Aelita Skaržauskienė, Steponas Jonušauskas and Monika Skaržauskaitė
• efficient government management;
• less corruption, increased transparency;
• revenue growth, and / or cost reductions;
• new sources of information when shaping policies and services;
• efficient sharing responsibility in delivery.
Electronic government is being implemented worldwide and in all levels of governance.“ Local authorities play a particularly important role, since they can identify the changing customers’ needs best of all”( Ancarini, 2005). Although the governance functions of those institutions in different countries slightly differ, their common goal remains the same, that is not only to make the governance itself more efficient, but also to make it more accessible for the public( Gronlund, 2002; Gugliota, Cabral, 2005). McKinsey research shows that“ some of the most cutting‐edge innovations have come from the developing world: governments that believe they have no choice but to take bold risks. Others have come from developed nations, which feel more pressure than ever to do more and better with less”. The next chapter is exploring the peculiarities of e‐ Government development in Lithuania.
4. E‐Government expansion in Lithuania
Idea of the Electronic government creating can be considered as an integral part of efforts taken in most countries in order to modernize their public sector.“ Various indicatives are being implemented in Lithuania for purpose of improvement of public sector based on possibilities provided by the Internet. The public administration sector has been the target of much criticism all over the world. The reason is the same everywhere – taxpayers want to see the efficiently functioning and cheaper executive power”( Augustinaitis, Petrauskas, 2002). This will of Lithuanian citizens is pronounced more clearly as the bureaucracy and work style inherited from the Soviet times are still deeply rooted in the society. One of the most important tasks for e‐Government in Lithuania is to create an innovative better operating and less costing public administration system the activity of which would be targeted at residents of the country, their needs and welfare. More and more e‐Government projects are being implemented and developed in Lithuania, people use electronic public services and acknowledge their value, number of computer and Internet users is growing rapidly in recent years( Data provided by the Department of Statistics under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, 2012). As mentioned in the previous chapter, information and communication technologies support effective and sustainable development. The Lithuanian strategy on the public administering emphasizes extensive amplitude of electronic services a wider use of them, but not a simple their transference into electronic environment. Rural Internet Access Points( RIAPs) are one of the most important sources of access to the global information society in Lithuania. Owing to RAIN I and RAIN II projects carried out by absorbing EU structural support funds, the fast and high‐quality internet became accessible not only in cities but also to rural areas public sector, business organizations and residents. It is planned that by the end of 2013 broadband internet will reach 98.7 percent of rural areas. There is no doubt that the widespread and availability of the internet in Lithuania is one of the prerequisites and conditions for the e‐Government. Also, the number of e‐ social projects, funded by public organizations or private persons, is constantly growing in Lithuania. Among them are such projects as manobalsas. lt( My Voice LT)( http:// www. manobalsas. lt / index / index. php), Transparency international administered project Mano Seimas( My Parliament)( http:// manoseimas. lt /), or eVoting testing system http:// www. ivote. lt /. According to the project developers ‐ My Voice LT ‐ manobalsas. lt‐ is a rational voting system on the internet. On this webpage, people are invited to make a short test to find out which politicians and political parties are closest to their political views. In questionnaire is given questions based on public interest issues from a variety of areas ‐ education, health, economy, foreign policy and culture. It is believed that people, knowing politicians position toward issues that concern them, can make a rational decision what politician will represent their interests the best. At the same time the project contributes to the strengthening of democracy in the country, civil society development, populism reduction, encourages people to vote responsibly and activates interest in politicians’ attitudes and political parties programs.
Surveys being carried out in Lithuania in the field of needs for public services and their supervising have proved that provision of public services upon information and communications technologies means is beneficial for these governmental authorities.“ While precipitating the process of e‐Government the modernization and innovations shall become of prime importance, because citizens require governmental authorities to provide
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