APDIP e-Note 11 on Pro-Poor e-Governance

e-Governance and e-government are increasingly being emphasized by governments, the private sector, civil society groups and development agencies as critical for strengthening good democratic governance.

e-Governance for the poor or pro-poor e-governance assists governments in reaching the yet ‘unreached’ and contribute to poverty reduction in rural and remote areas. At the same time, this process also enables involvement and empowerment of marginalized groups through their participation in the political process. Despite the developmental potential, few governments in the Asia-Pacific region have planned for and implemented e-governance strategically directly targeting poor people.

This APDIP e-Note introduces the concept of pro-poor e-governance, gives two examples of e-governance projects targeted at poor and vulnerable groups, and provides a comprehensive approach to pro-poor e-governance towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The approach is comprised of seven building blocks that include policy development, needs assessment, identification of high-impact applications, utilization of appropriate mix of technologies, public-private-civil society partnerships, capacity building and people’s participation, and monitoring, evaluation and feedback.

APDIP e-Notes are brief snapshots that present analyses of specific issues related to information and communications technology (ICT) for sustainable human development in the Asia- Pacific region. This online series introduces readers to the who, what, where, why and how of a wide range of current issues related to ICT such as Internet governance, ICT and poverty reduction, e- governance, free and open source software, and many others.

Related Links

APDIP e-Note 11 - Pro-Poor Public Service Delivery with ICTs: Making local e-governance work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals [PDF, 104kB]

APDIP e-Note 8 - Fighting Corruption with e-Government Applications [PDF, 165kB]

APDIP e-Note 6 - ICTs for Poverty Reduction: Necessary but insufficient [PDF, 140kB]

APDIP e-Note 3 - The Key to Increasing Transparency in e-Government Deployments: Public feedback mechanisms [PDF, 88kB]

APDIP e-Note 2 - Do Governments Actually Believe that ICT Can Help Alleviate Poverty? A Perspective from Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers [PDF, 107kB]

Empowering the Poor: Information and Communications Technology for Governance and Poverty Reduction - A Study of Rural Development Projects in India

Paving the Road towards Pro-Poor e-Governance - Findings and Observations from Asia-Pacific Case Studies

Pro-Poor e-Governance in Asia and the Pacific: Making public service delivery work better for the poor - A concept note

Draft Project Proposal: Pro-poor e-Governance in South Asia - Enhancing basic service delivery for the MDGs [PDF, 1MB]

Session on MDGs and Pro-Poor e-Governance Strategies at eGovWorld 2006 (South Asia), New Delhi, India on 27 October 2006 [PDF, 31.6kB]

Information and Communication Technologies for Poverty Alleviation [PDF, 1.3MB] [Wikibook]

e-Government e-Primer [PDF, 185kB] [Wikibook]

Resources on e-Governance and e-Government

All APDIP e-Notes

APDIP e-Resources