GOVER RESPONS

UGUST 2018

Prepa red by Nasubo OngomaTess Wand ia

NMENT IVENESS

IN THE AGE OF ICTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research study has been possible through the generous support of the SwedishInternational Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) to the ICT4Democracy East Africa Network. We would also like to thank CIPESA (The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa) for their great support in facilitating our work.

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PHASE 1: ICT AND GOVERNANCE IN EAST AFRICAA research study in 2014 to assess how ICT tools are being used, for and in various aspects of governance in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The focus of this study was to bridge the research and insights gap on ICT usage in East Africa. The overall objective of the study was to strengthen democratisation in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania by leveraging on ICTs to hold elected leaders accountable to citizens, fight corruption, monitor service delivery, enhance communication, freedom of expression, as well as the right to seek, receive and impart information.

FINDINGS

Some of the findings were 1) ICTs enhance governance when it uses low cost technology , non-Internet based ICTs or physical meetups. 2) Demotivation in using ICTs to facilitate two-way interaction between citizens and government with citizens believing that nothing will come out of the interaction.

"Those websites are ugly, it discourages me from going beyond the home page, so I don’t.”

Participant Quote

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This early, plan how you will manage changes to the project cope, budget, or schedule with a change management plan. This

ensures that any proposed.

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PHASE 2: GOVERNMENT RESPONSIVENESS IN THE AGE OF ICTSMore and more African countries are moving towards decentralised systems of governance, built on mechanisms of citizen engagement and government responsiveness, upon which democracy thrives (Olowu, 2003). Democracy calls for responsiveness from all stakeholders which manifests in a two-way communication. Phase 2 started in September 2016, focusing on government responsiveness on the ICT platforms deployed, to find out how responsiveness/ unresponsiveness is manifested and give recommendations towards addressing unresponsiveness. The Kenyan government made numerous strides to digitise public services by adopting ICTs as a medium for communication and enhancing service delivery. Many documents including the National ICT Strategy (National13), Broadband Strategy (Broadband13) were written as guides, leveraging technology for transforming Kenya into a knowledge society and regional ICT hub. This saw the government winning accolades (2015) for efficient and timely service delivery and the ease of doing business index improving. The Kenyan constitution enshrined accountability as a key pillar to enable citizens access timely information and with their elected leaders liable to account. With the establishment of the access to information act, citizens have the right to demand for information. On paper, everything looks like the perfect setup for democracy to be upheld, however did this translate on the ground? Despite the existence of citizen participation laws and institutions to enforce these laws, implementation of citizen participation remains a challenge. Furthermore, there is scanty information on the enforcement of the Access to Information Act since it was passed with few citizen groups bringing their elected leaders to book. There are several instances of government officials flouting rules and massive public outcry (TIJune14), unfortunately this has not advanced into putting institutions to account for gross misconduct. Such instances cause citizens to be disinvested with the belief that no action would be taken (Sika14), although citizens have all the power. It is with this mindset that iHub Research sought to study the response mechanisms of government communication with citizens on the ICT tools launched.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research was grounded by the following questions

1. To what extent is government responsive to its citizens requests?

a. If so, through which ICT medium is the government responsive?

b. If not, identify reasons why ICT mediums are not used.

2. When government is responsive to citizens

a. If so, how is this responsiveness manifested?

b. If not, how is unresponsiveness manifested?

METHODOLOGY The study was conducted over 20 months in Kenya in the following locations Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu and Mombasa, through focus group discussions with representatives from the government (National and County), civic society and software developers. The objective was to understand the communication between citizens and the government and how they leverage ICTs in their interactions. This would bring to light citizen expression and government’s response on the issues addressed. The interviews with software developers would also shed light on how to build better software adaptable to all citizens. Specific ICT tools and county websites to be explored, were selected and broken down into two areas; national and local government.

The researchers identified five (5) platforms that were at the core of citizen interaction and monitored their transactions during the period of September 2017 - April 2018. These were the five national government websites, Ecitizen, iTax, Delivery, MyGov and Delivery. County governments operate under the auspices of the Cities and Urban Areas Act, The Devolved Governments Act and a host of other Acts. At the county government level, the researchers studied the interaction between citizen groups and government in four counties: Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa and Nakuru.

A. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

B. COUNTY GOVERNMENT

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT PLATFORMS

e-Citizen is a cross-agency platform that provides a digital payments option, information and eServices offered by the government (both national and county). eCitizen was launched in 2014, by the Ministry of Finance, but managed by the ICT Authority of Kenya (ICTA). Huduma is a one stop shop that allows citizens to access all government public services, at the convenience of the citizens. Huduma was launched in November 2013 to enhance service delivery of government services. It is coordinated by the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs. iTax is a web-based tax management system developed to simplify revenue collection in Kenya by allowing taxpayers to update their tax registration details, file tax returns online or by using Microsoft Excel or Openoffice, register all tax payments and make status enquiries with real-time monitoring of their ledger/account. KRA has also dedicated online channels to respond to customer queries, these include email and social media. MyGov is a government news portal created to inform citizens on Government services, initiatives, programmes and policies, the site was launched in a bid to cut government spending on advertisements. However, a weekly copy is printed by leading newspapers every Tuesday. MyGov was launched in March 2015. Delivery is a platform launched in April 2017 to showcase the government’s achievements since 2013 and to monitor and evaluate government’s flagship projects as a fulfilment of President Uhuru’s development priority. Both Delivery and MyGov are run by the presidential delivery unit.

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COUNTY GOVERNMENT PLATFORMS

NAIROBI MOMBASA KISUMU . NAKURU

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Adopting ICTs as a medium for communication and service delivery has brought numerous benefits including . faster turnaround . times and better accessibility of public services. Citizens are willing and ready to uptake ICTs, but as long as they are consistent and meet their needs. Responsiveness is pegged on how the platforms are launched, run and maintained. Unfortunately most . platforms are usually imposed on citizens without some formal training or nationwide campaign, which often brings fear. Although ICT growth has led to the decline of cyber cafes in urban areas in Kenya. There is a new trend emerging, cyber cafes’ role in semi-urban and rural areas as intermediaries. More often than not, citizens look for intermediaries due to the fact that there are no educational programs to equip them with the necessary digital skills, and the consequence of non-compliance is too high. The government does little to aid citizens, with some of the participants mentioning that some had travel to far locations to get intermediaries or access the systems. Most of the platforms have scanty information because they are rarely updated and eventually the platforms are not used. Technical manpower is not only lacking on the citizens side, but also with government employees, which may contribute to ineffectiveness and unresponsiveness.

“e-government is a highway only accessible by few.” Participant Quote

SUMMARISED FINDINGS

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This early, plan how you will manage changes to the project cope, budget, or schedule with a change management plan. This

ensures that any proposed.

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SUMMARISED RECOMMENDATIONS

Before deploying ICT platforms, the government should carry out educational

programs and campaigns to encourage citizens to uptake ICTs. These

programs should also tackle data privacy because citizens seek services

from internet/cyber cafes and in the end disclose confidential information

without realising the risks involved.

There should be regular training of government staff to enable them tackle the

dynamic nature of digital spaces and to also provide additional digital support

on all channels as and when needed.

There should be a deliberate effort to make the platforms inclusive for persons

living with disabilities

All government departments should regularly (at least every two weeks)

update their platforms with information. There should also be an FAQ page

to assist citizens using those platforms.

Government needs to take advantage of existing local technology skills to

launch customised ICT tools for the Kenyan populace and to meet internal

hiring needs.

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The study established how government communication is actioned both with

ICT and non-ICT methods and gave recommendations towards using ICTs for

democracy.

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“e-government is a highway only accessible by few.” Participant Quote

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PHASE 3: USER CENTRIC E-GOVERNMENT PLATFORMSHow has Kenya fared years after the adoption of digital tools? It was key to understand how the two-way communication could be better enhanced by ICT platforms. The outlook was not very promising, citizens noted that they were "afraid" of the new platforms and preferred face to face communication or using intermediaries. One on one contact alleviates their “fear” and questions asked are answered right away. On the other hand, government employees noted that in spite of the platforms, they also lacked the technical manpower to navigate them. Phase 3 sought to put users at the centre by asking 1) why are government systems so difficult to use and 2) how do we bridge the digital divide and introduce more citizens into using these platforms themselves?

If Amazon or Google sets the standard for ease of use, that is what [people] expect everywhere – in all categories.”

Jerry (Yoram) Wind

Is this the user experience (UX), standard users expect in product delivery and if so, are e-government platforms at par? Phase 3 surfaced usability challenges on the e-government platforms, the research team sought to tackle this in User Centric ICTs by putting the user at the centre in a bid to provide services that are convenient and simple to use. Convenient meaning systems that citizens’ plans or activities, are simple to use, meaning citizens should not face challenges in accessing or using the service. The research in Phase 3 was tackled in three ways, 1) conducting a series of digital literacy workshops in 3 counties 2) a design sprint to design an ‘ideal digital platform’ that is simple to use and localised to the Kenyan context 3) by identifying key ways to communicate and bring about social change.

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This early, plan how you will manage changes to the project cope, budget, or schedule with a change management plan. This

ensures that any proposed.

