2018•07•16     Guimarães

The UNU-EGOV Government Fellowship Programme, offered every year on a rolling basis, provides an opportunity for civil servants from public administration, government, or intergovernmental organizations, with responsibilities in the use of IT in the public sector for modernization and innovation purposes, to integrate the Operating Unit multidisciplinary teams.

From Mongolia to South Africa and Latvia, the most recent Government Fellows to work at UNU-EGOV came from the Asian, African, and European continents, respectively, bringing to the Operating Unit different backgrounds and knowledge from their countries.

Anuujin Sanjaajamts, an Expert of e-Government Development at the Commutations and Information Technology Authority (CITA), part of the Government of Mongolia, performed research on the Mongolia Smart City Context and learned more how to deploy smart solutions for her country. The time spent at UNU-EGOV also inspired her to seek a future PhD in the area of Smart Cities.

Gatis Ozols, who traveled from Latvia and is the Head of Electronic Services Unit at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, mentioned the in depth reflection on the status and challenges of his own country. This, in turn, was combined with international analytical insights and frameworks, which will help Gatis prepare the development of Latvia’s next digital strategy.

More Manda, Head of the Knowledge Management Unit at MERSETA (Ministry of Higher Education and Training), worked on a case study regarding South Africa’s digital transformation journey and further developed a paper for submission on a leading e-Government conference. This related heavily with More’s research interests, which include digital inclusion and smart government.

The Government Fellows at the end of the fellowship with their respective supervisors. (Photo by Cristina Braga, UNU-EGOV)