In recent years, the concept of e-governance has flourished rapidly with the advancement of Information and Communication Technology. The general objective of the study is to assess the Prospects and Challenges of E-Governance in Public Service Delivery in the Case of Fitche Town Land Administration, North Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State.
The study employs a descriptive type of research design to describe the prospects and challenges of e-governance in Fitche town land administration. This study combines both a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach. The target population of the study is both the customer and employees of land administration in Fitche town. The researcher randomly selects 70 service receivers who are convenient and 42 or all number of employees in the sector. Generally, 112 participants are applied to this study from both employees and customers of the sector. The data collected from participants of the study were analyzed through descriptive statistical methods such as frequency and percentage.
The study revealed that e-governance is a new concept and infant ages in the public service delivery, especially in the Fiche town land administration sector. It reveals that there is a low status of e-governance in the sector. Even if e-governance is on the infant age in the sector it gives many contributions in service delivery in the sector like save time, reduce bribery, increase transparency and accountability in the sector. The research found that infrastructure like internet access was the major significant challenging issue in the success of e-governance system in the sector and Lack of training was also one of the main obstacles to success in e-governance in the selected sector. Therefore, the study recommended that the sector should mainly focus on the clarity in terminology is important, not just to academics. It is also important for politicians and others engaged in the development of public policy on the utilization of ICT in government, and also pieces of training are important for the success of e-governance in the land administration sector.
Table of content
List of Table
List of Figures
Acronym
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Statement of the problems
1.3. Research Questions
1.4. Objectives of the study
1.4.1. General objectives
1.4.2. Specific objectives
1.5. Scope of the Study
1.6. Significance of the study
1.7. Limitation of the study
1.8. Organization of the paper
CHAPTER TWO
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUR
2.0. Introduction
2.1. Meaning of E-governance
2.1.2. Types of e-governance
2.2. Models and Approaches of E-governance in Public Service Delivery
2.3. E-Governance: Service Delivery Approaches
2.3.1. Agency-Centric Approach
2.3.2. Citizen-centric approach
2.4. Public Service Delivery Improvement and Techniques Through E-governance
2.5. Theoretical aspects of e-governance
2.6. Objectives and Opportunities of E-Governance
2.6.1. Objectives of E-governance
2.6.2. Opportunities of E-governance
2.7. Challenges of E-governance
2.8. Stakeholders in E-governance
2.9. E-governance and land administration
2.10. Empirical Studies on E-governance
2.10.1. E-governance and Developed Countries
2.10.2. E-governance and Developing countries
2.11. E-government in Ethiopia
2.12. Conceptual framework
CHAPTER THREE
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Background of the study area
3.2. Historical background of the Fiche town
3.2. Research Design and Approaches
3.3. Target Population, Sample Size, and Sampling Technique of the study
3.3.1. Target population of the study
3.3.2. Sample size and techniques
3.4. Data Collection Tools and Techniques
3.4.1 Data collection
3.4.2. Data collection techniques
3.5. Methods of Data Presentation and Analysis
3.6. Data quality control
3.7. Ethical consideration
CHAPTER FOUR
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Demographic characteristics of respondents
4.2. The practices and Prospects of E-governance in Fitche town Land Administrations
4.2.1. Knowledge of the respondents on e-governance
4.2.2. Level of information communication technology in the sector
4.2.3. The current status of e-governance in Fitche town land administration
4.2.4 The impact of e-governance on enhancing public service delivery
4.2.5. The strategic plan to develop e-governance in the sector
4.2.6. Training system and level of infrastructure in the sector
4.3. Assessing the challenges of the E-governance in service delivery in the sector
4.5. The solution forwarded by the respondents on the challenges of e-governance in fiche town land administration
4.6. Stakeholder participation in the development and implementation of e-governance in the service delivery
CHAPTER FIVE
5. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1. Summary of the maj or findings
5.2. Conclusion
5.3. Recommendations
REFERENCE’S
APPENDIX
List of Tables
Table 4.1. Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents
Table 4.2. Respondents view on the concepts of e-governance
Table 4.3. Employees view on the Information communication technology
Table 4.4. Service user’s views on the Information communication technology
Table 4.5. Respondents views of the current status of e-governance in the sector
Table 4.6. Respondents views on the impact of e-governance on enhancing public service delivery
Table 4.7. Respondents view on the strategic plan the participation stakeholder in e-governance
Table 4.8. Employee views on the level of training ICT in the sectors
Table 4.9; the level of agreements of the respondents on the contribution of e-governance
Table 4.10: Respondents view on the challenges of e-governance
Table 4.11. Respondents view on the possible remedies for the challenges of e-governance
Table 4.12 respondent views on the rate of the participation of stakeholder in e-governance development and implementation in the sector
List of Figures
Fig.2.1. Overlapping domains of e-government (adapted from Heeks, 2001)
Fig.2.2. stakeholder in e-governance
Fig.3.2. conceptual framework
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the concept of e-governance has flourished rapidly with the advancement of Information and Communication Technology. The general objective of the study is to assess the Prospects and Challenges of E-Governance in Public Service Delivery in the Case of Fitche Town Land Administration, North Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State. The study employed a descriptive type of research design to describe the prospects and challenges of e-governance in Fitche town land administration. This study was combining both a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach. The target population of the study is both the customer and employees of land administration in Fitche town. The researcher randomly selects 70 service receivers who are convenient and 42 or all number of employees in the sector. Generally, 112 participants are applied to this study from both employees and customers of the sector. The data collected from participants of the study were analyzed through descriptive statistical methods such as frequency and percentage. The study revealed that e-governance is a new concept and infant ages in the public service delivery, especially in the Fiche town land administration sector. It reveals that there is a low status of e-governance in the sector. Even if e-governance is on the infant age in the sector it gives many contributions in service delivery in the sector like save time, reduce bribery, increase transparency and accountability in the sector. The research found that infrastructure like internet access was the major significant challenging issue in the success of egovernance system in the sector and Lack of training was also one of the main obstacles to success e-governance in the selected sector. Therefore, the study recommended that the sector should mainly focus on the clarity in terminology is important not just to academics. It is also important for politicians and others engaged in the development of public policy on the utilization of ICT in government and also pieces of training are important for the success of egovernance in the land administration sector.
