Local Governance and Icts in Africa: Case Studies and Guidelines for Implementation and Evaluation

Timothy Mwololo Waema is an associate professor at the School of Computing and Informatics at the University of Nairobi. Edith Ofwona Adera is a senior program specialist at Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC). She has extensive experience managing innovative projects that improve governance education, agriculture, and gender equality in Africa.

With governance high on the agenda in Africa, many governments are using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to introduce innovations in their structure, practices and capacities as well as in the ways they use human capital and deliver services to citizens. But the potential for e-governance in Africa remains largely unexploited. Progress requires infrastructure improvement, the enactment of appropriate laws and policies, and capacity and content development. This book addresses the lack of evidence on ICTs in local governance in Africa. At its heart lies the conviction that ICT can enable local governments to engage citizens to participate in democratic processes and to engage in public sector management so creating socio-economic developments at local and national levels. It provides an important collection of studies and analyses on the transformative potential of ICT: citizens in Ethiopia use it to pay tax and complete legislative documents; in Mozambique the SchoolNet project has increased the secondary school literacy rate. Other studies in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa and Uganda explore service delivery, financial management, citizen registration, land management, local economic development and political inclusion. The book provides a synthesis of the findings and a roadmap to assist government decision makers in implementing and evaluating their own e-local governance projects. With information and communications technologies increasingly available in Africa, this timely book speaks to the current issues.

Foreword 1 Introduction Background Why the research? Summary of findings E-local governance roadmap Limitations of the research Outline of the book 2 E-governance assessment framework Introduction Governance and good governance E-government and e-government Results-based management Towards an integrated e-governance outcome evaluation framework Conclusions and recommendations 3 Business process mapping for e-local governance projects in Egypt Introduction Background Administrative structure of local government in Egypt Research approach Proposed methodology Test case Conclusions and recommendations 4 E-local governance: a case study on life event services in the kebeles of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Introduction Overview of the city government of Addis Ababa The national ICT policy and e-government strategy Research design Findings of the study Requirements for e-local governance transformation in the kebeles Towards e-local governance functional model for kebeles The kebele life-event services system (KLESS) Conclusions 5 ICTs and financial management in Mavoko and Nyeri municipal councils, Kenya Introduction ICT and local governance context Conceptual framework, methodology and study sites General findings Effects of Laifoms on e-governance Conclusions and recommendations 6 Revenue management systems in municipal and district councils in Mauritius Research context Research methodology Findings of the study Conclusions and recommendations 7 Proposal on a roadmap to 'e-government for good governance' in a developing country context National governance context Local governance context ICTs and e-government/governance context The e-larache project Research methodology Developments in the project Emerging results Concluding remarks 8 An analysis of the influence of the e-government implementation process on the outcomes: a case study of the land management information system in Mozambique Introduction Analytical framework Design of the study Findings Analysis and discussion Conclusions 9 E-governance for social and local economic development: a case study of Gauteng province, South Africa Introduction: a purpose for e-governance Framing e-governance for South Africa The South African study Good governance: strategy, responsiveness and transparency Conclusions and recommendations 10 ICTs in local governance: a case study of the local government information communication system (logics) in Uganda Introduction Local governance system National ICT policy and e-government strategy ICT and local government context An overview of logics Research objectives and methodology Findings Conclusions and recommendations 11 ICTs for political inclusion and good governance in northern Ghana Introduction National ICT context and the ICT4AD policy Northern Ghana in perspective The CITRED e-government project and political engagement Project interventions Conclusion 12 Summary of findings and e-local governance roadmap Introduction The national e-governance context The e-local governance context The proposed roadmap Monitoring and evaluation Conclusions and recommendations Appendices 1 Business process modelling - a comparison between the government and private sector contexts 2 Outcome and output indicators for computerizing financial processes (e-administration) 3 Outcome and output indicators for access to information/knowledge and service delivery (e-services) 4 Outcome and output indicators for society interactions (e-society) 5 E-governance strategies 6 Good governance outcome indicator Bibliography Index