Introduction
E-participation refers to the use of the available technological services to provide an opportunity for citizens to take part in matters of nation building. Domotica (1) defines e-participation as the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support the governing process and to allow the government to reach its citizens with ease. The term e-participation was first used in early 2000. A number of models now exist to facilitate the implementation of e-participation in the legislation process (Domotica, 1).
According to Elbadawi (4), e-participation ensures that the process of decision making is made easier. It provides a good avenue to be used by the public to submit concerns to the government. The entire process enables the government to create a transparent environment where government leaders can be held accountable and citizens are able to fully engage with leaders.
Elbadawi (4) argues that e-participation is a good means of creating trust between the government and the general public. Efficient use of e-participation will, however, require the availability of customized information that directly meets the needs of the end-users (Elbadawi, 4). Citizens may be frustrated if they do not get what they are looking for.
In the application of e-participation, the government has to make use of the wide spread presence of information and communication tools such as the Internet, to connect with as many citizens as can be possible. The public will make use of the same facilities to join others in deliberations on matters of national importance (Nahleen, 3).
By using the available Internet infrastructure, there are no heavy investment costs to initialize an e-participation process. Other advantages include the fact that the whole process is sustainable. As long as the citizens have access to Internet, they will participate. Citizens can also get involved during times that are convenient to them and they do not have to be restricted by time limits.
Results of Using E-participation in the UAE
According to Nahleen (7), the use of e-participation has been greatly embraced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with its global ranking going up within a short time span (Nahleen, 7). This growth in the use of e-participation is attributed to the great improvements made by the government to the ministry websites.
The sites now allow for increased participation by the citizens (Nahleen, 7). To capture the interest of end-users and to encourage participation, the ministry websites are organized around topics that meet the needs of the citizens. Nahleen (7) also notes that the UAE government has a great vision for its e-participation and intends to create a knowledge-based kind of a government (Nahleen, 7).
According to Katieleasor (1), a research done by the Dubai School of Government indicated that among all the Arab countries, the UAE leads with the highest population of people on facebook. Nearly 50 per cent of its population owns and makes use of facebook accounts. Statistical evidence shows that this number is approximately 10 per cent of all users in the Arab world (Katieleasor, 1).
Furthermore, the UAE is currently ranked as one of the top 10 countries throughout the world getting deeper into the use of facebook. This has made the government aware that it is important to streamline the use of facebook into their e-participation strategy.
The fact that some top leaders in the UAE have actually created facebook and twitter accounts for themselves clearly show that the government is fully committed to ensuring that they are able to provide great opportunities for citizens to reach the government. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai has facebook and twitter accounts and he has made use of them as a means of reaching out and interacting with people (Katieleasor, 1).
Discussion forums, live chat facilities, opinion polls, customer surveys, web logs, feedback forms, as well as social sites such as facebook and twitter are identified as some the most popular e-participation tools that have successfully been used by citizens and government authorities in the United Arab Emirates (Elbadawi, 4).
Elbadawi (6) argues that for the UAE government bodies to realize maximum gain from the use of e-participation in the legislation process, there is need for each of these bodies to work very closely with business operators and the entire population and make every effort to provide them with a way to increase their participation in the policy making.
However, in as much as there are numerous tools which are available and can be used by the citizens to interact with the governing authorities, it is important to have an enabling environment that will encourage increased participation. Each government body in the UAE must make use of the existing ICT technologies to enhance community participation in the running of its affairs. The various government entities must ensure that the above mentioned tools are used to include the public.
Surveys should be done to gather important information that will help understand the needs of the public and whether or not these are being met as expected, electronic discussion forums should also be established for engagement with the general public, reactions and opinions from the public should be gathered through a polling system (Elbadawi, 7).
There are recommendations that the government should take a leading role in making sure that only building discussions are encouraged on the social media; web blogs, facebook and twitter and other similar ones. Any offenses should be dealt with to ensure the credibility of the system (Elbadawi, 7).
Expectations, Frustrations and Evaluation of E-Participation in UAE
The effective implementation of e-participation will lead to improved collaboration. According Elbadawi (4), great trust will be developed between the government and citizens. Proper use of e-participation is also expected to make government employees accountable to the public. By being accountable, the level of integrity in the government ministries will certainly go up.
Where expectations are not met, this may lead to the citizens losing confidence in the efforts being made by the government. There is therefore a major challenge for the government to see to it that it delivers the expected results from the e-participation. The citizens should be able to see that the government is genuine in dealing with the issues that are raised by the citizens. Failure to do this will lead to discouragement and could create big rifts between the government and the public.
Apart from the above challenge that must be dealt with by the government, there are other challenges that will be encountered where e-participation is used. End users may end up being irritated when they cannot get access to the necessary technology or if the only technology at their disposal is not reliable.
