MENA › Sixth High Level Seminar on Partnerships and Frameworks for Collaboration on e-Government in Tunis, Tunisia, 28 May 2008

Sixth High Level Seminar on Partnerships and Frameworks for Collaboration on e-Government in Tunis, Tunisia, 28 May 2008

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The 6th High Level Seminar on Partnerships and Frameworks for Collaboration on E-government took place in Tunis, Tunisia on 28 May 2008 at the invitation of the Prime Ministry of Tunisia and in collaboration with the OECD. This event was followed by the 4th Regional Meeting of GfD Working Group 2 which took place in Tunis on 29 May 2008.

 

Participants

 

Twenty-three delegates from eleven Arab countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Dubai, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian National Authority, Tunisia, and Yemen) participated in the seminar and working group meeting. Seven experts from OECD countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Korea, and United States) engaged in policy discussions with their Arab counterparts. Mr. Bruno Lanvin of INSEAD also actively participated in the discussion. The Working Group Meeting was chaired by Mr. Salem Al Shair, Director, Dubai eServices, Dubai eGovernment and co-chaired by Mr. Vincenzo Schioppa, Minister Plenipotentiary, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prof. Byung-Chun Kim, Associate Dean and CIO, Graduate School of Management, and Director, Knowledge-based e-Government Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

 

Objectives

 

The objective of the seminar was to provide a forum for OECD and Arab countries to discuss frameworks for collaboration and partnerships (public-private but also public-public) for e-government, with a particular focus on the drivers of such partnerships, conditions for success and the challenges government organisations had encountered in their implementation. Session one introduced and discussed the different forms of collaborative arrangements and their e-government areas of application. Session two and three discussed partnerships with the private sector in e-government with a focus on a) the challenges countries encountered in setting up and implementing these partnerships as well as solutions which have been identified to overcome them (session 2); b) the lessons learned and good practices emerging from concrete cases of implementation in selected countries (session 3). Session 4 looked at approaches and models of collaboration among government organisations and the role of e-government coordinators in promoting collaborative arrangements on e-government. 

 

Outcomes

 

As a result of the discussion, Arab countries deepened their knowledge of existing forms of partnerships and collaboration on e-government by building on the experience of OECD countries; identified challenges in establishing and implementing partnerships with the private sector on e-government; discussed replicability and sustainability of experiences in other domains; discussed and identified approaches to collaboration among government organisations for e-government, with a particular focus on shared infrastructure and shared service centres. In particular, the following key outcomes were achieved:

 

  1. An overview of the different types and forms of partnerships and frameworks for collaboration on e-government both with the private sector and within the administration was obtained.
  2. Constraints (lack of skills, absence of incentives to partnerships, resistance to change, difficulty to define needs in the long run) and opportunities (e.g. synergies between departments, better service quality, economies of scale, integration of service delivery channels) in establishing partnerships on e-government were identified.
  3. Good practices in establishing partnerships and lessons learned from the concrete experience of OECD and Arab countries were discussed, including :
  • Engaging all partners (public and private but also citizens and civil society) in partnership  agreements;
  • Creating mutual trust between public and private entities through e.g. the principle of joint decision-making;
  • Creating solid legislative, budgetary and technical frameworks to support such partenrships; 
  • Understanding the role of central coordinators of providing know how and guidance to agencies and ministries;
  • Defining optimum timeframes for partnerships which allow for flexibility and avoid being locked in by single-technologies.


 

Documentation

 Presentations

Session 1: Partnerships for e-government: an overview of existing models and concrete      experiences from Arab countries    

 

Background documents