E-READINESS QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NORTH ... - Kunnat.net

participate; enhanced transparency and increased accountability of the government;
increased internal effi ciency and revenue generation by the government; improved
relationship between the government and the citizens etc. However, disparities in access
to ICTs, neglect of disadvantaged groups in society and digital illiteracy can limit
these benefi ts. To achieve the full potential of E-Government the needs of these groups
among others will have to be factored into the overall strategic planning of E-Government
interventions.
Tools and technologies suited to E-Government include both proprietary and open
source platforms and applications. Some of these tools and technologies include geographical
information systems, content management systems, e-Democracy tools, mobile
phones etc.
Before defi ning an E-Government for development strategy or plan of action, a
thorough analysis is required of the existing environment in which E-Government
will be implemented. An e-Readiness assessment is a useful tools for determining a
country’s “starting point” in terms of ICT, and constitutes the initial phase of the ICT
strategic planning process for any government or community. The level of e-Readiness
is gauged by assessing a community’s maturity across a series of ICT indicators that are
considered key in facilitating national development and delivering broad ICT-related
benefi ts.
In the second part of the study involved the profi ling of the southern countries and
local governments in terms of their e-readiness. Data and information on such issues
as the background of the country, geography and demography, the economy, the ICT
landscape were presented. The analysis of the e-readiness of the local governments was
presented at the end of the country profi le after the profi le and administration of local
government area has been presented.
The analysis based on questionnaire (see appendix) showed that basic ICT tools
such as TV, Radio and mobile phones were readily available in all the local governments
that were studied. Power supply was good but the number of household computers
and access to the internet were very low. The local government authorities have
all shown commitment to the adoption and use of ICT for service delivery. There was
however very limited use of ICT for this purpose with most of the local governments
being at the Information stage of E-Government development where local government
authority has a website that provides basic information about the municipality.
Mwanza was the only local government authority with no website at the moment but
respondents said it was under construction. Moses Kotane’s website had documents
such as budgets for download, bids, and a database of suppliers in addition to providing
information about the municipality. Communication between staff of the local
government authorities and with residents and business were still largely over the
counter, meaning face-to-face. More needs to be done to transition to the next stage of
E-Government development i.e. the Interaction stage.
Local government authorities and their staff generally had basic ICT skills but there
was the need to improve this with further capacity building initiatives. These capacity
building initiatives should be extended to the schools and colleges where most of
the teachers and students lacked basic ICT skills. The schools also lacked computers
and there was neglect or total lack of facilities for the physically challenged to access
specialised computers for their work. Moves should be initiated to cater for the needs
of the physically challenged. More efforts should be made at creating awareness of the
potential of ICTs for development at the community level and a serious look should
be taken at utilising ICTs for cultural/entertainment products and services.
From the perspective of cooperating partners, we suggest cooperation partners sit
to discuss a few areas where ICTs could be factored into the cooperation in case there
wasn’t any and if there is something already going on to that effect, efforts be made at
strengthening it taking into account some of the weaknesses that have been highlighted
in this study.
Strenghtening e-Governance in the North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme 77