Expected start date:

2023•01•09

Expected end date:

2025•01•08

Institute:

UNU-EGOV

Project Status:

Ongoing

Project Type:

Research

Project Manager :

Dimitrios Sarantis

BACKGROUND

Cities are essentially a collection of human, social, economic and cultural networks and are settings in which a sense of belonging and togetherness can be fostered and in which the public processes that support social cohesiveness and development can be optimized and made more efficient and efficacious. Towards this end, increased attention should be given to assessing the online presence of local government in cities. A logical starting point is assessing the role of cities as service providers and examining city portals as the key mechanism for e-government in such contexts.

Local Online Service Index (LOSI), a multi-criteria index that captures e-government development at the local level, by assessing information and services provided by local governments through official websites, has been designed by UNU-EGOV and UNDESA. The burgeoning interest in e-Government development, combined with the growing number of requests for inclusion and representation in the local e-government survey, led the study organizers to establish the LOSI Network. The Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV), have established LOSI Network. LOSI Network includes national representative entities that are willing to apply LOSI instrument in their national context, assessing municipalities’ portals. This initiative is expected to help in assessing a much larger number of portals bringing:

Broader coverage and representation of the status/maturity of local e-government
A more comprehensive and complete portrait of local e-government worldwide, with the larger survey sample allowing more accurate insights, more consistent analysis, and the opportunity to better identify the challenges, difficulties and opportunities cities have in common (and where there is divergence)
The opportunity to engage in broader evidence-based analysis of the online presence of local governments worldwide, with increased capacity for productive comparisons and the ability to identify areas in need of improvement
The establishment of a network of experts and practitioners that can share good practices and lessons learned.

LOSI Network already includes Brazil, Jordan and Palestine.

BENEFICIARIES

India, Greece and Mozambique can use the assessment results. Municipalities can use the results to redesign and improve their websites and services. Country politicians and policy makers can use the results to identify the current local e-Government status and improve it. Research community and organisations worldwide can use the data for comparison and benchmarking. UNU-EGOV and UNDESA strengthen their collaboration and expand their international network in e-Government development and assessment.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to support this initiative by disseminating, identifying and supporting researchers and organizations which are interested to become members of LOSI Network. LOSI is expected to be applied in various countries (e.g. India, Greece). Expected objectives of the study include:

Establish and expand the e-Government assessment network
Improve and bring visibility to LOSI
Enhance the local e-Government assessment research
Support government officials and researchers in conducting e-Government assessment at the local level
Collect and make available a significant amount of open e-Government assessment data.

ACTIVITIES

As part of the project, UNU-EGOV and its partners, will carry the following activities:

Contact and disseminate LOSI methodology in interested stakeholders internationally.
Support partners in applying LOSI methodology in their national context.
Support partners in producing national LOSI reports and elaborating the results
Develop LOSI methodology based on national LOSI reports input
Produce scientific publications based on the national LOSI reports data
Collaborate and participate in networking activities (seminar, webinars, workshops etc.) co-organised with partners (e.g. UNDESA)

OUTCOMES

Project outcomes include:

National LOSI assessment reports
Information meetings and individual workshops with LOSI Netwok partners
LOSI Network expansion
Research papers based on assessment results