Citizen-centered Digital Government: Approaches For Advancing The Public Sector's Use Of Technologies Based On Demand-side Data

The 2023 G20 meeting in New Delhi, India recognized the importance of government measures to improve access to online services. With one-third of the world’s population not digitally included, this policy brief proposes a data and demand-driven approach to monitoring, measuring, and policy decision-making related to digital government, to ensure more accessible and inclusive online service delivery. To date, digital government assessments and the decisions to develop online public services have been primarily supply-driven. The needs faced by the intended target users in accessing and benefiting from online public services have often been secondary, resulting in a lack of people using such online services. The gap between the supply and use of online services is anchored in a multitude of issues, including accessibility, affordability, reliability, and skills. Geographical, socioeconomic, and cultural factors, as well as personal attitudes and past experiences with respect to technology and the public sector, can also influence people’s propensity for using online services. Therefore, to optimize the benefits of digital government, the demand side requires more attention from decision-makers. This is important to ensure that people can reap the benefits of digital service delivery while guaranteeing that no one is left behind – a key objective of the 2030 Agenda and the upcoming UN Global Digital Compact. In proposing a demand-driven approach, this policy brief analyzes the availability and appropriateness of demand-side indicators. The objective of this policy brief was to enhance data collection and data-driven demand-side analysis while ascertaining the potential need for socioeconomic segmentation to better tailor digital government solutions to citizens’ needs. The recommendations aim to optimize the usage and benefit realization of public sector investments in technologies while decreasing potential digital and socioeconomic divides, in line with the G20 priorities.