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What is the significance of ICTs to legislators?. Rohan Samarajiva Yangon, 26 July 2014. This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Canada and the Department for International Development UK.. . Something seemingly simple.
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What is the significance of ICTs to legislators? Rohan Samarajiva Yangon, 26 July 2014 This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Canada and the Department for International Development UK..
Gates Foundation 2011 Innovation Awardee: Bangladesh’s DrAsmAmjadHossain • Raised immunization rates in 2 districts from 67% and 60% in 2009 to 85% and 79% in 2010 • How did he do it? • Registered pregnant women (date of delivery, location, and phone number) so vaccinators knew when children were born, where they were, and could contact their mothers • Established annual schedules for vaccinations • Had vaccinators put phone numbers on immunization cards, so parents with young children could get in touch with a health worker
Necessary condition: 10 80 in 5 years • 10 80 mobile SIMs/100 people in Myanmar is government’s stated objective • Laws have been approved • Rules formulated • Licenses issued • Investments in USD billions have commenced • It will not be long before those working in the field in Myanmar will be able to assume electronic connectivity in most households, like Dr Hossain
Software & business process management • White collar employment that is attractive to young people entering job market • Exporting services is better than exporting people • High net value addition, compared to, say, garment exports
Necessary conditions • International connectivity supplied by multiple operators over multiple media • Services office locations that are close to airport and to concentrations of potential employees
Sufficient conditions • Markets must be found • Myanmar is latecomer (Sri Lanka entered in 2003-04) • Best would be to identify a niche, e.g., services in Japanese, and not rely solely on low cost (Sri Lanka’s niche was accountancy and financial services) • Good supply of educated employees
E government: Delivering services to the people Voice is part of the answer: Government call center
Govt entity 1 Govt entity 2 Govt entity n Web Interface 1 Web Interface 2 Web Interface n CALL CENTER Citizens | Industry | IGOs | Diaspora | CSOs Not web OR voice, but web AND voice; supplemented by common access centers for specialized functions & special groups Even in smartphone rich New York City, 50,000 calls are made every day.
New York City 311 Call Center • USD 46 million a year to operate (because of high NYC salaries) • 306 full-time operators, handling an average of 90 calls per shift • More than 50,000 calls a day on average • 3600 pieces of information retrieved from database • Preparing the database is the Most important activity; part of reengineering government • “No door is wrong” except for 911 (but even here calls will be redirected)
Big data from call centers (& web inquiries) can help improve services • Can serve as diagnostics to identify geographical areas with problems and also particular services • Can drive resource allocations • Can also provide geo-spatial clues to identify problems and solutions