Authorized Authorized

24 WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2016
Table O.2 Classifying the digital citizen engagement cases
Case
Location
Additional offline
mobilization
CSO partners
with
government
Collective
feedback
Impact
Citizen uptake
Government
response
Por Mi Barrio
Uruguay
L
H
I Change My City
India
M
H
Lungisa
South Africa
L
H
Pressure Pan
Brazil
H
M
Rappler
Philippines
H
M
Change.org
World
H
M
U-report
Uganda
H
L
Huduma
Kenya
L
L
Daraja Maji Matone
Tanzania
L
L
FixMyStreet
Georgia
L
L
Check My School
Philippines
L
L
Barrios Digital
Bolivia
L
L
e-Chautari
Nepal
L
L
I Paid a Bribe
India
M
L
Mejora Tu Escuela
Mexico
L
L
Karnataka BVS
India
L
L
Sauti Za Wananchi
Tanzania
L
L
Source: WDR 2016 team, based on Peixoto and Fox 2015, for the WDR 2016.
Note: Examples are arranged by degree of government response. CSO = civil society organization. L = low; M = medium; H = high.
three were successful (table O.2). Of eight cases that
did not involve a partnership, most failed. This suggests
that, although collaboration with government
is not a sufficient condition for success, it may well
be a necessary one. Another ingredient for success is
effective offline mobilization, particularly because
citizen uptake of the digital channels was low in most
of the cases. For example, Maji Matone, which facilitates
SMS-based feedback about rural water supply
problems in Tanzania, received only 53 SMS messages
during its first six months of operation, far less than
the initial target of 3,000, and was then abandoned.
Political participation and engagement of the poor
has remained rare, while in many countries the internet
has disproportionately benefited political elites
and increased the governments’ capacity to influence
social and political discourse. Digital technologies
have sometimes increased voting overall, but this has
not necessarily resulted in more informed or more
representative voting. In the Brazilian state of Rio
Grande do Sul, online voting increased voter turnout
by 8 percentage points, but online voters were disproportionately
wealthier and more educated (figure
O.19). Even in developed countries, engaging citizens
continues to be a challenge. Only a small, unrepresentative
subset of the population participates, and it is
often difficult to sustain citizen engagement. There
is no agreement among social scientists on whether
the internet disproportionately empowers citizens or
political elites, whether it increases polarization, or
whether it deepens or weakens social capital, in some
cases even facilitating organized violence.
The use of technology in governments tends to be
successful when it addresses fairly straightforward
information and monitoring problems. For more
demanding challenges, such as better management of
providers or giving citizens greater voice, technology
helps only when governments are already responsive.
The internet will thus often reinforce rather than
replace existing accountability relationships between