Key terms
E-governance, land administration, public service delivery, Fitche Town.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First and foremost, I would like to thank God and his mother St. Mary, who makes everything possible. I would like to gratefully and sincerely thank my advisor Jemal Abagissa (Ph.D.) who gave me support and guidance throughout this thesis work. I also admire him for his polite and brotherly approach while advising me. I would also like to thanks all my friends for their moral supports and encouragement for the success of this paper specially Abdisa Abera for his initiation, encouragement, and moral support in the completion of this thesis.
I express my gratitude to my beloved family particularly appreciation to my father Eba Badade, my mother Mulu Fayisa, and all my brothers for their initiation, courage, support, and help in completing this research.
Finally, it is with great pleasure that I acknowledge all respondents who participated in providing the necessary data for this study.
God bless you all
CHAPTER ONE
1.1. Introduction
In recent years, the concept of e-governance has been flourished rapidly with the advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). E-Governance would help to facilitate the government to manage resources, implement plans and policies along with efficient service delivery to the citizens. The world within the time has gone digital. Almost every aspect of life is digitalized (Obodo & Anigbata, 2018). Thus there are modern trends in all aspects of life endeavors such as medicine-telemedicine, commerce-e-commerce, banking-e-banking, learning- e-learning, production-e-production, etc. These phenomena make transactions and interactions around the globe to be more effective and efficient. The world is now a global village and any nation that desires to hitch the comity of countries must adopt the worldwide trends and join the moving train or be left behind (Chandio et al., 2018).
The whole world's activities are interconnected in a single web and this makes access to virtually every piece of information in the world to be very easy. For example, a person can sit right in his/her room and transact businesses to any country within a few seconds with a click of the mouse. In a bid to carry all citizens along, the government has gone electronic in recent times the world over. Essentially, E-governance delivery models can help to transform every sector of the economy and the public sector in particular. The effectiveness of electronic government depends on sound, reliable, and well-articulated electronic governance. E-governance is that the tool for effective e-government (Obodo & Anigbata, 2018). The ultimate goal of e-government and e-governance is to be able to offer an increased portfolio of public services to citizens efficiently and cost-effectively. E-government allows government transparency and accountability. Government transparency is very important because it allows the public to be informed about what the government is working on as well as the policies it is trying to implement (Obodo & Anigbata, 2018).
E-governance helps to attain specific policy outcomes by enabling stakeholders to share information and concepts. Government economic policy objectives can equally be promoted via e-governance commerce and globalization. This also helps to create trust between governments and their citizens. Furthermore, it has the potential for stronger institutional capacity building for better service delivery to citizens and businesses, for reduction of corruption by increasing accountability, transparency, and social control (United Nations Division, 2001).
According to Obodo & Anigbata(2018) e-governance are to make government administration more speedy, accountable, accessible and effective, while addressing the society’s needs and expectations through efficient public services and effective interactions between the people, business, and government. The application of e-governance, in government functionaries, has emerged rapidly in the developing world. This is due to its usefulness as enabling tool to increase efficiency and enhance transparency in government. This means that E-governance is main the important in public service delivery effectively and efficiently.
In both developed and developing countries, there is an increasing need for efficient and effective service delivery through e-governance. Land administration is the part of public service delivery that the government can provide to the citizens. Land administration is that the processes of determining, recording, and disseminating information about the tenure, values, and use of the land during the implementation of land management policies(Commission & Europe, 2005). E-Land administration makes Land Information System (LIS) robust and strong with reliable data storage and backup. The central database adds value by reducing data redundancy and maintaining data integrity. Different disasters like floods, landslides, and earthquakes may be the cause for the destruction of land records. Loss of land records leads to land disputes. Within the context of e-governance, ICT helps to establish an electronic land administration framework that enhances service delivery with increased customer satisfaction and citizen participation and decision making (Steudler, 2004).
Electronic land administration is a major part of E-governance, and land administration data are indicators for wide ranges of related information that are essential for creating value-added data for e-governance. It improves the efficiency, and decrease the cost this means saving the economic value (Uddin & Yasmin, 2020). Like other developing countries, the Ethiopian government has also realized the potential of e-governance to raise the interest and involvement of citizens, NGOs, the private sector, and other stakeholders to address public service and provide public service delivery effectively and efficiently (Ndou, 2004). Annually the gov’t spends approximately one-tenth of its GDP thereon to ensure accountability, transparency, responsiveness, efficiency, and integrity in public service delivery. In ICT based initiatives, Ethiopia has pioneered electronic networks like Woreda Net to provide ICT services at federal, regional, and woreda (district) levels as well as to connect woredas (districts) and kebeles (the smallest administrative unit of governance) with regional and federal government offices to provide customer-focused and cost-effective public services (Lessa et al., 2011).
