Ukrainian City Wields E-Scissors for Cutting Red Tape
The idea of implementing individual E-government elements in Vinnytsya had already been in the air for some time when USAID’s Local Economic Development project proposed to include it into the city's Economic Development Strategic Plan. It was voiced by a group of local government officers and NGO leaders and backed by the mayor. Nonetheless, including an E-government component as a part of the Strategic Plan, which then became a local law, was important. It allowed for allocating money in the municipal budget and demonstrated the city's commitment to co-financing.
"What we have built is a Government-to-Citizen [G2C] model," explained Vladyslav Telen, the head of the Vinnytsya City Rada Information and Analyses Department. "Any citizen now can obtain full information on operation of local authorities. From a home/office computer connected to the Internet, or terminals located in the city hall foyer one can access any non-confidential decision of the City Rada; send a request, application or complaint to any City Hall officer and monitor its progress online; apply to any department for explanation or information and then receive a reply by email or regular mail; or obtain information on hospitals, schools, institutions of culture."
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| A visitor uses one of the e-government terminals installed in the Vinnytsya City Hall foyer |
Vinnytsya's E-government system comprises an Internet portal, a City Hall intranet portal, a telephone hot line and three terminals installed in the City Hall foyer. The latter, in fact, have been installed to eliminate the so-called "digital divide" - the gap between those who do and don't have access to the Internet. During last couple months, 272 inquires have been sent using terminals installed in the foyer. Moreover, the city intends to install such terminals in every district Rada and in social security institutions.
The system is continuously under development, with more and more information being added to its database every day. Some of the system's elements are also useful to businesses and investors.
Although Vinnytsya's electronic government is based on the G2C model, it would be useless without a matching Government-to-Government (G2G) component. According to Mayor Hroysman, the latter allows the local government to work more effectively and efficiently. It also increases the responsibility of civil servants. In addition, it is a powerful monitoring and analytical tool.
To implement the system, the city used UAH 400,000 (about $80,000) from its budget and roughly $60,000 in grant funds from International Renaissance Foundation. To increase utilization, it has been promoted in the media and accompanied by training activities. The Vinnytsya Municipal University – a training course for professional development of local government officers, as provided for by the Strategic Plan – will also emphasize the use of modern information technologies.
As of mid-January 2008, a total of 43 cities throughout Ukraine have adopted strategic plans worked out with assistance from the USAID Local Economic Development project, and about 17 more strategies are either pending approval or being drafted.
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