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What is E-Participation?

E-Participation is about fostering civic engagement and open, participatory governance through Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). Growing evidence points to the rapid expansion of e-Participation as a tool for engagement and strengthened collaboration between governments and citizens. Its objective is to improve access to information and public services as well as to promote participation in policy-making, both for the empowerment of individual citizens and the benefit of society as a whole.

The Development Account Project on E-Participation

The Development Account Project aims to strengthen developing countries' capacity to apply Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for citizen engagement. On the basis of a self-assessment questionnaire developed by DPADM, known as ‘METEP’, governments can begin to elaborate strategies for better delivery of public services and engagement of their citizens in policymaking processes.

Three initial countries will apply METEP in 2014 and 2015, over the course of national workshops organized by DPADM: Kazakhstan (October 2014); Kenya (January 2015); and Indonesia (2015).

METEP was also administered during two additional national workshops substantively supported by DPADM, in Azerbaijan (December 2013) and Iran (March 2015).

METEP ToolKit

Measurement and Evaluation Tool for Citizen Engagement and e-Participation

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) developed this self-assessment questionnaire in response to an emerging need for stronger and deeper participation in citizen engagement by all stakeholders, as identified in the Rio+20 Summit Report, Realizing the Future We Want for All, and the work of the UN Task Team on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Engaging citizens is beneficial to governments throughout the public policy process: i) at the early stages to enhance public problem definition and to identify acceptable policy options; ii) through the implementation stages by facilitating dialogue to support policy inclusiveness and iii) to receive feedback while monitoring and evaluating public policy programmes and their outcomes, which is key to continuous improvements in the delivery of public goods and services.

The Alpha (pilot) version of METEP is available here.

METEP is also available in Russian and Kazakh.

E-Participation News

METEP Introduced in Tehran

DPADM’s METEP tool was introduced to more than 60 government officials in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, during the workshop titled, “First National Workshop on e-Government Development”. Held from 3-6 March 2015, the event on e-Government and e-Participation brought together officials of several Iranian government offices, including the Ministries of Health, Education, and Roads and Infrastructure. Participants also familiarized themselves with a second DPADM tool, the “Measurement and Evaluation Tool for e-Government Readiness”.

For more information, please see here.

DPADM Holds Second National E-Participation Workshop in Nairobi

DPADM held its second national capacity-building workshop on e-participation in Nairobi, Kenya, from 13 to 16 January 2015. As with its predecessor workshop in Kazakhstan, the event was organized in close cooperation with the host government and was aimed at civil servants at both the national and regional levels. Approximately fifty participants, including representatives of Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology and Ministry of Devolution, as well as representatives of more than ten county governments, completed METEP over the course of four days. The workshop concluded successfully with the presentation of METEP certificates.

For more information, please see here.

Kazakhstan Hosts First DPADM E-Participation Workshop

The first of DPADM's three e-participation 'pilot' workshops was successfully held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 6 to 8 October 2014. Organized in parallel with the Global e-Government Forum, the national capacity-building workshop attracted nearly one hundred participants from Kazakhstan's central and regional governments, as well as several international speakers with expertise in e-participation. Participants received certificates for completing METEP at the close of the three-day event.

For more information, please see here.

E-Participation 'Starter Workshop' Held in Baku, Azerbaijan

The Government of Azerbaijan and UNDP's Azerbaijan Country Office, with substantive support from DPADM, held a workshop on developing capacity for e-Participation, in Baku, from 3-5 December 2013. The workshop represented the first time METEP was introduced to government officials and precedes three national capacity-building workshops DPADM will organize over the course of 2014-2015.

For more information, please see here.

E-Participation: Empowering People through Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)

The Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DPADM/UNDESA) organized a high-level capacity-development workshop and an expert group meeting on "E-Participation: Empowering People through ICTs", in Geneva, Switzerland, from 24 to 26 July 2013.

The objective of the meeting was to bring together policy-makers, experts, and practitioners on e-participation from around the world, with the purpose of enhancing their knowledge on e-participation and contributing through discussions and sharing of experiences to the development of an online e-participation self-assessment tool, METEP (Measurement and Evaluation Tool for Engagement and E-Participation).

For more information, please see here.