to correct the problem. Access of the population to
information on how demands are being processed is made easier by a new data base
allowing use of internet and should be operative by March 2003.
The availability of this new data base on the internet will also contribute to the
administrative decentralization of the municipality. Other computer information
systems to facilitate follow-up of internal processes and communication between
central administration and regional delegacion administrations are now being created.
It was stressed by the Director of Atención Ciudadana that while implementing

this project the administration understood the necessity of training and enabling public
servants to use new technologies.
According to the interview done with the vice-director of the Social

Communication General Directorate it was clear that this unit is in charge of having
contact with and explain to the citizen what the administration does, particularly
through communication means. This effort takes two forms: daily contact with the
press and ample institutional diffusion. The first is done through bulletins directed to
different communication media (to increase diffusion), and also prepared in a specific
internet version. Institutional diffusion is used for specific information and campaigns,
such as the use of “public garbage cans” being installed throughout the city, which is
for the interviewed “a citizen consciousness campaign and a service to citizenship at
the same time”.
Information is disseminated through leaflets and fliers (volantes) or through a

CD-Rom. A good example of the activities developed by the Direccion is its
involvement with the publication of the “Annual Report from Municipal Government to
the Citizenship”, which is obligatorily sent to legislators every year. Public
presentations of this report are organized by EXPO Informe, which lasts one week,
where all government offices provide stands to open the account of their activities
directly to the population. There were several different exhibitions in 2001 and 2003.
For each of the exhibits, audio-visual material was prepared for citizens accountability,
distributed quickly to the persons who were there. In the first year, audio-visual
material was elaborated in video format and distributed in VHS tape. In the second
54
year, a CD-Rom was utilized. In both years, the exhibition was advertised through
radio stations. The presentation of the report by Alcaide was televised in a space
bought by the administration.
To develop their activities, the Directorate of Communication has a small Video

Production sector and another of graphic design. A bulletin directed toward citizens
and an internal review for administration are published monthly. The dedication in
using ICT was credited to the Mayor’s belief that ICT should be at the avail of
citizenship. But those interviewed remembered that “at the end, in the relationship with
citizen - no technology substitutes affection”.
An interview with the Director of Cabildo Affairs showed that the Municipal
Legislative Power – the Cabildo (a word which also means negotiation)–, is presided
by the Municipal President and does not have its own technical structure capable of
distributing information with more independence in relation to the Executive offices. In
relation to the above-described initiatives regarding access and citizen participation,
the members of the Cabildo also participate in meetings of the Thematic Councils and
of the Councils of Delegacion. The Cabildo meetings area is open to the public,
without a separation between public and plenary. The table of the Cabildo is located in
a large room where additional chairs can be provided for the public, when needed.
Legislation is approved and published in the Gaceta Municipal. This information is also
available through internet in the Ayuntamiento web site.
In the front page of the document of the municipality of Querétaro called “actions ...
the responsibility of being well informed”, a monthly publication of Querétaro Municipal
Presidency – Mexico, (n° 22, 2002) one can observe two interesting ICT calls:
• “Visit our web page – www.mqro.gob.mx”.

• and also:
• “We want to listen to you! Your citizen attention line ... Dial ... 070”.
These citations denote the importance Mexican local government is giving to

ICT use as a form of interacting with the communities. Inside this publication, one can
find an article on the Municipality Transparency Commission, which is a consultation
entity and a citizen participation organization instituted to help internal control of the
municipality and to secure principles of legality, impartiality, loyalty, efficiency and
honour in municipal public administration.
55
3.5.3 México City / Delegación de Iztapalapa
The largest city of the Americas, Mexico City is located in the central Mexican
highlands, with approximately 20 million inhabitants. Its administration is divided into
17 delegaciones. Iztapalapa Delegación is subdivided into 7 Territorial Directions,
amounting to circa 2 million people. In addition to a very heterogeneous social
composition, there is a chaotic irregular soil occupation by poor migrant families –
mostly coming from State of Oaxaca. Administered by a PRD delegate—this
Delegación is subject to intense political disputes by different power groups –mostly
from the same party, PRD.
Unlike in Querétaro, one could not observe such a strong concern with citizen
participation, even if it was mentioned by members of the administrative structure of
the delegación interviewed. On the other hand, one could observe the use of clientele
mechanisms to obtain support of power groups who represent the residents of different
colonias (boroughs). This form of relationship is rebutted by borough associations
that simply do not accept interference from the Delegación administration; these
borough associations constitute themselves as a form of popular self-government
experiences inspired by the Zapatista movement. This is the case with the Union de
Residents San Miguel de Teotongo (San Miguel de Teotongo Colonos Union) or with
the Francisco Villa Popular Front, based in the Colonia San Lorenzo de Tesongo.
In Iztapalapa Delegación, the Coordinator of the Unidad de Atención Ciudadana

and the Project Coordinator of the “Coordinación de Participación Ciudadana” were
interviewed. Both coordinations are subordinated to the “Planning Direction” of the
‘Dirección de Desarollo Delegacional’.
The creation of the Unit of Citizen Attention resulted from the problems raised
by the fragmentation of services rendered to citizen, in which for each demand or a
document application he/she should look for specific sectors of the administration.
After the Unit was created, all services were concentrated in a sole sector, operating
from 9:00 to 14:00 hours; the citizen is sent to the competent area, and public
servants monitor the whole process until a final answer is given to the demand. The
existence of these services is made public through circulating folders, radio and
internet notes. On Saturdays, the Delegación also has 30 minutes available on a
commercial radio station to communicate with the population.
The execution of the services demanded is done through Ventanilla Única. In

total there are 70 demands, such as construction licenses, operating permits for
commercial establishments, authorizations for public events, among others After
56
demands are filed, they are sent on the same day to competent sectors; these sectors
have a schedule to answer which varies according to the type of demand. In most
cases the citizen needs to return to Ventanilla Única to get the result. Only 4 types of
demands can be made directly to the Dirección Territorial: a) permits for markets; b)
permits for public events; c) residential certificates; and d) licenses to build residences.
The paper work is monitored by a computer system which is not yet integrated to the
database of the Delegación and Dirección Territorial, with a periodical general report
printed to follow-up the demands. A new integrated system is being implemented to
speed up communication of each demand process.
Demands for public services (fixing public light, fixing public street potholes,
public safety, other) are done through CESAC – Center of Citizen Attention and
Services. The Delegación’s information system is connected with Direcciones
Territoriales, which allows finding where cases are located and verifying them in real
time. In order to obtain answers on filed demands, the citizen can return to CESAC or
check directly with the responsible sector. Another way to find answers is by
furnishing a code number received when the demand was filed, through dialing 070.
Regarding citizen participation, the Coordination of Citizen Participation incites

organized sectors of the society to dialogue with the Delegación, and fosters the
capacity of the population to organize itself. To accomplish this, the Delegación
promotes meetings with the population in the Direcciones Territoriales, in the Comites
Vecinales (Neighborhood Committees) and with Father´s-, Youth-, Third Age
Associations, and others. This stimuli to the organization of Iztapalapa population is
considered important because only 5% of the population is currently organized,
according to an estimate from the Project Coordinator.
Six Thematic Fora are organized annually, four of them being Social
Development, Public Safety, Urban Development, and Citizen Participation. The
recommendations resulting from these Fora are partially adopted in the Annual
Operational Programme ( POA ) of the Delegación, but are not always implemented.
This is the case with the working tables to evaluate transparency, the so-called
“Social Controllership”.
As for daily life in the boroughs, the administration performs the so-called
“Consulta Vecinal” (Neighborhood Consultation) which serves, for example, to ask
neighbors about the convenience of opening bars or permits for parties and events. In
2002, 200 of these consultations took place. Another administration’s incentive was a
project called “Citizen participation for the Improvement of Life Conditions”. This was
an initiative convoking people for collective work on the “Periphery Ring” (the
57
expressway which circulates around Mexico City) and the distribution of 15,000
(fifteen thousand) pamphlets for the prevention of mudslides in the rainy season.
The Direction for Citizen Participation is further related to the General Direction
of Citizen Participation of the Government of the Federal District in Mexico, which
develops the Integral Territorial Programme, with two annual general assemblies
involving the local population. The first, in March, is to inform about common
programmes that are being developed; the second, in October, is to give an account
on how they are evolving. The delegate is also reached directly by the population
through an Annual Report, published and presented to the population in a public
square. The date and hour of the Assemblies are announced through radio, posters,
and sound cars.
Despite the administration´s efforts, a member of the Union of Residents of San

Miguel Teotongo was blunt:
“in the Delegación, persons are not well received and the problems are not solved.
The administration is bureaucratic and not transparent, as there is no Cabildo. The
administration does what it wants to do, and is only responsible to the Distrito Federal
Assembly”.
In order to respond to the needs of the residents, the Union implements integral
self-development projects administered by the local community, which includes 4
clinics, 5 popular restaurants, a plant nursery with a 50,000 plant production per year
for reforestation journeys at the ecological park, children daycare, a library, the
production and installation of urban equipment, among other things.
The Union is directed by a council and by specific committees. Regarding

communication with the population, assemblies are convoked by sound cars and
pamphlets. Posters are also used to announce events and campaigns (anniversary of
the Union, political consciousness campaigns). A community radio project was
initiated in September 2002 with sound boxes, 3 days a week, 2 hours a day. Radio
transmission is planned to take place regularly by February 2003. When asked about
the uses of computer communication, the Union leader interviewed responded that
even the Union does not have a computer, and the poor population of the Borough
does not have the means to acquire a personal computer.
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3.5.4.1 Municipality: Tlalnepantla de Baz
In a CD called “Experiences in the Municipal Administrative

Modernization”(2002), the Municipality of Tlalnepantla de Baz describes characteristics
of its municipal management systems, the “Integral System of Administration”, the
“System for Human Resources Planning”, the “System for Administering Citizen
Relations”, “System of Geographical Information”, the “System for Document Control”
and refers to its electronic web site. One of the main concerns of the municipality has
been the creation of a network infrastructure in such a way as to allow all inhabitants to
have integral, on-line access to the services rendered. In its advertisement document
the municipality claims to have improved the quality of the local services and citizen
attention; to have reduced the administrative costs and to have improved trust on the
part of citizens; to have made more transparent and accountable the whole process of
municipal budget and make sure the files proceed on line.
Like Tlanepantla, many Mexican municipalities have adopted innovative

procedures in the public administration, like the construction of databases for the
automatic treatment of taxpayers’ files, for facilitating bureaucratic procedures in the
mayorships, for urban zoning, for optimizing tax collection, and other e-government
processes. However, very little of ICT was introduced, which did not encourage local
good governance. In fact, there was a strengthening of the citizen-government
relations but not in the sense studied here, i.e. the interaction citizen-governants for
democratic participation in decision-making.
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4. COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PRESENCE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
FACTORS ON LATIN-AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE WEB SITES
4.1 Introduction
The realization of this study on the presence or absence of factors indicating

good governance in web sites of Municipal Legislative Chambers in selected towns in
Latin America begins with the principle that a link exists between the introduction and
use of ICT and the improvement of good governance at local level. It assumes that the
introduction of ICT increases interaction among citizens and government. Thus, some
criteria of good governance were established relating to the legislative branches, and
these factors were transformed in variables that were examined in all the investigated
web sites.
Good governance is an interaction process in which demands and priorities of

the society intervene. Thus, factors of good governance adopted in this research took
into consideration the possibility for citizens to interact with legislators, to obtain
information on the Legislative work and to obtain relevant information on its operation.
4.2 Methodology
One hundred and twenty municipal web sites were consulted with priority to the
web sites of Municipal Legislative Chambers. Given the difficulties inherent to this
search, web sites from Legislative Chambers of Brazilian State capitals and Legislative
Chambers of some Latin American capitals were adopted as reference. The search
began with approximately 160 municipalities chosen by their size and location.
However, it was seen that forty of them either did not have a web site, or that these
web sites were unavailable. 120 web sites remained, whose sample included Latin
American capitals, Brazilian State capitals, and a group of Brazilian municipalities.
Finally, one hundred twenty Legislative Power web sites were evaluated.
These web sites can be classified according to their geographic distribution and their
power level, as shown below:
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Web sites evaluated by geographical region and power level
Municipal Legislatures National Legislatures
Senate Unicameral Congress Total
Brazil 101 1 0 102
Latin America 0 15 3 18
Total 101 16 3 120
Having in mind that the principal interest of this study is to analyze good
governance at the local level, the majority of web sites (84.2%) studied were Brazilian
municipalities, because of two essential motives: first, local government web sites in
other Latin American countries were unavailable – power structures in different
countries vary and many countries do not have a “municipal legislatures”; second,
because in the Brazilian municipalities it was possible to better verify the adopted
variables in function of a similar political structure of these municipalities – all 101 of
them had a municipal chamber with similar characteristics to their correspondents in
Latin America (19 web sites or 15.8% of the sample)
Given the sharp differences in political structure of the countries examined, the
adopted assumption was that national legislative web sites – in general well built –
should present all required information. Therefore, in case the information requested
was not found by benchmarking in these bigger web sites, the probability of finding
them in smaller web sites would be reduced. In addition, inclusion of units of
observation on different levels of power in the same database, in different countries,
increasing variability, guaranteed better ways of comparing them.
All adopted variables are nominal and qualitative with two categories:
“characteristic found” or “characteristic not found”. Data collection in web sites
attempted to detect if the Web Page of the observed legislature had indications or links
containing the researched variable: for example, if the variable “access to bidding and
contracts” was present or not, or if there were any links indicating if this variable could
be found in other web sites. If at least one other link was indicated, the variable was
marked “characteristic found”.
For better comprehension the variables can be grouped in six categories:
1. Institutional information, (“level of power”, “structure, organization, and

composition”, “list of representatives”, “internal statutes”, “organic law or
constitution”);
61
2. Process information, “daily agenda”;
3. Interactive information (interaction citizen-legislature), “consultation to

legislative proposals (integral text)”, “contact or denunciations”, “suggestions
and criticisms”, “lists of parties, leadership and access”;
4. Organizational information, “intranet”;
5. Access to communication, “publications, technical text, library”;

