Chapter 8

E-governance service delivery: India and South Africa

Raul Zambrano and Pierre Dandjinou

Since the mid-1990s, the growth of information and communications technologies (ICT) has
raised debates related to economic, sustainable, and human development. Supported by the
relatively fast expansion of the Internet, and the even faster rise of mobile phone use, many
developing countries see the strategic use of information and communications technologies as a
productive area to engage with the global economy while addressing, at the same time, some
critical development challenges.i Indeed, providing access to the new information and
communications technologies through innovative partnerships is one of the specific targets
established by the Millennium Development Goals.ii

Yet, information and communications technologies are often absent from all the other
development goals where they could be a key catalyst and where they could help to improve basic
service and information delivery on larger scales and at affordable costs. By focusing on access to
the new technologies, which reflects the so-called “digital divide”, the potential of information
and communications technologies as an enabler for public services has received less attention. iii
The central issue is the potential of technologies to widen public access to schools, health care,
and social services in developing societies and to bring innovative solutions to accomplish these
goals.

Conceptual Framework

The use of information and communications technologies in governance processes has mostly
centered in the deployment of technological applications and solutions to streamline government
operations, reduce transactional costs, and increase the transparency and accountability of public
institutions. E-government (or online government) has taken off since the end of the Millennium.
Many developing countries have complemented their national information and communications
technologies strategies with e-government strategies or with more ad hoc deployment of e-
government solutions for specific sectors.iv
The latest trend emphasizes a more citizen-centric approach in which e-government priorities
become more responsive to people’s needs and agendas.v This has been complemented by work
that focuses on e-democracy or e-participation while promoting access to information via
information and communications technologies, content production, and dissemination across
networks of state and non-state stakeholders. vi
A citizen-centric approach has fundamental
consequences for the use of information and communications technologies in governance
processes. As shown in Figure 8.1, citizens can be regarded as both ‘clients’ and ‘stakeholders’ in
the overall process.

[Figure 8.1 about here]

As clients, citizens are the users and consumers of government services, including broadcasting
(one-way delivery) of information. This is perhaps the key role that mainstream e-government
programs assign to the public. It is essentially a transactional role where the final aim is to
deliver a service. Key indicators are related to the efficiency of the transaction process itself (for
example, the cost, time, quality, and ease of use). In this context, information and
communications technologies can have a direct impact in terms of the production, distribution
and consumption of the services provided.

As stakeholders, citizens play a substantially different role in the design and implementation of
public policies and development agendas. The focus is on empowering citizens, providing
stakeholders with the capacity and tools to engage with local and national governments and with
other development agencies. This is a two-way street in which communications and interaction
are basic ingredients. Key indicators here are directly related to critical governance factors such
as accountability, transparency, and participation. The potential of information and
communications technologies for producing and reproducing information at low cost and for
creating or enhancing existing citizen’s networks, combined with their interactive nature, offers
the possibility of supporting the role of citizens as stakeholders.

There is also a clear connection between the two components. For example, citizen-centric e-
government initiatives should involve stakeholders in the design and implementation of e-
government strategies. Moreover, priority areas for e-government interventions should be
identified in conjunction with stakeholders, on the basis of a multi-sectoral approach.vii
E-governance and the Poor

Many, if not most, of the large e-government programmes and projects are centered in supporting
and strengthening the internal and external capacities of national government institutions to fulfill
their functions in a more effective and efficient fashion.viii In many cases, local governments and
municipalities are not included in this process, especially the poorest communities. Not
surprisingly, most of these initiatives fail to reach socially-excluded sectors of the population.

A similar argument could be made about e-participation or e-democracy initiatives. Early

evidence suggests that these efforts have taken place mostly in industrialized countries where
levels of access, connectivity, education, and democracy are relatively high. Poor sectors of the
population in developing countries, on the other hand, have certainly very limited access to any of
these services or benefits.

Does this mean that there are no clear links between e-governance, defined in the broad sense,
and the poor? To address this question, based on the above conceptual framework, we can review
some of the existing literature and then present two case-studies, from India and South Africa.
The final conclusion summarizes the findings and then presents recommendations for the
development community and for further research.

E-services for the Poor

Most e-government initiatives are focused on what has been called e-administration or the use of
ICTs to strengthen public institutions and to make them more efficient and transparent. This is an
inward looking process where government institutions use specific ICT solutions to streamline
their operations. Most of these initiatives are not focused on service delivery and, at best, end up
by providing information to citizens, for example through non-interactive web portals. Such
programs are usually implemented by national government institutions located in large urban
centers. Most e-government national strategies are completed on a non-participatory basis,
excluding both local governments and non-state stakeholder in their design and implementation.ix
In the last few years, however, several examples have attempted to deliver basic services to the
poor using ICTs, both old and new. Most have been implemented by local governments that run
them directly, or through innovative public-private partnerships with small enterprises and non-
governmental organizations. These projects serve several distinct but related functions. They first
concerns the delivery of basic services to citizens. For example, project Gyandoot in Madhya
Pradesh, India illustrates how governments use ICTs to help reach a distant, poor and drought-
prone district to deliver some key services effectively and efficiently. It provides villagers access
to vital government information and to documents, such as income and residence certificates,
through kiosks operated by local entrepreneurs.x ICT can also help to foster economic well-
being for the rural poor. Project FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Effective Network for
Disbursement of Services) is notable for enabling people to process bill payments in one local
center. Another project, AKSHAYA provides diverse information and government services that
local people can access in the same center. Both have been instrumental in developing social
networks and generating entrepreneurial activities that, in turn, enable local people to be
productive.xi

