In addition to helping local governments think in terms of delivering value (just as businesses must do), there are two other crucial elements that I think help deal with the concerns of Peter Burgess and Ed Cherlin. These elements have to do with using ICT to improve GOVERNANCE, not just GOVERNMENT:
(1) Educating the community about its own rights and responsibilities, just as we've started educating stockholders about their rights. When citizens know their rights, and have access to information sources beyond the local elite, change can happen. Of course, we don't expect citizens to be auditors. But they can assess the value to themselves of local government activities. ICT can help to promote this aspect, by using Internet and other media to provide information. Often it will require an intermediary, like the citizen service centers in Brazil, which Gary Garriott mentioned. The centers' staff use ICT to tap into information databases to get the information requested by citizens. Of course, radio and other mass media can also be used, or a combination of Internet and radio, like the Kothmale Internet Community radio project in Sri Lanka, which takes questions from listeners, searches the Internet and broadcasts the answers. <http://www.unesco.org/webworld/highlights/internet_radio_130599.html> (2) Using effective change management methods that are effective in changing cultural values and beliefs. Anyone who has worked in organizational change knows that changing culture is extremely difficult. What works best is to REINTERPRET existing values rather than trying to replace them. For example, if the local government feels that their future lies in serving citizens and that using ICT (e.g., a website) would dilute citizens' sense that they are being served by government, you can help them see that ICT can INCREASE citizens' sense of being served. Or in the case of local governments that are concerned with the perks and prestige of controlling resources, you can show that ICT can promote prosperity in the community, and that the local government will have greater prestige. For local government officials who fear that ICT adoption will eliminate some government jobs, you can provide evidence that ICT does not reduce local government jobs, and often spurs an increase in local government jobs. Regarding Ed Cherlin's suggestion about a Sears-type local government -- I'm not sure I understand the suggestion, but I *think* he means that we strengthen local enterprises, and then have local governments support an infrastructure that facilitates e-commerce. If so, it's an interesting application of the ideas in my previous message. But to make that happen, local governments have to realize that they must be part of the overall effort to make their communities competitive and, eventually, more prosperous. Cheers, Janice -- Janice Brodman Director Center for Innovative Technologies EDC <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> On 05/23/2005, Edward Cherlin wrote: > On Friday, May 20 2005, Janice Brodman wrote: > >> I would like to propose what may be a somewhat radical approach to using >> ICT to strengthen local governments (LGs): We should be thinking of LGs >> -- and encouraging them to think of themselves -- as companies do. > > We have had some very bad experience of this concept in various levels > of government. Too often, the company that government models itself on > is Enron. :-( ..snip... > Suppose we put all of this together. Create computer software and > training in local languages for applications that will increase village > income, such as e-commerce, and get the microbanks to place them (along > with wireless Internet equipment) and make the loans for buying them, as > they do with cell phones. Then let us see what kinds of health, > education, and other programs we can deliver over these computers to > increase local income further and faster, and how villagers can talk to > each other about wider cooperation, including producer and consumer > co-ops. Let us also see what kind of development portal we can create to > sell to the no-longer-poor farmers and artisans and to their families. > > Do you think we can get a government to think of itself as the Sears and > Montgomery Wards of more than a century ago? ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For past messages, see: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