“newspaper”, “radio”, “TV”;
6. Citizenship information, “voting results per representative”, “accounting and

financial reports/ fiscal management report”, “access to bidding and
contracts”.
4.3 Analysis and results
One can observe that examined variables found in visited web sites are
generally relevant. The proportion of observations indicating good governance
variables oscillated between 5.8% and 90%. Median was 35 percent: it can therefore
be said that in 35% of the cases one can find good governance variables in the visited
web sites. That is, 50% of the variables have more (or less) of the observations in the
visited web sites. Adopting a more rigorous estimator like “Hampel’s M Estimator”
(which is 40%), one can safely say that when a proportion of occurrences is above
40%, the variable being analyzed will be considered relevant or satisfactory. Among
17 (seventeen) descriptive variables adopted, 9 (nine) were found above 35% of the
cases, and 8 (eight) occurred above 40%, considered a critical value or typical for
accepting relevancy.
Estimator Huber’s Tukey,s Hampel’s Andrews’Wave

M-Estimator Biweight M-Estimator
Proportion of 39,363 39,511 40,267 39,547
the
Factor found
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The first variable studied was “Structure, organization and composition of the
Legislative Chamber”. It is interesting to observe that this variable was present in 72%
of the web sites visited, absent in 28% of the cases. Information about the structure of
the chambers is present in the majority of the examined web sites.
The second variable, “List of the representatives” refers to whether or not one
can find the list of the elected representatives of a Legislative Chamber in its web site.
The List of representatives was found in 89.2% of the cases.
The variable “Internal Rules” is present in 53.3 % of the observations. This high
estimate shows that more than half of the web sites inform on internal operations of
their respective legislative chambers.
The variable “Organic Law or Constitution” occurs 63.3% of the cases, showing
a concern with informing the public regarding the major legal instrument regulating
spheres and levels of power.
As for “Daily Agenda” the proportion of cases found (30.8%) is smaller than the
cases not found (69.2%). Even so, this proportion can considered satisfactory if it is
understood that this value corresponds to 1/3 of the Latin American web sites
researched.
The variable “Consultation to Legislative proposals (Integral text)” occurs 40.8%

of the cases. This is the minimum relevant value. In this case, one can accept that the
integral texts of the legislative proposals are found in the web sites.
Both variables “Contacts or denunciations” and “Suggestions and criticisms”

can be found in 90% of the cases, being the highest participation in studied web sites.
This is a vigorous indication that almost all web sites are concerned in communicating
with society, allowing citizens to have a direct contact with this constituted power. This
high number of occurrences demonstrates that the introduction and use of ICT can be
a powerful instrument of good governance.
The variable “Accounting and Financial Report / Fiscal Management report” can
be found 52.5% of the visited web sites. This occurrence, in addition to being a
relevant majority, can be understood as advanced in terms of information to the
public, since there was no tradition of accountability on public money before Internet
was widely used. In Brazil, the Law of Fiscal Responsibility obligating periodic
accountability of public expenditures, could be a reason for the increase in this type of
information.
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There is a group of variables below median, that is below the 35% mark. The
variable “List of parties and leaders; forms of access” is found in 30% of the cases.
The variable “Intranet” has the lowest frequency found, with only 6.7% of the cases,
what results in a very low level of internal computerization of the Legislative Chambers.
The variable “Publications, Technical Texts, Library” is found in 25.8% of the visited
sites. The variable “Newspaper or informative bulletin”, in 35% of the cases. The
variable “Radio” with 10%, and “TV” with 15% are also low frequency occurrences.
The variable “Voting Results per representative” appears only 5.8% of the time.
The variable “Access to bidding and contracts” appears with only 20.8% of
occurrences. Introduction of bidding and public contracts in government sites is a
result of a great effort in most Latin America countries trying to expand the number of
vendors. This important transparency component continues to be mostly published in
newspaper or specialized media instead of Internet. This small participation, 20.8% of
the cases, is exactly in the inferior quarter, below which all lowest site participation
variables can be found. Until 1994, no information on bidding and public contracts was
available on the Internet, what makes it somewhat a considerable change.
When one examines the first five variables with a high degree of occurrence,
one can verify that the factors, “contacts, denunciations, suggestions, criticisms, list of
representatives” are unanimously found at above 89% frequency in all sites. The
factors “Structure, organic law, constitution” have high participation, above 63.3%.
From this result it can be stated that the introduction of ICT brought a powerful
interaction tool between society and the legislature, as the access to the Chambers –
once personalized, sporadic, and direct — becomes a constant, non-personalized,
collective action through Internet.
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Proportion of occurrences of studied variables
in visited sites
Variable Participation (%)
1 Contacts or denunciations 90,0

2 Suggestions / criticisms 90,0
3 List of representatives 89,2
4 Structure and Organization 71,7
5 Organic Law / Constitutions 63,3 upper fourth
6 Internal Rules 53,3
7 Acctg + Financial Rprt / Fiscal Mgt Rprt 52,5
8 Consultation to legislative proposals 40,8
9 Newspaper, Informative Bulletin 35,0 median
10 Daily Agenda 30,8
11 List of Parties and Leaders, Access 30,0
12 Publications, technical texts, library 25,8
13 Access to bidding and contracts 20,8 lower fourth
14 TV 15,0
15 Radio 10,0
16 Intranet 6,7
17 Voting Results per representative 5,8
It can be observed that most of the occurrences maintain a proportion between

20.8% and 63.3%. Examination of the Box Plot, slightly assymetric to the right, shows
a greater dispersion among higher values and smaller dispersion among values with a
smaller proportion of cases. It is interesting to observe that variables with smaller
participation in the sites (inferior left side of the box plot) have very different
characteristics. The variable with least participation (“Voting results per
representative”) – the hardest to find with 5.8% of the cases – shows how uninformed
citizens are about on how their representatives voted on certain issues. This indicates
that it is still difficult to evaluate the performance of representatives via internet,
starting from his/her positioning in relation to the issues approved or not. Another
variable with low occurrence is “Intranet” within the legislative which provides a
measure of internal management. Two variables located below the inferior quartile,
“TV” (15%) and “Radio” (10%) are particularly worrying in terms of the legislative
bodies’ communication with society. Low TV use by legislatures is comprehensible,
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given high cost of acquisition, maintenance and operation. However, low utilization
rate on Radio, with a relatively low cost, widespread use, is unjustifiable and it can be
highly stimulated.
Symmetry and variability in factors of governance found
Some highly interesting considerations can be drawn from examination of the

variable “Levels of legislative power” and the factors affecting governance. When
“Levels of Legislative Power” is:
• compared with “Suggestion/criticisms” it can be observed that in 95 cases out of

120 (79.2%) the variable “Suggestion/criticisms” shows in municipal legislative sites;
• contrasted with the variable “List of representatives”, this variable occurs in 95
cases out of 120 (79.2%) in municipal legislative sites;
• compared with “Structure, organization, and composition” it can be observed
that in 75 cases out of 120 (62.3%) the variable “Structure, organization, and
composition” appears in municipal legislative sites;
• contrasted with “Organic Law or Constitution”, this variable shows 64 cases out
of 120 (53.3%) in municipal legislative sites;;
• compared with “Accounting and Financial Report / Fiscal Management Report”,
this variable is observed 58 cases out of 120 (48.3%) in municipal legislative sites;
• contrasted with “Internal Rules”, this variable occurs 56 cases out of 120 (47%)
in municipal legislative sites;
This shows a high correlation between good governance and the use of ICTs in
local governments, measured by the occurrence of certain variables in the sites
analyzed.
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4.3.1 Proportions of occurrences of factors of governance in studied sites
Some commentaries can be added from examining intersections between

factors analyzed in visited sites. For example, the contingency table below of variables
“Suggestions and Criticisms” versus “List of Representatives” show that when the “List
of Representatives” is found, the variable “Suggestions and Criticisms” is also present.
In 94.4% of the 107 cases when the variable “List of Representatives” occurred, the
variable “Suggestions and Criticisms” was also found.
Suggestions & Criticisms versus List of Representatives

List of Representatives
Not
Found Total
Found
101 7 108
Found
Suggestions 94,4% 53,8 90,0%
& Criticisms Not 6 6 12
Found 5,6% 46,2% 10,0%
107 13 120
Total
100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
The contingency table shows the variable “Suggestions and criticisms” versus
“Consultation to Legislative Proposals”, both occurring at the same time. In 98% of 49
cases when the variable “Consultation to Legislative Proposals” occurred, the variable
“Suggestions and Criticisms” was also found.
Suggestion & Criticism versus Consultation to Legislative Proposals

Consultation to Legislative Proposals
Not
Found Total
Found
48 60 108
Found
Suggestion & 98,0% 84,5% 90%
Criticism 1 11 12
Not Found
2,0% 15,5% 10,0%
49 71 120
Total
100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
The relation (if it were one) between variables “access to bidding and public
contracts” and “Newspaper” was examined. That is, if present, the point was to know
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whether the variable “access to bidding” sent the visitor to some other publication, in
which this important information on public business would be present. In only 14 out
of the 120 reviewed sites these two modes were simultaneous. However, it was
curious to see in 13 cases out 120 in which “access to bidding” was found with no
reference to “Newspaper”.
Access to Bidding and Public Contracts versus Newspapers

Newspapers
Not
Found Total
Found
14 13 27
Access to Found
33,3% 16,7% 22,5%
Bidding and
Contracts 28 65 93
Not Found
66,7% 83,3% 77,5%
42 78 120
Total
100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
Examining the intersection between “List of Representatives” and “List of

parties, leaders, and forms of access”, the occurrence of both only happens in 33
cases out of 120 (27.5%). Even so, in 91.7% of 36 cases where “List of parties,
leaders, and access” is found, one can also find “List of Representatives”. Generally
speaking, there is a strong presence of “List of Representatives”, but a weak presence
of “List of parties, leaders and form of access”.
List of Representatives versus List of Parties, Leaders and Acess

List of Parties, Leaders and Acess
Not
Found Total
Found
33 74 107
Found
List of 91,7% 88,1% 89,2%
Representatives 3 10 13
Not found
8,3% 11,9% 10,8%
36 84 120
Total
100% 100% 100%
Interaction between Radio and Newspaper is a case in point. Only 9 out of 120
cases (7.5%) appear simultaneously in studied sites. Only 21.4% of 42 cases showed
Newspaper appearing at the same time as Radio. In 96.2% of studied cases there no
simultaneous occurrence Radio and Newspaper.
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Radio versus Newspaper
Newspaper
Not
Found Total
Found
9 3 12
Found 21,4% 3,8% 10,0%
7,5% 2,5% 10,0%
Radio
33 75 108
Not Found 78,6% 96,2% 90,0%
27,5% 62,5% 90,0%
18 102 120
Total 100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
15,0% 85,0% 100,0%
Also interaction between Radio and TV is weak. Only 5% of simultaneous

occurrences when the variable Radio is cited together with TV in researched sites.
Radio versus TV
TV
Not
Found Total
Found
6 6 12
Found 33,5% 5,9% 10,0%
5,0% 5,0% 10,0%
Radio
12 96 108
Not Found 66,7% 94,1% 90,0%
10,0% 80,0% 90,0%
18 102 120
Total 100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
15,0% 85,0% 100,0%
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4.4 Conclusions
Some final conclusions can be discussed and presented as guidelines to

improve sites according to the research findings. To begin with, ICT use, as it was
measured on evaluated sites, has improved aspects of governance with respect to
transparency; as shown, all studied variables have some form of presence on the
websites. Another measure on the improvement of local governance is the greater
interaction between citizens and the legislatures, via Web.
However, a few recommendations can be made. The first refers to the need of
improving access to different Legislative sites. The second recommendation refers to
improving access to the variables, in other words, the need to incorporate factors of
governance to the sites. The third refers to the need of expanding the number of local
legislative sites in Latin American municipalities.
There is an urgent need to incorporate information about variables with

proportions below the median, such as:
• “legislative session daily agenda”;

