Capacity Building for e Government Subhash Bhatnagar As
Capacity Building for e. Government Subhash Bhatnagar As part of the Capacity Building Workshop under the Joint Economic Research Program (JERP)
This session will focus on capacity building. Critical tasks in implementing an e-government program at the strategic as well as project implementation level will be identified. Using the example of India, areas where capacity is normally weak within the Government, private sector and civil society will be discussed. Different types of training and capacity building initiatives for strengthening key roles in e. Government would be discussed. The need for collaboration between Government and educational institutions would be emphasized. A training program designed for Chief Information Officers-a key role in an e. Government project will be discussed in detail.
Presentation Structure • Critical Tasks in e-Government • Why capacity building is important at the National and Project level • Building capacity for different tasks at a various levels • How is India building capacity for its National Program on e. Government • Experience of a program for CIOs for the Government of Andhra Pradesh by IIM Ahmedabad
Taken from Piyush Gupta
Ingredients for Readiness • Hard Infrastructure: hardware, networks, databases, telephone services, etc. . • Soft Infrastructure: policy and regulatory environment, cyber laws, intellectual property rights. • Talents base: technological and management skills within and outside Government-- from education to attracting talent pool. • Leadership: at the highest political and administrative levels of economy. • Societal Readiness: All of the above plus societal acceptance and IT literacy and a service orientation within the civil service.
Why Capacity Building? • Nearly two- third of all e. Government projects are considered failures. Key reason is the lack of capacity to manage change. e -government is more about government than about “e” • The transformational nature and large scale of e-government makes the task complex. Inadequate numbers of trained personnel. • People are trained in narrow fields: IT/IS and public administration. Requires a multi-disciplinary approach, coordination skills • There is diversity in local laws, rules for transacting government business. Need for overall direction, standardization and consistency across initiatives require new skills. • Capacity Building helps to maintain continuity of approach despite changes of key incumbent officials.
Key e. Government Tasks Need New Skills • Clarity in objective setting • Need to ensure focus on client (citizens, business) needs in service delivery • Leveraging Private Partnership • Need for Government Process Reengineering • Standardization: implications for designing effective integrated applications avoiding long-term costs • Institutional mechanism for independent Impact Assessment • Project Management: project development & design, bid process management, Contractual Frameworks, Service Level Agreements, project monitoring.
Levels of Capacity Leadership & Vision • Policy Formulation • Committing Resources • Taking hard decisions Program Development • Preparing Roadmaps • Prioritization • Frameworks, Guidelines Program Management • • Monitoring Progress Inter-agency Collaboration Funds Management Capacity Management Project Development • Conceptualization • Architecture • Definition (RFP, SLA…) Project Management • Bid Process Management • Project Monitoring • Quality Assurance
Training Programs for Different Roles • E-Gov Champions Programme: For political and administrative heads of departments. Not concerned with project details, but provide leadership and an enabling environment. • Chief Information Officers: Comprehensive skills to implement e. Ggovernment project from conceptualization to complete rollout. • Chief Technology Officers: Advanced topics in security, architecture, standards to supplement their skill set appropriately. • Users of IT Systems in Government Departments: Trained specifically on the application package as part of the project implementation. Large numbers to be trained per project. • External Users: Company Secretaries and Chartered Accountants acting on behalf of companies. • General IT Awareness and Training
Capacity Building: Role of Different Institutions Linkage between Project Users CTO CIO Re. Process Technical Citizen E-Gov institutions to Managemen engineering Champions Innovation Awareness build various t capacities holistically Specialized Institutions NISG Public Administrati on IIPA Effort within Government to harness the available pool of knowledge E-Gov Champions CIO Management IIMs Technology & R&D Labs Users Citizen Awareness Private IT Training NIIT, Telecenters Industry Association and Media CTO Technology & Management IIITs Process Reengineering Technical Innovation Project Management
Different Types of Training Programs Long duration in class residential programs with practical work Small number of specialists Intensive interdisciplinary learning CIOs, CTOs, Systems Analyst e. Learning with periodic face-to face contact-with test for certification Large number, middle level staff Maintenance of SW/HW Workshop and seminars Agency Heads and e. Champions Study tours CIOs for specific projects Multi-country experienced sharing Video Conference based workshops on specific topics e. Champions and CIOs Policy Makers Hands-on skill development in specific applications and software Users and Operators
Break up of Activities Proposed in the National e. Government Program Amounts in Rs. 10 million Capacity Building-HRD & Training 550 (4%) TOTAL OUTLAY 12, 400 Technical Assistance 100 (1%) Organization Structures 100 (1%) R&D 100(1%) Awareness & Assessment 280 (2%) Core Projects 9, 000 (73%) Integrated Services 300 (2%) Support Infra 600 (5%) Core Infrastructure 1, 200 (10%) Core Policies 100 (1%)
Andhra Pradesh Program for Chief Information Officers (CIO) • Program designed by Indian Institute of management Ahmedabad • Six residential programs of 12 week duration have trained 160 officers from 25 departments in the last 5 years. Participation from other states and countries • Senior line officers with an aptitude for ICTs are selected from different agencies • Provides inputs (knowledge, attitudes and skills) to transform participants into CIOs to lead large e. Government projects from conceptualization to implementation. • CIOs have played significant leadership role in AP e. Government program and projects
CIO Program Develops Ability to: • Understand the client perspective on delivery of the service. • Define project goals which are shared by political leadership and employees. • Define scale/scope of project to balance benefits and costs • Reengineer business processes; enact/revise regulations for efficiency, transparency and reduced corruption. • Procure cost-effective technology, and to acquire a variety of skills for handling techno-commercial decisions. • Interact meaningfully with agencies that are awarded contracts.
CIO Program Develops Ability to: • Design an optimal solution architecture by evaluating different options. • Estimate investments, operating expenses and economic benefits. • Develop a phased implementation plan with key tasks and milestones. Monitor projects thru different phases of life cycle. • Appreciate the importance of managing organizational change and acquire the skills for change management. Put in place an organization for implementing change. • Use political skills for inter-agency collaboration, a new role for CIOs.
Build capacities to make e. Governance a reality… Thank you
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