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Governance Issues: E-governance and ICT

Information and communication technology (ICT) can help improve the delivery of public services, allow
greater public access to information, and play an important role in public administration reforms in many
countries in Asia and the Pacific. E-governance refers to ICT-enabled reform measures to promote more
efficient and cost-effective government, more convenient government services, and more government
accountability to citizens.

E-government applications vary widely in the Asia-Pacific region, and can yield many benefits, including
lower administrative costs, faster and more accurate response to requests and queries, direct access to
transaction or customer accounts held in different parts of government, and the ability to harvest more
data from operational systems, thus increasing the quality of feedback to managers and policymakers.
ADB supports client countries in implementing e-governance reform strategies and systems in
government institutions and national and local agencies.

(Asian Development Bank, 2019)

ADB's Work to Improve Access to Information and Communication

Global recognition of the benefits of ICT but also of the risks of digital divides suggests more investment
is needed in policy and regulatory frameworks, infrastructure (including connectivity), applications
(including contents and services), and capacities and skills.

We live in a digital age in which business and societal interaction increasingly takes place online. Ever
faster and cheaper, when it is not entirely new, ICT allows people to seek, acquire, and share expertise,
ideas, services, and technologies locally, nationally, regionally, and around the world. It boosts efficiency
and productivity; reduces risks, transaction costs, and barriers to entry; provides the means for sweeping
reorganization of business; and generally makes governments, markets, and networks work better.
Nevertheless, success does not come out of nowhere: everything points to the need for enabling policy
and regulatory frameworks in line with well thought-out investments in ICT infrastructure at local,
national, and regional levels; development of applications; and capacities and skills for development,
implementation, and sustainable operation and maintenance.

ICT for Development springs from the desire to leverage ICT to propel economic and social progress and
enhance its effects. Because ICT can help achieve the aspirational, transformational, and universal
objectives of the post-2015 development agenda, four targets of the newly approved 17 Sustainable
Development Goals make direct reference to it.

Between 2000 and 2015, ADB extended 402 ICT-related loans, grants, and technical assistance projects to
the value of $11.9 billion to help develop and maintain:

ICT infrastructure, e.g., telecommunications networks, mobile and wireless networks, broadband cable
networks, data centers, last-mile internet connectivity, etc.

ICT industries, e.g., ICT centers of excellence, research/computer laboratories, ICT-enabled industries such
as business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, software parks, ICT incubators, etc.

ICT-enabled services, e.g., ICT applications for education, finance, governance, health, etc.
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ICT policy, strategy, and capacity development, e.g., ICT policy and strategy, telecommunications policy
reform, universal access and service, ICT road maps (national and local), ICT regulations and laws, ICT skills
training and capacity building, etc.

(Asian Development Bank, 2019)

E-Government in Asia and the Pacific

E-government is the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to promote more efficient
and costeffective government, more convenient government services, greater public access to
information, and more government accountability to citizens.

E-government applications vary widely in the diverse Asia-Pacific region, where the countries range in
population size from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to Nauru, and in per capita GDP from Singapore
to Nepal. ICT-enabled reforms can yield many benefits, including lower administrative costs, faster and
more accurate response to requests and queries (all day everyday), direct access to transaction or
customer accounts held in different parts of government, and the ability to harvest more data from
operational systems, thus increasing the quality of feedback to managers and policymakers. A study of
innovation awards given to government agencies in the US revealed that all the agencies applied
technology in innovative ways such as allowing citizens to handle common legal matters on-line. However,
e-government systems can deliver on their promise only if different offices and people are willing to share
information and to do things differently.

TYPE

Papers and Briefs

SERIES

Governance Briefs

SUBJECTS

References
Asian Development Bank. (2003, April). E-Government in Asia and the Pacific. Retrieved from
https://www.adb.org/publications/e-government-asia-and-pacific

Asian Development Bank. (2019). ADB's Work to Improve Access to Information and Communication.
Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/sectors/ict/overview

Asian Development Bank. (2019). Governance Issues: E-governance and ICT. Retrieved from
https://www.adb.org/sectors/governance/issues/e-governance-ict
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