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1. DIGITAL LITERACY

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The aim of the research study is to not only surface insights on e-government

platforms, it also aims to arm citizens with digital skills for responsiveness and

demand better services. In this digital age technology changes faster than

citizens can keep up, with each passing year, more modern technology and

better equipment is coming out. Therefore citizens have to be equipped with

skills to help them survive the digital age and also bridge the digital divide.

Definition digital literacy?A set of skills a user needs to use digital technology, this includes media

literacy (communication tools), computer literacy (networks and devices),

information literacy (evaluation, use and creation of information).

Digital literacy does not replace traditional forms of literacy, instead, it builds

upon the foundation of traditional forms of literacy to increase the skills we

currently have and enable us to effectively navigate the systems. This entails

various forms of literacies, computer literacy, network literacy, information

literacy and media literacy. There are so many reasons why the gap is

increasing, which calls for increased efforts from all sources to bridge the gap.

iHub’s digital curriculum is dubbed “Surviving the digital age”. The curriculum

acknowledges that Kenya’s societal needs are different, this includes, literacy

levels, access to the Internet and how to tackle exclusion and bridge the digital

divide. Digital divide is mostly linked with lack of access, where bridging the

digital divide means bringing more people online.

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The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the digital divide as “the economic, educational, and social inequalities between those who have computers and online access and those who do not”. To bridge this gap, requires a proper interpretation of what it means to go online and what prevents one from going online. For instance, economic inequalities involve the cost of access, devices used, pricing and network availability. Educational inequalities relate to skills needed to go online and how to communicate. Social inequality entails how different populations differ in their ideologies which inform online behaviour. According to International Technology Union (ITU), there are several factors to consider to bridge the digital divide, 1) readiness in terms of the network infrastructure, 2) intensity, measuring the level of ICT usage and 3) impact, which are results and outcomes. Access plays a big role in bridging the digital divide gap, without it, no one can go online. Skill, includes, mode of communication, the language (also factor in persons living with disabilities). Impact, entails how an individual uses the internet, this encompasses trust and motivation. Trust, how do you protect yourself online, how much information is too much? Motivation, what enables you to want to get online and use the Internet consistently? It is what motivates a user to acquire more skills and move from an Internet consumer to a producer and consistently churn out content.

DIGITAL LITERACY CONT.

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This early, plan how you will manage changes to the project cope, budget, or schedule with a change management plan. This

ensures that any proposed.

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2. CASE STUDY FOR RESPONSIVE DESIGN

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The iHub Research team worked with the iHub Software Consulting team to

run a design thinking session to map out the key challenges, explore

various solutions and demonstrate to the government agencies that citizens

will be responsive when they have a good user experience with useful platform.

The e-government platform chosen was iTax, because it has the potential to

draw the most impact. The design sprint brought together a cross

functional team comprising of tax experts, tax payers, designers, developers

and representatives from people living with disability.

1) Kenya Revenue Authority Representatives from the innovation unit and

iTax departments who helped the rest of the team demystify tax and tax laws

and understand the tax filing process

2) A localisation expert who focuses on digital inclusion and translates digital

products to a specific country or region. Kenya is a multilingual country and

although English and Kiswahili are the official languages of Kenya, there are

still more Swahili speakers than English

3) A representative from persons with disabilities whose input was critical in

helping in designing an inclusive solution that caters to the needs of the blind

and deaf.

4) An accounting expert who has deep experience remitting taxes and filing tax

returns in Kenya

5) iHub researchers who gave a background to the problem with regards to the

development of government ICTs, how they are rolled out to citizens and how

citizens adopt them

6) iHub Software Consulting team who facilitated the sprint and designed and

developed a prototype.

The website can be accessed on easytax.ihub.co.ke

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Simple, clutter free user interface

Fast and easy process of filing returns in just a few steps

Having a video tutorial on the front page to guide them on how to file tax returns

Tax calculator helps users understand income tax calculations

Ability to choose your language preference

Availability of FAQs and live chat for online support

Accessibility and support for people living with a disability

USER FEEDBACK: EASY TAX

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Meet Peter and Mama Suzie, citizens who use the Internet for diverse uses. Peter is a youth who regularly uses social media, but his skill has not progressed much, the conversation with Mama Suzie enlightens him and makes him rethink his Internet journey.

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3. DEMYSTIFYING CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT

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Citizens are afraid of the government, therefore, how can we alleviate their

fears? How can the messaging be redefined and made inclusive?

The research team did a series of video animation, to enable social change

on citizens. Animations appeals to our psychology (by creating mental

models) and as a result brings change. Note: One video may not make an

impact to bring change, When the messaging is consistent and engaging,

change shall follow.

