Greg Parston
The change has been gradual, but the results have been dramatic. Over the past 20 years – since the spread of the internet and the dawn of what has come to be known as the Information Age – the relationship between governments and citizens has changed forever.
What we are witnessing today is the shift from e-government to e-governance. New technologies allow governments to deliver services more efficiently, reducing dependency, increasing the sense of shared responsibility and building trust.
These technologies – ranging from social networking to cloud computing – enable governments to seek advice and counsel directly from citizens, to inform and educate them, and to engage them in the design and processes of governance itself.
Accenture has studied this trend in depth, identifying examples of governments adopting new strategies to better engage the public, deliver more effective public services and involve citizens in their own governance.
We have also conducted an ongoing international study – the Global Cities Forum – to hear what citizens believe government should be doing to help improve the quality of their lives.
These studies have led to the development of the Public Service Value Governance Framework, a model of governance that connects people – as citizens, service users and taxpayers – with those whom they elect to lead them.
The framework is built around four components:
• outcomes: governments focusing on improved social and economic conditions for citizens, such as health, learning and safety, not merely on the amount of services provided or on efficiency
• balance: governments must balance choice and flexibility with fairness and common good, addressing gaps between those who are able to take advantage of service improvements and those who are not
• engagement: governments are engaging, educating and enrolling citizens as co-producers of public values by seeking their views and helping them make the best use of government resources
• accountability: governments must not only be more transparent about their actions and performance, they must provide accessible means for citizens to remedy problems with government and public services
In our global research, we have identified many examples of governments at all levels – national, state, provincial and local – that are adapting innovative technologies to put this framework in place.
For example:
• enabling citizens to participate in their governance through digital media – eg Online Watch Link (OWL) is a web-based application that connects all Neighbourhood Watch, School Watch, Rural Watch, Shop Watch, Business Watch and many other watch schemes in Hertfordshire. OWL enables and encourages citizens to connect, collaborate and engage with each other to deliver improved outcomes and to become actively involved in their governance as co-producers of public safety.
• educating citizens and encouraging participation through online training and learning resources – eg the Change4Life project aims to reduce obesity levels by educating the public about the causes of obesity and steps they can take to improve their health. The Change4Life campaign is a partnership between government, charities and businesses, using TV advertising, posters, billboards and online channels to communicate a core set of simple messages to the public.
Citizens not only have greater access to information, they have new opportunities for direct participation in their own governance. This type of engagement is critical to governments' ability to achieve high performance and deliver greater public value – crucial factors in an era of constrained resources and ever greater demand for government services.
Greg Parston is director of Accenture's Institute for Health & Public Service Value