According to some researchers, such as Lambsdorff, 2001, Ndou, 2004, and Pathak et al., 2008, e-governance would reduce corruption while increasing transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and integrity in public service delivery, including land administration. However, effective implementation of e-governance demands sound Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, sustained strategic commitment & effective leader. Egovernance initiatives and their implementation have been adversely affected by lack of access to ICT infrastructures, well-trained manpower, & capital, language barriers, low ICT skills, and lack of awareness among the community about the advantages of ICT also as the absence of strategic and sustained leadership (Pathak, et al., 2008). This all are the general problematic issues of e-governance in public service delivery in developing countries including Ethiopia. Since Fitche is one of the administrative towns in the north shoa zones, the land administration offices are inundated with complaints about service delivery. However, no study has been conducted on the prospects and challenges of e-governance in Fitche town. This demands the new study to be undertaken in order to solve the existed challenges and to provide the future opportunities. This is why the researcher is motivated to assess the prospects and challenges of egovernance in public service delivery of land administration by considering the Fitche town.
1.2. Statement of the problems
Now a day’s, urban land administration is one of the sensitive government public sectors with a huge number of customers. Land is fundamental to development, growth and housing delivery in any society. It is a crucial element in property development process and its acquisition is vital to achieving efficient and sustainable housing delivery in urban environment (Omirin, 2002). The empirical works of Tessema Adigeh & Dagnew(2020)emphasizes that access to land and property rights is a major key issue in economic growth and development.
It is now increasingly being realized that economic development of any country depends on how efficiently the land is distributed among citizenry and competing urban uses. In Africa, “due to high population growth and market developments, there is mounting competition for land resources, especially in towns and cities, and in productive high value areas customary land administration is under pressure, and the coverage of formal land institutions is generally very limited”(Tessema & Dagnew, 2020).
Land problems in urban areas of developing countries like Ethiopia arise mainly because of the rapid increase in population with the scarce or inadequate nature of urban land. With the rapidly expanding urban population, many towns and cities of the developing world are faced with the difficulty of accommodating the urban poor. Because of this event, how to use the scarce resource effectively and efficiently are an issue of concern and a debatable issue (Habtamu, 2012).
Traditionally service delivery in land administration is not efficient with service-related high costs. There is the provision of service by manual way. This makes less quality, costly, timeconsuming, and inefficient service delivery with lots of delays and complicated and frequent visits to get one task done. The service recipients came to the office repeatedly and waste their time to resolve unfinished cases, the majority of services were delivered behind time (Birtukan, 2019). To achieve the above problems e-Governance is introduced innovations in the field of Land administration. Even though the land administration organization is using ICT to some extent difficulties are rising because of huge customers, complicated tasks, unable to serve the customers timely, corruption, inefficiency, and ineffective service delivery. Most of the activities of land administrative transactions are not traceable and open to be challenged by customers. Generally, there is less quality and inefficient service delivery with lots of delays and complicated and frequent visits to get one task done. In land administration tenure insecurity, high transaction costs, land disputes, landlessness, and inequitable land distribution, social instability, social exclusion, and political instability, reduction in private sector investment, land grabbing, and other problems will result are going to be familiar without handling it properly (Abraha,2018).When the government became unable to serve as well as possible, then illegal transfers, corruption, and inefficient service provision will be regular.
Government organizations are applying ICT to raise efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. E-governance can raise efficiency in service delivery, simple availability, and accessibility of services and information to the customers, professional users as well as government organizations. In the present context, efficient government service delivery, easy access to information, and transparency are becoming important global agendas. Also, these agendas are considered as the major goals of e-government. Since land is regarded as a major asset in most countries, land administration is a major sector of government. Therefore, effectiveness and efficiency in land service delivery and transparency in land transactions are the most essential factors (Gurung et al., 2015).
So far, several studies on e-governance have been performed by various researchers. For instance, Solomon (2014) assessed e-governance, corruption, and public service delivery. Fikadu (2016) performed challenges of e-governance in selected public sector. All those mentioned researchers have not seen the prospects of e-governance and how e-governance can improve the service delivery of urban land administration. Moreover, the practice of e-governance in Fitche town so far was not well assessed.
In the time of pre-investigating period within selected sector observation and some review of compliant receiving note is made. From this observation, the researcher can see that Fitche town Land administration office has a huge number of customers because Fiche town is the headquarter of North Shoa Zone Administration. All those customers come to the Zonal land administration office (Fitche) from different woredas with different issues to obtain services of the office. From the pre-research observation the customers of the land administration has been hosting repeated complaints regarding the service delivers. It is routine that most service recipients come to the office repeatedly and waste their time to resolve unfinished cases, the majority of services are delivered behind time. The above mentioned observations bring the researcher to the reality that exists a gap between the expectations of customers from land administration services and what they are delivering by the land administration sector. The potential of an e-governance system has not been exploited yet to improve the efficiency of the service delivery in Fitche town land administration. By considering this the researcher was trying to see the prospects and challenges of e-governance in service delivery.
