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The project aims to develop a technological framework for a platform for electronic service delivery from government. The project will be undertaken in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft¿s FOKUS institute. The University of Fort Hare¿s Institute for Government has also been sub-contracted for the project. The project focuses primarily on the innovative re-use of current or established technologies and their integration into an effective service delivery platform, accessible through different devices under South African conditions and applied to South African issues.
CSIR icomtek, director Sello Matsabu, points out that the project forms part of a broader involvement in e-government issues handled by CSIR icomtek. This includes research and development of technologies that address South African and African issues, implementation of innovative solutions in selected service delivery areas and strategic advice on issues such as Inter-operability, technology selection and the use of Open Source Software in government. ¿The most cost-effective way in which government can leverage itself is by the innovative use of information technology to become a citizen-centric e-government¿, comments Matsabu.
CSIR¿s project team Laurens Cloete and Merryl Ford believe that with the advent of the digital economy, governments are increasingly being pressurised by citizens to adopt the ¿customer-service orientation¿ of the private sector. The demand is for government to improve the efficiency and quality of services; ensure service delivery to all levels of society at the most convenient times and locations; grow their portfolio of services; create service transparency and provide citizen feedback mechanisms.
The technology platforms to be enhanced for this project are the Enago Opens Service Platform and Enago Mobile, developed by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft¿s FOKUS institute. Specific demonstrator services developed in conjunction with governance domain expertise from the University of Fort Hare¿s Institute for Government pertain to the processing of ¿life events¿. This involves interactions between different governmental/administrative domains as well as one-stop-shopping/single point of contact for the citizen.
CSIR icomtek represents the organisation¿s core activities in the field of information, communications space technology. Fraunhofer Gesellschaft¿s FOKUS¿s Eckhard Moeller and Michael Tshichholz are providing expertise, with Sibongile Mutwa of the University of Fort Hare adding further expertise. Stakeholders include the State IT Agency (SITA), Disabled People of South Africa (DPSA), the Centre for Public Service Innovation, Department of Communications (DOC) and various local, provincial and national government departments.
Technical enquiries:
Laurens Cloete
Tel: (012) 841 3165
Fax: (012) 841 4720
Email: jcloete@CSIR.co.za
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