E-Government: Key Entry Points

1. E-Government: Key Entry Points Subhash Bhatnagar Advisor eGovernment, ISGIF, World Bank, Washington DC sbhatnagar@worldbank.org (Adjunct Professor Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad) Subhash@iimahd.ernet.in

2. Can ICTs Make Governments Effective • As a manager of Public Resources • As a provider of services • As a catalyst for development • As a beacon of hope for a better future for all sections of the society • Create TRUST in Citizens that expected out comes will happen. Positive experience reinforces TRUST

3. E-Government as an Entry Point for Key Development Goals • Improved management of public finances: Treasury and IFMS and Publishing financial data • Greater transparency and less corruption: Publishing information, publishing decision outcome, making data accessible, allowing on line tracking of applications, process reform and automation to minimize discretion • Private Sector Development: Improve interface with business-registration, licenses, land, customs and tax agencies • Convenient and affordable services to all citizens: one stop service centers for on-line delivery, Rural tele-centers; land title, On-line municipal services.

4. Why E-Government as an Entry Point? • Potential impact on reform goals has been demonstrated in some developing country. Benefits realized and constraints overcome. • There is low hanging fruit (projects) and programs with high pay off and risks. Not all countries are equally ready but there is an appropriate intervention for every country • Consensus amongst politicians to support e-government. • Use of ICT requires a study of PROCESSES. Provides an opportunity for redesign. • Improving delivery of services has multiple benefits in the short and long run. Builds TRUST in Government. • Countries have initiated plans but there are many constraints to be overcome where Bank’s help is being sought.

5. Approach to Identifying Entry Points • Given the variability in terms of size, experience with ICT usage, infrastructure, human capacity and development priorities-- Bank’s interventions would have to be rooted in country specific contexts • Countries could be profiled as • Early movers/late starters • Poor e-government readiness/ partial readiness • Leadership enthusiastic towards ICT/lukewarm • Choose an entry point that is • Aligned with Bank priorities for the country as reflected in CAS and other assessments • Catalytic, scalable and provides the best balance between benefits and costs at acceptable levels of risks.

6. Successful Initiativesin Tackling Corruption • Issue of land titles in Karnataka • 18 million titles issued earning a fee of 270 million (51% loans; 14% verify mutation;16%courts) • Small sample study quote reduction in corruption; Rs 700 million in bribes and Rs 66 million in wages • E-procurement in Chile, Korea • Railway Reservation in India-5 billion passengers per yr • 0.55 million bookings/day, 8520 trains, less than 10K on Internet • Property Registration in Maharashtra • 2.2 million documents and annual collection of Rs. 29 billion • Only 8% said they paid bribes, only 40% relied on touts compared to 94% in Karnataka. • On-line Counseling for Teacher Transfer in Karnataka • OPEN-on line tracking in Seoul Municipality

7. Successful Initiativesin Delivery of Services • Property Registration in Andhra Pradesh also in Maharashtra and Karnataka • Covers 3-400 offices all over the states • 5.7 million documents, 3.6 million encumbrance certificates, 2 million market valuation slips in AP • Citizen Service Center (mobile), Bahia, Brazil • 27 agencies, 550 services and 8 million transactions/year in 2002 • Mobile unit for 417 townships and 250,000 transactions/year • eSeva center in Andhra Pradesh • Used by 1.5 million citizens in one city and 1.5 million in smaller towns • Collection of Rs 3 billion per month • On-line services at Motor Vehicles Departments • On-line services at Municipal Corporations

8. Potential Opportunities for Private Sector Development • New Business Registration: Jamaica, Jordan, China • E-procurement:Mexico,Philippines,Bulgaria,Chile, Korea, Rumania • Customs on-line: India, Philippines, Jamaica • Issue of municipal licenses -OPEN, South Korea • Trade Facilitation in Tunisia • Land title and Registration • Example-Yemen Port City Development Project

9. Potential Opportunities for Effective Management of Public Finances • Treasury and Integrated Financial Management Systems in 50 countries • On-line customs in 70 countries • Income Tax in Mexico, Singapore, India, Chile • E-procurement in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Philippines, Korea, Rumania

10. Possible Entry Points forEarly Movers and Strongly Committed • Integrated Web Portals • One Stop Urban Service Centers • Multi Function Rural Access Points • Single agency multiple service delivery centers eg Municipalities, DMVs

11. Importance of Improving Service Delivery Improving delivery of public services (where Government is the sole provider) is very important for the ordinary citizen in many countries. Citizens have lost trust in Government institutions because of repeated negative experience of extortion of bribes, inefficiency and callousness. Poor are the worst sufferers. “Corruption has spread far beyond the limits of general administration to the police and even the judiciary. … Rampant corruption in all walks of life has been adequately proved by the various Commissions of inquiry set up from time to time (1966).” “Corruption is the largest single element to be found most in ….. All roads, from the maternity hospital to the crematorium, smell of corruption. No individual is free from it, no area can be found where corruption is not a ritual.” (2000) “ A PAC survey found that 33% of the urban poor in Bangalore, 26 % in Madras, 20 % in Ahmedabad, 12% in Calcutta and 6% in Pune had to pay a bribe to get a service or solve a problem with a public agency and concluded that “corruption is a pervasive phenomenon in India’s public services.”