• “list of parties and their respective leaderships”, but above all, forms of
access to the parties and their representatives;
• “access to bidding and public contracts” done within the public sector;
• guaranteeing citizens’ access to “publications, technical texts and
libraries” of legislative chambers;
• access to “voting results per representative” to society as a whole;
• information about existing radios, TVs, newspapers and informative
bulletins of the legislative organs and the operation of these communication
media
Some other measures can also be considered:
• To optimize information contained in sites, raising the number of factors

of governance found to a higher level from where it is today; to do so it is only
necessary to incorporate new and better information to existing sites;
• To stimulate the creation of “intranet” networks as a form of improving
internal administrative operations of the legislative chambers, therefore also
improving their capacity to interact with society;
70
• To stimulate the insertion of simultaneous information in several sites in
ways that one could improve the degree of association between variables - that
is, the sites should incorporate information about governance at different levels;
• site managers should be stimulated to standardize their information by
clearly incorporating factors such as transparency, citizen participation,
decentralization, base social movements, as well as including elements of
comparability;
• sites should necessarily include a section with “Questions and Answers”
and “Proposals to the Legislative organ”.
Finally, one should argue that incorporation of ICT is a process from which
there is no turning around. Furthermore, there is a strong tendency to extensively
create sites in Latin American municipalities. However it would be advisable that
uniform guidelines be followed, guidelines which would guarantee the incorporation of
relevant information to society and which should effectively permit a high degree of
interaction between citizens and governments.
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5. GUIDELINES FOR ELABORATING A TRAINING PROGRAM FOR ICT
UTILIZATION
5.1 Introduction
In this age of information society, one of the most important public policies for
digital inclusion is exactly the training of human resources necessary not only for
optimizing ICT use, but also for its capacity of multiplying instances and applications.
The design of a training programme on ICT policy should include, among other
aspects, the identification of opportunities for complete insertion of Latin American and
the Caribbean countries into the economy of knowledge. Technological development
with ICT use can bring to some countries, maybe today excluded, their immediate
insertion in an advanced phase of technological progress. That is, ICT use can allow
countries to skip phases of technological development. However, the digital gap will
not be reduced if the process of introducing “digital democracy” at the local level is not
promoted simultaneously.
5.2 Background
Several initiatives attempting to stimulate local development of ICT and related

training programs can be recalled. For example, an IDB (Inter-American Development
Bank) project known as “Creative Community Initiative" - Information Technology for
Development Division (www.iadb.org/ict4dev/comuni.htm) had for objective to
encourage local communities and citizens to actively get involved and participate in
creating their own communities by using ICT, what reflects the true needs of
communities / citizens. Creative communities projects also allow communities to
participate in the local and central government policy-making process interactively.
Some creative communities are also called “smart communities” in some countries.
This IDB project suggests three directions countries can take: 1) a private-
sector-driven approach; 2) a national government-driven approach; or 3) community or
local government-driven approach. The third approach is seen as particularly
promising since it builds a local infrastructure which allows ICT utilization,
“namely, the application of ICT driven by the needs and priorities established of local
community members and institutions, including some combination of municipal, private sector and
civil society actors”. Creative Community Initiative (www.iadb.org/ict4dev/comuni.Htm)
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There are registered experiences in Latin America which stimulated ICT use by
forming “creative communities” such as the project LINCOS (Little Intelligent
Communities) in Costa Rica. The Foundation Costa Rica for Development
encouraged this initiative seeking to create modern community centers using ICT as a
support to stimulate tele-medicine, video-conferences and distance education
programs, for example. Other LINCOS initiatives have been registered in other
Central American countries.
ICT use has been discussed as a priority for the future. However, multiple
forms of interaction between community and government can already be implemented.
The network operation of social movements, the utilization of distance education
mechanisms, the use of less expensive digital means than published media, are
excellent examples of digital technologies in the present.
The development of a training program on a large scale could contribute

significantly to the expansion of ICT utilization and to the optimization of the interaction
processes between citizens and government.
5.3 Justification
The actors interviewed in the different Latin American regions were unanimous
in reaffirming the opportunity and the convenience of implementing such training or
educational programs. In addition, different experiences on governance in Latin
America all show the possibilities of ICT uses. The introduction of ICT for improving
governance in countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico has had
an effective outcome, as experiences described and cases reported have shown.
As a general finding, statements such as “the public information is public” or

“the information should truly be public” or even “full access to information is a citizen
right” are currently used in the Latin American countries visited. The role of the press
in overseeing citizens’ rights and to “facilitate” access to information is also widely
recognized.
Public oversight as a vector of transparency in decision-making processes are

increasing. Oversight and public control on government’s economic and financial
transactions (bidding and contracts) has extended to transnational transactions, to
which all should have access (principle of equity), becoming a current practice
transformed into law in many countries.
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5.4 Objectives
ICT introduction for improving governance at the local level can change
substantially social and political relations in a society. The actors involved in this
process, be them now active or those who are yet to be integrated, will have a key role
in such a way to include important community segments in the information society
Governance at the local level must begin to be analyzed at the legislative level.
Local legislatures are represented by a typical elite (president of the municipal
chamber in Brazil, president of the Junta of “regidores” in some countries in Latin
America), most of the times. However, at the local level governance is directly
associated to the figure of the mayor who, in many cases, exerts a strong influence on
the local legislature. These two actors have shared responsibility for technological
innovation.
Our observations have shown that innovations in administrative patterns with

computer use as a day-to-day instrument of work, using Internet for e-government,
other mechanisms/instruments/technologies of communication for interacting with the
community have been initiatives of mayors, presidents of chambers, and local
legislators (vereadores and regidores).
However, at the level of society many other actors have organized themselves
to pose demands on the Legislative and the Executive Branches. This has clarified
their operations and strategies of action towards a deeper interaction dynamic between
the government and the community. Society has organized itself in networks to inform
itself, to exchange information and to guarantee a process of “self organization”. Thus,
organized groups in society have presented themselves as a possible and effective
alternative to channel the expansion of ICT.
5.5 Assumptions
A training program in human resources for stimulating ICT use in order to

improve local level governance should take into account how electronic or digital
participation differs from processes of traditional participating within a political process.
The fundamental difference resides in the fact that digital processes are timeless (with
or without elections) and do not require the “physical presence” of those involved in the
political process.
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Training should also answer the following basic questions:
- what are the new roles and responsibilities of the Legislature, of the public
sector, of the NGOs, in relation to electronic participation in political processes?
- what are the resources and factors necessary to make electronic participation
effective?
- what are the new measures to be taken, given the increase in electronic
participation, to guarantee engagement of all citizens and to reduce the digital
divide?
- how to take electronic participation to minority groups in Latin America, such as

women in rural areas, indigenous groups in the Andean region, rural workers in
disperse areas such as the Amazon or residents of the peripheries of the large
cities?
This educational program should consider that individuals to be trained should

be apt to participate in interaction projects online with the utilization of ICTs and
communication tools such as educational programs through the radio and TV.
5.6 Guidelines
The design of a training program for stimulating ICT use as a

component in the improvement in governance should include a set of guidelines for
the expansion of ICT at the local government. Thus, this policy formulation should
take into consideration social agents involved such as political, transformation, and
economic actors. Having in mind the Latin American characteristics, it is clear that the
goals to be established (how many and who are the individuals to be trained, schools,
universities, legislative assemblies, executive branches, several actors involved) can
only be specified on a country by country basis.
However, one could establish what aspects of governance are to be met,

how to increase the characteristics of governance with ICT, and how to educate target-
populations to improve governance. The target-population intended (public sector,
private sector, third sector) shall be examined regarding its principal characteristics
such as age group, schooling or educational background, and familiarity with ICT.
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Other aspects such as children education or change of habits for adults with some
schooling should also be considered.
Recommendations for implementing such a program, which means, what

resources are to be used, what modalities of training and procedures
operacionalization are to be used can be summarized below:
• Modalities of training include “training for trainers” and the “final training of users
and those involved in the process”. The format of the courses could have the following
categories: courses with attendance; distance education; teleconferences; sites on the
web.
• The format of the material can include: paper material for publishing; digital
material; video tapes; audio material; audio-visual material.
• The content and issues to be covered should involve technological education,

that is, computer education, access to information techniques, but essentially political
education, comprising digital democracy, participatory democracy, interaction with the
legislature, citizen participation, the situation and participation on social grassroots
movements in the net, the current legislation of each country, its social organization,
its political organization, the processes of budgetary formulation and the participatory
budget, the questions of transparency, decentralization, the constitution, and justice.
The formulation of the training program should consider the necessary statistics
to accomplish its objectives and goals comprehending:
• Population per country

• Number of internet users per country
• Number of computer users per country
• Local Legislatures per country
• Local Executives per country
• Dimension of digital divide
• Digital distance to be narrowed by country with respect to Europe or
• USA.
• Public institutions users of internet
• ICT statistics
• Radio, Educational Radios, Community Radio, commercial TVs,
Educational TVs
• Type of personnel to be trained (statistical dimension)
• Categories to be formed (dimension)
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• Programs
per country (types and specifications)
• Successful experiences in formation of personnel for ICT and
governance
• Projects existing in the countries
• Population target – how many could be trained or be reached
To formulate a program means to study the demand, the target public, to clarify
for whom should the training be directed, who should have the capacity for multiplying
contents, defining clearly the themes and the areas for training. It means,
furthermore, to verify the options, the conditions and the trends in Latin America, on
utilizing technologies of electronic training (intelligent practices, replicable experiences,
models). There should be examined the possibilities for introducing and making
permanent the ICT tools, as well as the technological infrastructure for introducing and
implementing ICT for improving local governance, on the short, medium and long term.
5.7 Target Population
The guidelines for a Training Program for utilization of ICT to improve

governance should allow an open training system, involving citizen participation, to
discuss the use and the potential of the ICT (existence of programs, stimuli, directives;
supply and demand, digital exclusion), announcing the full characteristics of how
modern technologies affect citizens, to bring interactive tools to reach the public,
should follow an inventory made up of the following elements:
• Local leaders linked directly and indirectly to the legislative/executive;

