Commonwealth Regional Workshop on egovernment and sectoral development

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Commonwealth Regional Workshop on e-government
and sectoral development

• Santa Lucia

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ICT, Good Governance and Local Policy in Latin
America

• Carlos Batista
• Universidade de Brasília - UnB

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E-Governance Capacity Building Project
www.unesco.org/most
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UNESCO (Regional Office for Science and
Technology for LA C) is extending the project
E-Governance Capacity Building to the Caribbean
Region, after the successful launching last
biennium in Latin America and Africa.
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E-Governance Capacity Building Project Objectives

• - promote improved policies and best practices on
  the use of information and communication
  technologies (ICT) as tools for local governance,
  
• - develop an overview of ICT tools aimed at
  improved participation of citizens in social and
  political life,
• - reinforce the capacity of municipal
  authorities, NGOs, and local associations for
  policy development recognizing the value of ICTs
  as a vehicle for citizen participation,
• - promote the cooperation between civil society
  organizations and local governments on the
  introduction of ICTs.

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The project aims at promoting the use of ICT
tools in municipalities to enhance good
governance.
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The idea of the project remains the same if is
extended to the Caribbean Region- try to find
relevant partners that agree to include training
on e-governance at the local level
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The project has achieved the following special
objectives
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UNESCO at the Latin American and Caribbean
Regional Forum of Cities and Local Governments in
the Information

• The forum showcased numerous successful projects
  in the application of ICTs on behalf of citizens.
  The e-Governance Capacity Building Project was
  presented along with other experiences in the
  region, which clearly highlight that it is
  possible for municipalities to make use of new
  information and communication technologies in
  order to promote democracy and social progress.

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Specialization course on local e-governance for
municipal staff and city professionals (2003-2004)

• A cooperation agreement has been established with
  the School of Virtual Governance of the
  International Institute of Governance (Barcelona,
  Spain) and the Ibero-American Union of Municipal
  Professionals (Granada, Spain) to develop this
  training course.

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A survey on e-governance in Latin American
Municipalities (2003)

• Assessing the relationship between ICTs and good
  governance at the local level in Brazil, Uruguay,
  Peru, Ecuador and Mexico. The main aspects
  considered were decentralization, citizen
  participation, transparency and grassroots
  movements, alternative experiences, popular
  participation and networks of social movements.
•  Research Center for Public Policy NP3
• Universidade of Brasília, Brasil
•  

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Another point examined in the survey was whether
certain factors were present or not in web sites
of Municipal Assemblies in some Latin American
municipalities.

• One hundred and twenty (120) municipal web sites
  were analyzed, (October, 2002) focusing on the
  web sites of municipal legislative organs. This
  survey was up dated (December, 2003) and
  interesting comparative results were found.

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This presentation deals with the link between ICT
use and the improvement of local good governance
as found in Latin American municipal legislative
and executive organs.

• One of the proposals derived from our research is
  the formulation of a training programme directed
  to personnel who will use ICT having in mind the
  improvement of good governance at the local
  level.

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Assumptions

• The introduction of ICT represents, thus, a new
  form of political relationship in which
  individuals in society and, among others, their
  representatives, social groups, social
  organizations, political organizations, pressure
  groups, can act directly on public issues. ICT
  use as an instrument for better governance has
  also been stimulated by the mediation of
  organized social movements.

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Assumptions

• We also tried to assess the opportunity for, and
  the interest in, implementing training programmes
  for a more effective use of ICT in order to
  improve local good governance involving all these
  social and political actors.

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Case studies

• Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brasil, México

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New information technologies such as the
internet, video-conferences and data transmission
facilitate communication and the exchange of
experiences among the legislative organs
(National Congress, State Legislatures and
Municipal Chambers) and between the legislative
branch of government and the public, increasing
popular participation in the legislative process.
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In Lima, Peru, with the City Cooperation Unit, it
was organized a discussion with approximately 30
representatives of social base organizations
which focussed on the advantages of, the
opportunity for, and the alternatives of,
introducing ICT in their daily activities and on
implementing an ICT and good-governance training
programme for members of the local public
service.
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Factors of interaction on Latin American
Legislative WEB sites
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The realization of the study on the presence or
absence of factors indicating good governance in
web sites of Municipal Legislative Chambers in
selected towns in Latin America begins with the
principle that a link exists between the
introduction and use of ICT and the improvement
of good governance at local level.
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Good governance is an interaction process in
which demands and priorities of the society
intervene. Thus, factors of good governance
adopted in this research took into consideration
the possibility for citizens to interact with
legislators, to obtain information on the
Legislative work and to obtain relevant
information on its operation.
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The main factors analysed were Institutional
information, Process information, Interactive
information, Organizational information, Access
to communication, Citizenship information.
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GUIDELINES FOR ELABORATING A TRAINING PROGRAM FOR
ICT UTILIZATION
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The design of a training program for stimulating
ICT use as a component in the improvement in
governance should include a set of guidelines for
the expansion of ICT at the local government. The
target-population intended (public sector,
private sector, third sector) shall be examined
regarding its principal characteristics such as
age group, schooling or educational background,
and familiarity with ICT.
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Modalities of training include training for
trainers and the final training of users and
those involved in the process. The content and
issues to be covered should involve technological
education, that is, computer education, access to
information techniques, but essentially political
education
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Education for the use of ICT should privilege
improvement of local governance. It should
comprise political education (understanding the
functioning of institutions, mapping
institutions, functioning of the parties, access
to legislation), the technological education for
local governance and the use of ICT to access the
legislative and the executive.
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In summary, an ICT training programme could build
on existing infrastructure and qualified locals
as well as the political will and the dynamic and
entrepreneurial approach of the municipal
authorities. This programme would aim at
increasing citizen participation, and, through
it, increasing good governance at the local
level.
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Santa Lucia, 12 feb 04