UN Awards Tunisia First in Africa for e-Governance
By Natasha Turak | Oct 22 2014
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) has named Tunisia as the recipient of its award for best services in e-administration, making it the number one in Africa. The UN’s E-Government award recognizes innovation and excellence in online government services and e-content delivery.
”This prize will contribute to improving the business climate and will be able to attract foreign investments”, Anouar Ben Khalifa, Secretary of State for public administration, saidin a press conference on Monday.
Every two years the UNDESA publishes its E-government Survey to monitor e-government development and citizen access to public services in countries around the world. Its results are based on a “quantitative composite index of e-readiness based on website assessment, telecommunication infrastructure, and human resource endowment,” accordingto UNDESA’s website. 2014 is the first year in which it is awarding countries based on the survey’s findings, and this year’s outcome demonstrates Tunisia’s dedication to high standards in e-government and public access to information. The idea behind the survey and award is to encourage the development of more open governance and increased public feedback. Greater access to information and the ability to effectively deliver and implement feedback will lead to improved public services and a citizen-centric system of governance.
Tunisia’s leadership also has projects planned for greater administration transparency and increased public involvement via citizen feedback. The country’s Open Gov strategy over the next few years includes a planned online platform for filing lawsuits and corruption cases, and following their developments in real time.