• Members of local commissions of technologies and/or those interested in
technological procedures who could interact with the legislators;
• Community leaders interested in “digital inclusion”;
• Commissions or Committees for Community action (“pressure” groups,
“committees of demand”, local service groups, among others);
• Different actors involved in the governance processes for which ICT can
be instruments of improving / implementing / efficiency / effectiveness / of their
activities.
A training program in human resources for stimulating ICT use in order to

improve governance in Latin America necessarily involves actors in the process of
governance. All those who are members of government and of the community who, in
one way or another, are responsible for carrying on the business of politics and
77
administration, who get involved with the issues and with the public decisions should
participate in this great effort to reduce the digital divide.
Several activities must be started at the same time involving several sectors so
that training will provoke the desired effects of engaging effective and increasing digital
participation.
Public sector personnel (public servants of different levels, managers,

responsible for the diffusion of information), education personnel (teachers and
students of different levels); and the agents which represent communities and
collectivities – all should be integrated in a process of information exchange and of ICT
learning so as to maximize of the benefits of its utilization.
The guidelines for such a program could be established for different

beneficiaries. Thus, in the private sector, small and medium size businesses could be
the first recipients of such a program, because the increase in productivity and
competitiveness could be based on the incorporation of innovative technologies. To
have these companies participating in a training program is crucial, because once
they are connected they could become channels of communication between the public
and the private. However, most importantly, is to stimulate leadership in the private
sector to interact with the public sector through ICT.
In the public sector, the educational process must be directed towards

guaranteeing higher efficiency of the services rendered by public servants, above all,
transparency of governmental actions. The education sector must be primarily the
place where investment in innovative technologies should be increased for the creation
of conditions needed for training in the abilities needed for ICT utilization and
expansion, exactly because of its fundamental characteristics of multiplying attitudes,
values and procedures among youth and young professionals.
Civil society organizations constitute a natural social network and should be

part of the instances to be integrated into a web portal, be it for interaction among
themselves or in relation to government. The objective intended is that all actors not
only be in a network as passive users on the net, but making active use of it.
The pattern to be followed in a training program should include examples of

participation, attractive to all participants, including introductory topics on connectivity
and use of the Internet, but above all including basic problems of governance and of
interactivity among citizens and government. Good teaching practices of distance
education are fundamental in this process.
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Each and every program should privilege the possibilities and the facilities to
improve digital democracy.
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6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
There is a sense of growing citizenship in Latin America; it has been stimulated

and is a basic requirement for governance. There is a definite improvement in
governance conditions with ICT utilization.
ICT represents the introduction of a new form of political relationship in which

individuals in society, their representatives, social groups, social and political
organizations, pressure groups, among others, can act directly over governments. ICT
introduction to improve local governance represents a decisive step in the
democratization process of public information and in citizen-government-citizen, or
citizen-citizen-government interactions. The citizen-government relationship
recognizes and warrants that government authorities will fulfill public demands and
priorities.
It is generally recognized that ICT use in the public sector is a three-phase

process. First, the introduction of computers in public management, particularly in
internal services. The second phase regards implanting e-government. Most of the
time, this is a unilateral procedure, that is, from government to the citizen, and in most
cases it does not permit interaction. The third phase, which is the object of this study,
is the utilization of ICT to improve good governance. ICT introduction represents a
decisive step in the process of democratization of public information, and in the
interaction between citizens and government, assuring the provision of services by
government of the public’s demands and priorities .
New political relations of groups, individuals, social and political organizations

with governments, only has stimulated social movements to increase even more the
utilization of ICT as an instrument for improving governance. Within participative social
movements, individuals engage in a process of searching informative material (be it of
individual or community interests) and actively engage in an interaction process with
governments. Therefore, according to the three phases mentioned above, this is one
of the factors that moves local governments towards a digital or information society.
Different actors interviewed in several regions of Latin America affirm

unanimously the opportunity and the convenience on implementing a training program
for the formation of people on ICT use. On the other hand, different Latin American
experiences in governance already point to strong possibilities of a viable, efficient
and relevant utilization of ICT. Cases reporting ICT introduction in countries like Brazil,
Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico and other available experiences for improving
governance have shown their effectiveness.
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There is a strong interest by municipal administrations in Brazil to see how ICT
can help planning and budget formulation and citizen participation. Mayors and
presidents of Municipal Chambers agree on the need for a training program and digital
inclusion. They stated:
• “there is participation in the community through budget formulation; that is citizen

participation”;
• “the introduction of a training program would help the borough and local
leadership”;
• “personnel training in ICT would be unavoidable”;
• “one needs to increase the capacity of interaction and of communication with
Municipal Executive body”;
• “there is a need for personnel training; without it, it will be impossible to use ICT in
such a way that citizens can follow the work of the Legislature”.
There were also original suggestions on training the population, for instance in
using trucks with ICT equipment and trainers to roam city boroughs in a true ICT
caravan.
Brazilian Municipal authorities have stressed the need for stimuli for the use of
ICT in private sector activities in such a way that competitiveness and quality of
services and products are improved and would result in the consequent increase in the
savings and investment capacity of local communities.
In Uruguay, contact with Rivera authorities showed that introduction of ICT was
timely in order to increase citizen participation in local government and that projects
spurring ICT would produce synergy with other ongoing local projects.
Digital inclusion is a local government concern where it can be observed that

the process files circulating in the Rivera Municipal Executive can already be followed
through computers and at the same time there are digital communal centers being
implemented in Rivera. Many local conditions exist to make operative a training
program for personnel, ranging from infrastructure – such as the existence of a
computer laboratory, the availability of courses at the Education Council and a video-
conference room, – up to the political will, and dynamic process of modernization of
municipal authorities.
In Ecuador, a great concern of the central administration concerning the

introduction of ICT is the improvement of management processes. Within the
81
presidency of the Ecuadorian Republic, one can find the Coordination of the
Management System responsible for the development of a complex managerial
system for the presidency. However, it is at the local level that the concern with the
utilization of new technologies manifests itself. For example, the Quito Municipal
Executive discusses strategic planning with the implementation of the Quito Siglo XXI
Development Plan (adjustment 2002-2004). Use of ICTs is highly regarded as a
privileged management tool.
Ecuadorian municipalities, through their association (AME), have debated the

new role of the municipalities in the national scene and how to support decentralization
programs, particularly budget decentralization. One of AME’s concerns is on how to
create points of support for a training program on ICT.
Popular Radios in Ecuador are an example of successful use of

communications technologies since this communication media penetrates isolated,
almost inaccessible regions, at a low cost and can be operated by local personnel.
The “Coordination for Popular Radios of Ecuador” prepared in Quito a series of

small insertions on the electoral process dealing with the importance of voting as an
exercise of democracy, on the importance of the decision and the weight of the vote.
There is a collective work in preparing material which includes training courses. RED
AMAZONAS was created to integrate local radio stations dealing with ecological and
cultural themes of the Amazon. These are some of the indicators of participation and
call for good governance on debate.
At the local level, the debates with indigenous population on themes – such as
citizenship: citizen participation, the indigenous question and their participation in the
administration, decentralization, preparation of local development plans; and
participatory planning: inclusion of all citizens in local decision-making processes,
experiences on local participative management, local councils – are a constant in all
municipalities visited in Ecuador.
The “School of Leaders” in the Cotacachi Canton is a pioneer experience in

which local leaders are trained by receiving information about citizenship, rights, local
administration, community actions, and prepare themselves for a proactive role in the
community, including passing along knowledge received to other community members.
The “School of Leaders” is a good example of how a training program on information
and communication technologies can help improve governance. Its participants could
receive training on citizen-government relations and how ICT could intervene to
82
improve governance. In addition, these leaders could act to duplicate knowledge to
other community members.
Transparency is a recurrent theme in Latin America. Oversight on decision

processes, transparency with respect to economic-financial transactions of
governmental bidding processes and public contracts, awareness with respect to
transaction processes itself to which all should have access according to the principle
of equity, has become a common concern and practice, transformed into law in many
countries.
As a general finding, one can observe that statements such as “public

information is public” or “information should be truly public”, or even “full access to
information is a citizen right” are widespread in all Latin-American countries visited in
this project. The role of the press in raising the awareness of citizen rights and as
facilitator of access to information are also recognized.
In Peru, a meeting with the local press and the discussions held over problems
of access to public information, transparency, and the role of the press in obtaining
collective interest public information brought a clear understanding of the role of the
press in fighting corruption. This country has active anti-corruption NGOs that could
very easily act as focal points in a training program for the use of ICT, as well as in the
so called “citizenship oversight”.
In Villa El Salvador, many initiatives have propitiated an autonomous and

secure development of this urbanized area. Today, Villa el Salvador has become a
world reference in how a collective effort can bring benefits to the community. In
addition to collective efforts to build houses, schools, community restaurants, voluntary
work, there is a strong concern with how modern ICT can help, and how digital
exclusion can impede community development. This concern is so powerful that
education for a knowledge society has become a reality in this district.
A secondary school called “Faith and Happiness” (Fé y Alegria), in Villa El

Salvador, maintains a Computer Room where children learn how to use the Internet to
gather information about citizenship and other information of general interest for their
community, such as, geographical information, projects related to their community,
finding available school resources, public interest information, national and
international information.
One could observe in Lima many social movements with a high degree of
participation of concerned citizens with food security and distribution of food. They
83
have many channels of communication with society such as the “Club of Mothers”, the
“comedores Populares” (popular eating places). In a “discussion group” with
approximately 30 representatives of grassroots social organizations, the thread of the
debate was the convenience, the opportunity and the alternatives for the introduction
of ICT in their activities through implementing a human resources training program in
ICT. There was a clear interest of local society in this subject. This was a remarkable
experience where all could express freely their ideas and opinions on digital exclusion
and the political and social situation in Peru, particularly in relation to social assistance
projects and citizen participation using ICT.
While this project was underway, the municipality of Lima promoted, a meeting
with several community representatives – Club of Mothers, Popular and Self-Managed
Eating Places, Glass of Milk Committee (Club de Madres, Comedores Populares y
autogestionarios, Comite Vaso de Leche) – where the possibility of introducing ICT in
routine activities of these organizations was discussed. The spontaneous initiatives of
citizen organizations to provide a service to the community. Here, however, the
representatives expressed their views on how difficult it was to communicate and the
high costs of infra-structure, the difficulties and the access prices to the network.
Nevertheless, given the characteristics of their activities, these groups could change
into an important link to the use of ICT, especially to guarantee their communication
between government and civil society.
As for decentralization as a factor of governance, there is in Peru a firm will

accompanied by a great deal of indecision as to the necessary procedures for its
implementation. Government is providing a decentralization policy and opening up a
bureaucratic space for thinking, planning and implementation of decentralization, in
which ICT has a preponderant role.
There is a great concern with the decentralization theme in Peru. There is a

strong belief that this country is prepared for digital democracy and that current
conditions are favorable to implant ICT to improve governance. There is a part of the
public administration that is frankly optimistic in relation to the conditions the country
has to assimilate new technologies and reduce digital gap.
In Mexico, many municipalities adopted innovating procedures in public

administration, such as the construction of a database for automation of taxpayers
files, for facilitating bureaucratic services with the Municipal Executive, for urban
zoning, for optimizing collection of taxes, among others. These actions denote the
importance local governments in Mexico began giving to use of ICT as a form of
interaction with communities.
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In the city of Querétaro, there is a Transparency Commission, a consulting
entity with a strong citizen participation, acting as an auxiliary internal control of the
municipality, responsible for safeguarding principles of legality, impartiality, loyalty,
efficiency, and honor in municipal public administration. Querétaro’s strategy is similar
to other municipalities investigated, that is, a strong concern with citizen participation.
This municipality tries to provide an effective administration based on social welfare,
which underpins the capacity for joint action within society.
The administration of other municipalities is creating a network infrastructure to

allow their populations integral access to its services on-line. Changes, such as the
improvement of citizen services, reduction of administrative costs, increase of citizen
trust, transparency of budget accountability, increase of the savings capacity due to
free access to public services such as those online are expected.
Several advances will be necessary for improving local governance in Latin

America. Initially, incentives for social movements using ICT to expand participative
democracy are needed; their experiences could be evaluated and eventually replicated
and diffused. Transparency mechanisms should become a routine; decentralization
must become a current practice, and the education of youth and adults must be
stimulated to reduce the digital gap.
The use and the potential for expanding ICT depends essentially on a physical
base. Magnifying this base will guarantee the necessary infrastructure for the
implementation of information technologies, as the case of Internet demonstrates. An
adequate physical base is fundamental, that is, expanding the telecommunication
system, extending telephone lines, lowering the costs of system access and utilization
time, reduction in equipment costs, lowering provider services costs, and, most of all,
establishing entry points that facilitate public access, following the example of Internet
Cabins (telecentres) in Peru. Having done that, the next step is to prepare an
“educational base”, that is, preparing youth and adults to use information technologies.
Education for the use of ICT should privilege improvement of local governance.
It should comprise political education (understanding the functioning of institutions,
mapping institutions, functioning of the parties, access to legislation), the technological
education for local governance and the use of ICT to access the legislative and the
executive.
The use of ICT, measured by the performance of evaluated websites, has

improved some aspects of governance with respect to transparency and citizen
85
participation, as it could be observed in the comparative study of inclusion of
governance factors in the sites of Legislative Chambers of Latin-American
municipalities.
Improvement of local governance can also be measured by the greater

interaction between citizens and the legislative organs via the web. Some
recommendations such as the need to improve access to different legislative sites, the
need for incorporating factors of governance into the sites, and the need to expand the
number of local legislature sites can be made.
The incorporation of ICT is an irreversible process, and there is a strong trend

for a generalized creation of institutional websites in Latin-American municipalities. It
would be advisable, however, to have general guidelines for a uniform installation
process and its development would guarantee the incorporation of relevant information
to society. In this case, one could really have interaction between citizens and
government.
Organized groups, pressure groups, and NGOs have structured themselves to

engage in networks to expose their opinions, present their proposals, act in a cohesive
and synchronized way, but above all, to allow interaction with the public power. As a
network, these actors can behave with more effectiveness in diverse segments of
interests. The establishment of networks maximizes permanent connection among
these groups in order to guarantee their actions’ effectiveness and rapid
communication processes. Hence, regular use of ICT favors groups-society relation
and favors a more effective groups-government interaction.
86
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KÜSTER, Angela. (2002) “Governo Eletrônico e a Participação Cidadã: experiências

da Alemanha, do Brasil e da Espanha”. Relatório do Seminário Internacional.
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“@LIS: ALianza para la Sociedad de la Información”. Downloaded at:
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PILCO, Sami Ayriwa. (2000) “La red de Internet y los Pueblos Indígenas de América
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PNUD - Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo. (2001). “Human
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SOUSA, Maria de Fátima Guerra de. “Guia do Aluno: desafios da aprendizagem

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ie.asp
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UNIÓN DE ORGANIZACIONES CAMPESINAS INDÍGENAS DE COTACACHI –
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Miscellaneous
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emocracy/Newsletter4.htm
“Can a text message save democracy?” (2002) England. Downloaded at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/1949180.stm
“Canadá”. Downloaded at: http://www.cfired.org.ar/ingles/boletin/ultimo/conec1.htm
“Chasquinet.org”. Downloaded at: http://www.chasquinet.org/index.html
“Cotacachi: Servir a todos”. Downloaded at: http://puebloindio.nativeweb.org/pag4.html
“Creative Community initiative”. Downloaded at:

http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/comuni.htm
“Democratización de la gestión municipal para un desarrollo equitativo y sostenible”.