Finally, this study was to assess the prospects and challenges of e-governance in public service delivery in the case of Fitche town land administration, North Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. More specifically, this study attempts to answer the following research questions.
1.3. Research Questions
1. What does the implementation of e-governance look like in the land administration of the Fitche town?
2. What are the prospects of e-governance in service delivery in Fitche town land administration in particular?
3. What are the challenges of e-governance in public service delivery in Fitche land administration?
4. What can be done to overcome the challenges of E-governance in Fitche town land administration?
1.4.Objectives of the study
1.4.1. General objectives
The general objective of the study is to assess the Prospects and Challenges of E-Governance in Public Service Delivery in the Case of Fitche Town Land Administration, North Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State.
1.4.2. Specific objectives
The specific objectives of this study are:
1. To assess the practice of e-governance implementation in Fitche town land administration
2. To examine the prospects of e-governance in service delivery on land administration in Fitche town
3. To assess the challenges of e-governance in public service delivery on Fitche town land administration
4. To suggest the possible measures on the challenges of E-governance on public service delivery in land administration in Fitche town.
1.5. Scope of the Study
The core intention of e-governance is to allow the public sector to provide citizens with information based on their needs. Along the lines of the connotation, this study has focused on egovernance in public service delivery. The geographic scope of the study mainly concentrated in Fitche town land administration sector. The thematic scope of the research is to assess the prospects and challenges of e-governance in public service delivery systems in land administration of Fitche Town North Shoa zone. The study analyzes the quality of public service delivered by e-governance progression based on its indicators. In addition, the level of citizen satisfaction has been framed under the research and it's compared with the traditional style of governance. Lastly, the research intended to identify the challenges and puts the solutions for the obstacles of e-governance in serviced delivery.
1.6. Significance of the study
The findings of the study help the policymakers and design appropriate policies on e-governance. It might also contribute to the body of knowledge in e-governance. Moreover, it is significant in documenting systematic results of prospects and challenges of e-governance in public service delivery in general and land administration in particular. Furthermore, other policymakers, researchers, interested individuals, and concerned bodies can use it.
1.7. Limitation of the study
The major difficulty encountered during this study is mostly due to missing data and the concept of e-governance itself is new. This caused the researcher not to capture relevant information on the variables. However, the researcher were try to overcome these problems technically.
1.8. Organization of the paper
This thesis is divided into five parts. The first chapter provides an introduction to the study, which consists of different sections: background, statement of the problem, research questions, research objectives, scope, limitations, and significance of the study. The second chapter deals with the review of related literature of past researches done concerning E-Governance. The third chapter deals with the background of the study area, research design, types and sources of data, data collection techniques, sample size, and sampling techniques. Chapter four deals with data analysis and interpretation which is divided into different parts, the socio-demographic characteristic of the respondents, the prospect and opportunities of e-governance, the main challenges of e-governance in service delivery in the sector , and efforts tackled by the concerned bodies to overcome the challenges in Fitche town land administration. The last chapter five is about the summary of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the research.
CHAPTER TWO
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUR
2.0. Introduction
Governments everywhere the world is in pursuit of information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based solutions for facilitating good governance. The phenomenon is popularly known as e-governance or e-government as per varying country contexts. In the recent past, different terms are coined to re-brand it alongside the emerging technological developments. Some of the buzzwords during this context are joined-up government, whole-of government, one-stop government, connected government and open government; the most recent being digital government. Irrespective of the varied terminologies accustomed to describe the phenomenon, practitioners across the globe still experience serious challenges in their efforts to attach government and citizens for achieving good governance. This is particularly so within the context of developing countries. There are more failures than successes in terms of the accomplishment intended to outcomes. The peculiarity with the ICT-based systems is that they get matured over a period of time with increased participation of end users.
2.1. Meaning of E-governance
The emergence of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has provided means for faster and better communication, efficient storage, retrieval, and processing of data, and exchange and utilization of information to its users. E-governance is the logical next step in the use of ICT in systems of governance in order to ensure wider participation and deeper involvement of citizens(Ali et al., 2017).
Different governments defined this term to suit their aims and objectives. Sometimes, the term ‘e-government’ is also used instead of ‘e-governance’ but there is a debate on the correct use of the two terms. E-governance is defined as the use of emerging information and communication technologies to facilitate the processes of government and public administration (Drucker, 2001) while e-government is defined as the use of information technology to support government operations, engage citizens, and provide government service(Gurung et al., 2015)
According to Obodo & Anigbata(2018) the use of (ICTs) Information and Communications Technologies as tools for achieving better governance. In the words of Obi (2008), “it is the events, deployment, and enforcement of the policies, laws, and regulations necessary to support the functioning of data society also as of e-government.”
(Obodo & Anigbata, 2018)describes it as the public sector's use of information and communications technologies to improve information and service delivery; encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making the government more accountable, transparent and effective.
(Mohammad Abdul Salam & Md. Zohurul Islam, 2013) define it as the way for governments to use the most innovative information and communication technologies, particularly web-based internet applications to provide citizens and businesses with more convenient access to government information and services, to enhance the standard of the services and to supply greater opportunities to participate in democratic institutions and processes.”