Another function of ICTs is to enhance local government administration and accountability. The
ability to process various transactions directly with government, and the elimination of middle-
persons, has been key in the reduction of opportunities for corruption, which in turn contributes
greatly to better perception of government by citizens. Villagers have attributed projects such as
Gyandoot and FRIENDS with reductions in the common practice of paying bribes to get public
services transactions. Some ICT projects include a complaint mechanism through which villagers
can report unfair prices, broken irrigation pumps, absentee teachers, and other local problems, so
that local people become empowered to push for and monitor action from their government.xii

ICTs have also served to increase trust in local government. This is illustrated by the e-Justice
project, a portal designed to promote legal awareness and understanding by simplifying laws,
judgments, and procedures and to provide access to legal information and services such as legal
aid and alternative remedies, range of information on human rights and issues relevant to people’s
lives in the rural area. One key service of e-Justice is enabling the rural poor to submit grievances
and requests for assistance from legal experts online for free; CGG evaluates grievances
submitted and refer them to a court that will guide citizens (via assigned advocates) on
appropriate ways to resolve problems.xiii
New technologies are promoting public-private partnerships. Most initiatives seek alliances with
either small entrepreneurs and/or developmental NGOs to reach the poor and deliver basic
services. Local governments are aware of their limitations in reaching remote population on a
sustainable basis and outsource functions and operations to third parties.

Nevertheless, despite these potential functions for government, these initiatives often still face
many constraints. In particular, research and the cases cited here confirm that there is not one
single model that represents the definitive success model for the use of ICTs in enhancing
democratic governance and empowering the poor for development. Perhaps of all challenges
noted in various studies, it is this lack of a solid, unassailable model that many planning their own
initiatives find pressing. As needs are different for each locale or group of people, pinning down
what “design” may prove most suitable or replicable becomes problematic.xiv

Another related issue concerns sustainability and cost. Although not all initiatives entail
enormous expenditures, the general perception is that ICT initiatives require substantial
investment. Some research confirms, however, that certain successful initiatives do not require
prohibitive costs and {that they} can be self-sustaining. The Kothmale program in Sri Lanka is
the best example; another is the Boohmi project in India.xv

There are also questions about the lack of an appropriate social and physical infrastructure.
Barriers to the success of these initiatives lie in citizens’ lack of skills, the existence of
rural/urban and gender divides, the lack of access to computers or other ICT tools, and so on. xvi
These are constraints however that did not impede those projects adopted in rural India where
local people are noted to lack skills and education, and communities do not have an ideal physical
infrastructure.

Scalability and replicability are also issues. Many initiatives do not cover large segments of the
poor population and indeed seem to work best in smaller environments. Also, the successful cases
in India are not necessarily being replicated in other countries with similar socio-economic
conditions. This issue goes beyond the simple deployment of ICT and is related to policies on
decentralization and public sector reform.
Lastly, there is also a lack of evidence {of clear impact} about the impact of these efforts on the
poorest populations. Plenty of anecdotal evidence has been put forward but there is still little
systematic data to demonstrate the impact on these projects on local human development.

e-participation

There are many examples of using ICT for participation in development planning linked to
innovative public access to internet in poor neighborhoods. One such initiative is the participatory
budgeting (Orcamento Participativo) process in Porto Alegre, Brazil. One conclusion of this
project is that internet use increased not only the number of people who participated, it also
facilitated the inclusion of young people who have previously not participated at all.xvii Another
example is the Tanzanian National Assembly (Bunge) which introduced a digital web-driven
parliamentary database called POLIS, which among other things sought to improve the services
of lawmakers to their constituents and to provide the general public with information and
proceedings.xviii

In Europe, all OECD member countries recognize new information and communication
technologies as powerful tools for enhancing citizen engagement in public policy-making.
Among the questions raised are: How can government ensure an equal hearing and 'assured
listening' to so many individual voices? How can online consultations be designed to bridge the
digital divide and ensure the inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups? How will such inputs
be integrated into the policy-making cycle? How can guarantees for personal data protection be
ensured?xix

A global view was provided by the UN in 2004 which found that 178 out of the 191 UN member
States had a governance presence on the internet, but nevertheless only a few of these could
demonstrate that the ICT tools made available online by the government were conducive to
supporting the deliberative and participatory process between government and citizens or among
citizens. The E-participation index provided is explicit: “The UN report also demonstrates that
only 11 per cent of countries allow feedback mechanism to the government agency in charge and
even a few numbers specify whether individual submissions were to be considered. This leads a
few researchers to conclude that despite the rhetoric, the willingness of governments to use web-
based applications to involve citizens in a political dialogue and to provide substantial
consultation processes remain limited.xx
For many observers, the real challenge lies in not only ensuring that certain preconditions are met
for e-inclusion such as access to ICT tools, networks and literacy, but the degree to which e-
inclusion enables an individual to participate more fully in the social, cultural and political arenas
of society. Particularly in policy-making, e-participation makes use of the digital communications
media to allow citizens to participate through a more inclusive, open, responsive and deliberative
process.xxi Ensuring that the whole society becomes a place for mass production and consumption
of knowledge appears as rationale path for putting governance at the service of the overall
development,with the assumption that if citizens do not demand it, the social institutions of
democracy, the State and the market would not change to accommodate to a new division of
public power and resource, or a new framework for the operation of the markets.