Cotacachi, Ecuador. Downloaded at:
http://habitat.aq.upm.es/bpal/onu00/bp763.html
“Democratization of Municipal Management for Equitable and Sustainable

Development”. Ecuador. Downloaded at:
http://www.iclei.org/%20/iclei/ecuador.html
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“Digital Divide Basics”. Downloaded at:
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“E-governance”. Downloaded at: http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/governance.htm
“E-Government”. Downloaded at: http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/gov.htm
“El Programa Huascaram 2002 – 2006”. Downloaded at: www.huascaran.gob.pe
“E-Participation and the Policy Process from the Perspective of the Public Service -
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“Estado del Arte de los Telecentros de América Latina y el Caribe”. Downloaded at:
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“Etapas y Rupturas en el Proceso de Control del Territorio”. Downloaded at:

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“E-vote Election ‘by 2006”. Downloaded at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2133286.stm
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1916184.stm
“E-voting: A load of old ballots?” (2002) England. Downloaded at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/1746902.stm
“Experiências de Telecentros”. Downloaded at: http://www.tele-

centros.org/comunidad/index.php?aux=experien.php
“FUST - Fundo de Universalização dos Serviços de Telecomunicações”. Downloaded

at: http://www.nativeweb.org/hosted/sami/tesis.html
“Gobernabilidad”. Downloaded at:

http://www.britishcouncil.org.ar/spanish/governance/gobernabilidad.htm
“ICT for Development”. Downloaded at:

http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/133831/?&more=yes
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http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/ictdev.htm
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“Literacy and Learning”. Downloaded at:
“Livro Verde - Sociedade da Informação no Brasil”. (2000) Organizador - Tadao

Takahashi. Brasília - Brasil: Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia. 153p.
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“Proposta de Política de Governo Eletrônico para o Poder Executivo Federal”. (2000)

Grupo de Trabalho Novas Formas Eletrônicas de Interação. Brasília - Brasil.
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“Public Policy and Regulatory Framework in Knowledge Economy”. Downloaded at:

http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/public.htm
“Race for e-votes off to slow start”. (2002) England. Downloaded at:
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“Text message votes 'trivialises' elections”. (2002) England. Downloaded at:

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“The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, explains why he believes that
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http://www.peru.org.pe/default.asp
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ANNEX 1: GLOSSARY
Advanced infrastructure
Telecommunications system (hardware and software) that allows for long
distance digital connections, with service quality and high-speed. It includes
backbones and their derivations. LIVRO VERDE(2000)
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network – ARPANET

Far reaching net created in 1969 by the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(Arpa), consorting with the main US universities and research centers, to investigate
high-speed safe communication techniques for defense. Known as the Internet’s
mother, it stopped operations in 1990.
http://www.socinfo.org.br/livro_verde/download.htm
Applicative
It is computer software to perform specific tasks such as text processors,
worksheets to organize and list data, file compactors, and simulations.
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line – ADSL

Technology is used to allow for data o be send through conventional phone
lines at high levels.
http://www.adsl.com
Asynchronous Transfer Mode – ATM

Net technology based on data transfer in not necessarily periodical (non-
synchronal) cells, fixed and of small size, to allow for digital data transmission of
different software through the same net.
Backbone
“Back Spine” of a net. Relations composing the high-speed infrastructure,
intertwining several nets and sub nets.
Bit
In a binary digital system, bit is the smallest information unit, assuming only two
values – 0 or 1 (binary digit).
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Bitnet
Net formed by central computers (mainframe) linking North-American
educational institutions mainly, to transmit electronic mail messages. It is fact the
acronym of “because it is time network”. Despite its differences from Internet, the email
messages could be exchanged between two nets.
Bps
Bits per second. The bps measures data transfer rate.
Budgetary Data Integrated System (SIDOR - Brazil)

SIDOR is a set of procedures to process the budget through electronic
computation. The Federal Budget Secretariat (SOF) supervises SIDOR..
http://www.stn.fazenda.gov.br/servicos/glossario/glossario_a.asp
Byte
Information unit corresponding to eight bits.
Citizenship Net
It is a system for intervention, articulation and promotion of local development in
all its forms.
http://www.iberomunicipios.org/glosario/
Content
Information that can be used that circulates at the Internet, such as home
pages, messages, email addresses, digital library contents, etc.
Cybercoffee
Public space where Internet access services are offered usually through
payment of a fee – usually at commercial establishments such as bookshops, bars,
pubs, restaurants.
Cyberdemocracy or Digital Democracy

Democracy model that allows for the daily and direct participation of citizens in
the public policy decision making process through information nets and automated
communication.
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Decentralization
Jointly with centralization, they represent two opposing principles at an
organization. The first disaggregating, and the second aggregating power. They are
formulas, tendencies, principles of an organization, ways of setting an administrative or
political apparatus. As to pluralism, decentralization also configures the fight for local
autonomy aiming at democratization; a distribution of sovereign to arrive at self-
governing. However; this vision that many call utopist can lead to disorganization and
conflict. BOBBIO, Norberto; MATTEUCCI, Nicola; and PASQUINO, Giafranco. (1986)
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing – DWDM

Technology used to increase data transmission speed through fiber optics.
Digital alphabetization
Process of acquiring basic computer use, net use, and Internet services
abilities. LIVRO VERDE(2000)
Digital City
Transfer of city models which exist in real life to the info world. A different way
to approach a real city, to walk on its streets and most emblematic sites, to know the
services offered in the city. It also allows for the participation of its citizens through the
Internet. These digital cities allow citizens to, among other things, solve tasks via the
Internet, electronic commerce, phone-work, phone-information, phone-medicine and
tourism.
Digital Division
There has always been a gap between those people and communities who can
make effective use of informatics technology and those who cannot. Now, more than
ever, unequal adoption of technology excludes many from reaping the fruits of the
economy. We use the term "digital divide" to refer to this gap between those who can
effectively use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and
those who cannot. While a consensus does not exist on the extent of the divide (and
whether the divide is growing or narrowing), researchers are nearly unanimous in
acknowledging that some sort of divide exists at this point in time.
Digital Exclusion
The process of connecting on line (specially to the Internet) in several regions in
the World is very diverse. The infrastructure required includes telecommunications
infrastructure and computational infrastructure. It is asymmetrically distributed. As a
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consequence, there is a clear tendency to division of the world in people who benefit
from the infrastructure and people who are excluded from the digital revolution.
Digital Inclusion
Proposals and programs to seek solutions to provide Internet access to people
from different social segments and regions, avoiding the creation of an “info-excluded”
class. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Digital library
Digital Library contains contents in digital and electronic format, to be accessed
locally or via communication nets. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Digitalization
Conversion of information to the digital format.
Digital Subscriber Line

General term to all kinds of subscriber digital lines, including ADSL and SDSL.
Directory Service
Service to help locate people, objects or information associated to an
organization similar to the phone books with information on the telephone owners.
LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Distance Learning
Educational process where there is a physical separations between teacher and
student. It substitutes the personal interaction which is typical of a classroom by the
ICT interaction. ICT has incorporated new services from email to teleconferencing.
E-business
Economic activity where buy and sell transactions take place, including
marketing and payments. Over the net, in digital format. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
E-commerce or electronic commerce

E-commerce refers to economic transactions (buy and sell) through computer
nets.
E-government
In general, it can be said that in most places the general principles of E-
government, at any stage, are democratization of information access; universal service
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access to the public; individual privacy protection; and reduction in regional and social
inequalities.
In sum, e-government is offering services and information through the Internet
continuously (24 hoursx7days) in an integrated way, fast, objectively, transparently and
with social control.
http://www.governoeletronico.gov.br/r2
Electronic Conferences or Discussion Lists

Group of people who associate to each other in order to exchange, via email,
information or opinions on specific topics or for a specific goal. People subscribe to a
user list, have their addresses stored at an specific software for message distribution.
Messages exchanged by such groups can be considered sort of a publication, or
virtual forum. FERREIRA, Aurélio B. (1999)
Electronic Data Interchange – EDI

Data transfer technology at a firm or between different firms through electronic
nets. As more firms connect to the Internet, EDI importance increases, as it is a tool
which is easy to use for buy and sell, and for information exchange.
Electronic kiosk
Space or boots with computers linked to information systems available for
consultation by a specific public (company employees, park visitors, general public).
LIVRO VERDE (2000)
E-mail, electronic mail

Message transmission modality through the electronic net, specially through the
Internet.
EPP
Smaller access providers connect to bigger ones, forming nets which connect
Internet access points called Points of Presence (PoP) or Electronic Points of
Presence (EPP). The Internet infrastructure in itself is composed by net backbones
linking several PoPs or EPPs and forming the part which concentrates the biggest
communication capacity. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Eurocities
The main association of European digital cities. The goal is to give voice to
European digital cities in face of the European community institutions, as well as
107
institutions in other places of the world. It aims to be a meeting point for common
interests of European cities, where 8 out of 10 Europeans live.
European Computer´s Driving Licence – ECDL

Certificate to attest capacity to use computer and Internet.
E-vote
Automatizaton of the electoral process, making elections easier and more
accessible. E-vote generates the correct elections results in just a few hours after the
closing of the election ballots. It leaves little room for external interference or vote
counting maneuvers. It is the development of a current trend of technology use in
various sectors.
Federal Government Finance Administration Integrated System (SIAFI –

Brazil)
SIAFI monitors all activity related to finance administration of Union resources.
It centralizes or uniforms the budget execution procedure through informatics.
Financial Decentralization
Movement of financial resources among several administrative and budgetary
units including:
- Quota - Credit in banking institution current account allocated to a unit
- Transfer-distribution of financial resources according to available credit, to
be used by the budgetary units.
- Sub-Transfer-redistribution, by budgetary units, to administrative units or
other budgetary units in charge of making the payments in order to
implement their work programs.
Geographic Information System - GIS

System used to unite, transform, manipulate, analyse, and produce
georeferenciated information, usually presented as maps, virtual 3D models, tables,
lists, etc. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
GigaPoP
Presence point at the Internet of a new generation with traffic capacity of billion
bits per second.
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Global City
It is the world net of digital cities. City that thanks to the communication
electronic means and communication nets can be virtually accessed by every person
in the planet.
Governance
Many studies associate governance to good governance or good government.
The general definition of governance (World Bank) is the way authority is used in the
country’s resource management towards development. Governance, according to
Melo, refers to the modus operandi of public policies, which includes among other
things issues linked to the institutional-political format of the decision-making process,
to the definition of the appropriate public/private policy mix, to participation and
decentralization, to policy financing mechanisms and to the global reach of the
programs (cf. Melo, 1995:30-31). The concept is not restrict, however, to State
administrative and managerial aspects, nor to the effective functioning of the State
apparatus.
The more recent discussion of governance goes beyond the operational aspect
to incorporate issues related to the articulation patterns and cooperation between
social and political actors, institutional arrangements that coordinate and regulate the
transaction within and through economic system frontiers (Hollingsworth, Schmitter
and Streeck apud Melo, 1995). It is included in this definition not only the traditional
mechanisms of interest aggregation and articulation, such as political parties and
pressure groups, but also informal social nets (of vendors, families, managers),
hierarchies and associations of various types. SANTOS; Maria Helena de Castro.
(1997)
Governance
Broadening the governance concept leads to a less precise distinction from the
governance concept. However, Melo and Diniz prefer to keep the latter to systemic
and institutional conditions under which power is exercised, such as the political
system characteristics, the government form, the relations between branches, the
interest intermediation system. Martins (1995) expresses himself in a similar way and
makes the distinction between governance as institutional architecture and governance
basically as actors’ performance and their capability of political authority. It seems to
me there is little analytical meaning in trying to withhold a concept, to say, as empty as
governance, unless as a historical homage. In such case, the term will be intrinsically
109
linked to ingovernance due to over deaman and excess of participation. Other actors,
however, keep on using the term governance in a broader way, already referring to the
modern context of adjustment policies and State reform, assuming democratic
ambivalence. SANTOS; Maria Helena de Castro. (1997)
Hacker
A person with high technical ability to deal with computations systems or net
communications. Cracker - specialists in info systems that invade other systems
without authorization. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
High Definition Television – HDTV