Citizens may also be frustrated by the poor ICT skills they possess. According to Katieleasor (1), it is important that the government sets up a unit to monitor the use of social media. This is to ensure that guidelines that have been set are adhered to by everyone. Failure to do this could lead to the abuse of the e-participation process and many may be discouraged.
To ensure that there is progress associated with the use of e-participation and to justify why a government should continue using e-participation in carrying out the affairs of the state, it is very important to evaluate the entire e-participation process. The evaluation may reveal whether there are areas that need strengthening for better output.
IEL (1) argues that e-participation being a new approach being used by governments to reach the public will require constant checks to see how effective it is as a means of reaching out to citizens.
A careful evaluation will reveal areas that need improvements so as to realize greater benefits. IEL (1) further notes that there is a framework that has been developed for evaluating e-participation in process in the legislative process. The framework includes the acceptable characteristics of public participation as well as established frameworks for the evaluation of Information Systems (IEL, 1). The criteria for evaluation incorporate distinct evaluations for the process, the system and the outcomes.
Enhancing E-Participation
According to Katieleasor (1), there are various things that can be done to enhance the process of e-participation in the UAE. The Dubai School of Government in partnership with Gartner Inc. and the United Nations eGovernment Survey team formed a team to evaluate the use of e-participation process in the UAE and come up with guidelines to be followed by all employees in government ministries when making use of the social media facilities (Katieleasor, 1).
The key purpose of the guidelines was to make it possible for the employees in the various government ministries to take advantage of the existing social media tools in away that will allow them to effectively engage the general public and involve them in decisions that greatly determine the future of the country (Katieleasor, 1).
One key recommendation by the guidelines is that social media sites should not be abolished and everyone should be allowed to access and use them. This is mainly due to the fact that social media was found to have various applications and most of these support the government’s strategy of including the general public in the policy-making process.
Employees should, however, be held responsible for any unacceptable use of these social media sites (Katieleasor, 1). The dynamism associated with the social media sites will also require that a list is made of all sites recommended by the government. These websites should then be created and managed by a social media unit in an all inclusive manner so that ideas are not just imposed on end users. Everyone should feel part of the whole process (Katieleasor, 1).
Another key requirement that will help enhance the use of e-participation is the availability of technology all over. Whereas the UAE government is so keen to ensure that it takes advantage of the existing ICT technologies to reach its citizens and provide a channel of communication, this will not happen without major investments taking place in various locations of the country.
The technology must be made available for all to use without making some people feel left out. Again, the people will only be able to make use of the technology if they are well equipped to do so. As a result, it will also be necessary to provide training for people who are not able to effectively make use of the ICT technology.
Another key consideration is for the government to provide clear guidelines and policies that will ensure that e-participation takes place effectively and that the expected benefits are realized.
Relation of E-participation to the Public Policy Topic
There is no universally accepted definition of what public policy really is. It may, however, be regarded as referring to efforts that are made by the government to deal with any issues that affect the general public. In most countries, the onus is on the government to formulate policies that govern the nation.
E-participation is a key tool that the government can make use of to ensure that policies that are put in place have the needs of the citizens as the center of focus. Using the social media made available by the widely distributed Internet connection, the common citizen can fully take part in providing the necessary feedback that can later be used by those in authority to see to it that what the government comes up with is a close as can be to meeting the wishes of the public. If properly utilized, e-participation can make the work of leading a nation quite easy.
Conclusion
Following from the above discussion, it is quite obvious that e-participation will give citizens great power to participate in the decision making process of the country. Citizens will also get a great opportunity to engage with and be heard by those in the government. If the citizens’ expectations are well met, they will be more loyal to the government and will proactive in sharing their ideas with those in the government.
A good relationship between the government and its citizens will in the end lead to increased development and a smooth running of the country. However, for this to happen, the government has to be extra careful in its implementations. The government will have to work hard to deliver on the promises and to ensure that the loyalty of the public is not lost.
The effectiveness of e-participation in the legislative process will also largely depend on the availability of the required technology. Citizens everywhere must be able to access the facilities from wherever they are. It is also critical that the government closely monitors the use of social media by government employees. No one should be allowed to use the social media in a malicious way.
Reference List
Ahmed, N. 2006. An Overview of E-Participation Models. New York: United Nations. Web.
Domotica. 2011. E-Participation. Web.
Elbadawi, I. 2011. eParticipation Guidelines for United Arab Emirates Government Entities. UAE: General Information Authority. Web.
Inderscience Enterprises Limited (IEL). 2010. An evaluation framework for e-participation in parliaments. International Journal of Electronic Governance, 3: 1, 25 – 47. Web.
Katieleasor. 2011. e-Government Guidelines Emerging in UAE, EU, and LAC. Web.