Another lesson gained from the recent wave of e-governance related project is that real
participation goes beyond the support that ICT offer in conducting elections or in facilitating
communication between the electorate and politicians.xxii It is likely that an e-participation
platform will be needed which includes a set of rules and tools. With the ever-expanding use of
ICT by governments, we need to better understand current e-participation applications and to
learn from these experiences.xxiii As e-participation evaluation remains in its infancy, we need to
develop a coherent evaluation framework, encompassing a range of methods and perspectives, as
exemplified by the recent evaluation of four local authority led projects in UK.

Difficulties in assessing e-participation are also compounded by the lack of clear e-participation
indicators; for instance, while the European Commission’s i2010 vision includes e-government as
a crucial part of it main policy dimensions, a recent report commissioned by the EU notes that e-
government endeavors seem to be more isolated initiatives and actions than broad ranging
strategies: “Few NAPs attribute a really strategic importance to e-Inclusion, while most National
Plans choose to focus on other priorities. We are still far from a system of indicators which could
really allow the monitoring of progress at national level.” xxiv

Finally, attention should be given to categorizing e-participation itself. E-participation models

have been grouped under three broad categories: Information, i.e., a one-way flow of information
from the government to the citizens; Consultation, i.e., a two-way relationship whereby citizens
are encouraged to provide feedback to the government; and Active participation, i.e., a
partnership arrangement with the government in which citizen engagement is actively solicited
for defining and shaping policy. xxv

The International Association for Public Participation (IAPP), on the other hand, provides a
spectrum of consultation and participation tools that range from information provision to active
participation. They include:

• Information provision: fact sheets, web sites, open houses

• Consultation: public comment, focus groups, surveys, public meetings

• Involving the public: workshops, deliberative polling

• Collaboration: citizen advisory committees, consensus-building, participatory

• decision making

• Empowerment: citizens’ juries, ballots, delegated decisions.

In this classification, however, the e-participation model culminates in ‘empowerment’ which

allows citizens the prerogative to influence the policies and laws that govern their lives.xxvi

When relating e-governance to human development, we need to consider current alternative to

public access, such as PDAs and other cellular phones facilities. As Nahleen Ahmed puts it ‘The
relevance of m-government lies in the fact that it is particularly suited for developing countries
where Internet access rates are low but mobile phone penetration is growing rapidly, particularly
in urban areas. Globally, the number of mobile phones has surpassed the number of fixed/wired
phones. This is the case in 49 middle-income and 36 low-income countries, including Burkina
Faso, Chad, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philippines, Saudi Arabia,
and South Africa. According to a recent study, the population of global SMS users will grow to
1.36 billion in 2006.’’xxvii

To achieve high impact e-governance, and to reach out to masses often lacking access to public
services, the future potential in many parts of Africa lies in mobile telephony as an innovative e-
governance delivery channel. The reach of mobile telephony has increased dramatically in recent
years and has penetrated deep into the rural areas. In Uganda, for example, currently the ratio of
mobile subscribers to the number of fixed-line users is more than 16:1 and the market is
consistently growing at around 50 per cent per annum.xxviii Programmes such as the District
Information Portal could benefit from a closer integration of mobile telephony and, in particular,
SMS-based services. All the mobile phone companies in Uganda already offer some sort of
value-added SMS services, such as job vacancy notifications, weather updates and currency
exchange rates. To extend these services towards specific designed government services targeting
the poor and rural citizens, to achieve real development impact, could be the next step on the
agenda and projects such as Farmers Information and Communication Management (FICOM)
represent existing and successful pioneers.

Case Studies: India and South Africa

To understand the link between e-governance and the poor, we can examine two case studies, in
India and South Africa. The use of ICT in government and governance process has two different
aspects, one related to e-services for the poor and one empowering citizens to become active in
policy and development discussions.

India: Project e-Setu (e-Bridge) - Citizens Access to Information and Government Services

The e-Setu project was launched in 2003 by the Government of India and UNDP in the island of
Majuli, the largest inhabited river island in South Asia. xxix
Majuli is located in the district of
Jorhat, State of Assam. The state is below the Indian average in terms of development, with
poverty rates around 35 per cent. Furthermore, the ICT revolution that has taken place in India
since the late 1980s has largely by-passed this area. The island of Majuli has no physical bridges
connecting it to the mainland. The only access to the island is thus by ferry boat, a trip that takes
at least two hours one-way. For residents, this means that getting a permit for a local market,
obtaining a land registration certificate, or registering a newly-born child, requires time-
consuming and hazardous trips (specially during the rainy season) to the Deputy Commissioner
Office in the mainland.xxx
With the support of the Deputy Commissioner in the district headquarters in Jorhat, UNDP India
launched the e-Setu project with a budget of US $70,000 and with the specific objective of
facilitating access to information and government services -and not just to provide connectivity or
access to the Internet to islanders. Initially, two separate kiosks were setup in Majuli, one at the
local government office (Sub-Divisional Office, SDO) and one run by a small local entrepreneur.
Using store-and–forward technology over existing telephone lines and satellite links, both were
linked to the kiosk setup at the DC office in Jorhat. The latter, in turn, was directly connected to
the Internet and ran sophisticated hardware and software.

