e-Government Working Group meeting flush out the areas for improvements
ReSPA organized the first e-Government Working Group meeting in 2021 which gathered e-Gov WG members and OGP national points of contact from ReSPA Members. It aimed at introducing the planned activities within the e-Gov thematic area and to discuss and receive feedback from WG members for further tailoring them especially those newly developed.
Jointly with the participants, the ReSPA team discussed concepts of e-Gov pilots and Methodology for assessing the demand side when opening the data. The study „Zero Open Data Guidelines“ which was developed in 2020 has also been presented. Additionally, understanding the importance of innovative approaches in the development of further activities, the meeting served as a good forum to brainstorm the innovative aspect of work in the e-Gov area.
Participants informed the group about new initiatives related to developing of methodology for measuring the impact of digitised public services (North Macedonia) and of methodology for assessing the development of e-services and assessments of the levels of digital skills (Montenegro). The potential for linking these initiatives with the e-GOV pilot will be explored. The importance of assessing the needs of end-users when designing the e-services was also emphasised as the possibility to be the topic of the e-GOV pilot project. Guests from OECD/SIGMA have pointed out that through e-GOV pilot projects already existing cases of excellence in the WB region might be furtherly supported while still, in all public administrations, there is a need for a more coordinated approach in improving the design of digitalized public services.
Participants gave comments on the concept paper of “Methodology for ex-ante impact assessment of opening governmental data”. This document aims at assisting the public institutions in assessing the level and nature of demand for data opening so that the decision for data opening could be grounded on the understanding of the needs of different societal actors for specific data. The participants gave suggestions for addressing the common issues in the region pertaining to data opening at the policy level. The initiative to tackle the issue of standards for data opening at the regional level was given too.
One of the authors, ReSPA e-Gov Expert, Mr Driart Elshani presented also „Zero Open Data Guidelines“, the document which value was recognised. The ReSPA team moderated the brainstorming session on the innovative aspects of work to be included in the e-GOV area of work.