Emergent television pattern, not yet very much used commercially, which uses
modern digital technology, offering image quality similar to a 35mm film and sound
quality similar to a compact disk. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
High Performance Computing – HPC

Computer technology including computer equipment and software aiming at
optimizing computational services to certain applications or type of applications. The
optimization is usually on processing speed or on the relation between speed and cost.
LIVRO VERDE (2000)
High Performance Computing and Communication – HPCC

In addition to the high performance computation, it also takes the many
configurations needed for the high-speed performance. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
High-Performance Processing
Processing involving computers, basic software and applications manipulating a
large volume of data and executing calculus in high speed. See also HPC.
Host
In Internet context, a host is a computer or a device which has an Internet
address and can communicate with other hosts. It is a knot at the net.
Home page
First and main page of a website. Serves as table of contents or index of
documents saved on that or at a different site.
110
Human Resources Administration Integrated System (SIAPE - Brazil)
SIAPE monitors and controls National Treasury expenses with personnel.
Hypertext
Text containing links to other documents or other parts of the same document.
The links are associated to words or expressions so that the reader can move to the
other parts automatically.
Hypertext Markup Language – HTML

Standard language used to write document pages for the WWW. It makes it
possible to prepare documents with graphs and links, to visualize them in WWW
compatible systems.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol – HTTP

Set of rules for information exchange (text, images, sound, video, and other
files) na WWW. It is an application protocol.
ICQ
The letters of the abbreviation are read as “I C=see Q=kyou” which equals to
the pronunciation of “I seek you”. It is one of the many instant message services
available at the Internet. It establishes a connection for message exchange in real
time, between two or more people simultaneously connected to the Internet. LIVRO
VERDE (2000)
Information and communication technology - ICT

Digital technology to deal with, organize, and disseminate information.
Information Infrastructure Technology & Applications - IITA

Nasa program closed in 1997. It intended to demonstrate how emergent
technologies can be used to transform scientific information accessible to schools and
to the general public. Its successor is the Learning Technologies Project – LTP.
Information Society
Information Society is a phase of social development when its members
(citizens, firms, public administration) acquire and share any information instantly, from
any where, in any preferred way. It is a new era when information flows at
111
unimaginable speed and quantity. Information becomes fundamental social and
economical values. It as if an immense net of communication means covers entire
countries, connects continents, and reach houses and firms. They are telephone lines,
microwave channels, optical fiber lines, transoceanic submarine cables, satellite
transmissions. They are computers processing, controlling, coordinating information,
making information compatible to several kinds of receptors, distinct communication
means. The technology involved has been transforming production structure and
practice, commercialization and consumption, cooperation and competition, changing
the value generation chain. Similarly, regions, social segments, economical sectors,
organizations and individuals are affected differently by this new paradigm, according
to each one’s possibility of information access, knowledge base, and above all the
capacity to learn and to innovate.
Infovia
Communication structure between computers, used for information exchange.
Group of procedures used to interconnect, process, control and make information
transmissions compatible, as well as electronic and net communication and services.
Infoville
Infoville is a demonstration project of the complete construction of a local virtual
community, where citizens can access various services, preferably the ones closer to
their houses, the ones related to their local government and own community, such as
local supermarkets, local bank branches etc.
Intelligent City
Represents the physical part of a real city, that is, its calbes or infrastructure. An
intelligent city can be defined as a city where urban planning concepts are applied, as
well as digital telecommunication, space distribution and fostering of telemathic nets
that allow for a better quality of living and a good economic development to its citizens.
Interactive social capacitation

Human capacity building for use of media and ICT in favor of community and
individual needs and interests, with responsibility and citizenshipness. It has the
assumption of capacity building for citizenship, what means that information
communication and technology must also be used to democratize social processes, to
foster policy and government action transparency, and to stimulate citizen mobilization
and active participation where suitable. ICT must be used to integrate school and
112
community such as education can mobilize society and conquer the link between the
formal and the informal. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Internet
World system of computer nets – the net of nets – that can be used by anyone,
anywhere in the world where there is an access point. It offers ample choice of basic
services, such as electronic mail, free information access, authorized information
access, in several digital formats, file transfers. The basic protocol for data transport is
TCP/IP. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Internet 2
North-American initiative aiming at the development of advanced net
technologies and applications. Internet for academic and research community. It
involves 150 North-American universities, in addition to government and industry
agencies. It aims at developing new applications such as phone-medicine, digital
libraries, virtual labs, among other things which as yet not possible with the current
available technology. It can also be written as Internet II. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Internet Protocol – IP
Protocol responsible for routing packages between two systems which use the
protocol family TCP/IP used at the Internet. The basic Internet protocol.
Internet Protocol Security

Standard being developed for better safety for net communications. Different
from previous standards, which looked at safety at the application level, the Ipsec
offers safety at the net level, or on package treatments.
Internet Service Provider – ISP

Firms offering Internet and Internet services access.
Legislative
Branch of the State which corresponds to the representatives of the society, as
the society delegates to the legislative the power to formulate and reformulate laws,
public rules in harmony with its time. FUNDAÇÃO GETÚLIO VARGAS. (1986), Social
Sciences Dictionary
113
Link
Bridge or link to other documents and/or parts of document, in hypertext.
Local Virtual Community

Participants can access several services, with preference to the ones which are
closer by, that is, all services related to their own community. The aim is to organize in
well-defined structures the different parts of a community, as a neighborhood,
educational institutions, cultural institutions, health centers, small firms, and above all
the citizens who will use all these services.
Management
Act of managing part of public assets, under the responsibility of a specific unit.
Applied to funds, supervised entities, among others.
Mercocities
It is the net where a MERCOSUL group meets. The group is composed of
mayors, governors, and responsible parties of the big urban centers of the countries
joining MERCOSUL. Its goal is to strengthen local administrations as a logical and
natural counterbalance to globalization.
Metadata
Data on other data, that is, any data used to assist in the identification,
description and localization of information. In other words, it is the structured data that
describes the features of an information source.
Modem
Device that allows a computer to transmit and receive data through a logical
analogical communication mean such as a telephone line. It is the acronym of
modulator-demodulator.
News groups
Groups interact in digital nets (on line) and discuss issues of common interest.
114
On Line
Electronic data processing modality of interactive and instataneous character. It
allows for instant consultation and corrections by the user, as well as instant messages
from the system.
Owners Nets
Nets used by closed groups. In general they are not accordingly to universal
standards. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Package Routing
Forwarding packages through interlinked hosts, linked by at least two nets,
aiming at reaching the package destiny.
Political Participation
Seen as full citizenship and voting rights, involving all population groups. Also
seen as integration as a counterpart to decision-making concentrated in political or
economical groups generating exclusion problems. The participation can be divided in
two levels, a formal level involving the vote, the military service, and the payment of
taxes; and the informal level, where participation is spontaneous, voluntary, in
development projects and in decisions which are of interest of group. FUNDAÇÃO
GETÚLIO VARGAS.(1986) Social Sciences Dictionary.
Portal
Site consolidating several products, services, information on a certain area of
interest. Web access portals usually offer free email services, news, chat services,
general information, search tools etc. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Portable Operating System Interface – POSIX

Group of interfaces to an operational system, based on UNIX, standardized to
firms to develop software for use with computational systems of different producers.
Pressure Groups
Pressure groups is a temporary organization, the subgroup of an interest group
at certain moments, aiming at acquiring certain goals through pressure. That is, the
group tries to influence a decision, in the case of a Parliament, approving or rejecting a
project. CARVALHO; Marcio A. (2002)
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Pressure groups on line
According to the definition of pressure groups, those are temporary
organizations that use technology for data processing of interactive and instantaneous
features that allow consultations and corrections by the user, as well as instant
messages.
Protocol
Group of rules forming a language used by computers to intercommunicate.
LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Provider
Firm or institution offering Internet services.
Public keys infrastructure

Digital certification system that verifies and authenticates the validity of each
involved party at any Internet transaction. The goal is to guarantee authenticity,
integrity, and legal validity of electronic documents, support applications, and certified
applications which use digital certificates, as well as the safety of electronic
transactions. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
QoS
Quality of Service. Net capacity to offer services with differentiated
characteristics according to the application needs.
Remote Login
Procedure for remote access to a computer through the net.
Resource reSerVation Protocol – RSVP

Protocol for control and signalization developed by IETF to guarantee QoS to
the Internet and to other TCP/IP nets.
Server
Physical and computational base to offer net services. An Internet web server is
the software to satisfy the requests for webpages or HTML files.
Set-top box
Set-top box is a converser that connects to a TV set in order to navigate the
Internet or use email through a telephone or cable TV connection. The TV set screen
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is then used as a computer monitor.
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol – SMTP

Protocol from the TCP/IP protocol family which sends email messages from one
server to another.
Site
Colection of webpages on a given topic, institution, firm, person, etc
Social Movements
Collective attempt to provoke change, overall or partial change, in certain social
institutions, or to create a new social order. FUNDAÇÃO GETÚLIO VARGAS. (1986)
Social Sciences Dictionary
Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line – SDSL

Symmetric digital subscriber line is a technology used to send data through
conventional telephone lines at high rates. It functions sending digital pulses for the
high frequency telephone cables area.
Technological Platforms
Informatics applications to develop complete projects, even if not necessarily
complete. In the case of digital cities, these applications are divided in different groups
to develop various kinds of services to the citizens: e-commerce, databases,
languages to access databases through the Internet, online banking etc
Telecenter
A project of a social organization, government, or NGO concerned with
education and local cultural services, as well as with how to use and mobilize
technology tools to achieve education and local cultural services. Telecenters are
commited to the universal access to information.
Telecities
Open net for urban development through Telematic Nets. TeleCities was
founded in 1993 by Eurocities members willing to concentrate their interest in activities
and issues related to the information society and social, economic and cultural
development in European cities.
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Teleconference
Telecommunications interactive modality to make it possible that several
people, in different places, communicate simultaneously via telephone line, computer
net, radio, among others. FERREIRA, Aurélio B. (1999)
Telematics
Telematics is the science dealing with manipulation and use of information
through the computer. It makes use of a set of techniques and distance communication
services associating informatics to telecommunications. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Telemedicine
Use of computers and telecommunications to: medicine (remote and local),
medical related teaching-learning process, and scientific medical research. LIVRO
VERDE (2000)
Telework
Professional activity developed with the worker being physically distant form the
conventional work place, that is, away from the hiring party. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
TEN-155
Pan-European advanced technology net to support cooperative research and
net applications. In addition to providing high-speed IP services, it offers advanced
communications services and functions as test area for net and advanced applications
research. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
The Internet Engineering Task Force – IETF

International community of designers, workers, firms, and researchers with the
common main concern on the architectural structure of the Internet and its operation
with ease. IETF is open to anyone who wants to join.
Traffic Exchange Point

Interconnection point of different nets’ backbones. It makes it possible for
different nets to exchange information.
Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol – TCP/IP

Set of basic Internet protocols to send packages from one host to the other.
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Transparency
Dissemination of public information, informing with clarity and ample access
(including the Internet) the information on the acts and decisions of the public
administration.
Uniform Resource Locator – URL

Internet page finder. It is a pattern to nominate resources at the Internet,
providing uniform addresses for Internet pages.
Universal Information Services

