INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION

WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT INF/20-E CONFERENCE (WTDC-02) 20 March 2002 Original: English Istanbul, , 18-27 March 2002

Ministry for Innovation and Technology,

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS OFFICE THE ITALIAN INITIATIVE ON E-GOVERNMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT CONTENTS Page

1 Background ......

2 Objectives of the Italian Initiative "E-government for Development"......

3 The Italian Initiative: A joint government, non-profit and private sector effort ......

4 Working in partnership with developing countries......

5 Deliverables of the Italian initiative......

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1 Background At the last G8 Summit in Genoa, leaders endorsed the DOT Force Report entitled "Digital Opportunities for All: Meeting the Challenge", which contains a forward-looking Action Plan with nine priority areas as a basis for developing countries to achieve sustainable ICT-enabled development, both economic and social. G8 leaders also agreed to continue supporting the DOT Force process and encouraged all stakeholders to build on their successful cooperation and develop concrete initiatives to deliver on each of the nine elements of the Action Plan. Together with the endorsement of the DOT Force Plan of Action and Report, the G8 leaders in Genoa, upon the proposal of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, encouraged in their Final Communiqué "... the development of an Action Plan on how e-government can strengthen democracy and the rule of law by empowering citizens and making the provision of essential government services more efficient ..." (Genoa Final Communiqué, paragraph 22 "Digital Opportunities"). The DOT Force is now at the implementation phase of the mandate of the G8 leaders deriving from the Communiqué, which comprises the implementation of the nine actions of the Action Plan and the development of the Action Plan on e-government. In the first post-Genoa meeting held in October in Montreal, one Implementation Team was constituted for each of the nine Priority Areas of the Genoa Plan of Action. Chairs and co-chairs for each implementation team were identified. Italy assumed the joint chairmanship with of Action Point 1 "Help establish and support developing country and emerging economy e-Strategies" and assumed leadership for the initiatives on e-government relative to the Action Plan and to the Genoa Final Communiqué.

2 Objectives of the Italian Initiative "E-government for Development" The objective of the Italian Initiative "E-government for Development" is to provide an effective and original contribution towards the: – awareness; – planning; – implementation and establishment of e-government also in those countries that have not or have only partially exploited the potentiality of this important tool for bridging social and economic divides. In this initiative, e-government is defined as the use by government agencies of information and communication technologies that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses and other arms of government. This transformation goes in the direction of empowering citizens through access to information, improving interactions with business and industry, facilitating better delivery of government services to citizens and more efficient government management. The dedication to this task reflects the belief of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, that e-government offers unique opportunities of enhancement of efficiency of the economic system, increased transparency and less corruption, leading to increased possibility for countries to attract foreign investments and, with particular regard to developing countries, multilateral and bilateral financial assistance.

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3 The Italian Initiative: A joint government, non-profit and private sector effort Given the complexity of the task, Italy has decided to join the strengths of its three stakeholders: government, non-profit sector and private sector. A task force of about thirty members from the three stakeholders was created at the beginning of October 2001 and is working under the leadership of the Italian Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Lucio Stanca, and his staff. Three sectors of the Italian public administration are represented in the task force (Ministry for Innovation and Technologies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Function), together with two non-profit organizations (Alisei, Movimondo) and thirteen firms from the information and communication sector (Canal Plus, COS, Enel, Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, Finsiel, Getronics, IBM Italia, Microsoft Italia, Sogei, Tele+, Telecom Italia, Telecom Italia Lab, TIM) and with the support of Federcomin, the Italian Associates of ICT Industries. A team of consultants has recently joined the task force to act as project manager. The Italian Task Force is now finalizing the development of a "reference digital model" of functions and services of the public administration, adapted to meet specific countries' requirements (see Section 5 a)).

4 Working in partnership with developing countries The Government of Italy has established a partnership with four initial countries - Albania, , Mozambique and (see Section 5 b)); recently Nigeria joined this initial group of countries. Three experts from each of the four countries will join, during the month of March, the works of the Italian Task Force. The working interaction with the country experts, through a two-way knowledge sharing process, will tune the digital model (see Section 5 a)) to the countries' specific needs and realities.

5 Deliverables of the Italian initiative In particular, the action of Italy is directed towards the achievement of five deliverables: 1) development of a "Reference Model" of digital functions and services of the public administration, adapted to meet specific countries' requirements; 2) establishment of a partnership with four initial countries - Albania, Jordan, Mozambique, Tunisia - for identification and implementation of a first set of projects in priority areas defined by those countries. The implementation of these projects will be co-financed by the Government of Italy; 3) creation of a dedicated portal on e-government for development; 4) organization of an International Conference on E-government for Development in (Sicily), 10-11 April 2002; 5) formulation of a draft proposal to the DOT Force of an Action Plan on how e-government can strengthen democracy and the rule of law by empowering citizens and making the provision of essential government services more efficient. The first three deliverables - the Reference Model, the partnership for its implementation and the portal - will be presented to the outer community at the International Conference (fourth deliverable). At the same time this event will offer a unique opportunity to access, during a dedicated session, the wide platform of key stakeholders that will attend the conference, in order to finalize the draft proposal of an Action Plan on e-government, the fifth deliverable of the Italian Initiative.

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The five deliverables will be presented in detail in the next sections.