To view, see iHub's youtube channel.

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This early, plan how you will manage changes to the project

scope, budget, or schedule with a change management plan. This

ensures that any proposed.

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LEARNINGS

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1. Have People at the centre of the research for responsiveness.

Understand, who are you building the products for? What is their

demography? What problem are you trying to solve?

2. Give Choices, understand that people are different, they may have different

literacy levels. Allow them to access and interact with content in their preferred

way. Also give control to the users by providing different ways for people to

complete tasks.

3. Recognise Exclusion, by practising empathy, put yourself in the user’s

situation and be cognisant of how exclusion is manifested. Acknowledge the

barriers and try to bridge the gap than look to look for reactionary covers.

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User Design Principles

Internet Penetration Rate

Kenyan Internet Landscape

112.7%

99%

The Communication Authority of Kenya

report on Internet subscription states the

Internet penetration rate is 112.7%, with

mobile subscription contributing 99%, with

over 30.8 million subscriptions. There is

need for research to surface insights on

the level of actual data usage in smaller

towns (the number is actually less than

reported).

This statistic does not tell the story of a

rigorous internet user, but one who uses

the internet for social and non professional

networking purposes, majorly through

Whatsapp and Facebook.

Mobile Penetration Rate

30 M

30.8 Million Subscribers

This leaves out internet use for accessing e-government services,

generating revenue, educational . purposes and professional building

opportunities that would further impact the digital economy positively.

An ideal Internet user is one who understands the nuances of connectivity

and eventually produces content online. We see that the user journey is

usually the same for all people, you start as a non user to a user. It is only

after you become a user that differences emerge, we define this using user

journeys, in three classifications.

1) Passive users, those who have some engagement on the Internet, but lack

access or with have a limited digital knowledge, therefore do use the full

capability of Internet.

2) Agile users often use the Internet and are thirsty to gain more knowledge

on how to enrich/enhance their experience online. They are often ready to

learn new technologies to adapt to the ever-changing digital space.

3) Expert users are mostly online, and have curved out their space online.

These users are always looking for new ways to use technology to

enhance and protect their space online. One of the most critical things

that differentiates these user groups is their learnability, the measures put

in place to learn and adapt in the digital space.

Every user journey is premised on her/his motivation or learning patterns as

shown in the infographic on page 16. Then, how can citizens become Expert

users?

The user journey is from a non user to a user. A user starts as a passive

user then transitions to an agile user. To move to the next stage (Expert)

requires users to curve their niche online and work towards enhancing it.

User Design Principles

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INTERNET USER JOURNEY

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This three phase journey, has led us to explore how ICTs can better serve

governance systems and enhance citizen engagement not only in Kenya

but also in the East African region. As we continue exploring digital

platforms, a new question we are seeking to explore is the use of Social

Networking Sites (SNSs) in 'building' an ideal citizen and in re-imagining

civic engagement beyond the ballot and electoral activities.

How are Kenyans, East Africans and in general Africans, using SNSs in

civic engagement? Do these SNS provide us with an opportunity to recall

our assumptions of citizen engagement? What are the opportunities and

threats involved in an age of civic engagement present on Social

Networking Sites?

Stay tuned as we begin a new journey exploring these themes.

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CONCLUSION

2015, May 12th 2015, Standard Newspaper, Huduma Kenya wins UN accolades, Retrieved

from https://bit.ly/2P1KOAz

Anzetse Were, November 5, 2017, How we can improve ease of doing business, Retrieved

from https://bit.ly/2wcZZPe

Communication Authority, First Quarter Sector Statistics report for the financial Year

2017/2018, Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2OUtkWw

Digital Divide. Merriam Webster. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2PrS8Gm

ITU (2008), Bridging the digital divide. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2MHbjO0

Kenya: Realising the Right to Information, 2014, Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2PwwGjR

Olowu, D. (2003). “Local Institutional and Political Structures and Processes: Recent

Experience in Africa”. Wiley Interscience.

Sika, V., Orwa, A., and Sambuli N., (2015). ICT and Governance in East Africa: A Landscape

Analysis in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. iHub Research.

The Constitution of Kenya, 2010

[National13] The Kenya National ICT Masterplan, Retrieved from https://bit.ly/1Cr5hqX

[Broadband13] National Broadband Strategy, Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2whDGbd

[TIJune14] Gichio Debra, June 2014, Public procurement in Kenya Cash cow for the

corrupt or enabler for public service delivery? Transparency International. Retrieved

from https://bit.ly/2whumUJ

REFERENCES

research @ihub.co.ke