mGovernment in African Countries

We've been debating the development of eGovernment services, the processes and the policies, on many roundtable panels in many parts of the world for many years.

In an ever more connected and mobile world, the possibilities for enhancing public services for the citizen as well as making the whole process more cost-effective and efficient for government, are enormous, affecting every aspect of our lives. With the development of the technology that has made eGovernment possible, however, issues of security, privacy and data management have needed to be clearly addressed before successful application of new systems and processes.

It is the search for consensus on these issues that has encouraged British Publishers to hold these events in an effort to foster the sort of thought leadership that makes a difference. Important lessons can be learnt as new technology is implemented and by bringing together the public and private sectors for constructive dialogue, British Publishers is making sure that governments are able to get the most out of the technology that is available and that access to government and the user experience is enhanced for the citizen. As our debates have continued, however, it has become clear that when considering eGovernment, we must now consider mobile government in its own right. As technology progresses, possibilities arise that give governments and technocrats the chance to bring services to the citizen over mobile devices like never before. The mobile phone, for example, is an almost ubiquitous and affordable tool that can deliver information and services to people even in the most remote corners of the globe.

Debate is needed, therefore, on the best way of delivering this potential - the infrastructure needs to be put in place, public, private partnerships need to be arranged, policies need to be agreed. And all the time, the citizen needs to be considered in terms of just what can be delivered, how it should be delivered and, indeed, just why it should be delivered in the first place.

British Publishers will remain at the forefront of this debate, gathering the foremost decision makers together from both the public and private sectors to answer those pressing questions.

These are all issues that British Publishers confronts at its important roundtable discussions, on several levels including the political, the operational and the technical.