5 a) Development of a "Reference Model" of digital functions and services of the public administration, adapted to meet specific countries' requirements One of the main problems and sources of delays in the digitalization of public administration functions, processes and services in developed countries, and in the implementation of e-government strategies, is the presence of resistance and legacies due to previously established processes, systems and technologies. Such resistance is proving to be a relevant obstacle to the re-organization and re-engineering of p.a. functions and services. This situation is less present or absent in several developing countries, therefore creating a comparative advantage. In these countries the digitalization of the systems can be planned and implemented, according to the most efficient design and most suitable technology and applications. This is the rationale underlying the decision by the Italian Government to develop a Reference Model of digital functions and services of the public administration. The model is now being finalized by the Italian Task Force, which owns expertise in the field of p.a. innovation and reform as well as in the field of development and integration of p.a. IT systems. The Reference Model, as a whole or in its modular components, has the potentiality to support increasing complexity of e-government tools and processes. The Reference Model is independent from countries' institutional/constitutional form, from government organization, from country size and local ICT infrastructure. The model covers a set of modular functions of the public administration which are offered to citizens and business sector through suitable interfaces and channels, adaptable to meet specific countries' requirements. The definition, planning and design of the cross functions and shared data at the basis of the digitalization of the various functions is a distinctive feature of the Italian Model. The Model covers all relevant life events of citizens and businesses. The customization of the Model to the four initial beneficiary countries' specificities will be validated by the participation to the Task Force of experts from those countries, who will join the works from the beginning of March 2002.

5 b) Establishment of a partnership with four initial beneficiary countries for the implementation of components of the reference model in priority areas defined by each country. The implementation will be co-financed by the Government of Italy The Italian Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Mr Lucio Stanca, has personally presented the initiative to the Prime Ministers and sectoral Ministers of four initial beneficiary countries, Albania, Jordan, Mozambique and Tunisia. Priority areas/functions of the model have been explored; the focus on specific functions for the implementation phase will be finalized in March. Recently Nigeria has joined the initial group of partner countries, following a meeting between the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi and the President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo. In view of the implementation phase, at the beginning of February the Italian Government has opened a new Trust Fund with the - Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA) - to finance initiatives in the field of ICT and e-government for development. The implementation of components of the reference model will be co-financed by the Government of Italy through the UN/DESA Trust Fund.

5 c) Creation of a dedicated portal on e-government for development This is being developed by a dedicated sub-group of the Italian Task Force. Establishment of a partnership for the portal with a pre-eminent International Organization is under way.

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5 d) Draft proposal to the DOT Force of an Action Plan on how e-government can strengthen democracy and the rule of law by empowering citizens and making the provision of essential government services more efficient Given the complexity and sensitivity of the task of drafting an Action Plan on E-Government for Development, the Ministry for Innovation and Technologies of Italy, Lucio Stanca, has decided to call on the advice of a High-Level Discussion Group (HLDG) to discuss the rationale and content of this Plan and share views and expertise. The HLDG will be composed by experts from developed and developing countries drawn from governments, international organizations, the private sector, the civil society, academia and the media. It will work in advance of the Palermo Conference and its main findings will constitute the basis of a dedicated session at the Palermo Conference. The HLDG will first meet in Como, Italy, for a one-day work session on 9 March 2002; the works of the HLDG will be based on a discussion document that will be sent to members ahead of the event. Following the indications of the first high-level discussion group, a draft document for an open Action Plan on E-Government will be circulated for comments to HLDG members, and refined and finalized after a plenary conference call that will be held on 28 March. The final document will be used to establish the building blocks for the presentation "Elements and principles for an Open Action Plan on E-Government", to be delivered at the Conference on E-Government for Development in Palermo.

5 e) International Conference on E-government for Development in Palermo (Sicily), 10-11 April 2002 The International Conference on E-Government for Development, hosted by the Government of Italy - Ministry for Innovation and Technologies - with the collaboration of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA), will take place in Palermo - Palazzo dei Normanni - Sicily, on 10-11 April 2002. The objective of the Conference is to raise awareness on the opportunities offered by e-government in the process of economic and social development; to present and explore the use of e-government to foster democracy, efficiency and transparency, leading to increased possibility for countries to attract foreign investments and, with particular regard to developing countries, financial assistance; and to debate the key challenges facing governments in the design and implementation of e-government programmes. In addition, in this occasion the Government of Italy will present to the outer community its first three deliverables - the Reference Model, the partnership for its implementation and the portal. At the same time this event will offer a unique opportunity to access, during a dedicated session, the wide platform of key stakeholders that will attend the conference, in order to finalize the draft proposal of an Action Plan on e-government, the fourth deliverable of the Italian initiative. The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the Minister for Innovation and Technology, Lucio Stanca, have personally chosen the location for this Conference: Sicily, with its position in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea as an embrace to all the Southern communities, and Palermo, with its imposing Palazzo dei Normanni, which offers state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructures nested in an artistic-historical setting. It is expected that more than 400 participants will gather in Palermo to attend the Conference. They will include ministers and senior government officials from developing countries, members of the DOT Force, members and advisors of the UN ICT Task Force, representatives from civil society organizations and the private sector, and representatives from international organizations.

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The commitment of the Italian Government in this Initiative is reflected in the large support offered to developing countries' participation to the event; about thirty-five sectoral Ministers from developing countries together with DOT Force and UN ICT Task Force members will be financially supported. In particular, the financial support has been offered to countries that are members of either the DOT Force and/or UN ICT Task Force, to countries whose best-practices have been inserted in the Programme of the Conference, to countries that are already beneficiary of Italian bilateral programmes in the field of E-government for Development. The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will close the Conference. Detailed information and updates on the event are on the Conference web site: www.palermoconference2002.org.

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