BACKGROUND
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is in the midst of a massive socio-economic transformation. The Vision2030 transformation programme (http://vision2030.gov.sa/en/ntp) promoted the complete transformation of the public sector, improved user-centricity, efficient and effective service delivery, and production.
As part of Vision2030, the Saudi eGovernment Program (Yesser, www.yesser.gov.sa) at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) wishes to rely on research results in their endeavor to improve eGovernment practices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Yesser depends on internal and international indicators such as its annual eTransformation assessment cycles as well as the United Nations e-Government Development Index EGDI to identify areas of possible improvement. KSA has made substantial progress in recent years, moving from 105th position in 2003 to 36th position in 2014. However, for the first time since 2003, the Kingdom has fallen 8 places to 44th position in the 2016 ranking.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this project is to study the relevant and available literature and provide research findings that will help MCIT (www.mcit.gov.sa) to improve the online presence of key government entities and not least the usability and user-friendliness of digital service offers.
ACTIVITIES
As part of the 3-year framework programme (2019-2021), UNU-EGOV and its KSA partner, the Kaizen Institute, will carry the following activities:
Review and update the Yesser’s Assessment Criteria (circa 300 criteria) for a more streamlined and usability focused framework.
Review the online presence of 10 entities including their Arabic and English language websites and eServices in accordance with the updated Yesser Assessment Framework. Provide draft roadmaps for each of the 10 entities and run 10 full-day workshops to improve the online presence of the 10 entities in the short and medium-term. State-of-the-art analysis of key KSA, international and selected country policy documents, and academic literature.
Assess the KSA Yesser strategies, action plans, governance, and inter-government cooperation models and mark policy recommendations for short and medium-term improvements. Recommend and develop capacity development workshops related to key topics and trends related to the digital transformation of the public sector.
OUTCOMES
Project outcomes include:
Updated the Yesser assessment framework.
Assessment of the on the online presence of 10 key Saudi ministries. 10 individual assessment reports and action plans plus 1 overarching report and action plan.
10 individual workshops for each of the Saudi ministries assessed. 3 research and policy reports on Saudi performance, global good practices, and medium- to long-term policy recommendations.
3 workshops on specific topics related to the digital transformation of the public sector. 3 international study trips (recommended countries, agendas, etc).