GovTech: Putting People First

What are the Key Findings of 2020 GTMI?

The 2020 GTMI results revealed the growing interest in GovTech initiatives around the world. Government entities leading the GovTech agenda exist in 80 economies out of 198 reviewed, & mature digital government & good practices are highly visible in 43 economies.

The key findings of the study can be summarized as follows: 

• Focus on GovTech: Despite increasing investments in ICT infrastructure and the availability of Digital Government (DG)/GovTech institutions and strategy/policy documents, the maturity of GovTech foundations is lower than expected in most countries.
• Visibility of results: Investments in GovTech initiatives and results achieved as well as challenges are not documented and reported transparently by most governments.

Above map presents the State of GovTech. The GTMI reveals that there are 80 GovTech initiatives around the world, and good practices are highly visible in 43 economies out of 198 reviewed. 

• Core government systems: Most countries already have developed core government systems such as back- and front-office solutions, online service portals, and open data platforms, but these systems are often fragmented and disconnected. There is room to improve interconnectivity, data exchange, and interoperability in most countries.

• Shared platforms and standards: There is growing interest in many countries in developing shared GovTech platforms such as cloud-based solutions, unified mobile apps, and a government service bus, to support operational and service delivery requirements of public entities and preferences of citizens.

• Online services: Integrated national portals are available in many countries to enable online service delivery. However, two-way information flow between government and citizens/businesses, universally accessible user-centric transactional services supported by mobile apps, and quality of service metrics are visible in only a limited number of countries mainly in Groups A and B.

• Digital citizen engagement: The governments and civil society organizations (CSOs) have launched various technology solutions to improve digital citizen engagement (DCE), but it is difficult to find information about the impact of these tools, and government disclosures of service quality standards are not readily available. Also, multifunctional citizen participation portals that provide capabilities to submit a petition, publish citizen’s inputs, allow the provision of anonymous feedback, or post the government’s response are visible only in a relatively small group of countries.

• GovTech enablers: Most of the digital government strategies and action plans approved within the last five years include the establishment of enabling and safeguarding institutions to support the GovTech agenda, with more focus on a whole-of-government approach, data-driven public sector, digital skill development, and innovation labs.

• Disruptive technologies: The potential of new and disruptive technologies has been recognized and used by some high- and middle-income countries. National strategies/plans for artificial intelligence, blockchain and other emerging technologies are visible, and some GovTech government leaders are already using these solutions in various sectors.

What Key Messages have been captured?

The image above shows, on average, countries in Group A have the highest index score, and there is a wide gap between countries in Group A and countries in Group D. 

Similarly, a substantial gap exists between the average GTMI scores of high-income countries (HIC) and low-income countries (LIC), whereas the average scores for upper-middle income (UMIC) and lower-middle income countries (LMIC) are close to each other. These graphs above also highlight the scale of the digital divide globally.

A Few Key Messages are listed below:

• Commitment at high government levels and the allocation of necessary resources are crucial for the sustainability of GovTech initiatives.

• Large-scale GovTech challenges are more visible in the Africa and South Asia regions and more substantial resources are needed to address the digital divide, infrastructure, and governance issues compared to other regions. 

• Countries could focus more on improving the interconnectivity and interoperability of existing systems and portals, benefiting from government cloud, service bus, and Application Program Interfaces (APIs) as cost-effective shared platforms in future GovTech initiatives. 

• Next-generation online service portals could expand transactional services to save substantial time, reduce cost, and improve the quality of services for citizens and businesses. 

• GovTech initiatives could focus more on multifunctional citizen participation platforms to deepen the citizen-government relationship through effective CivicTech3 solutions, improve accountability, and build public trust in government. 

• Further investments in digital skill development and innovation in the public sector are crucial to supporting the transition to data-driven culture and building strong technical skills. 

• Governments could promote the use of public data to create added economic value by establishing public data platforms that individuals and firms can access. Government and other players in the public policy-making process can also harness the data for better evidence-based policies and program adaptation. 

• The use of frontier and disruptive digital technologies can greatly improve core government operations and online service delivery.

GTGP Areas of Work

The GovTech Global Partnership supports beneficiary countries through a range of activities and works in three components:

1. Analytical and Thought Leadership. The partnership is advancing the development of new knowledge, policy guidance and good practice examples. In the first year the following reports were produced: Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector; The GovTech Procurement Practice Note and Finding Fraud: GovTech and Fraud Detection in the Public Administration. New reports include: The GovTech Handbook on Universal Accessibility and TechSavvy:  How to Build GovTech Skills in the Public Sector.
2. Global Public Goods and Convening. This work program includes a range of capacity building and knowledge exchanges such as the development of the GovTech Maturity Index to measure the state of GovTech building blocks in client countries, the development of handbooks and toolkits, making available self-paced online learning courses provided on the OLC platform, and organizing regular knowledge sharing events to discuss good practice.  
3. Country and Regional Engagement. The Partnership supports client countries with technical advisory work such as assessments, roadmaps and strategies, GovTech readiness through strengthening capacity and skills as well as developing, piloting and implementing GovTech solutions.