15 November 2022
10:00–14:00

Beirut time

Expert Group Meeting

Tenth Arab e-government programme directors meeting

Location
  • Online and UN-House, Beirut
Organizer
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ESCWA is hosting the tenth meeting of Arab e-Government programme directors to promote dialogue on the management of digital government programmes and coordination on related policies and measures in the Arab region.  

Participant discussions cover the challenges facing national digital government programmes, priorities of work, opportunities for joint efforts on developing these programmes, and best practices in the implementation of digital government transformation.

Outcome document

Key messages resulting from discussion of the directors of e-Government programmes:

  • Considered the initiative GEMS (Government Electronic and Mobile Service maturity index) and its platform an excellent activity that benefits all Arab countries, and proposed to extend its scope to include joint activities that facilitate the exchange of national experiences.
  • Proposed to organize a meeting for the coordinators of national entities participating in the evaluation of GEMS initiative for sharing experiences and strengthening the performance of the prototype platform for data collection.
  • Conveyed interest in participating in the annual update of the services covered by GEMS index, to be informed about the selected new services and benefit from it within their work.
  • Expressed interest in the results of ESCWA studies on the social and economic impact of open data, and readiness to collaborate towards implementing Open Data in Arab countries, similar to other countries in the world, and the necessity of laws related to access to information and protection of personal data.  
  • Welcomed the activities of ESCWA in the area of e-accessibility and the related forms that support policymakers in developing their national e-accessibility plans, and expressed readiness to benefit and share experiences through national and regional workshops. 
  • Emphasized the importance of enhancing skills and capabilities and developing an enabling environment for digital transformation, towards strengthening national efforts on indicators and building the capacities to develop, deploy and use digital services.

The session included a summary of the periodic meetings of e-Government Programme Directors, and a brief presentation on ESCWA's support to member countries in the preparation of national plans and measurement indicators for digital transformation, especially the Government Electronic and Mobile Service maturity index (GEMS).  It also included a briefing on the activities related to the economic and social impact of open data in the Arab region, and the activities of ESCWA in the area of digital inclusion.

The session included presentations on digital transformation in Egypt, Syria, Qatar, Jordan, Palestine, and Libya, covering: Institutional development efforts aligned with Egypt's digital transformation strategy; Digital transformation strategy in Government services in Syria; Digital transformation of education and the judicial system in Qatar; Jordan's ranking in the 2022 U.N. e-Government survey; E-government in Palestine; and Digital transformation in Libya.

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