From the beginning, end-users were not expected directly to use the computer equipment
installed by the project. Instead local operators were trained and asked to both serve the general
public and handle the PCs and printers. This also provided an ideal human interface for those
users who were illiterate. Indeed, the project spent important resources in training kiosk operators
as well as government officials. Operators were also frequently rotated so that they quickly
learned the new system.

Operators printed out the respective government forms requested by the public and assisted them
in filling them out. Citizens arriving at the kiosks were registered in the system and provided a
unique ID number. Once the requested was completed and submitted, citizens were given a
receipt with a unique ID too, as well as a date when they could return to pick up their completed
requests. Users who had already good knowledge of using PCs were welcome to handle the
process on their own. This was particularly the case at the private operated kiosks –which also
included several in the mainland that were associated to the project.

The project started by offering a total of twelve basic services which provided citizens in the
island with rapid access to government certificates of diverse kind ranging from birth to senior
citizen certificates.xxxi Scaling fees were used for charging for services. For the first couple of
months, services were provided for free, to entice the population to use the kiosks. Then a flat fee
of 2 Rs was charged for the next couple of month. This was increased to 5 Rs by the sixth month
of operations. An additional fifteen services were also added to the kiosks portfolio - for a total of
twenty-seven. These now included copies of certificates to permits for land sales and possession
of fire crackers. By November of 2003 the main services the kiosks provided were illustrated in
Table 3.I. Note the relation between the demand for Jamanbandi (land registration) certificates
and the issuing of land sale permissions. Land sales require that owners have in their possession a
copy of their land titles and e-Setu greatly facilitated this.

[Table 8.1 and 8.2 about here]

Table 3.1 below shows the benefits of e-Setu in terms of service delivery. There are clear benefits
in terms of time, cost, access and quality of service. Table 3.2 includes over 11,200 applications
received through the e-Setu kiosks. Citizens thus saved over Rs 400,000 and close to 14 thousand
person-days in getting these services. In the first six months after starting, both kiosks collected
application fees close to Rs34,000 with over 90 per cent coming from the government operated
kiosk.

e-Setu thus established an effective local e-governance project that provided to poor people with
more access to services and information, and which also improved the quality of the services,
while substantially reducing the time invested by citizens in getting access to them. By accessing
the kiosks, citizens learned more about their own individual rights, including the right to access
information on government and the public services.

In locations where e-Setu was not established, the so-called “black coats” act as intermediaries
between the government and citizens and charge hefty fees for providing and expediting the
various certificates and other government services. In such situations, citizens have no remedy
but to make use of the “black coats” to obtain the service they require. e-Setu on the other hand
has helped promote greater the transparency and accountability of government institutions
involved in the project by eliminating intermediaries and providing a friendly (and human)
interface to citizens. Obtaining a birth certificate allowed citizens to also learned about both the
benefits and rights this brings to them (access to education and health services in many states in
India) and the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

[Table 8.4 about here]

By the end of 2003, when UNDP support and financing for the project ended, the project was
rather successful. Majuli was now connected not only to the mainland but also to the Internet.
The number of services and the number of users was constantly increasing and the quality of
services was praised by the local people not only for being fast and efficient but also user-
friendly. Kiosk operators were adequately trained and end-users did not have to use the computer
equipment if they did not know how.

Yet the project was also facing critical challenges. On the technology side, lack of constant power
supply affected the performance of the kiosks as well as communications with Jorhat.
Furthermore, the backend process of the delivery of certificates was yet to be enabled using ICT.
But the main threat was the financial sustainability of the project as actual operating costs
exceeded the revenue generated by the kiosks.xxxii

Proposed solutions included increasing the price for services (charging at real costs for example)
and enhancing the services offered to include items such as payment of the various consumer bills
and taxes. Also considered were: provision health, agricultural and veterinary services,
information on commodity prices (e-market), incorporation of electoral rolls and land records
databases, video-conferencing services and even academic counseling.

In 2004, the “e-Setu society”, a foundation of sorts under the Chairmanship of the DC, was
created with the purpose of continue to support the overall project. The project increased the
number of services to 50, and has reportedly become financially sustainable. As the project can
be easily replicated in other districts there are now plans to deploy it throughout the state of
Assam. One example is the joint work with the Community Information Centers of the Ministry
of Information Technology which setup a couple of centers in the island using the e-Setu model
to enhance the services they offered.

