UNECA, WB, ITU adopt framework to measure governments’ ICT-based service delivery
A new framework document and a list of ICT indicators to measure e-government across countries in the world have been adopted by the Partnership for Measuring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development including some institutions such as the UN Economic Commission for Africa, World Bank and the International Telecommunications (ITU).
The framework proposes a set of globally comparative e-government core indicators to support the efforts of countries worldwide in the collection of data to measure the use of ICT in government service delivery.
The document was adopted in Mauritius December 8, 2011.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in a statement says “in order to facilitate use of the framework, the Commission will develop a manual for measuring e-government in 2012 and “training will be provided to stakeholders in member States to enable collection, processing and dissemination of statistics on the deployment and exploitation of ICT in government services.”
Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director, ICT, Science and Technology Division at the ECA is quoted in the statement saying “In developing the Framework, particular attention was paid to providing a measurement approach that is feasible for developing countries, including Africa. It supports their efforts to utilize e-government for the benefit of their society and economy.”
The Partnership is composed of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Eurostat, the International Telecommunications (ITU), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank. Mr. Makane Faye, Officer-in-charge of the ICT Policy and Development Section of ECA represents the Commission in the Partnership.
By Ekow Quandzie