E-GOVERNMENT vs E-GOVERNANCE

E-GOVERNMENT

Similar to the dramatic changes in e-commerce, countries in the Regions have begun to recognize the emergence of e-government -"the ability to obtain government services through nontraditional electronic means, enabling access to government information and to completion of government transaction on an anywhere, any time basis and in conformance with equal access requirement."- offers potential to reshape the public sector and build relationships between citizens and the government.

At the same time, concerns have already been expressed about the gap between the technology haves and have-nots, and more popularly known as "the digital divide." In order to ensure that countries avoid creating a digital divide and create conditions to ensure that growth of the knowledge economy contributes to carrying out a democratic process of efficient, equitable and sustainable development, expanded dialogue and new patterns of cooperation among public, private ad civil society organizations are needed.

The multiple roles of government, at all levels, must be recognized and understood by all if it is to play an effective role in this partnership involving access to information and the role of information and communication technology.

Roles of Government:

· Uses information and information/communication technology provided by the private sector for public administration,

· Produces public information to which citizens must have access,

· Has the authority to establish marketplace rules and establish regulatory structures that ensure that everyone participates and benefits form growth of the knowledge economy.

There is an inextricable relationship between government's role as a user of information and communication technology and its capacity to formulated public policy for the knowledge economy. Governments that learn how to use these technologies to operate more efficiently and improve public services are more likely to effectively stimulate and contribute to the knowledge economy public policy debate.Online delivery of services benefits both government and its constituents, as it lowers costs and make services more accessible.

One of the most promising aspects of e-government is its ability to bring citizens closer to their governments. While the technology to facilitate this connection is widely available, many government sites have not taken full advantage of its benefits in Latin American and Caribbean Countries.Enabling conversation between citizens and government is not the only way to bring citizens and government closer together. Making government more easily accessible is another component of this endeavor. There are few features that make this possible. One of them is the ability to search a particular web site. Another is to offer life broadcast of important speeches through the web. Another way is by enabling citizens to cater available information to their particular interest.

Benefits of E-Government integration

· Lower costs as well as improved efficiency and quality of service.

· More effective linkages between citizens and government.

· Improve efficiency of government workers.

· Facilitate transparency and accountability

E-GOVERNANCE

E-governance is beyond the scope of e-government. While e-government is defined as a mere delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic means, e-governance allows direct participation of constituents in government activities. Blake Harris summarizes the e-governance as the following; E-governance is not just about government web site and e-mail. It is not just about service delivery over the Internet. It is not just about digital access to government information or electronic payments. It will change how citizens relate to governments as much as it changes how citizens relate to each other. It will bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of needs and responsibilities. E-governance will allow citizens to communicate with government, participate in the governments' policy-making and citizens to communicate each other. The e-governance will truly allow citizens to participate in the government decision-making process, reflect their true needs and welfare by utilizing e-government as a tool.

Introduction of e-governance is a key to make information technology (IT) relevant to ordinary citizens in Latin America and Caribbean countries where a large numbers of population are poor and a digital divide is a significant problem. E-governance will allow ordinary people to constantly interface with the government in both local and central level on various matters. The Bank's involvement in modernization of the government thus is not limited to provide the most advanced Information Communication and Technology to the government so that government can provide its information and service more effectively and efficiently to the citizens. The Bank makes sure that the government will allow all the citizens to access to information or services (any citizens should not be excluded), to articulate their needs and to participate in formulating policy and regulation that will improve their social welfare and well being. The ability of Central government to understand all needs from ordinary local citizens is limited. Therefore, the participation of citizens in local level is extremely important (link with creative community initiative). The true e-governance should be attained by interface of citizens both with central and local government.

SOURCES : Inter-American Development Bank, 2008