Projects similar to e-Setu are proliferating in India. In 1999, the state of Maharashtra launched
the Integrated Citizen Facilitation Centers (SETU Project) which started in a mid-sized city and
which operates as a one-stop shop for citizens. xxxiii
The centers offer services for obtaining
certificates, permits, and affidavits, and they are now operating in 28 districts and 298 Taluka
places in the state. A case study evaluating SETU described this initiative as a partial success,
given cumbersome paper procedures which remain in use and the limited range of online
services.xxxiv

Perhaps the best known and most successful example is e-Seva (which means e-services) that
provides rural areas in the West Godavari district with access to government services ranging
from certificates to payment of taxes, while also supporting community-based transactions. xxxv By
2005, there were over 200 e-Seva kiosks established in the district, many operated by women.
The kiosks are run by small enterprises with monthly incomes ranging from US $90-320. xxxvi
Evaluations of the project indicate that many challenges still need to be addressed, including
sustainability, corruption, lack of adequate infrastructure (electricity and communications), and
the displeasure of local officials when seeing women doing their work.xxxvii

Several other initiatives such as Gyandoot, Lovkani, and FRIENDS provide similar services to
rural and poor communities. These point to the potential scalability and replicability of this type
of initiatives within the country, as well as in other places. The proliferation of ICT-based service
delivery to poor communities in India is positively related to a strong political will to introduce
ICTs, combined with a favorable policy environment reflected in the e-governance National
Action Plan. In addition, India’s well-known decentralization policies, including in rural areas,
has played a key factor in making this happen.

South Africa: Citizens’ Participation in Improving Local Governance

South Africa has been one of the first countries in the continent to embark on projects and
programmes which harness the potential ICT offers to provide valuable information that enhances
economic, health, and educational activities, as well as to give voice to traditionally marginalized
peoples. In May 2001, the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (PGWC) set out a ten-
year strategy for dealing with the challenges facing the province, in particular, channeling the
forces of globalization for the elimination of poverty and the empowerment of people to lead
fulfilling lives. Hence, the PGWC identified a set of projects.

Cape Online is one of the overarching programmes which incorporate the Cape Gateway project
that was designed as a portal to improve internal efficiencies in service delivery, enhance overall
competitiveness of the region and improve the lives of the Western Cape's citizens. As per their
business plan, the vision of the Cape Online Programme was “To develop an innovative
environment that facilitates a competitive knowledge-based economy that promotes economic
growth and enhances the quality of life for our people.’’ xxxviii In support of this vision, the Cape
Online Programme sought to enable government to harness the capabilities of the Internet, to
grow the appropriate use of ICT, and to increase internal efficiencies.

The target audience of the portal was the population of Western Cape Province of South Africa,
which is around 4.5 million people or 9.7 per cent of the country’s total. The three principal
languages in the province are Afrikaans (59 per cent), English (20 per cent) and Xhosa (19 per
cent). The Western Cape comprises 10.6 per cent of South Africa’s area. A majority of the
Western Cape population live in the City of Cape Town while the remaining is scattered on lands
in predominant rural areas. The portal was designed to cater to a wide range of population,
including businesses and organizations, members of the Provincial cabinet, government entities,
and other interested individuals.

The rationale behind the Cape Gateway portal was explicit in the PGWC's White paper
‘preparing the Western Cape for the Knowledge economy of the 21st Century’. The white paper
echoed the department of Arts, culture, science and technology, which stated that : 'The ability to
maximize the use of knowledge is now consistent to be the single most important factor in
deciding the competitiveness of countries (regions) as well as their ability to empower their
citizens through enhanced access to information''.xxxix

By the time its first evaluation was conducted in 2003, Cape Gateway had already yielded the
following results: a knowledge centre was established; preparations for the launch of the portal in
the three main languages were underway; the first e-newsletter was produced; and a content
management system was in place. Besides the information resource that was accessible through
an online portal, a telephone contact centre, as well as a centrally located walk- in resource
centre, was available in Cape Town. Cape Gateway was seen as the first step in the staged
introduction of e-governance in the Western Cape.

[Figure 8.3 and 8.4 about here]

The Cape Gateway portal includes a rich and varied set of information, basically government
information and services organized by the stages and events in people’s life. The most popular
content concerns: Provincial Government of Western cape (Government body); Traffic fines:
City of Cape Town (Services); The Government of South Africa (Government body); and
Domestic workers and the unemployment Insurance fund (UIF Service)

In 2003, Bridges.org, a South African based research organization, conducted an evaluation of the
Cape Gateway. Interestingly, they chose to evaluate through two lenses which were termed ‘Best
practice’’ and “Real access’’. Bridges.org coined the concept ‘’Real Access = Real Impact’’ to
gauge the usefulness of the portal and to demonstrate that, despite the potential benefits offered
by ICT, computers and connections have little relevance to people in developing countries if they
can not use it effectively. Thus, they designed a set of 16 criteria, including the “skills required
by citizens in order to use the portal; socio-cultural factors that affect technology use; public
support of government activities and political will in government to enable widespread
technology use throughout society and the impact of the portal on the community and larger
society”. xl The findings emphasized the overall measure of the expected impact on the Western
Cape society: “The first phase of the portal will improve access to government information and
will benefit citizens directly through cost and time savings as they access information remotely.
More efficient information dissemination will result in details of posts advertised within
government being available in rural areas before closing date for applications, and the rural
poor being empowered by knowing what grants they actually have access to, making use of them,
and knowing what their rights are. As the portal moves to its transactional phase and begins to
collect information, benefits will be felt through more accurate town planning, provision of
services and infrastructure, and online services such as issuing of licenses and collection of
taxes….”

