World Bank's Open Learning Campus (audio)

This webinar draws on the recent publication Logged On, which looks at mobile and smart phone technology through the lens of managing the delivery of public services, focusing on developing and emerging economies, in particular in South Asia. The book provides examples of how Government can leapfrog over traditional and often unworkable public management reforms, and collaborate directly with citizens to deliver more effective services. The book offers a new approach called Smart Proactive Government and suggests five solutions that are present in every successful mobile and smart phone example that the authors reviewed.

The webinar series will present the main aspects of the smart proactive government approach and how this delivers service delivery improvements on the ground. The first webinar will put the approach in the context of traditional models of public sector management and shows both how this approach complements these models and where it adds new thinking and value. A further element of the discussion is on ‘what is different’, i.e. why the kind of approach set out in Logged On can work in today’s world when it could not have done so a decade ago. Here we will focus on improved opportunities to get real time date on service delivery performance (including growing access to communication and information technologies), the open government revolution, the enhanced role of social media and the emergence of a new generation of political leaders. Then we will move on to review the five core elements of smart proactive governance and how these can be implemented in practice. Finally, we will focus on potential risks to the successful application of the model and how these can be mitigated.

The percentage of the world’s population that lives in cities is rising, approaching 70 percent by 2050. Rapid urbanization – particularly among the growing middle class in many low-income and emerging economies – is changing the traditional dynamics of energy systems and supply globally. Green growth strategies can help economies and societies become more resilient as they work to meet demand for food production, transport, housing, energy, and water. For example, lighting and cooling of buildings already make up half of global energy use, and by 2030 building-related GHG emissions are set to double, with emerging markets contributing the majority of emissions. Energy efficiency is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to combat climate change while meeting rising energy demand. Information and communication technology (ICT) is an important driver for clean-tech and green growth. It enables the collection and processing of immense volumes of data that can be used for improved urban systems and new business models. It also allows developing countries to adapt successfully tested international solutions to their local needs, which can help them leapfrog and develop domestic clean technology markets.

The Negawatt Challenge taps into local and global talent to identify hardware and software solutions that can reduce urban energy use, improve quality of service delivery in energy sectors, generate new or improved data, and offer cost-efficient energy management tools for city residents and policymakers. In its first stage, focusing on resource efficiency and open data, the Negawatt has been piloted in four cities globally, including Accra, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro. It aims to use an open innovation competition methodology to surface technology and business innovations that catalyze behavioral change and have the potential to transform cities into more sustainable and efficient places.

Innovation is largely an urban phenomenon. Some cities fare better than others and have grown to become global staples in innovation.

Others have found their innovative niche and are silent champions. Recently, we have witnessed the growth of tech startup ecosystems, which is impacting innovation in cities. Some cities have started taking advantage of these new entrepreneurs to bring innovation to urban problems and to increase the competitiveness of their local industry. This new phenomena also helps revitalizing urban areas and creating new jobs.

Victor Mulas, ICT Innovation Specialist with the World Bank Group will discuss current success stories and what policy interventions regional and local governments can undertake to unleash its innovative potential leveraging the tech startup ecosystem. He will draw upon illustrious examples from his own work from all parts of the World.

Sub-national governments at provincial and local levels in South Asia have turned to PPP projects, which are relatively smaller in size, for the provision of essential services like solid waste management, energy-efficient street-lighting, municipal parking etc. These services, if delivered well, can have a transformative effect on the lives of citizens. While the benefits of private participation in the delivery of these services are undeniable, few projects have been undertaken relative to the substantial requirement.

One such project is the multi-level car parking (MLCP) PPP facility recently closed by the Thimphu Municipal Corporation in Bhutan which intends to transform Norzin Lam, the most important shopping and entertainment street in the city, into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare. The IFC provided transaction advisory services for the Project.

This podcast will discuss the project, its structure, the larger vision behind it and its challenges.

Cities can re-validate and rejuvenate urban services that reflect both the needs of citizens and those of the city hall by asking citizens to contribute to the design of services, products, business models and environments. Various instruments such as crowdsourcing campaigns, offline meetings and interactive policy workshops can be used to open up the planning process to citizens. Beyond the contribution to the city’s overall innovation policy, such strategies increase ‘innovation literacy’ among civil servants allowing the city hall to adopt a more agile approach to implement innovation by using service design and rapid prototyping methods. This enables administration to better address complex urban problems by engaging users and citizens in planning process. Examples from Amsterdam (Chief Technology Office) show how cities can foster civic innovation, entrepreneurship and re-thinking of city spaces through implementing specific strategies, thematic programs and flagship projects.

Speaker: Ms. Katalin Gallyas, Open Innovation Manager, CTO Office, City of Amsterdam

The Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, established the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) in May 2006 to facilitate the preparation and closure of PPP transactions. The IPDF was expected to provide expertise and hands on support to Implementing Agencies in improving their PPP proposals, preparing them for tendering, and supervising the bidding process. A PPP policy Task Force (TF) composed of senior officials from Ministries and provinces, and advisors from the private sector, was also established.

In addition, relatively more progressive governments like that of Sindh also initiated a drive towards creating a policy framework as well as project pipelines. Sindh is one of the few states in Pakistan to have a pipeline as well as transacted projects.

This podcast will explore the successes and challenges of the PPP program in Pakistan, with focus on the Government of Sindh and the national government.

Guest speaker: Aijaz Ahmad Senior Public-Private Partnerships Specialist, The World Bank

The high hopes internationally for using technology to support openness and transparency rest on assumptions about information integrity and accessibility. Many countries have yet to achieve either of these key enablers in the digital environment. There is much to learn from the achievements of three Nordic countries, Estonia, Finland, and Norway, which are at the leading edge of new technologies, openness, and information governance, as well as from the challenges that they continue to face.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Anne Thurston

Director, International Records Management Trust

This podcast will provide information on how best to use the results of your assessment through active dissemination as well as how to help set the stage for future assessments. By examining how recent assessments have approached these matters, it will help practitioners develop and implement a dissemination strategy that goes beyond just publication of results.

The podcast will outline some of the key features and successes of China in its transformation from a rural and agriculture society to an urban and industrialized country, where the urban population rose from around 20 percent in 1980s to 50 percent in 2010. Some of the key challenges for China during the next 20 years will also be discussed, focusing on how planning policies should focus on better articulating density with transport systems within metropolitan regions. And how cities should avoid fragmented development and sprawl and improve connectivity between cities so that the agglomeration economies will benefit all types and sizes of cities. Medium and small cities can support and benefit from the economies and markets of nearby large cities.

In this podcast, José Guimón provides an overview of how different countries are dealing with regional innovation policy and of the institutions and tools used for national-regional coordination. Drawing on examples from Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia, he will discuss policy implications for developing countries, which have decentralized their innovation policies more recently than developed countries, but face more acute challenges with respect to critical mass and institutional capacity.