An infrastructure for implementing e-participation services in developing countries

Abstract

The ability of citizens to participate in the government system is a key issue for governments in developing countries as these countries have limited and inflexible infrastructural information and communication technology (ICT) facilities. ICT can support the establishment of electronic interaction between citizens and government bodies just as e-commerce systems facilitate customers' services in traditional online businesses. e-Democracy or e-participation initiatives imply electronic-based government services for enhancing electronic interaction between citizens and government bodies. The services of e-participation require use of Internet infra-structure and web based applications as well as end user de-vices such as personal computers, laptops or PDAs. This paper proposes an infrastructure for user centric e-participation ser-vices in a developing country context.