eTRANSPARENCY CASE STUDY COMPETITION:
£150 For All Accepted Cases; £300 Prizes

The eGovernment for Development Information Exchange is
seeking short case studies involving use of ICTs to improve
public sector transparency in developing/transitional
economies.

I would like to invite you to submit an e-transparency case
study of this type.  The required format is given at the end of
this message, or you can submit online via Web page:
http://www.e-devexchange.org/eGov/casestudy2.htm

All cases submitted by OCTOBER 10 2003 will be considered
for payment.  All case studies accepted for publication will
attract a £150 payment.  The best three cases – judged on
knowledge-building value – will attract a total £300 payment.

If you have any questions about the competition or case
formats, do please contact me.  Both cases and author(s) can be
made anonymous to protect identities if necessary.

To find further background information about our work on e-
transparency, see: http://www.e-
devexchange.org/eGov/topic2.htm

Richard Heeks ([log in to unmask])
Moderator, egov4dev

The "eGovernment for Development Information Exchange"
project is coordinated by the University of Manchester's
Institute for Development Policy and Management.  The
project is funded and managed by the Commonwealth
Telecommunications Organisation as part of the UK
Department for International Development's "Building Digital
Opportunities" programme.

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FORMAT FOR eTRANSPARENCY CASE STUDIES

1. You: your name and email address (indicate if you wish to
remain anonymous in the online version of the case).

2. Title: give your case study a short e-transparency-related
title.

3. Organisation: the identity and activities of the main public
agency involved in the project (again indicate if you wish the
specific name to be anonymous in the online version) – we are
seeking cases related to the public sector only; if you wish to
submit a private sector case, please email me first.

4. Region: the country (unless anonymous) and region of the
world in which the organisation is located (e.g. North Africa,
South Asia, etc.) – we are seeking cases from developing
or transitional economies only; if you wish to submit a case
related to an industrialised country, please email me first.

5. Date: the start date of operation of the project.

6. System Description: you need to describe at least four things
here:
6a) What government processes or activities does the system
provide information about?
6b) What information is actually provided about the
government activities?
6c) Are there any relevant benchmarks or standards or codes of
conduct that set standards for activity in this area?
6d) Do those who receive the information have any way to then
exert feedback or control over public servants if the
information indicates some wrongdoing?
(c.200 words max.)?
You can find a generic model of a transparency system at:
http://www.e-devexchange.org/eGov/transpdefn.htm

7. Role of ICT: what type of ICT is used in the project, and
what is its role?
(c.100 words maximum).

8. Project Drivers/Purpose: why was this project introduced
(c.100 words max.)?

9. Stakeholders: who has been affected by this project?
Remember to include both sources (the public servants about
whom information is reported) and recipients (those who get
the information from the e-transparency system). (c.100 words
max.)

10. Transparency and the Poor: have any specific actions been
undertaken in this project to help involve poor communities,
e.g. by delivering information to those communities (c.100
words max)?

11. Impact: what have been the costs and benefits of this
application.  Try to quantify if possible and be specific about
how the project has contributed both to transparency
(openness) and accountability (having an impact on the
behaviour of public servants) (c.200 words max.)?

12. Evaluation: has there been any formal evaluation of the e-
transparency project?  Does it appear to be a success, or a
mixed success/failure, or a total failure (c.50 words max.)?

13. Enablers/CSFs: what were the main enablers or critical
success factors that helped the project (maximum of three
factors)?

14. Constraints/CFFs: what were the main
constraints/challenges or critical failure factors that caused
problems for the project (maximum of three factors)?

15. Recommendations: on the basis of the case, what key
actions would you recommend to other e-government
practitioners (either best practices to adopt, or mistakes to
avoid) (maximum of three recommendations)?

16. Further Information: any relevant Web link or contact name
for further info.

17. Author Sources: state two things: a) your role in, or
relationship to, the case study; and b) where did you get the
information used in writing up the case study? (c.100 words
max.)

Submit case to: [log in to unmask]

Important Notes:
i. Cases may need to be edited prior to being made
available online.
ii. All case components must be completed.
iii. In order to receive a payment, you will need to have a bank
account.
iv. Submission is not a guarantee of acceptance.