Introduction to

E-Governance
DR. NIROSHA WEDASINGHE
MBA IN EGOV –WEEK 04

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 Each Student select a one topic from below list and do an
investigation on the topic and prepare a PowerPoint
presentation and talk 3 min about findings to class room.
[https://www.icta.lk/digitizing-gov/]
National Spatial Data Infrastructure(NSDI)

Student E-PARLIAMENT Initiative :IT for Parliamentary work

Progress on Implementation of Network Infrastructure at Ministry of

Foreign Affairs

Day 03 – In- Productization of all offerings by ICTA

Class Activity Operations of Call center for Government Information

center

1 Setting Up, Managing and Operation of Call Center for Gov

ernment Information Center

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Studenrt
Progress on
https://www.academia.edu/4589409/LECTUR
Case Study: E_009_e_Government_and_e_Government
Malaysia e-
Gov

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 Write down a comparative
analysis on current Sri Lankan
Government and other south
Student Activity Asian regional e-governance
on – Week 3 initiatives.
Class Activity Discuss your Finding with your
02
class members.

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Home work :
Comment on e-
NIC

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Towards good governance
through E-Governance

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Contents
Good Governance

Corporate Governance

Explain how an effective strategic plan can be developed through a process.

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Meaning of
Good
Governance

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Good
Governance

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Definition of
Good
Governance

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Corporate
Governance

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What is
Corporate
Governance

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Measurements of good governance

UN agencies, such as the UNDP, as well as the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), such as the World
Bank, have different approaches with regard to governance. The World Bank views governance as a
“political and economic conditionality” (Weiss, 2000). As a result, the World Bank considers “public sector
management, the reduction of transaction costs and contract enforcement” as primary elements enabling
good governance (Weiss, 2000).

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Measurements of good governance Cont..

These elements are credited with being building blocks establishing and maintaining sustainable human
development.
In contrast, the UNDP emphasizes empowerment. This refers to the act of facilitating local participation
through making institutions, processes, and mechanisms of democracy available and accessible to the
general public.

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Measurements of good governance Cont..

As a result, the UNDP for its part, emphasizes the political and civic aspects of governance. For instance, the
UNDP works on improving areas such as “human rights, legislative support, judicial reform and corruption”
(Weiss, 2000).
The World Bank views these latter concerns, emphasized by the UNDP, as secondary elements that further a
country’s development in terms of ‘efficiency and growth’ (Weiss, 2000). Since governance is most often
associated with the promotion of local participation in the decision making process, it seems that the UNDP’s
approach is closer to the generally accepted definition of good governance than is the World Bank’s
approach.

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Measurements of good governance Cont..

Participation

Participation by both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance. Participation could be either
direct or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives. It is important to point out that
representative democracy does not necessarily mean that the concerns of the most vulnerable in society
would be taken into consideration in decision making. Participation needs to be informed and organized. This
means freedom of association and expression on the one hand and an organized civil society on the other
hand.

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 Measurements of good governance Cont..

Rule of law

Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. It also requires full protection
of human rights, particularly those of minorities. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent
judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force.

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Measurements of good governance Cont..

Transparency

Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and
regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be
affected by such decisions and their enforcement. It also means that enough information is provided and that
it is provided in easily understandable forms and media.

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 Measurements of good governance Cont..

Responsiveness

Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable
timeframe. Institutional stakeholders. Who is accountable to whom varies depending on whether decisions or
actions taken are internal or external to an organization or institution. In general an organization or an
institution is accountable to those who will be affected by its decisions or actions. Accountability cannot be
enforced without transparency and the rule of law.

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 Measurements of good governance Cont..

Consensus oriented

There are several actors and as many view points in a given society. Good governance requires mediation of
the different interests in society to reach a broad consensus in society on what is in the best interest of the
whole community and how this can be achieved. It also requires a broad and long-term perspective on what
is needed for sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development. This can
only result from an understanding of the historical, cultural and social contexts of a given society or
community.

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New e-Government policy for good governance

The ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) has decided to amend the eGovernment policy
appropriately. Valuable deliberations and inter-action by eGovernment stakeholders took place
recently for arriving at a new e-Government policy for Sri Lanka to embark on an era of better
governance soon. That was when the workshop themed ‘eGovernment for good governance’
hosted by ICTA was held at Hotel Galadari, Colombo recently (3 Dec).

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Sri Lanka New e-Government policy for good governance

A large number of Government Institution heads, Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs),

representatives from Academia, the private sector and other institutions participated in the
workshop. The event included addresses and presentations on ‘Background and introduction to
new eGovernment Policy’, ‘eGovernment Policy – Vision and Overview of Policy’ and
‘Introduction to review process’ by the Review Committee. This was followed by group activities
and group presentations comprising ratings of policy clauses with regard to qualities like clarity,
applicability and implementability.

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New e-Government policy for good governance

The first eGovernment policy in Sri Lanka ‘the ICT Policy and Procedures for the Government
(eGovernment Policy)’ was initially approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 16 December 2009.
It was to be implemented by all Government organisations including ministries, Government
departments, provincial councils, district secretariats, divisional secretariats and local
Government authorities.