The evaluation of the Cape Gateway project demonstrates that it has achieved its objective of
delivering government information to the public. Another major conclusion of the evaluation was
the need for more flexible and informal structures in the provincial Government, the removal of
bureaucratic hurdles, and increased awareness of the benefits that ICT and e-government can
bring for all citizens.
Different examples from South Africa, including the Cape Gateway project indicate that an e-
government portal is beginning to evolve from e-information to e-consultation. It is not clear,
however, how the government intends to use the results of its consultative process to assess the
performance of its portal. While the range of public services is not fully developed, there is
clearly an attempt to organize the information according to the perceived needs of the public, and
in several different languages. As Limpopo Premier Ngoako Ramathlodi noted: “[The Centre]
would provide a two-way communication channel - people receive information from government,
but it also empowers them to talk back to government about their needs and aspirations.”xli

The full extent to which the Cape gateway project has been able to impact the overall economic
and social life of the region is yet to be determined, although the project is well on course to help
citizens interact with their local government. The fact that the portal is accessible in all three most
spoken languages in the province, and the possibilities of interaction with the implementing body,
suggests that the poor have a channel for voicing their concerns.

The case study on South Africa offers interesting ways to help comprehend the state of e-
government related programmes vis-à-vis poverty reduction and citizen’s empowerment. Cape
Gateway was being promoted by a local government, which saw the portal as a tool for fostering
community development. Whether the Western Cape experience has empowered the poor in any
substantive way, however, remains unclear. While government information and services have
become available online, it is not possible to distinguish different categories of users. Given the
current status of connectivity in Western Cape (10 per cent of the total population have access to
the Internet), and the relatively high rate of illiteracy, it is hard to demonstrate that the
programme strengthened any community participation. For the Cape Gateway to empower the
poor, it would need to delineate a few priority areas where the information provided could be
used to transform the living conditions and ensure equality in decision-making and service
benefits. Cape Gateway was used mainly by the citizens of Cape Town and the fact that one of
the most popular services of the site focused on traffic fines indicates that the portal was mainly
catering to the needs of the middle-class. For the Cape Gateway to empower the poor, specific
features which address the needs of the disadvantaged and rural portions of the population need to
be further developed.

Conclusions
Most of the work on e-governance has indeed centered on the use of ICT to increase the
efficiency and transparency of national and local government institutions. There is indeed vast
number of case studies, papers, and books on this particular approach to e-governance. Although
the tide is starting to change, there are still few studies on the use of ICT to improve and enhance
the delivery of basic services to the poor and marginalized populations in developing and
developed countries. This paper is aimed at contributing to the latter by providing new evidence
in this regard.

The pro-poor e-governance initiatives presented in the two case studies considered above show
the importance of both addressing basic needs of marginalized populations and involving
stakeholders in the process. They also show that although national and/or local governments
need to be involved, the actual delivery of services and information to citizens can be done via
non-governmental channels – via civil society organizations and/or local micro/small enterprises.
Outsourcing is thus feasible once basic priorities have been identified in conjunction with
stakeholders and potential beneficiaries.

In contrast to more traditional (and usually larger) e-government programmes, these initiatives
show that the level of investment required to address local needs and goals is relatively small vis-
a-vis the total target population. In addition, end users and beneficiaries are not required to
directly use ICT to get the services they are requesting. This is particularly important where local
capacities are scarce, the level of illiteracy is still relatively high and use of local languages is
required. Thirdly, the issue of connectivity (low of high speed) is not the crucial issue if the focus
is on delivering the actual service and low cost access solutions are provided to the initiatives.
This as clearly the case of e-setu where dial-up connectivity was used to hook-up to the main
local office in the state. And finally, the case studies suggest that a combination of old and new
technologies in the implementation of pro-poor initiatives provide the best case scenario for their
optimal use by end users.

A clear impact on transparency and anti-corruption was also found as one of the key outcomes of
the project. The lack of of systematization and the poor quality of services provided by local
government allow for the emergence of a series of intermediaries who made a living out of
charging relatively hefty fees to citizens for processing specific services (birth certificates, land
registration, etc.). By setting the ICT enables kiosks, citizens were not only able to by-pass such
intermediaries but also learn that their existence was not justified by any means. A similar
argument can be made for information and communication channels as depicted in the Cape
Town case study.

Although ICT can be seen as a driver, the initiatives studied here indicate that both political and
policy environments are critical. First, there is clear need for political will on the part of the
government entities involved, in particular when the target population is the most disenfranchised
- as usually it is not the aim of most government programmes (on e-government or any other
areas for that matter). And secondly, links to ongoing local governance and national
decentralization policies need to be established. This will favor the inception of locally grown
projects that respond to community needs in information provision and government services. This
will also help ensure long-term sustainability of the initiatives.

The examples discussed here also demonstrate that the use of ICT can be an effective tool not
only to simplify government to citizen interactions, either transactional or participatory, but can
also lead to a transformation in the very nature of such interactions. This is particularly the case if
the focus is placed on the new ways beneficiaries connect to local governments and can then
potentially turn around and start demanding more services (and information) and increased
involvement in key decision-making processes. There is indeed a close link between pro-poor
service and information delivery and stakeholder participation in governance processes.

All in all, while the final impacts of these efforts are yet to be fully assessed, the evidence
demonstrates the potential that the new information society has for empowering the poor. Overall
development policies that facilitate a two way dialogue between the governed and the decision-
makers are most likely to empower the poor and therefore contribute towards governance and
development.