The concept of universal services evolved due to the speed of information
technology and communications development, and also due to the new opportunities
and assymetries provoked by this development – sources of new forms of exclusion to
be continuously monitored and considered. However, the concept must include
democratization, since it is not only to make access and services available, but also to
transform citizens in Internet users, make citizens able to use the Internet actively.
In order to achieve universal services, we must seek solutions to include poor
population in the digital world and to promote new solutions to Internet access to
people with special need, in remote areas or moving. Therefore, fostering universal
services means to finding solutions and promoting actions to broaden and improve
access infrastructure as well as to improve human capacity so that an informed and
self-conscious citizen can use the services available. The majority of the government
programs and proposals for universal service access has at least three fronts: public
education, information for citizenship and incentives to assembling centers for Internet
public access service.
Vertical Portal or Vortal

Portal directed to a specific public, offering a series of on line services to satisfy
this specific public. It can serve as a catalyser, enhancing the creation of a new virtual
community with very well defined common interests, through retro feeding to create
new services or reinventing others. LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Very high-speed Backbone Network Service

It is na experimental high-speed backbone being tested and developed by MCI,
USA for the next generation of net technology. It allows for the transportation of very
large volumes of voice, data, and video, at speeds that are basically four times higher
than current technology speed.
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Virtual City
Virtual projects or non-real projects that are developed based on new
technologies that allow for recreating the necessary conditions for visitors to use all
services offered by a real city. In certain cases, they are mixed with the digital cities.
An example of a virtual city is http://www.ciudadfutura.com/.
Virtual Community
It is where community members get in touch through the Internet using several
ways such as distribution lists, chats etc. Members with similar interests use the
Internet as a means to gather together and communicate.
Virtual library
Service uniting information captured, organized, systematized, integrated and
made available at the net. Also various forms of data and metadata in reference to
documents, people, institutions, services and objects. Information can be presented as
a mix of text and multimedia (image, sound and video). LIVRO VERDE (2000)
Wi-Fi
Technology under development that makes it possible to access the Internet,
computer intranets, electronic agendas etc without cable. Wireless Internet.
Wireless Application Protocol – WAP

Specification of a communications protocol set conceived by commercial firms
that standardized wireless use, such as mobile phones and radio transmitters, to
Internet access including e-mail, WWW, newsgroups among others.
World Wide Web, WWW or Web

Set of documents and services that is part of the Internet, organized under
hypertext webpages and each page is identified with an URL.
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ANNEX 2: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES
List of Interviewees – Brazil

• Ângelo Sant’Anna, Vice-Prefeito de Sant’Ana do Livramento.
• Jorge Maurício da Cruz, Presidente da Associação das Indústrias de Guaíba.
• Manuel Strigni, Prefeito de Guaíba.
• Olmes Oscar da Silveira, Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Guaíba.
• Paulo Guilherme Costa, Presidente da Câmara Legislativa de Sant’Ana do

Livramento.
• Prefeito de Barra do Ribeiro.
• Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Barra do Ribeiro.
List of Interviewees – Uruguay

• Héctor Rocha Freire, Edil Presidente, Junta Departamental de Rivera.
• Tabaré Viera Duarte, Intendente de Rivera.
List of Interviewees – Peru

• Ana Cecilia del Castilho, Asesora, Santiago de Surco.
• Antonio Rojas Tamariz, Secretario Técnico de la Presidencia del Consejo de

Ministros, Lima.
• Cláudio Zavala Gianella, Comunicador Social de la Associacíon de

Comunicadores Sociales Calandria, Lima.
• Diana Lourdes Palacios Mosquera, Jefe de Promocion de Inversiones Gerencia

Regional Planificación Presupuesto y Desarrollo Institucional de la Presidencia
del Consejo de Ministros, Lima.
• Jorge Perlacios, Secretario Técnico de lo Consejo Nacional de

Descentralización, Lima.
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• Kela Léon Amézaga, Directora de Proyetos de lo Consejo de la Prensa
Peruana, Lima.
• Luis Félix Mercado Pérez, Jefe de Unidad de Cooperación Técnica

Internacional y Concertación - Ministerio de la Presidencia, Lima.
• Luis Hernández Ortiz, Ministro Director de Coodinación Intersectorial –

Gobiernos Locales y Regionales - Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, MRE de
Lima.
• Luis León Avilés, Asesor de la Dirección General de Coordinacción –

Gobiernos Locales y Regionales, MRE de Lima.
• Michel Azcueta, Regidor Metropolitano de Lima.
• Modesto Julca Jara, Jefe Nacional de lo Programa Nacional de Asistencia

Alimentaaria, Lima.
• Óscar Alfredo Quezada Macchiavello, Decano de la Facultad de Comunicación

de Universidade de Lima.
• Patrícia Uribe, Representante de la Unesco en Perú.
• Ricardo Uceda, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, Lima.
• Roberto Gomez Baca, Asesor de Alcadía, Santiago de Surco.
• Rudecindo Vega Carreazo, Jefe de Gabinete de Asesores, Ministerio de

Vivienda,. Construcción y Saneamiento.
• Sandro Macassi, Director Del Centro de Investigación de la Associacíon de

Comunicadores Sociales Calandria, Lima.
• Willian Marin Vicente, Jeefe de la Oficina de Proyetos Especiales, da

Municipalidad de Santiago de Surco.
List of Interviewees – Ecuador

• Cristhian Bahamonde, Subdirector Ejecutivo – CLD, Quito.
• Francisco Jijón, Director de Prospectiva Estrategica y Competitividad, Quito.
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• Gissela Dávila, Coordinadora de Radios Populares del Ecuador – CORAPE,
Quito.
• Gonzálo Bustos, Subdirector de Apoyo a la Producción, Gobierno de

Pichincha.
• Guilhermo Tapia Nicola, Secretario General de la Associación de

Municipalidades Ecuatorianas, Quito.
• Gustavo Abdo, Director de Apoyo a la Producción,Gobierno de Pichincha.
• Jorge Murrieta Oquendo, Coordinador de la Comissiones Gobierno em Línea y

Comercio Eletrónico, Quito.
• Juan Fernando Terán, Director de Proyetos de la Fundacion de Accion Social –

Supervivencia, Quito.
• Manolo Pullupaxi, Comissiones Gobierno em Línea y Comercio Eletrónico,

Quito.
• Mauro Cerbino, Coordinador Programa de Comunicación – Flacso.
• Rafael Parreño, Secretario General Vicepresidencia de la Republica.
List of Interviewees – Mexico

Conjuntura Nacional Mexicana e Estado de Chiapas
• Luiz Pineda – ONG “Equipo Pueblo”. Coordinador de Fortalecimiento Municipal
y Desarollo Local.
• Miguel Pickard White – Centro de Investigaciones Economicas e Politicas de
Acción Cumunitaria – CIEPAC.
• Mario Alberto Rivera Contreras – Alianza Cívica. Responsable por Proyeto.
• Laura Salas Sánchez– Comissión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los
Derechos Humanos, A.C.. Coordinadora de Comunicación.
Municipio de Querétaro
• Raul Ávila de la Vega – Director de Atencíón Ciudadana.
• Rafael Castillo Vander peereboon – Jefe de Participación Social.
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• Jorge Moreno Guerrero – Coordinador Operativo de la Dirección General de
Comunicación Social.
• Carlos Bringas Buenrostro – Jefe del Depto. de Comercio en Via Pública y
Tianguis (Secretaria de Gobierno).
• Jesus Mesa Altamiro – Director de Asuntos del Cabildo.
Delegação de Iztapalapa (Cidade do México)

• Claudia Carapia – Coordinadora de La Unidade de Atención Ciudadana.
• Manuel Padrón Flores – Lider Coordinador de proyectos de la Dirección de
Participación Ciudadana.
• Jose Luiz Gutierrez Néri – ONG “Equipo Pueblo” – Coordenador do projeto de
Autodesenvolvimento Integral de San Miguel de Teotongo (Colônia da
Delegação de Iztapalapa).
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ANNEX 3: LIST OF SITES
Ação Educativa - http://www.acaoeducativa.org

