icegov2012 proceedings

many of the MDGs. The direct impact has been in the form of
establishing ICT infrastructure, networks among governments and
access to telephony, television and other modes of
communication. Despite mixed results, most of the countries have
incubated E-Governance projects with the active participation of
entrepreneurs from public, private and civil society organizations
[3],[28],[14]. E-Governance projects are quite complex in nature
due to the inherent characteristics of the development process
involving government, society, citizen, market and business
issues. Thus there is a need for understanding this complex
phenomenon of convergence among various stakeholders
involved in the development process so that citizens accept this
new environment for fostering the development of their own life
and the society as envisaged in MDGs and meeting sustainable
development challenges.
The paper is organized with the objectives of understanding the
reasons for having mixed results despite clearly defined MDGs,
and growth in E-Governance services. It also explores the effects
of e-readiness for each of the MDGs based on primary surveys,
their influences on overall sustainable development indicators.
Organization of the paper is as follows. In section two, MDGs and
E-Governance are discussed in order to establish proposed
causality in achieving MDGs with support of E-Governance. In
this section global perspectives are presented with specific
references to Indian scenarios. This section includes discussions
on sustainable development and possible roles of E-Governance
and MDGs. In section three, research motivations are discussed to
present the contributions of E-Governance services to achieve
MDGs and overall sustainable development in local context. In
section four, research methods are discussed to establish the
proposed causality among various contributors to the overall
success of MDGs. A research model is also developed to assess
the contributing factors of E-Governance to achieve MDGs and
overall sustainable development. Hypotheses are developed in this
section to present various dimensions of the causality including
the approach for their validations. In section five, data collection
processes are discussed and analyses are presented. In section six,
conclusions are discussed. In section seven limitations of the work
and scope for further studies in this area are discussed.
2. RESEARCH MOTIVATION
As discussed in the introduction section, MDGs are now
embedded in the policies of the member countries. Goal 8F of
MDG recognizes the importance of E-Governance in meeting
various objectives set in the MDG. In order to bring in more
clarity in adopting E-Governance strategies for development
WSIS has provided ten goals for the member countries
[33],[10],[15]. In this section a link between MDG and E-
Governance with WSIS agenda in the backdrop is discussed. In
table 1 below agenda of WSIS and MDG goals with E-
Governance focus are presented.
Table 1. MDG and E-Governance Deliveries [15],[19],[26]
MDG Goals Expected E-Governance Interventions
1.Eradicate
extreme
poverty and
hunger
2.Achieve
universal
WSIS MDGs
Connect Villages with
e-services and establish
access points
Connect Universities,
Colleges, Secondary
Rise in individual
income with eservices
Increase supply of
e-services of
355
MDG Goals Expected E-Governance Interventions
primary
education
3.Promote
gender
equality and
empower
women
4.Reduce
child
mortality
5.Improve
maternal
health
6.Combat
HIV/AIDS,
malaria, and
other diseases
7.Ensure
environmental
sustainability
8.Develop a
global
partnership
for
development
WSIS MDGs
and Primary Schools,
Public Libraries,
Scientific and Research
Centres
World’s population
should have access to
Television and Radio,
facilitate use of eservices
to have
information on internet
in local languages
trained teachers,
establish networks
among teachers,
internet
connectivity in
schools, improved
student/computer
ratio; distance
learning
Focus on e-literacy
among girls, adopt
e-communication
to encourage
women to
contribute to the
society
Increase in use of e-services by Health
Workers, increase in awareness
Enhance accessibility to specialists by village
health workers through remote access, training
through e-services
Increase in use of e-services by Health
Workers, increase in awareness
Use of GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies
enabled e-services, maintain transparency
Ensure that World’s
population have
access to ICT
Currency in
databases, networks
WSIS though has not been specific in setting the agenda for ICT
interventions for implementing the MDGs (Goals 4,5,6,7), there
are continued efforts in these areas. As per the predictions of
WSIS, ICT interventions would be quite significant in the areas of
mobile communications, basic radio and television services by the
year 2015. Progress in the areas related to e-governments has also
been quite reasonable as per WSIS study. But as per WSIS, the
barriers for larger use ICT would be in the form of availability of
electricity and internet. UN’s MDG report for the year 2010
indicates that due to targeted interventions with sustained effort
through political and administrative (including funding) support,
there are significant progresses in achieving MDGs. However,
many important goals are still unmet for the poor, living in remote
areas, and the progress has been uneven. More importantly the
report recognizes that gender inequality and women
empowerment concerns are not adequately addressed which are
preconditions for overcoming poverty, hunger and disease
[1],[31],[30],[29].
Linking E-Governance services to achieve MDGs is not a new
approach [1],[29],[11]. While addressing the challenges for
linking E-Governance with MDGs, UN has accepted various
dimensions related to measurements including impact, policy
development, resource mobilization, global alliance and initiatives