The UNESCO (www.unesco.org) defines E-governance as the public sector's use of information and communication technologies to improve information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process, and making government more accountable, transparent and effective. E-governance involves new sorts of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding policy and investment, new ways of accessing education, new ways of taking notes of citizens, and new ways of organizing and delivering information and services. E-governance is usually considered as a wider concept than e-government since it can bring about a change in the way citizens relate to governments and each other. E-governance can bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of citizen needs and responsibilities(Kotukh, 2020). Its objective is to interact, enable and empower the citizen. E-governance facilitated by the creative use of ICT can transform relations with citizens, businesses, and various arms of government. Heeks (2001) identified three main domains of e-governance (Figure 2.1):
E-administration: improving government processes
E-services: connecting individual citizens with their government
E-society: building interactions with and within the civil society
The main purpose of the e-administration is to improve the internal workings of the public sector by cutting process costs, managing process performance, creating strategic connections within government bodies (Onuigbo, 2015)
E-service initiatives focus mainly on improving the relationship between the government and its citizens by increasing the information flow and improving the service levels of government towards its citizens. E-society initiatives extend the previous e-services domain by that specialize in an institutional stakeholders, such as private sector service providers, other public agencies, and not-for-profit and community organizations. The three domains of e-governance are seldom separate in their implementations; rather, they involve overlapping activities as part of an equivalent initiative. To put it more strongly: good e-governance programs must take into under consideration all three domains (Heeks, 2001)
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
Fig.2.1. Overlapping domains of e-government (adapted from Heeks, 2001).
2.1.2. Types of e-governance
According to Mohammad Abdul Salam & Md. Zohurul Islam (2013), e-governance offers services to those within its authority to transact electronically with the government. Egovernance can be typified in four main categories.
Govern ment-to-Citizen (G2C): The majority of government services come under this application, towards providing citizens and others with comprehensive electronic resources to respond to individuals" routine concerns and government transactions(Obodo & Anigbata, 2018). In the words of (Obodo & Anigbata, 2018), government and citizens will continuously communicate when implementing e-government, thus supporting accountability, democracy, and enhancements of public services. “The primary goal of e-government is to serve the citizens and facilitate citizen's interaction with the government by making public information more accessible through the use of websites, as well as reducing the time and cost to conduct a transaction” (Nduo, 2004).
Government-to-Government (G2G): This is the web/online communications between government organizations, departments, and agencies supported a super-government database. In simple language, it is referred to as the relationship between the government and its employees. This can be practically evidenced in the following: Improves inter-governmental and organizational processes, Streamlines cooperation and coordination of government activities, Automates and streamlines inter-governmental business processes such as regulatory compliances, service delivery, and enhancements.
Government-to-Business (G2B): This is the second major type of e-governance category. It can bring significant efficiency to both governments and businesses. It also includes various services exchanged between government and also the business sectors, including distribution of policies memoranda rules, and regulations.
Governments-to-Employees (G2E): This is the least in the typologies of e-governance. The purpose of this relationship to serve the employees and offer some online services such as applying online for annual leave, checking the balance of leave, and reviewing salary payment records among other things. This can be seen also in the combination of information and services offered by government institutions to their employees to interact with each other and their management. It is also a vital way to providing e-learning, bringing employees together, and encourages knowledge sharing among them. This equally gives employees the possibility of accessing relevant information regarding compensation, benefits policies wages and salary administration, training and development, and opportunities of accessing their benefits online with easy and fast communication models and modems(Obodo & Anigbata, 2018).
2.2. Models and Approaches of E-governance in Public Service Delivery
Models of digital governance are still evolving in developing countries and continuously improvising to completely harness the potential of data networks. These models exhibit several variations counting on the local situation and therefore the governance functions administered through these models.
Wider-Dissemination Model
The model is based on the dissemination of information relevant to better governance that is already in the public domain into the wider public domain through the use of ICT and convergent media. The rationale behind the model is that a more informed citizenry can better understand the governance mechanisms and is more empowered to form informed choices and exercise its rights and responsibilities. This model is that the most vital one because it catalyzes free access and flow of data to all or any segments of the society and is the building block to raised governance. The model loses its effectiveness where the free-flow of data isn't encouraged or isn't objective.
Critical-Flow Model
The model is based on channeling information of critical value to a targeted audience or the wider public domain through the use of ICT and convergent media. The model requires foresight to know the importance of a specific information set and using it strategically. It’s going to also involve locating users to whom the supply of a specific information set would make a critical difference in initiating good governance. This model exposes the weakest aspects of governance and decision-making mechanisms or state failure and bad governance. The model won't add cases where government mechanisms don't foster public deba
Mobilization and Lobbying Model
The mobilization and lobbying model is predicated on planned, directed, the strategic flow of data to create strong virtual allies to strengthen action within the world. It takes up the proactive approach of forming virtual communities which share similar values and concerns, promoting active sharing of information between these communities, and linking them with the important world. This model enhances the scope of participation of people and communities in policy issues and debates. This model might be effectively employed by the gov’t to encourage public debates and to measure popular opinion on a specific issue as a neighborhood of good governance.
Comparative Analysis Model
The comparative analysis model is predicated on exploring the knowledge available within the public or private domain and comparing it with the known information sets to derive strategic leanings and arguments. The comparison might be remodeled a duration to urge a snapshot of the past and present situation or between two different situations to know the effectiveness of an intervention. Developing countries can effectively use this model to their advantage as ICT opens access to global and native knowledge products at a comparatively low cost. The model becomes ineffective in absence of a robust civil society interest and short public memory.
