August 7, 2007
By Emily Visser
JOBURG has been running an eservices portal successfully for a number of years. The main aim of Johannesburg E-Services is to make the lives of residents easier by providing online access to government services.
And now, an information technology conference on egovernance is taking place on Tuesday, August 7 and Wednesday, August 8 at Emperors Palace, in Kempton Park. Johannesburg is sending along its representatives to join other delegates from private and public sectors around the country. In all, about 120 participants are expected.
"The conference will create a platform for the public sector and industry to discuss egovernment strategies, evaluate achievements and learn from international good practices," explains ITWeb, the host of the conference.
It aims to look at ways in which local, provincial and national governments can become more citizen-centred by using information and communication technologies. The conference is hoping to lay the foundation for a standardised egovernance model for all spheres of government in South Africa.
Improving communication
Electronic governance – egovernance – has been successfully adopted by governments across the world because of its ability to improve communication and interaction between citizens and their governments.
Egovernance includes both internet and non-online communication technologies such as email, online community facilities, newsgroups, online chat, instant messaging and smart cards, among others.
Johannesburg's E-Services portal, for example, can be accessed from the Johannesburg website. It offers residents a number of online services and is one of the City's key communication tools.
From policy to practice
The theme for the conference is "From policy to practice", with experts speaking on technology solutions driving the online environment around the world.
A selection of local and international good practice case studies are to be discussed, with representatives from all spheres of government sharing their experiences and lessons learned in making egovernment an integral part of public service delivery.
Topics to be discussed include egovernment policies, strategies and implementation; critical information and communication technology applications; new ideas for improving public service efficiency and effectiveness; how technology can improve the democratic process; interoperability and standards; and emerging technologies.
Matt Poelmans, the director of the e-Citizen Programme in the Netherlands, is a keynote speaker. Referring to government agencies in general, Poelmans says that although citizen-centred systems are in place, these are often not standardised. Instead, each sphere of government is doing things their own way.
"The challenge lies in convincing all institutions involved of the necessity of a standard, making them co-operate in developing it and getting the result generally adopted."
e-Citizen Charter
Poelmans is to talk about the Dutch e-Citizen Charter and how this can be adapted to South Africa. Contemporary citizens have "digital rights" that have to be accommodated in an information society, he argues.
The Dutch e-Citizen Charter introduced a new partnership between citizens and governments in which more responsibility and choice was given to citizens. Poelmans feels this model is applicable in all democratic countries.
Another speaker, Carl-Markus Piswanger, an egovernment architect at the Austrian Federal Computing Centre, gives a European perspective of edemocracy and explores methods of finding egovernment best practices for the local public sector.
Egovernance experiences from Australia and Kerava, in Finland, are to be discussed, while breakaway networks are to discuss the challenges and delivery applications of egovernment.
Local speakers include Trudy Van Wyk, from the Ministry of Education; Henry Chasia, from eNepad e-Africa Commission; Ernst & Young's Kayode Adesemowo; Mike Brierly, from MTN Networks; Michael Silber, from Beacon IT Group; Conology's Kevin Meltzer; and Professor Barry Dwolatzky from the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand.
For more information, contact ITWeb on 011 807 3294 or register online on the ITWeb website.
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