Figure 8.1: Citizens and the State

 Dual relationship between
Citizens and State

Citizens as
Clients
Information and
Service Delivery
Factors
Citizens as
Stakeholders Cost

Time
Public Policy Design &
Implementation Quality
Governance Factors
Access Participation Ease

Accountability Enforcement

Transparency

Trust

UNDP/CISCO e-governance Framework - 2006 .

Source: UNDP-Cisco e-governance framework

Figure 8.2: Demand for e-Setu main services, 2003

550
525
500
475
450
425
400
375
350
# of Applications

325
300India
Source: UNDP
275
250
225
200
175
150
125
100
75
50
25
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Month

Jamabandi Copy Birth Cer

Figure 8.3: The Cape Online Programme
Figure 8.4: The Cape Gateway Website
Table 8.1: Proposed parameters of a platform for participation

RULES TOOLS
Public Sphere • Culture of civic engagement • Use of ICT for
information
• Freedoms management
• Information management • ICT application for
• Safeguarding of electronic implementation of
communication channels Internet safeguarding
policy
• Separation of public and
private values
• Attentiveness of public
officials / Public
administration
Deliberative resources • E-government
applications aimed at
making citizens
knowledgeable and
skilled
• E-government
applications aimed at
making citizens
connected and
networked
Source: UN World public sector report 2003
Table 8.2: Key Services provided by e-Setu, 2003

Applications Received Applications Attended

Service # per cent # per cent

Jamabandi (land registration) Copy 4,830 43 4,765 43

Birth Certificate 1,725 15 1,702 15
Permanent Residence Certificate 1,607 14 1,600 15
Land Sale Permission 1,046 9 986 9
Other 2,090 19 2,025 18

Total 11,298 100 11,078 100

Source: UNDP India
Table 8.3: e-Setu Benefits for the Community

Item Before e-Setu With e-Setu

Transportation Costs Rs 28.00/2 days None
Incidental expenses Rs 20.00 /2 days None
Processing Fees Rs. 10.00
Intermediaries One or more None
Time required Min. 2 persons-day Half a person-day
Delivery 1 – 3 months 5 days max.
Total Rs 48.00/2 person-days Rs 10.00/Half person-
day

Source: UNDP India

Table 8.4: Impact of ICT on Service Delivery

Item Before e-Setu With e-Setu ICT System

Labor Intensiveness  Very High  Low
Corruption  High  Nil
Harassment  Very High  Nil
Delivery Time Unknown  From 1 to 5
days
Average Delivery Rate  1-3 Number of  Minimum 20
Applications
Complaints  Multiple  Negligible
Public Satisfaction  Very low Very Satisfied
Processing  By hand  Computerized
Transparency/  Low  High
Accountability
Source: Governance Knowledge Center, India
i
An excellent example is provided by Rwanda which has developed a twenty year plan to harness ICT as both a sector and
as an catalyst for development. See http://www.rita.gov.rw/about/about_strategie.html; World Telecommunication
Indicators Database 9th Edition. (http://www.itu.int/ITU D/ict/publications/world/world.html)
ii
United Nations. 2000. Millennium Development Declaration (http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf)
Accenture, Markle Foundation, UNDP. 2001. Creating a Development Dynamic: Final Report of the Digital
iii

Opportunities Initiative http://www.opt-in.org

iv
See for example Richard Heeks. 2003. Understanding e-Governance for Development, IDPM i-government Working
Paper 11, University of Manchester, 2003; Richard Heeks. 2003, Most e-Government-for-Development Projects Fail: How
Can Risks be Reduced? IDPM i-Government Working Paper 14, University of Manchester, 2003,
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/publications/wp/igov/igov_wp14.pdf.
v
UNDESA report on global e-gov http://www.lidec.futuro.usp.br/downloads/egovUN.pdf
For example, Stephen Coleman. 2005. ‘New Mediation and Direct Representation: Representation in the Digital Age.’
vi

New Media & Society 7.

vii
World Bank. 2004. World Development Report on “Making Services Work for the Poor”. Washington DC: World Bank.
viii
UNDESA. 2004. World Public Sector Report 2003: E-government at the Crossroads. New York, United Nations.
ix
Subhash Bhatnagar, 2006. Paving the Road towards Pro-poor e-governance: Findings and Observations from Asia-
Pacific Case Studies. UNDP, Asia Pacific Development Information Programme, Bangkok, Thailand.
http://www.apdip.net/projects/e-government/capblg/casestudies/Overview.pdf
x
Christopher Blattman, Robert Jensen and Raul Roman. 2003. ‘Assessing the Need and Potential of Community
Networking for Development in Rural India.’ The Information Society, 19: 349–364.
Shirin Madon. 2004. ‘Evaluating the Development Impact of e-Governance Initiatives: An Explanatory Framework.’
xi

Electronic Journal of Information System in Developing Countries 20 (5).

xii
Simone Cecchini and Christopher Scott. 2003. Can Information and Communications Technology Applications
Contribute to Poverty Reduction? Lessons from Rural India. Information Technology for Development, 10. IOS Press. 73-
84.
xiii
See http://www.i4donline.net/articles/current-article.asp?articleid=705&typ=Features).
See Y. N. Chen, H. M. Chen, W. Huang and R. K. H. Ching. (2006). ‘E-Government Strategies in Developed and
xiv

