Brief note on the incorporation of ICT in draft National Policy on Local Government

This brief note I wrote for the Centre for Policy Alternatives responds to the following points enumerated in the National Policy on Local Government as published in the Daily News on 25th September 2009;

4.6.3 Information Communication Technology for Management Efficiency

4.6.3.1 In compliance to the state policy of ‘an efficient and people friendly public administration system will be established in Sri Lanka with the assistance of Information and Communication Technology’, ‘the automation and process re-engineering’ of local government functions will be done in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local governance with the aim of enhancing its contribution towards upgrading the public service delivery and improving socio-economic development. Thereby, it is also expected to rectify the following weaknesses in the present local government system.

4.6.3.1.1 lack of data management system.
4.6.3.1.2 lack of public confidence in Local Government.
4.6.3.1.3 lack of civil society participation.
4.6.3.1.4 obsolete systems and inefficient resource and revenue management.
4.6.3.1.5 lack of accountability and responsiveness in service delivery.
4.6.3.1.6 lack of facilities for a meaningful democratic representation.

4.6.3.2 In this technical transformation, the provincial level capacities will be improved to enable them to provide the technical support services to the local government institutions and the ‘Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance’ and other national level institutions also will be mobilised for this purpose. The contribution and support of the national and international resource agencies will be provided, for the purpose of making capacity development and providing necessary computer hardware in line with the applications of new technology.

4.6.3.3 Information Technology Project on Local Government – e Local Government. The Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils with the assistance of Information and communication Technology Agency (ICTA) has already commenced an information technology project on local Government under the title of ‘e-Local Government’ to address the above issues. Moreover, by this project, the solutions based on free software which could be provided freely to all local authorities are designed and implemented.

Download the PDF to read the full note which includes several recommendations on ICT provisioning for local government authorities. You can also read it as a Word document here.