CC image courtesy of Andriyko_UA.
“The e-Government Strategy paper has been formulated by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, through the services of the CIB, after wide-ranging consultations,” said the Government of Mauritius in a statement.
“It aims at reviewing the actual needs and making recommendations for a more effective, secured and efficient delivery of government services to citizens and businesses.”
Of the many objectives of the e-Government Strategy, the government hopes to increase citizen participation in decision-making processes, boost accountability and transparency within government operations and to enhance the interaction between businesses, citizens and the authorities.
According to a projection made by the United Nations (UN) e-Government Index, Mauritius will be among the top 50 countries to have successfully implemented e-Government by 2017.
This will also pave the way to transforming Mauritius into a high income country by 2022.
“It is to be highlighted that the National ICT Strategic Plan 2011 - 2014: Towards i-Mauritius has called for a paradigm shift in Mauritius’ e-government strategy that advocates placing citizens at the centre of public service delivery,” added the Government statement.
“In order to re-engineer the e-Government agenda, a methodology based on needs surveys of citizens, businesses and government, research in trends in e-government around the world and application of a framework for e-government in Mauritius has been used.”
Furthermore, the Government of Mauritius said the needs survey questionnaire was targeted at 880 households throughout the island nation. Citizens, businesses and government officials were reportedly also surveyed online.
“Over the past 15 years, Government has invested heavily in the competitiveness of different ministries and departments to improve productivity and enhance efficiency of service delivery to citizens [and the business community] and departments to improve productivity... Some 65 e-services have been developed and are available online,” concluded the Government of Mauritius.