Accesouniversal.net - http://www.accesouniversal.cl/
Acessa São Paulo - Iniciativa do Governo do Estado de São Paulo para
combater a exclusão digital. A Escola do Futuro faz a capacitação dos monitores dos
Infocentros do Acessa São Paulo e assessora em ações de fomento à participação
pública. www.acessasaopaulo.sp.gov.br
Asociación Andaluza de Redes Ciudadanas - http://www.redciudand.org/
Barcelona - www.canet.upc.es
Brecha digital: ¿Un problema? - La reducción de la brecha digital
inicialmente fue enfocada al acceso a la tecnología de la información (TI). Hoy en día
la relevancia del contenido es, quizá, mas importante que el acceso.
http://www.labrechadigital.org/bd_unproblema.html
Callus - www.callus.org
Carreño - www.carrenodigital.net
Cidade do Conhecimento – É uma rede de comunicação entre o mundo
escolar e o mundo do trabalho mediada pelo Instituto de Estudos Avançados da
Universidade de São Paulo www.usp.br/iea/cidade
Cieza - www.cieza.net
Comitê para descentralização da Informática - http://www.cdi.org.br/
Comitê pela Democratização da Informática Rio de Janeiro - O CDI é uma
organização não governamental que promove ações para integrar membros de
comunidades carentes, principalmente crianças e jovens, no mundo digital.
www.cdi.org.br
Comitê pela Democratização da Informática São Paulo O CDI-SP tem como
objetivo proporcionar às comunidades de baixa renda o mais amplo acesso e uso da
informática. Em cinco anos de atividades já criou 55 EICs (Escolas de Informática e
Cidadania). www.cdisp.org.br
COMPI - Comitê para Popularização da Informática - O Comitê para
Popularização da Informática (COMPI), é uma Organização Não Governamental
(ONG) sem fins lucrativos, que tem como objetivo diminuir as barreiras de exclusão
social através de cursos e programas educacionais. Ele também promove a ecologia,
alfabetização, capacitação profissional, gerenciamento e administração de negócios
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próprios, cidadania, programa contra drogas e contra a violência e direitos humanos.
www.compi.org.br/
Cornellá www.cornella.net
Creative Community initiative http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/comuni.htm
Cuenca www.cuenca.org
Democracia Digital - http://www.democraciadigital.org/
E-governance http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/governance.htm
e-Government http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/gov.htm
Ekhos I+C http://www.ekhos.cl/
Entre el comercio electrónico y la cabina pública - En Internet rigen otros
parámetros económicos que en los sectores económicos tradicionales. Los servicios o
buscadores de Internet se negocian en bolsa por cientos o aun miles de millones de
dólares, pese al hecho de que la mayoría hace ya años que arrojan déficit.
http://www.dse.de/zeitschr/ds100-3.htm
Estado del Arte de los Telecentros de América Latina y el Caribe - ¿Qué son
los telecentros? ¿Cuál es su origen? ¿De dónde vienen? ¿Qué buscan? ¿Hacia
dónde van? son algunas de las importantes preguntas contestadas en este estudio de
Somos@Telecentros. http://www.tele-centros.org/estarte/index.html
Europa - Information Society
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/index_en.htm
Europa - Information Society
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/index_en.htm
Fase - http://www.fase.org.br/
Fórum Social Mundial – http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
FREEDOM.ORG - http://www.governance.org/
Fundación ChasquiNet - É uma entidade sem fins lucrativos com o objetivo
de Internet aos indivíduos, organizações e comunidades que trabalham na área social
no Equador e região. www.chasquinet.org
Fundación ChasquiNet - http://www.chasquinet.org/
GELEDÉS - Instituto da Mulher Negra – http://www.geledes.com.br/
Getafe - www.getafe.net
Governo Eletrônico - http://www.governoeletronico.gov.br/
Horta de Valencia - www.joves.net
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Ibase - http://www.ibase.br
ICT for Development - http://www.developmentgateway.org
ICT for Development -
http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/133831/?&more=yes
ICTs and agriculture - www.agricta.org
ICTs and agriculture - www.agricta.org
IDRC-International Women’s Tribune Centre http://www.iwtc.org.
IDRC-International Women’s Tribune Centre http://www.iwtc.org.
IN3 - IN3 es un centro interdisciplinario de referencia para el estudio, la
investigación y el desarrollo, que impulsa y reúne proyectos relacionados con los
efectos, el uso y las aplicaciones de las tecnologías de la información y la
comunicación (TIC) en los diferentes ámbitos del conocimiento y sectores de la
sociedad. www.uoc.es/in3/esp/missio.htm
Inclusão Digital - O site apresenta os resultados dos trabalhos desenvolvidos
durante o evento Oficina para Inclusão Digital. http://www.inclusaodigital.org.br/
Independent Média Center - http://www.indymedia.org
Information Society - http://europa.eu.int/information_society/index_en.htm
Information Society - http://europa.eu.int/information_society
Information Technology for Development
Information Technology for Development
Instituto del Ciudadano - http://www.rcp.net.pe/idc/
Instituto del Ciudadano - http://www.rcp.net.pe/idc/
Instituto para el Desarrollo de la democracia Participativa -
http://www.idepa.org.ar/
Instituto para el Desarrollo de la democracia Participativa -
http://www.idepa.org.ar/
Internet y Riqueza - El rápido avance de la tecnología ha contribuido a una
división más profunda en claras zonas de progreso y retraso. Esta condición ha
generado un proceso de polarización en todos los ámbitos. La brecha digital
impulsada por un desarrollo vertiginoso acentúa la disparidad entre países ricos y
pobres.
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Internet y Riqueza - El rápido avance de la tecnología ha contribuido a una
división más profunda en claras zonas de progreso y retraso. Esta condición ha
generado un proceso de polarización en todos los ámbitos. La brecha digital
impulsada por un desarrollo vertiginoso acentúa la disparidad entre países ricos y
pobres. http://www.teleddes.org/deinteres/Internetyriqueza.html
Jun - www.ayuntamientojun.org
La Agencia Latinoamericana de Información-ALAI es un organismo de
comunicación comprometido con la vigencia plena de los derechos humanos y la
participación de los movimientos sociales en el desarrollo de América Latina. Su
accionar se inscribe en la lucha por la democratización de la comunicación, como
condición básica de la vida democrática y la justicia social. www.alainet.org/
La brecha digital como factor negativo - El analfabetismo digital ya está aquí
y crece cada día; y la brecha digital en lugar de decrecer, aumenta. La sociedad digital
parece que es sólo para unos pocos. Debemos actuar ahora para no quedar afuera, y
para que no queden fuera del proceso la mayoría.
http://enredando.com/cas/enredados/enredados192.html
La brecha digital: el caramelo de los políticos - Hoy en día, todos los
gobiernos que presumen de innovadores, e incluso las entidades supranacionales,
cuentan con ambiciosos proyectos cuyo objetivo último sería conectar a Internet a
todos los ciudadanos que caminan sobre el planeta y permitir que todo el mundo
tenga acceso a los beneficios de la Sociedad de la Información.
http://www.baquia.com/com/20001109/art00024.html
La Nueva Ciudad de Dios - Una iniciativa multimedia de Ediciones Siruela
sobre la cibercultura en el siglo XXI. Este proyecto incluye un sitio de Internet, un libro
y un Cd-Rom. http://siruela.com/ncd/
Las telecomunicaciones en zonas de interés social - La implantación de
servicios de comunicaciones en áreas rurales, suburbanas, marginadas y de extrema
pobreza ha representado un reto no sólo para países en vías de desarrollo, sino
también para otros países con mejor infraestructura financiera y material.
http://www.teleddes.org/desarrollo_socioeconomico/zonas_isocial.html
Licitenet.com - http://www.licitenet.com/index.jsp
Madrid - www.tumadrid.com
Mecanismos Parlamentares de Participação Cidadã no Brasil -
http://www.dhnet.org.br/direitos/brasil/leisbr/acesso/parlam/mecan.html
Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia - http://www.mct.gov.br/
Movimento Nacional dos Direitos Humanos - http://www.mndh.org.br/
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Movimiento Ciudadano por la Democracia - http://www.laneta.apc.org/mcd/
Movimiento Ciudadano por la Democracia - http://www.laneta.apc.org/mcd/
O CFEMEA - Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria -
http://www.cfemea.org.br/
Observatory on the Information Society -
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/observatory/index.shtml
Observatory on the Information Society -
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/observatory/index.shtml
Omnia - www.omnia.org
Participação Cidadã - Bank Boston -
http://www.bankboston.com.br/fundacao/participacao.asp
Polis - http://www.polis.org.br/
Política y redes, nuevas formas de poder - Internet se ha convertido en la
pieza básica de la sociedad de la información o del conocimiento y es, además, un
foco de influencia en todos los ámbitos: social, educativo, cultural y económico.
http://www.aui.es/biblio/articu/Articulos/politica_redes.htm
Projecto Cidades Digitais, Portugal - O Projeto Cidades Digitais, criado pelo
Ministério da Ciência e da Tecnologia de Portugal destina-se a apoiar ações que
concretizem alguns dos objetivos do Livro Verde para a Sociedade da Informação,
aprovado em abril de 1997 pelo Conselho de Ministros.
Projeto Democracia Participativa - SP -
http://www.democraciaparticipativa.org/
Projeto Software Livre Rio Grande do Sul - O Projeto Software Livre RS é
uma parceria do governo do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul com instituições públicas e
privadas do Estado que tem como principal objetivo a promoção do uso de softwares
livres como alternativa econômica e tecnológica ao mundo proprietário.
Public Policy and Regulatory Framework in Knowledge Economy
Public Policy and Regulatory Framework in Knowledge Economy
Raval - www.ravalnet.org
Red Iberoamericana de Ciudades Digitales - http://www.iberomunicipios.org/
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Red Nacional de Telecentros Comunitarios, Chile – Uma iniciativa do
governo chileno que permite o acesso às tecnologias de informação e comunicaç ão
aos habitantes das zonas rurais e urbano-marginais de todo o país.
Rede Brasil sobre Instituições Financeiras Multilaterais -
http://www.rbrasil.org.br/
Regency Foundation - The Regency Foundation established in 1990, is a not-
for-profit organization working with the United Nations and its agencies.
Resultan necesarios puntos de acceso público a bajo costo - Entrevista
con el antropólogo, experto en redes comunitarias, Scott Robinson, donde se analiza
el estado del acceso a Internet en Latinoamérica, y afirma la necesidad de que
maduren las heterogéneas experiencias de cabinas públicas o centros comunitarios.
http://www.bitniks.es/ARCHIVO/IDEAS/33/01.shtml
Salamanca - www.elbardelauni.com
Salamanca - www.salamanca2002.org
Sampa.org - O Sampa.org é uma iniciativa aberta a toda a população cujo
objetivo é ajudar São Paulo a se tornar uma cidade melhor, mais próspera, mais
humana e mais justa, disseminando e compartilhando democraticamente o
conhecimento e a informação.
Sociedade da informação - O Programa Sociedade da Informação (SocInfo)
brasileiro é um programa coordenado pelo Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT).
Resultado dos desdobramentos das ações do Conselho Nacional de Ciência e
Tecnologia (CCT).
Tarragona - www.tinet.org
Tele centro HONDURAS - http://www.itu.hn/cpt/
Telecentro – América Central www.tele-centros.org/
Telecentros Activos de Chile, ATACH http://www.atach.cl
Telecentros Brasil - Um Telecentro Comunitário Sustentável (TCS) representa
um bem público. Ele agrega valor ao trabalho de organizações, agências do governo,
organizações de saúde, escolas e do setor privado.
Telecentros em Moçambique - Este telecentro é uma nova experiência para
Moçambique e é supervisionado pelo Centro de Informática da Universidade Eduardo
Mondlane (CIUEM). Com êxito, será possível instalar centros iguais em outros pontos
do país.
Telecentros en la mira: ¿Cómo pueden contribuir al desarrollo social? - Este
artículo examina con una mirada crítica el concepto de telecentros, y sugiere una
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tipología para describir la diversidad de experiencias a que están dando lugar, con
particular énfasis en las incipientes experiencias con telecentros en América Latina.
http://www.idrc.ca/pan/chasquiSP.htm
Telecentros Prefeitura de São Paulo - Site da Prefeitura de São Paulo que
traz uma explicação do que é Telecentro e a lista dos telecentros administrados pela
prefeitura. www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/cidadania/telecentros/index.asp
Telecentros y Bibliotecas - Este documento introduce el concepto de
telecentros, dirige al lector a algunos manuales y pautas útiles así como varios
proyectos en el mundo entero; explica la razón por la cual las bibliotecas pueden
contribuir al éxito de estos proyectos y por qué las bibliotecas deben considerar la
posibilidad de ampliar su rol para incluir las funciones de un telecentro.
www.home.inreach.com/cisler/telecentros.htm
Telecentros y bibliotecas: nuevas tecnologías y nuevas colaboraciones - A
mediados de los '80 el primer telecentro fue inaugurado en Velmdalen, Suecia. Ahora
existen en todo el mundo. No toda la gente tiene teléfono o computadora en su casa.
Los telecentros ayudan a lograr el objetivo de "acceso universal" al facilitar el acceso
comunitario a esta tecnología. http://home.inreach.com/cisler/telecentros.htm
Terrassa www.terrassa.net
The Information Society (TIS) journal http://www.ics.uci.edu/~kling/tis.html
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) - http://www.idrc.ca
The Regency Foundation - http://www.regency.org/
Transparência Internacional - http://www.transparency.org/
Trasparência Internacional - Brasil - http://www.transparencia.org.br/tbrasil-
ie.asp
Tres-Cantos - www.tres-cantos.org
Una reflexión sobre el futuro de los telecentros en México y América
Latina - Las condiciones del mercado, el ritmo acelerado del desarrollo de la
tecnología digital y la ausencia de un marco regulatorio a su favor son factores que
inhiben el crecimiento de los telecentros en la región.
http://www.chasquinet.org/telelac/puebla.html
Villanueva de la Cañada - www.villanuevadelacanada.com
Viviendo la Democracia - www.viviendolademocracia.org/
Web AERC - www.aerc.net
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ICTs and Good Governance:

The Contribution of Information and

In interviews and group meetings information was collected on whether these

Today, society is demanding more transparency on the part of governments,

All these instruments of management point to a common phenomenon – which

In this study, 'good governance' is understood to denote an interaction process

One of the greatest challenges put on the agenda by technological innovation is

Most importantly, ICT integration generates a democratization factor. ICT

The methodological framework of this research considered the well-known

The second step is implanting e-government (electronic government); in other

The introduction of ICT represents, thus, a new form of political relationship in

Therefore, accomplishing the three phases above is one of the means of

2.2 Aspects considered

Several municipalities were selected according to the criteria of geography and

The concept of good governance varies in different Latin American countries.

2.3 Case Studies

In Ecuador, field studies in Quito and the municipality of Cotacachi were

2.4 Web site Studies

3.1 Case Study: Brazil

3.1.2 Municipality - Sant’Ana do Livramento

• there is community participation in budget formulation, meaning that there is

3.1.3 Municipality - Barra do Ribeiro

Convinced that everybody will have to “computerize” themselves and to

According to the interviewee, there is no public consciousness of, or discussion

In order to reinforce his hypothesis, the Mayor states that he is confronting

Besides public servants’ great resistance to the introduction of computers, he

A web page is under construction for the municipality containing promotion

He believes that only rarely do mayors base their decisions exclusively on

Research results for the Municipal Legislative Chamber of Barra do Ribeiro

3.1.4 Municipality – Guaíba

However, interest in training could increase even more through specific

The Mayor intends to double the number of computers in the wake of a

More information will be available because of computerization. This is also true

There is no community radio programme, although he understands radio is an

The Guaíba Legislative Chamber is not capable of communicating with society

In order to encourage and train people to use ICT, it is necessary to improve

The President of the Industrial Association of Guaíba has no knowledge of ICT

3.1.5.1 The Executive - the Federal Government

At the federal level, an important initiative to reduce the "digital deficit" of

An important investment of FUST is the Tele-Community Programme, which

The Federal Government intends to revolutionize computer use through public

Although the programme is being developed by the Federal Government, the

FUST is of double advantage: it facilitates social investments in the areas of

The National Programme of Computers in Education (Programmea Nacional de

The TELENCENTROS (Telecenter for Information and Business) are based on

3.1.5.2 The (Federal) Legislative

New information technologies such as the internet, video-conferences and data

The Interlegis web site (www.interlegis.gov.br) is like a "meeting point" of the

This low-cost system provides for the exchange of experiences, distance

The Senate TV station was created in 1996 to promote institutional

The TV Câmara (Chamber of Deputies) began operating on 20 January 1998,

3.1.5.3 The Judiciary

The electronic balloting process diminishes the chances of frauds, increases

The publicizing of the electoral results itself can be considered a legitimate

The Brazilian experience with electronic voting machines was internationally

3.1.5.4 Civil Society

Transparência Brasil (www.transparencia.org.br) was established in April 2000

Corruption is evidently a problem in Brazil, as it is elsewhere. For organizations

The Committee for the Democratization of Computerization (Comitê de

3.2.2 City of Rivera

The Mayor of Rivera (Uruguay) voiced his interest in an ICT training

Rivera's Mayor informed us that 28 borough-communities commissions had

Digital inclusion is one of the concerns of Rivera authorities. The progress of

Several local factors already contribute to the operationalization of a personnel