Interactive-Service Model
The Interactive-service model in some ways maybe a consolidation of the sooner digital governance models and exposes avenues for direct participation of people within the governance processes. The model makes possible the varied services offered by the gov’t to be directly accessible to the citizens. It creates an interactive Government to Consumer to Government (G2C2G) channel in various functions. This model is more embedded in developed countries and has often been proposed for replication in developing countries. The model is on the upper end of technology reliance as compared to the opposite models. This makes it difficult to duplicate in developing countries in absence of individual and secure ICT access.
2.3. E-Governance: Service Delivery Approaches
Yong (2004) stated that there has been a distinct shift between the agency-centric and citizencentric approaches in service delivery. Modern governments are steadily transforming from the traditional department-centric model to a citizen-centric model for delivering services (Shapiro, 1999). In the case of public service delivery citizen-centricity are a more realistic approach and an excellent opportunity for interaction between government and citizens (Salam, 2012).
2.3.1. Agency-Centric Approach
The Agency-centric approach of e-governance is also known as department-centric. Al-Khouri (2011) argued that in a department centric approach, citizen needs to interact with each department separately causing inconvenience and inefficiency. Moreover, any services that require approvals or intervention of more than one department, would take a long time to deliver. The next stage in the transformation process is the integration at the service provider level where multiple services and departments under a simple agency or services provider are integrated to give one agency feel to the citizens. However, citizens still got to interact with different agencies for various purposes, resulting in less transparency and convenience for the citizens. Thus, is also a growing demand for government to transform from a traditional agency and department-centric model to a citizen-centric model (Chhabra and Kumar, 2009).
2.3.2. Citizen-centric approach
Citizen-centric will enable the government to achieve essential efficiency gains and improve service delivery levels, improve citizen's satisfaction with government service and improve quality of life (Mehra, 2004). Citizen-centric e-government should enjoy the increased trust of citizens and should ensure accountability of government transactions (Gronloud, 2002). It does also help avoid duplication and overhead through shared services and infrastructure. A citizencentric government is something much more fundamental than simply a collection of departments providing services to citizens. It involves rethinking the whole service delivery system across all agencies, and every one level of government-from a citizen perspective. Moreover, the user needs typically cut across the organizational structures and hierarchies of government. So a real citizen focus requires a holistic approach, appreciated by all the amount of states.
2.4. Public Service Delivery Improvement and Techniques Through Egovernance
Characteristically, e-governance is the electronic delivery of services by the government to the citizens. Public service delivery is that the inter-relationship between the gov’t functionaries and the citizens to whom the services of the government are addressed to. Any effective public service delivery mechanism must ultimately cause good governance. It simplifies the delivery of government services to citizens and improves interaction with businesses and industry. It facilitates citizen empowerment through access to information and allows more efficient government management( Sirajul, 2011).
According to Harris (2000), ICT is one on among key instruments that supported good governance by increasing transparency, accountability and eventually helping to cut back the cost of government business operations. In South Africa, Batho Pele promoted nine principles like a consultation with citizens, setting service standards, increasing access to information, ensuring courtesy, providing information, openness, and transparency, redress, and value for money (RSA, 1997). Furthermore, Citizen Charters characterized by six principles like the standard of services, cost and time, choice and consultation, courtesy and consideration, redress and apology, and value for money (BSI, 2008). Using ICT within the sort of e-governance could yield great benefits within the reform and modernization of the general public sector. The experience of e-governance in several developed and developing countries has shown that ICT can be a tool for greater service delivery to improve service quality. E-governance can also promote good governance that is greater civic engagement can increase opportunities for direct representation and voice, and support for increased democracy. The concept of electronic governance (e-governance) is defined as the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the government processes to bring Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) governance (R. Budhiraja,2005, R.W.Harris,2004, R.Heeks,2001, V.K.Jain,2005).
A key measure of good governance, however, is through the general public sector that's responsible for delivering transparent and quality services. R.Cromombe, 2008 says that governance is about ensuring that the resources are used for the citizens’ benefit. If governance in an economy is weak, then there is a serious reduction within the quality of public services. The main reason for emphasizing service delivery was that the public sector has been slow and unresponsive to the citizen's needs in modern times.
According to the World Bank (2005), public service delivery has been inconsistent with citizen preferences and considered feeble in developing countries. The preoccupation of many countries in recent times is how to reposition their public service for effective and efficient service delivery. Consequently, the government of nations has taken it upon themselves to carry out various reforms in the public sector by redesigning the structures, systems, and processes to improve the delivery of services to their citizens (Adeyeye & Aladesanmi, 2010).
The public service of any nation is an institution of governance and administration established essentially to deliver public good to the people most efficiently and effectively. The public service is therefore an influential public institution for service delivery and development (Kauzya, 2011). The introduction of management ideas especially in the area of ICT into the public sector also encourages good customer relations services. Proper service delivery is significant for the survival of recent democracy or government and access to government information by citizens and organizations is, therefore, a fundamental ingredient in effective service delivery. To this end, ICT is seen as a tool to support the work of governmental institutions and agencies to deliver public services and information in a more convenient, citizencentric, and cost-effective manner. ICT is often an efficient tool to make sure increased access to government services, improved value for money also as increased productivity, transparency, and better service delivery (Achimugu, 2011).
