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After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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World Public Sector Report 2003: E-Government at the Crossroads

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Summary

A United Nations (UN) study released in November 2003 found that "online government" - highly touted at the onset of the Internet revolution - has slipped somewhat from public attention. Nevertheless, governments have increasingly been installing "e-capabilities", with the number using Internet services in some capacity increasing from 143 UN Member States in 2001 to 173 in 2003. This represents approximately 91% of Member States.


The study presents rankings on a national and regional basis in 2 major categories: e-readiness (provision of government services and products online combined with the extent of telecom infrastructure and public education in the country) and e-participation (the degree to which government opens itself to interaction with its citizens over the Internet). The United States and several Scandinavian countries are high among the leaders in e-readiness, but 3 developing countries - Singapore, Republic of Korea, and Chile - are among the top 25. In the category of e-participation, the United Kingdom is in first place, followed by the United States, Canada and Chile (tie), Estonia, New Zealand, Philippines, France and the Netherlands (tie), Australia, Mexico, and a three-way tie between Argentina, Ireland, and Sweden. After the top-ranked 15 countries, the level of e-participation afforded declines steeply, and only 15 governments allow online services for comment on policy issues.

The authors suggest that e-government has raised questions of cost-effectiveness: "Because of a high rate of failure of specific e-government projects in developed as well as developing countries, bricks-and-mortar publicservices need to be maintained even as digital applications are increasing." In most countries, only about 1 in 5 of those with Internet access engages in government online, the authors estimate. They say that security and privacy issues can discourage use. The report expresses particular concern about lack of access by women and by the poor and other disadvantaged groups.

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Source

"Governments are Installing the Internet, but not Using it Much - UN Study 07-11-2003", forwarded to the Ghana Information Networking and Knowledge Sharing (GINKS) list server on November 9 2003; and Press Release P1/1519 ("Government Use of Electronic Technologies Spreading Widely but Unevenly, Says United Nations Report").