Developing Countries: An Implementation Framework and Case Study.’ Journal of Global Information Management.
14(1).
xv
De Rahul and Chiranjib Sen. 2004. ‘The Complex Nature of e-Government Projects: Case Study of Bhoomi, an Initiative
in Karnataka, India.’ Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3183.
Miria Pigato. 2001. Information and Communication Technology, Poverty, and Development in sub-Saharan Africa and
xvi

South Asia. Africa Region Working Paper Series #20. The World Bank.
xvii
For an overview of the process see //www.goethe.de/br/poa/burg/en/framebag.htm.
xviii
http://www.developmentgateway.org/download/242898/Parliamentary_launch.pdf
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2003. World Public Sector Report 2003: E-government at
xix

the Crossroads. New York: United Nations (http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan012733.pdf

xx
Jerzy Szeremeta. 2006. ‘Using information and communication technologies to enhance citizen engagement in the policy
process.’ In Promise and Problems of E-Democracy: Challenges of Online Citizen Engagement. Paris: OECD.
xxi
Nahleen Ahmed. 2006. An overview of e-participation models. New York: UNDESA.
xxii
Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Danielle Waldburger, and Gabriele Siegenthaler Muinde. Eds. XXXX. Access, Empowerment and
Governance: Creating a World of Equal Opportunities with ICT.
xxiii
Ann Macintosh and A. Whyte. 2006; ‘Evaluating how e-participation changes local democracy’. In Proceedings of the
e-government Workshop 2006, eGov06, eds Z. Irani and A. Ghoneim.
xxiv
eEurope Advisory Group. 2005. WG2 – e-Inclusion: Final Report.
xxv
Ann Macintosh, 2004. Characterizing E-Participation in Policy-Making.
xxvi
Nahleen Ahmed. 2006. An overview of e-participation models. New York: UNDESA
xxvii
IAP2
, Arjan de jager and Victor van Reijswoud. 2006. E-Governance in the Developing World in Action : The case of
xxviii

DistrictNet in Uganda. The Hague, the Netherlands: IICD Research Brief 2000www.ftpiicd.org/files/temp/DistrictNet-
Uganda-Oct2006.pdf
Key sources for this case study include: UNDP, 2003. Project e-Setu: reaching the unreached. UNDP India, New Delhi.
xxix

http://www.undp.org.in/events/ict-goa/e-setu15-16dec03goa.PPT; Kumar M. Tiku, 2004. e-Setu Brings Digital

Opportunities to Majuli Helps Island Emerge out of Time Warp. UNDP India News, New Delhi.
xxx
The choice of Majuli to implement this project is intentional, given its physical isolation from the district itself. These
conditions can also be easily found in most rural/underserved areas in developing countries. The difference is that in the
former case, building actual infrastructure would be very expensive vis-à-vis setting ICT solutions to deliver basic services
and information.
The 1989 Registration of Birth and Death Act of the Government of India make such registration compulsory. However,
xxxi

35 years later only about 55 per cent of the daily births were registered and even fewer had obtained birth certificates. See
Arun Serrao & Sujatha B.R., 2004. Birth Registration: A Background Note Bangalore, Community Development
Foundation. http://www.ilpnet.org/news/BRWorkshop/BirthRegistration_Background.pdf.
This is a well known issue in the literature related to telecenters et. al. For a presentation of this issue from a
xxxii

development point of view see UNDP. 2004. Sustainable Development Networking Programme: Final Evaluation Report.
New York: UNDP. http://sdnhq.undp.org/docs/evals/SDNP-assessment-report-Final.pdf.
xxxiii
http://setu.maharashtra.gov.in/index.htm.
Vijay Satbir Singh, 2002. SETU: A Citizen Facilitation Center in India. E-government for Development Information
xxxiv

Exchange. IDPM, University of Manchester. http://www.egov4dev.org/setu.htm.

xxxv
http://esevaonline.com/; http://www.westgodavari.org/.
Similar initiatives can also be found in Latin America. For example, NUDETel in Venezuela
xxxvi

(http://www.nudetel.gob.ve/). The main difference is that NUDETels are run as small cooperatives and not as micro
enterprises.
Swampa Veldana and Sanjay Jaju, 2005. Women Providing Online Services: e-Seva Centres in Andhra Pradesh, India.
xxxvii

Women’s ICT-based Enterprise for Development, IDPM, University of Manchester,

http://www.womenictenterprise.org/eseva.htm; Atanu Garai and B. Shadrach, 2006. Taking ICT to Every Indian Village:
Opportunities and Challenges. One World South Asia. New Delhi; Public Sector Technology and Management, 2005. IT for
development: e-services in India, http://www.pstm.net/article/index.php?articleid=533; Roger Harris and Rajesh Rajora,
2006. Empowering the Poor: Information and Communications Technology for Governance and Poverty Reduction. UNDP
Asia Pacific Development Information Programme, Bangkok, Thailand
H. M. Wesso. 2003. Effective and Efficient Information and service Delivery : the Cape Gateway Project. SDR Vol. 2
xxxviii

No2,2003
xxxix
Provincial Government of the Western Cape - Cape Online Business Plan (Draft)
xl
Bridges.org. 2003. Provincial Government of the Western cape : Cape Gateway Project Evaluation. Cape town: KEEG.
xli
Quoted from http://www.developmentgateway.org/download/242898/Parliamentary_launch.pdf

Chapter 9