2017•09•13     Riga

With a focus on usability of government websites and online service provision, the Latvian School of Public Administration (VAS) and the United Nations University Operating Unit for Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) have signed a contract, in June 2017, for competence development and policy recommendation.

As part of this agreement, UNU-EGOV researcher Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen carried out a 2-day training and brainstorm seminar for 25 selected Latvian decisions-makers. The training took place in Riga, the capital of Latvia, between 12-13 September 2017. The training and policy recommendations were based on a multi-country comparative analysis of the respective strengths and weakness of portals in Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Portugal.

The four countries approaches to public sector channel strategies and online usability frameworks were covered. As part of the training activities, discussions and brainstorming sessions were held in order to look at the relevance and experiences from which Latvia could learn. The training and brainstorming activities have resulted in a set of policy recommendations for VARAM on a Latvian public service delivery ecosystem, a development strategy and management model for the national one-stop portal, as well as a framework for increased online usability across government.

For more information on the Latvian and other executive training seminars and policy analysis activities, please contact us through egov@unu.edu.