How Can Digital Technologies Improve Public Services and Governance?

Citizens are demanding more openness, transparency, and accountability for public services, and this demand has been heightened by the growing economic inequality and insecurity in many developed and developing countries. State performance remains disappointingly poor in many parts of the world, putting at risk the further progress on development goals. Governance and public sector capacity are thus the major building blocks of the development strategy of emerging economies. Meantime, digital technologies such as mobile are sweeping the planet—inducing power shifts and posing profound implications and opportunities for accountability to citizens and for continuous service innovation. While the pace of this shift may be uncertain, the long-term impact is likely to be profound. The book considers the opportunities and challenges of harnessing digital technologies for improved public services and governance. It focuses on the challenges of applying digital technologies in developing countries, where dramatic results can be realized. It addresses questions like these: How can digital technologies help enhance transparency, accountability, and participation to improve service design and delivery? Where are the opportunities to enhance key areas of governance and public service delivery? What are the promising practices to strengthen supply and mobilize demand for good governance and service delivery? What are the emerging lessons from recent experience? The author shows through many examples how information and communication technology (ICT) can be deployed to improve public sector efficiency and accountability for resource management; improve access and quality of public services for citizens; enhance transparency and reduce costs of government–business transactions, support entrepreneurship, attract private investment, and reduce the burden of regulation; and enhance the effectiveness of political oversight and policy institutions. The author also shows the crucial importance of understanding the social, political, institutional, informational, and stakeholder contexts for ICT to strengthen demand for good governance. It is hoped that the many examples provided in this book can contribute to our understanding of how to integrate ICT into efforts to enhance the capacity of citizens to hold their governments accountable and to ease governance challenges. The aim of the author is to raise awareness about the potential and current state of digital technologies as a means to transform public services and enhance government accountability and civic participation in governance. He also underlines the importance of the policies and institutions that might sustain and scale up ICT for governance and public service improvement. He points to the opportunities and challenges in pursuing public sector transformation. In doing so, he provides clear guidelines for stakeholders and a basis for policy dialogue within governments and with service providers, development partners, and civil society, seeking to create enabling environments for responsive service delivery and good governance. Keywords Access to public services, Citizen empowerment, Corruption, Demand for good governance (DFGG), Developing countries, Digital innovation, Digital technologies, Digital transformation, information and communication technology (ICT), Governance, Internet, Open data, Open government, Open innovation, Political governance, Social accountability (social control), Transparency, Public service delivery, Public service innovation