citizen engagement in arab countries
TRANSCRIPT
• Aroundtheworld,trustingovernmentisatanall-#melow.Limitedaccountability,lackoftransparencyandlowqualityofpublicservicesarecoupledwithunprecedentedlevelsofaccesstoinforma#on,informedci#zens,empoweredcivilsocietystructuresandrisingci#zensexpecta#ons;alljustafewofthereasonswhythepublicsectorgloballyisinthecrosshair.
• TheArabWorldisburdenedbyvaryingdegreesofthesechallengesonregionalandcountrylevels.Mostimportantly,thepublicsectorinamajorityofArabcountriescon#nuestosufferfrommoun#ngdeficienciesintermsofquality,efficiencyandaccessibilityofgovernmentservices.Meanwhile,theever-growingconnec#vity
• Thehistoricandon-goingdevelopmentalchallengesintheArabregioncallfornovelandcollabora#veresponsesbygovernmentins#tu#ons,privatesectoren##esandcivilsocietystructures.Onaglobalscale,technologicalinnova#onshavebeenkeyenablersformoreinclusivedevelopmentalresponses,beLergovernancemodelsand,morerecently,withthegrowthofsocialmediausageintheArabregion,forinclusivepublicservicedeliveryandpolicyformula#on.
• Theever-increasingusageratesandthecrea#veadop#onofsocialmediaintheArabregionduringrecentpressingsocial,economicandpoli#caltransforma#onshaveopenednewhorizonsformul#facetedinnova#onsbyindividualsandgovernmenten##es.Thesereali#eshavealsounleashednewsocietaltrendsbydifferentforcesinArabsocie#es.Socialmediatechnologiestodayseemincreasinglypromisingaskeyenablersofmoreinclusiveservicedesignanddeliverythroughci#zenengagementintheArabregion.
• Overallpreviousstudiesarguethatpercep#onsabouttheuseofsocialmediawereposi#ve–55%ofrespondentssaidtheystronglysupporttheuseofsocialmediabygovernmentforthedesignanddeliveryofpublicservices.Respondentshadhighexpecta#onsofthebenefitsofusingsocialmediaforci#zenengagementforthepurposeofimprovingservicedelivery.
SocialMedia,Informa#onandFeedbackonGovernmentServices
• AsurveywasadministeredforthisissuemeasurespublicaUtudesandpercep#onstowardstheadop#onofsocialmediabyArabgovernmentsforthepurposeofpublicservicedelivery.Respondentswereaskedabouttheirusageofgovernmentsocialmediapages,theirpercep#onsofbenefitsandrisksinvolveinusingsocialmediaforservicedelivery,percep#onstowardspossibleimprovementsingovernment’suseofsocialmedia,andgovernmentandcivicsocialmediaprac#ces.
WhataretheBenefits?
• Overall,theposi#vepercep#onsofthevalueofusingsocialmediainservicedesignanddeliveryaresharedacrosstheArabcountries.Breakingdownresponsesbyinterna#onalclassifica#onsforcountryincomeshowedliLledifferenceinthepercentageofrespondentswhohadveryop#mis#cviewsofsocialmedia’sbenefit.
WhataretheRisks?
• Itiscri#cizedthatageneralconsciousnessoftherisksassociatedwithsocialmediaimplementa#on.Thenumberoneriskthatemergedwasthatofques#onablevalidityofinforma#onprovidedonsocialnetworkpla]orms.Maliciouscontentandcybersecurityrisksalsoreceivedconcurrence,reputa#onaldamage,informa#onoverload,nega#veci#zenpar#cipa#onandashortageofadequatelyskilledortrainedgovernmentemployeeswererisks.
GovernmentAccessibility
• Thereisaneedforgovernmenttoengageinmoreconstruc#veconversa#onswithci#zensandthenactonthefeedbackandsugges#onsitreceives.
WhatstepsdogovernmentsintheArabregionneedtotaketotakeadvantageofthisopportunity?• buildingcapacityinsocialmediausageinservicedelivery
anddesignwithingovernmentastheprimarychangeneededforsuccessfullyincorpora#ngsocialmediainservicedesignanddeliverycyclesbytheirgovernment.
• improvepublicawarenessefforts• needforaccesstomoresocialmediachannels.• needforashi^ingovernmentculturewithregardto
socialmediause• transparencyandopennessingovernmentsocialmedia
prac#ces.• needforchangeingovernments’dailyopera#onal
processestofacilitateci#zenengagementaroundservices