12. What is eSeva? • Service Centers were established by AP Government in partnership with private sector to deliver on-line services • Services: payments, issue of certificates, application for documents from different agencies of state, local, central government and private sector • Number of counters operated by private contract staff • Software that can process multiple types of transactions • Immediate connection to a Central Web Server which in turn communicates with departmental servers. • eSeva started with one pilot center, expanded to 43 centers in the city of Hyderabad, and later to 213 municipal towns, and is now being taken to rural areas

13. eSeva in AP-One Stop Shop eSeva is an economically sustainable service delivery model which is catalytic and scalable, delivers significant benefits to citizens and participating agencies (service providers). It has been catalytic in encouraging many different State agencies to offer services by preparing the back end. It has demonstrated that Government and Private sector can work together in delivering services. It has had some impact on petty corruption in electricity department. It has lead to greater transparency in a few agencies Expansion into rural areas will need external support

14. Indicators of Success • Growing transaction volume – Currently 1.6 million per month in Hyderabad and 1.5 million in other towns • Expanding network of access points • 44 eSeva centers, 20 eSeva counters in banks, ATMs in Hyderabad • Website (http://www.esevaonline.com) • AP Online eSeva kiosks. • SMS-based services: Billing information/payments (planned) • 230 eSeva Centers in all 116 municipalities in the state • Growing basket of services-136 currently (Federal/state /Local Governments and Private Sector). Plans for 1600 services. • Evaluation Reports indicate that citizen’s prefer eSeva over departmental counters.

15. Electronic Delivery: Benefits to Citizens • Expanded time window and efficient transaction processing • Different ways of payment are possible • e-Payments through credit cards on the Internet • e-Payments through direct debit mechanism. Many participating banks. • Credit card at eSeva counters • One check for several bills • Fewer visits: many state, central and local govt. services under one roof • Location convenience with expanding network of channels • Improved service because of competition amongst channels • Good ambience, courteous service by private contract operators, managed queues through electronic tokens

16. Challenges in Providing Services to Rural and Urban Poor • Can e-delivery help the poor? Poor pay the highest cost of inefficiency. • What kind of services are needed. Is there a demand? • Creating viable access points is a key challenge. What can we learn from many pilots? • Infrastructure challenges to be overcome: high cost and poor quality of telecom access, poor quality of electricity supply. Research in needed in technology to reduce costs of power and connectivity. • Need for centralizing data. Authentication of documents is a problem.

17. Issue of Certificates and Licenses Supply of inputs Procurement of Produce Supply of consumer produce & services Development info projects, programs, schemes & feedback Rural Citizen Access to Markets Knowledge & info useful for economic activities Education, training to enhance employment & economic opportunity Entertainment & info for social needs Delivery of health & educational services

18. Technology that makes rural access inexpensive and robust Applications that draw a large cliental that pays for the service, ensuring economic viability of the kiosk NGOs and grass root organizations that catalyze and mange the community building process Creating Rural Access Points Content that empowers rural citizens and enables formation of communities

19. Successful Scaling Up Requires: • Success is likely in organisations with financial resources, leadership, strong project management and ability to discover services that are valued. Three models have emerged: • Large private/public/cooperative sector companies operating in rural markets may be able to derive sufficient value by improving business processes. to make such centers viable and scalable. • Government services that are valuable can charge a user fee for electronic delivery through privately owned telecenters. • Intermediary organizations partner with providers of valued service and rural entrepreneurs who create access points to orchestrate the operations of a large network of kiosks. • Successful experiments began with a few core services where value that is monetized. Over time other services are included to add value.

20. Funding for Rural Access Points Size of Villages Big Small High Economic potential Low

21. Critical Success Factors • Strong and visible political support. • Independent, flexible agency to coordinate • Reasonable ICT infrastructure, back-end computerization and human capacity • Use of a Public Private Partnership model and informal relationship with private partners – better coordination • Robust technical design

22. Risk Factors for Sustainability • Lack of political leadership, vision and strategy • Not implemented in a context of wider change/ administrative reform. • Inadequate ICT infrastructure, enabling policies • Poor costing or lack of resources-creeping commitments • Inappropriate definition of project goals and scope. • Automation without process reengineering. • Short tenure of implementers: hurried implementation • Management of change-resistance from vested interests. • Use of untested fancy technology. • Inadequate attention to monitoring and evaluation

23. Entry Points for Bank’s Intervention Data Standards, architecture to promote inter-operability and organization to coordinate Replication on Wider Scale Maturity Integrated ICT Applications Projects with Scalable Models Planning Phase-Task Forces Working Pilots-Value of ICT Sharing best practice Design of Implementation Unit Project management Procurement Training Readiness Assessment Planning Frameworks Good Practices Sharing best practice Project Design Models of Partnership Evaluation framework Procurement Training Quick wins-low hanging fruit Grants for Pilots Evaluation Framework Pilot evaluation