E-Governance in Africa: From Theory to Action; a Handbook on icts for Local Governance

336 Pages·2007·2.32 MB·English

by  Misuraca

e-Governance
in Africa
From Theory to Action
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e-Governance
in Africa
From Theory to Action
A Handbook on ICTs for Local Governance
Gianluca C. Misuraca
International Development Research Centre
Ottawa • Cairo • Dakar • Montevideo • Nairobi • New Delhi • Singapore
Copyright © 2007 International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
First Printing 2007
Jointly Published by
AFRICA WORLD PRESS
P.O. Box 1892, Trenton, New Jersey 08607
[email protected]/www.africaworldpressbooks.com
and the
International Development Research Centre
PO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON Canada KIG 3149
info@idrc/www.idrc.ca
ISBN (e-book) 978-1-55250-369-0
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Book and cover design: Saverance Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Misuraca, Gianluca.
E-Governance in Africa, from theory to action : a handbook on ICTs for local
governance / by Gianluca Misuraca ; with foreword by Joseph O. Okpaku.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59221-578-5 (hard cover) -- ISBN 1-59221-579-3 (pbk.)
1. Internet in public administration--Africa. 2. Information technology--
Africa. I. Title.
JQ1875.A55A86 2007
352.3’802854678--dc22
2007012518
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xxi
Introduction 1
PART I: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: TOWARDS A
MULTI-DIMENSIONAL E-GOVERNANCE
1. Th e potential of ICTs for good governance: basic concepts
and defi nitions 9
1.1. Governance, Good Governance and Democratic
Governance
1.2. Local Governance and Decentralisation
1.3. ICTs, e-Government, e-Governance and e-
Participation
2. Decentralisation and Local Governance: benefi ts and limits 43
2.1. Benefi ts of Decentralisation
2.2. Constraints of Decentralisation
2.3. Participation, Engaged Governance and the Role of
the Civil Society
2.4. Decentralisation and Local Governance in Africa
2.5. Elements for Eff ective Local Governance-
Decentralisation Policies
3. From e-Government to e-Governance: a paradigmatic shift 55
3.1. ICTs as a tool for development
3.2. e-Government: benefi ts and risks
3.3. Implementing e-Government: needs and obstacles
3.4. e-Government and e-Governance: challenges and threats
vi e-Governance in Africa
3.5. From e-Government to e-Governance: the way
towards a Knowledge Society
3.6. e-Governance in Africa: challenges ahead
4. ICTs for local governance in Africa 93
4.1. Local e-Government and e-Local Governance:
benefi ts and limits
4.2. Some Experiences of using ICTs at local government
level in Africa
PART II: CASE STUDIES ON ICTS FOR LOCAL GOVERNANCE
5. Th e role of ICTs in the Decentralisation Policy in Senegal 107
5.1. Context and Policy
5.2. SAFEFOD’s Project on “Th e role of ICTs in
decentralisation policy”
5.3. Conclusions
References
6. ICTs and Traditional Governance in Ghana 141
6.1. Context and Policy
6.2. Project on “ICTs in support of Traditional
Governance in Ghana”
6.3. Conclusions
References
7. District Administrative Network (DistrictNet) in Uganda 179
7.1. Context and Policy
7.2. Th e DistrictNet Project
7.3. Conclusions
References
8. Cape Town’s “Smart City” Strategy in South Africa 215
8.1. Context and Policy
8.2. Building a Knowledge Society in the Western Cape
8.3. Th e Cape Town’s Smart City Strategy
8.4. Conclusions
Table of Contents vii
PART III: CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD
9. ICTs for Local Governance in Africa: some preliminary
conclusions 265
10. One way forward: LOG-IN Africa 273
Annexe: Review of key experiences of ICTs impacting on
Governance in Africa 279
References 307
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FOREWORD
by Joseph O. Okpaku, Sr., Ph.D.
As is true of all new ideas and fi elds of human engagement, e-govern-
ment (along with its collateral subject of e-governance) is knee-deep in
the challenge of defi nitions as competing intellectuals, specialists and
practitioners seek to clarify the many concepts and issues that defi ne
the concept, or to prevail in the choices of preferred defi nitions. On top
of the list of concepts in transition, the dominant defi nitions of which
are up for grabs, are: electronic Government or e-government, and its
contradistinction with e-governance; e-Administration; the plethora
of subsidiary (even if older) concepts such as e-Education, e-Health
e-Voting and more, and overall, Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) Development versus ICTs for Development.
In the process of seeking permanent space in the dual world of
technology and governance, a process driven as much by equipment,
applications and services vendors as by administrators, fresh opportu-
nities are being created daily for the deployment of the tools of Infor-
mation and Communication Technologies and the infrastructure that
provides the platform on which they perform. Signifi cantly, the sys-
temic arena for e-government has advanced from global and regional,
to in-country national, state, provincial, county and local levels of gov-
ernment. Not surprisingly, the fi eld has also panned out to infuse itself
with the by now predictable dichotomies of ICTs and e-government
in industrialized countries versus in developing countries, for the rich
versus the poor, the haves and the have-nots. An inevitable by-product
of this process is e-government in Africa as a sub-sector, and here,
many questions have been raised and attempts made to answer them.
Already, there are more questions than the fi eld can provide answers
for, which is as it should be in a dynamic process that is driven by the
search for answers to ever emerging questions, and the innovation and
creativity that result.