Evolving an open e-governance index for network societies

The Open e-Governance Index (OeGI) is a framework for measuring open e-governance, developed and tested in four Asian countries in 2012. This report discusses the second phase of OeGI project, which examined whether the framework was applicable to countries outside Asia. It describes the concept and methodology of the OeGI and provides an overview of its use in Colombia, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Uganda. Open e-governance is about how state and non-state actors use information and communications technologies (ICTs) to steer society collectively. The OeGI project defines open e-governance as the presence of: • meshed e-government: the ability of government to provide integrated, citizencentric online services • e-participation channels: the existence of digital channels for public engagement that complement existing face-to-face or traditional media-led interactions • digital inclusion: the presence of policies and programmes that support the public’s wider use of ICTs for development • civil society use of ICTs: the use of ICTs by non-state actors to promote their interests in the public sphere • an open legal and policy ecosystem: the extent of access among the general public to information and knowledge, and government recognition of the right to free expression and rights over personal communication, cultural freedom and the use of local languages. This framework was used to assess e-governance in five countries. This revealed that while there is progress towards open e-governance, there are dimensions that need to be strengthened. For example, while there is a great demand for online participation among citizens, there are many policies and programmes that governments need to undertake before this can happen. Further, norms for transparency and accountability are critical in ensuring that national ICT systems can be used for political and socio-economic progress.DFIDSidaUSAIDOmidyar Networ

Financial Integration and Common Payment Systems:

Fragmented payment systems are a major obstacle to financial integration at the regional and international levels. The European Union has launched ambitious policies for the ceation of common payment systems among its country members. Significant results have been achieved in some aspects, but one can say that the European Union is still largely caracterised by fragmented payment systems. This means that one of the basic conditions for financial integration is not fullfilled in the European Union. The purpose of this paper is, in the first place, to present the situation of the different payment systems in the European Union (I), and then, to draw lessons from the European experience for financial integration and payment systems in Asia (II).Financial Integration, payment systems, European Union, Asia

Terms of engagement: Australia’s regional defence diplomacy

Australia is in the process of pivoting back to our own region and looking for new strategies for Defence re-engagement. But the Defence Cooperation Program hasn’t been scrutinised in any depth since an audit report by the Auditor-General in 2001. That pointed to a lack of financial information management and clear and public articulation of the goals and objectives of defence cooperation activities.A fundamental conclusion of the report is that these criticisms remain valid today. The emphasis has shifted over the years from assisting regional countries to build their own defence forces more towards working together to promote a secure region. The report makes a number of recommendations including that our defence engagement in the priority regions should focus on the maritime dimension. The highest priority should be attached to implementing the Pacific Maritime Security Project as the cornerstone of our maritime security engagement in the South Pacific

A soa-based e-government data integration

Data Integration presents a core issue in the Palestinian e-Government Technical Framework. The currently used data integration model relies on the Integrated Central Database which lacks quality attributes such as: interoperability and flexibility. We purpose a SOA-based approach for data integration that achieves the above attributes. We present and analyze the current architecture and implementation of the Palestinian e-Government Integrated Central Database model. We transform the current model into a SOA framework that is realized using Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and Web Services. The proposed framework offers database replication and connectivity functionalities for the Central Database. The proposed framework is evaluated using a scenario-based software architecture evaluation method and proves that it achieves the framework goals of quality attributes: interoperability and flexibility. Moreover, a prototype of the framework is implemented and validates the framework correctness. A specific usage is presented and further proves that the framework accomplishes its functionality and quality attributes

Expanding alliance: ANZUS cooperation and Asia–Pacific security

Is an alliance conceived as a bulwark against a resurgence of Japanese militarism and which cut its military and intelligence teeth in the Cold War is still relevant to today’s strategic concerns? Overview The alliance between Australia and the US, underpinned by the formal ANZUS Treaty of 1951, continues to be a central part of Australian defence and security thinking and an instrument of American policy in the Asia–Pacific. How is it that an alliance conceived as a bulwark against a resurgence of Japanese militarism and which cut its military and intelligence teeth in the Cold War is still relevant to today’s strategic concerns? The answer is partly—and importantly—that the core values of the ANZUS members are strongly aligned, and successive Australian governments and American presidential administrations have seen great value in working with like-minded partners to ensure Asia–Pacific security. Far from becoming a historical curiosity, today it’s not just relevant, but of greater importance than has been the case in the past few decades. To explore new ideas on how to strengthen the US–Australia alliance, ASPI conducted a high-level strategic dialogue in Honolulu in July this year. Discussions canvassed the future strategic environment; the forthcoming Australian Defence White Paper; budget, sovereignty and expectation risks; and cooperation in the maritime, land, air, cyber, space and intelligence domains. A key purpose of the Honolulu dialogue was to help ASPI develop policy recommendations on the alliance relationship for government. This report is the product of those discussions

Implementation of Telemedicine Services in Lower-Middle Income Countries: Lessons for the Philippines

Regardless of the promising potential of telemedicine to address healthcare problems, especially in lower-middle income countries, its success rate has been unsatisfactory and many telemedicine services fail to sustain their implementation shortly after initial funding or after a pilot phase. Therefore, it is important to document existing models of telemedicine implementation in these countries, to identify commonalities and extract experiences that would be useful for implementers, policy makers and future researchers. This review seeks to review and describe the experience of Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) in implementing telemedicine services. Evidence extracted from the included studies were analysed through a narrative synthesis which suggests a multi-sectoral approach for implementing telemedicine. It highlights the importance of education, financing options, policy, technology, governance, and partnership, in the wider picture of a sustainable telemedicine implementation among developing countries such as the Philippines. Moreover, the literature reveals both top-down and bottom-up approach for successful telemedicine implementation. These approaches include strengthening the local health workers and integrating telemedicine into the health system. Studies included in this review have been helpful, but there is an obvious lack of studies with high level of evidence that can yield generalisable, thus findings must be inferred with prudence. Even so, this review described and summarised the data which allowed description of factors and lessons in the implementation of telemedicine in LMICs

The Development Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation

The main purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview and context of the country studies on Information Technology (IT) for Trade Facilitation (TF) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).Impact of Information Techonology, Trade Facilitation, SMEs