Duncombe & Heeks (2003:67) argued that ''ICT is an electronic way of information dissemination that promotes an interaction between providers and users of information through the application of information processing system in the country''. According to him, the input mechanism of its device can assist the decision-makers to arrive at a decision that can promote an interpersonal relationship between the government and the people. The issue of service delivery is all above the customer service and effectiveness. Effectiveness in customer service typically refers to ''doing the right things'' and measures constructs like customer satisfaction on dimensions, such as service quality, speed, timing, and human interaction. Service is effective whenever its outcomes or accomplishments are useful to its customers (Inyang, 2008).
The use of ICT in the public sector and how its effect the service delivery of government have been commonly debated among scholars by looking at what different technologies and their applications do by enabling governments to do what it does in term of service delivery. It helps by making governments more accountable and transparent through a process of information rationalization, ICT has also been often considered as valuable support for achieving the effective public service delivery envisaged by the NPM trends whether implicitly or explicitly (Worrall, 2011; Hall, 2011).
According to Ainabor (2011), in applying ICT, efficiency can take different forms. For example, one form is to scale back errors and improve consistency of outcomes of governmental projects through automating standard tasks. The second form of efficiency improvement is to reduce costs and the many layers of organizational processes (the popular bureaucracy) by streamlining operating procedures through e-applications. Part of efficiency improvement is a reduction in time spent on repetitive tasks. This, without doubt, will give the federal, state, and local government employees ample opportunity to develop new skills and advance their careers. It is highly believed that no managerial reform can be materialized unless it is supported by ICT to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of personnel management, procurements, and many other government activities (Ambali, 2010).
The United Nations Public Administration Network (2012) noted that, while it is vital important to continue with service delivery, governments must increasingly begin to rethink in terms of e-government and e-governance (i.e., ICT use in delivering government services). According to UNPAN (2012), ICT i s often utilized in diverse applications to accelerate information dissemination, improve the efficiency of public services, increase the transparency and accountability of state administration, reduce corruption, and facilitate citizen participation in governance. From the above position of UNPAN, it means access to ICT is crucial to sustainable agenda for administrative transformation.
(Ewuim et al., 2016)Brown argues that ICT extends the reach of public services to the remotest areas, and allows information to flow in both directions, thus effectively empowering the poor and giving them a voice. Most communities in the country are isolated and may not be aware of the activities of the government. This little question would have hamper service delivery on the part of the service providers. But such isolated communities have been integrated into the global economy. It also makes a positive impact on the growth and development of an organization, improves the overall performance of government in areas such as health, education, agriculture, etc. Therefore, any public sector that can establish and develop ICT will reap the benefits of improved service delivery. The emergence of ICT for service delivery according to(Ewuim et al., 2016) indicates ‘’that there is a strong link between information Technologies and the length of socio-economic development in a country’’. Therefore, ICTs are considered an aid to socioeconomic developments. Nwabueze & Osioko (2007) still believe that ‘’the emergence of information technologies (ICT) enables the citizen to directly communicate to the government through Mobile Communication and Internet Service to voice out and suggest developmental project needs of the people at a local level in a state.
Generally, e-governance can improve public service delivery through the following;
4- Setting service standard: This will assist the public to measure the department's services, and play an important role in service improvement plans. Service standards would aim to measure public satisfaction with the products or services being delivered. Relating this principle to ICT support would imply if the government department or agency has specific measurable service standards.
4- Increasing access: Access to information and services empowers citizens and creates value for money, quality services. It reduces unnecessary expenditure for the citizens.
4- Providing information: Availability of information with regards to products and services should not only be at the service point but should also strive to extend the supply of products and services to the general public who are distant from those service points ((Visser & Twinomurinzi, 2008). The main area of focus would be to extend the supply of data to the general public who are distant from service points.
4- Value for money: Improvements to service delivery should not come at a premium to the public.
4- Incorrect information provided or processes reengineered could result in the public having to spend more time, effort, or even money to receive a product or service. Service delivery improvement should strive to be done with the same amount of resources or even less. E-government should support the public to receive cost-effective services and products.
2.5. Theoretical aspects of e-governance
The word ‘e-governance’ are often viewed at the crossroad of two major shifts - governance and information revolution. The issue of governance has been around for a few decades. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary (9th Edition), the word governance has been developed from the Greek word ‘kuberna' which means 'steer'. The first classic political science essays on the subject talked about the concept of 'governability', which made the rule of law the core to development.
Globalization with the emergence of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has a profound impact on the development of e-governance notion. ICT replaced two basic elements of production; labor and capital with information and knowledge for the first time in the last two centuries. The Internet created the same breakthrough as the printing press did in the 15th century. It shapes the facility to communicate, share, distribute, exchange, formalize, use, and network information at a speed that's not experienced before. “E-governance reflects a process of re-invention and re-engineering in governance and 'is aimed towards adapting administration to the further increasing flow of information: accelerating the process of decision making by optimizing resources, and making the mechanism for deciding self-regulating' (Baev 2003).” There are different theories of e-governance in public service delivery. Those are the following:
Theory of rationalization: Rationalization theorists argue that E-governance has tremendous potentiality in improving governing process and therefore there is rationality in decision making (Taps Scott 1997). This theory is based on classical Cybernetic theory and argues that information reduces uncertainty and increases control.