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New e-Government policy for good governance

With rapid changes in the technologies and with the advancement of eGovernment
implementation, it is required to review and reformulate the eGoverment policy. Even at the time
when the policy was approved, it had been identified that the policy should be dynamic and
should be amended as and when necessary. In order to achieve this objective a committee
comprising senior government officials, Chief Innovation Officers, academics, technologists and
eGovernment experts have been set up to review and reformulate the eGovernment policy.

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New e-Government policy for good governance

As planned, the eGovernment policy given the cabinet nod in 2009 was reviewed in March 2011
and in April 2012. Although the self-assessment by relevant stakeholders on their compliance
with the 2009 policy was 55% in 2011 and 51% in 2012, two drawbacks surfaced in the review.
One was that inter-institution understanding needed to be improved. The other was the maturity
of the understanding of the eGovernment policy needed to be raised to a higher level.   In this
backdrop ICTA carried out about 25 workshops island-wide including the North and East to
ensure better orientation towards eGovernment policy among relevant stakeholders.  Presidential
Secretary Lalith Weeratunga issued two circulars one in 2010 and other in 2011 urging
compliance with the eGovernment policy

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New e-Government policy for good
governance
Although the first eGovernment policy came into force in 2009 with the cabinet nod much
behind-the-scenes work had been done in 2007 and 2008 as well towards formulating an
appropriate eGovernment policy. In this endeavour ICTA availed itself also of developments in
the field overseas.  Many governments and civil societies had identified eight key goals/pillars as
the primary objectives of Good Governance.

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10 Good Governance objectives

ICTA considered these good governance principles termed ‘Good Governance Octagon’ and
formulated its own 10 Good Governance objectives. These are as follows:

Objective 1–Make government information available and accessible electronically to citizens

through multiple channels

Objective 2 – Make government services electronically available and accessible to all citizens via
multiple channels in a citizen friendly manner

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 10 Good Governance
objectives

Objective 3–Improve/Re-engineer government

processes to be citizen centric

Objective 4– Use eGovernment to eliminate

duplication in ICT Infrastructure, information
collection, government processes and ICT
solutions within and across government
organisations

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10 Good Governance objectives
Objective 5–Use of ICT to achieve, measure, monitor and publish defined service levels for all
government services

Objective 6 – Address the requirements/needs of marginalised communities through ICT

Objective 7 – Implement processes and systems in government organisations to be highly

responsive  and interactive through the use of ICT

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10 Good Governance objectives
Objective 8–Enable citizen engagement through electronic means for consensus driven, public
policy and decision making process wherever authorized

Objective 9–Strengthen rule of law through the use of ICT

Objective 10 – Establish and implement of a proper enabling operational framework for

successful eGovernance

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Day 04- Activity 01
Read the Research paper titled ‘Governance to Good Governance through e-Governance: A
critical review of Concept, Model, Initiatives & Challenges in India.

Write a summery of your ‘findings and present it to your peer members in the class

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Day 04- Activity 02
Read the Research paper titled ‘Governance and administration in Sri Lanka: trends, tensions,
and prospects Ramesh Ramasamy University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Write a summery of your ‘findings and present it to your peer members in the class

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 References
 
Aboudrar, A. (2005) La lutte contre la corruption: Le cas du Maroc, 50 ans de Développement Humain & Perspectives 2025 at
http://www.rdh50.ma/fr/pdf/contributions/GT10-5.pdf, accessed on 25 March, 2006.
 
Backus, M. (2001) E-Governance and Developing Countries: Introduction And Example, Research Report; No. 3, April, at
http://www.ftpiicd.org/files/research/reports/report3.pdf, accessed on 25 January, 2008.
 
Basu, S. (2004) ‘E-government and developing countries: an overview’, [Electronic version]:
 
International Review of Law Computers and Technology , Vol. 18, pp.109–132, at Academic Search Premier Database, accessed on 15 February, 2006.
 
Bhatnagar, S. (2004) E-government: From Vision to Implementation: A Practical Guide with Case Studies, Sage Publications, New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, California.
 
 

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 References
 
Centre de recherches pour le développement international (IDRC) (2005) Stratégie de programme pour le Fonds pour la bonne gouvernance au Moyen-Orient at http://www.idrc.ca/uploads/
user-S/11303462921Strategie_de_programme_fr_(Final).doc, accessed on 5 March, 2006.
 
Finger, M. (2005) ‘Conceptualizing e-governance’ [Electronic version]: European Review of Political Technologies, at http://www.politech-institute.org/review/articles/FINGER_
Matthias_volume_1.pdf accessed on 15 Mach, 2006.
 
Garrido, M. (2004) A Comparative Analysis of ICT for Development Evaluation Frameworks, Center for Internet Studies, University of Washington, at http://www.asiafoundation.org/pdf/
ICT_analysis.pdf, accessed on 25 January, 2008, http://www.asiafoundation.org/pdf/ICT_ analysis.pdf
 
Hagen, I. and Lal, R. (2005) ‘Scaling up development initiatives through ICT: potentials and challenges’, Access, Empowerment and Governance: Creating a World of Equal Opportunities
with ICT, Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), Kuala Lumpur.
 
Haldenwang, C.V. (2004) ‘Electronic government (E-Government)
 

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The End E-Governance Models and
Services
NEXT WEEK :

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