E-government for Tunisia (E-Tunisia) : Help to move forwards

It has been proven that the deployment of e-government [E-government is the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve the activities of public sector organisations] brings the following advantages:

• streamlining of the interactions of the citizens and business with the central, regional and local governments;
• increase in the performance of workers at governmental agencies;
• reduction in the possibilities for corruption.

How can an e-government implementation help Tunisia (which is already the top African country according to the UN e-government survey) to move forwards at this moment in its history?

Which e-government services (out of about 1000 items in e-government catalogues) should be the first priority?

Today, it appears that Tunisia urgently needs a much improved handling of political rights, provisioning of social security and, in general, establishment of trust between the population and the public sector organisations. Bearing this in mind, a list of potential e-government capabilities by domain could be the following.

Political domain:

• E-consultation as an umbrella for different means of expressing the voice of the people (similar to direct democracy): e-polls, e-voting, etc.  -- E-Tunisia / e-consultations: overview
• Transparency of the legislative powers (e.g. parliament, deputies, decisions)
• Easy access to the legal knowledge base
• Authorization of demonstrations
• Voting rights (different levels, as well as expatriates)

Social domain:

• Management of who is legible for different types of social support (“welfare”, social housing, etc.)
• Management of correct provision of social support

Citizen-to-government and business-to-government communication domain:

• Transparency of the governmental business processes with respect to promised deadlines, use of objective rules, and traceability of internal work
• Use of electronic means for exchange through secured documents

Potential benefits for African countries:

• Many elements of this e government project will be applicable in many African countries

Potential benefits for donor countries:

• Test some e-government solutions in a green-field project

Potential contribution from the development community:

• Coordination and help with overall architecture / technical solutions

Thanks,
AS