Rationalization at cost theory: The second theory postulates that there is a cost or price for the rationality posture. It is on account of over bureaucratization decisions that are being made with the help of algorithms are shifted away from politicians to permanent officials because they ceased to become part of the policymaking process. The most aggressive kind of argument put forward by these theorists is that E-governance techniques are pervasive; so that the citizens may become docile subjects of authority.
Erosion of rationality or noise theory
The third perspective on E-governance is that E-governance would do away with rationality. They argue that policymaking is a time-consuming process and the problem of information overload on account of IT penetration would distract the attention of policymakers from qualitative and unstructured factors to quantitatively measured and structured factors and information (Perry, 2001). The theorists believe that excessive technological domination would lead to weak decision-making based on judgment. Erosion of rationality supporting people denies cybernetic school that information is control and prefers to argue that information is noise.
Socio-political domination over technology or social shaping theory
They believe that there will be no implication of technology on the political rationality of decision-making. The process of governance is shaped by the socio-political forces and technologies are just means for conflict conservative social and political shaping or change of styles of Governance (Perry, 2001). The main debate they put across is that technologies could provide an opportunity for policymakers to demonstrate to the public the authority of their decision-making capacity, however, the real basis on which decisions are made is out of political reasons. The protagonists of the theory claim that there are several instances, available that provide adequate support for the totem theory or social shaping theory.
Comparative analysis theories
The four theories can be empirically tested in different ways. The control theory or theory of rationalization could be applied empirically by observing direct attributes of phenomenon such as individual decision-makers satisfaction, their sense of efficacy, control in their work, collective action capabilities of groups of decision makers (Perri, 2001). Whereas the social shaping theory or totem theory identifies with distant phenomena or dimensions, symbols meanings, group identities, and means by which they form group interests.
2.6. Objectives and Opportunities of E-Governance
2.6.1. Objectives of E-governance
The objective of E-governance is not just to computerize government offices it is to gradually transform the way the government operates. But the process will take time and a significant amount of re-engineering of processes. Hence, E-government is not just another way of doing existing activities; it is a transformation on a scale that will fundamentally alter the way public services are delivered (Al-Mushayt et al., 2012). The most important anticipated benefits of Egovernance in developed, as well as developing countries, are improved efficiency (citizens get connected to the government more easily using electronic means of communication. This results in better efficiency in public service delivery through faster dissemination of government information to a larger audience), increase in transparency and accountability of government functions, convenient and faster access to government services, improved democracy (Equal opportunity is given to all or any to access information regardless of the person's physical location or disability and therefore the elimination of the bureaucracy experienced in government offices), and lower costs of administrative services (interdepartmental exchange of information and merger of related services is enhanced among government agencies with an accompanying reduction of transaction costs, time, space and manpower) (Adeyemo, 2010).)
2.6.2. Opportunities of E-governance
Electronic delivery of public services by the government not only results in efficiency, better quality but above all facilitates equitable access. Once the services are available through Internet, Kiosks, Integrated Service Centers, Mobile devices, it becomes very convenient for people in urban also as rural a part of the country to avail these services, as governments in many of the countries, also as private sectors, are within the process of creating tons of investments in extending the communication infrastructure to the remotest parts of the country to succeed in the unreached. It also is benefiting public sectors in achieving higher productivity, efficiency, enhanced transparency, accountability, responsiveness lead to an overall improvement in the image of the government in the minds of the citizens. Raised trust levels lead to an improved relationship between government & citizens as well as government & business, one of the major objectives of e-governance (UNESCO, 2005).
As Nadou (2004), has identified by her research the following are major opportunities that will gain from applications of E-governance;
a. Cost reduction and efficiency gains; The appropriate application of E-governance may reduce the number of inefficiencies in processes by allowing file and data sharing across government ministries/departments, thereby contributing to the elimination of mistakes from manual procedures, reducing the specified time for transactions. Efficiency is additionally attained by streamlining internal processes by enabling faster and more informed deciding, and by speeding up transaction processing.
b. Quality of service delivery to businesses and citizens in the traditional model of public service delivery, the procedures are long, time-consuming, and lack transparency. A business that wishes to obtain a license or a permit has to fill out several application forms, has to visit several different offices, and spends a considerable amount of time. If a citizen wishes to be issued with a certificate or any other official document, s/he will have to travel to the central government office, go to different offices and spend tons of your time for easy service. An E-governance initiative, on the other hand, which puts government services online, thereby reducing the bureaucracy, offers round the clock accessibility, fast and convenient transactions, and enhances the standard of services, in terms of your time, content, and accessibility
c. Transparency, anti-corruption, accountability: E-governance helps to increase the transparency of decision-making processes. In many cases, E-governance offers opportunities for citizens to directly participate in decision- making, by allowing them to provide their ideas and suggestions in forums and online. If websites are designed carefully and openly, they can be valuable resources for transparency as citizens, businesses and other stakeholders shall be able to see political and governmental information, rules, and policies. Previously it had been often necessary to travel on to government offices to get information, but now this information should be available online.
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- Arbeit zitieren
- Tesfu Eba (Autor:in), 2021, The Prospects and Challenges of E-Governance in Public Service Delivery. The Case of the Fitche Town Land Administration, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1336099
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