United Nations E-Government Survey

Since 2001, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) has published the United Nations E-Government Survey (“the Survey”). Now in its ninth edition, the Survey provides an analysis of emerging public administration trends and issues and of how e-government can support the realization of the internationally agreed development agenda and goals. The Survey offers insights about common challenges, broad trends and different strategies in e-government development among regions and across countries. By tracking the progress of countries globally over time, the Survey seeks to better understand the challenges and opportunities that the Member States face in developing their e-government programmes.

The survey was prepared in a context of multiple challenges to achieving sustainable development goals and a call for responsive and collaborative government. It explores the institutional framework for e-government and finds that the existence of a chief information officer acting as a national coordinating authority can help overcome internal barriers and focus minds on integrated responses to citizen concerns. The survey argues that e-government provides administrators with powerful tools for grappling with social equity and digital divide issues. Governments must find effective channels of communication that fit national circumstances while also taking steps to increase usage of online and mobile services to benefit citizens. The survey explores global e-government development and how best to move ahead.

A trend towards reforming the public sector has emerged in many countries in recent years, attempting to revitalize public administration and make it more proactive, efficient, transparent and especially more service oriented. E-government can contribute significantly to the process of transformation of the government towards a leaner, more cost-effective government. However, the real benefit of e-government lies not in the use of technology per se, but in its application to processes of transformation. The 2008 year Survey presents an assessment of the new role of the government in enhancing public service delivery, while improving the efficiency and productivity of government processes and systems. The first part of the publication describes the findings of the United Nations e-Government Survey 2008 while the “how to” approach connected governance is the focus of Part II.

Governments have the critical responsibility to pursue policies and measures to build resilience and assist those most affected by shocks in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They must find ways to anticipate disasters and shocks and lower their impact. Digital technologies are increasingly being used by governments to improve the response to disasters and other shocks to improve the resilience of communities. In the information society, it is important to move onwards to an approach where the concerns of building resilience, sustainable development and leaving no one behind are embedded in e-government development.