Citizen engagement in arab countries

Ci#zenEngagementinArabCountries

•  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.

SocialMediaandCi#zenEngagement

intheArabRegion

•  Overallpreviousstudiesarguethatpercep#onsabouttheuseofsocialmediawereposi#ve–55%ofrespondentssaidtheystronglysupporttheuseofsocialmediabygovernmentforthedesignanddeliveryofpublicservices.Respondentshadhighexpecta#onsofthebenefitsofusingsocialmediaforci#zenengagementforthepurposeofimprovingservicedelivery.

SocialMedia,Informa#onandFeedbackonGovernmentServices

•  AsurveywasadministeredforthisissuemeasurespublicaUtudesandpercep#onstowardstheadop#onofsocialmediabyArabgovernmentsforthepurposeofpublicservicedelivery.Respondentswereaskedabouttheirusageofgovernmentsocialmediapages,theirpercep#onsofbenefitsandrisksinvolveinusingsocialmediaforservicedelivery,percep#onstowardspossibleimprovementsingovernment’suseofsocialmedia,andgovernmentandcivicsocialmediaprac#ces.

SocialMedia,Informa#onandFeedbackonGovernmentServices

Feedbacktothegovernmentonservicedelivery

FrequencyofVisitstoGovernmentSocialMediaPages

Primaryuseofgovernmentsocialmediapages

Usingpersonalsocialmediaaccountstodiscussgovernmentservices

RegionalReadinessforU#lizingSocialMedia

inPublicServiceDesignandDelivery

WhataretheBenefits?

•  Overall,theposi#vepercep#onsofthevalueofusingsocialmediainservicedesignanddeliveryaresharedacrosstheArabcountries.Breakingdownresponsesbyinterna#onalclassifica#onsforcountryincomeshowedliLledifferenceinthepercentageofrespondentswhohadveryop#mis#cviewsofsocialmedia’sbenefit.

Directorshort-termbenefitsofusingsocial

mediaforservicesdesignanddelivery

Indirectorlong-termbenefitsofusingsocialmediaforservicesdesignanddelivery

WhataretheRisks?

•  Itiscri#cizedthatageneralconsciousnessoftherisksassociatedwithsocialmediaimplementa#on.Thenumberoneriskthatemergedwasthatofques#onablevalidityofinforma#onprovidedonsocialnetworkpla]orms.Maliciouscontentandcybersecurityrisksalsoreceivedconcurrence,reputa#onaldamage,informa#onoverload,nega#veci#zenpar#cipa#onandashortageofadequatelyskilledortrainedgovernmentemployeeswererisks.

Risksofusingsocialmediatoolsbygovernmenten##esforservicedesignanddelivery

GovernmentAccessibility

•  Thereisaneedforgovernmenttoengageinmoreconstruc#veconversa#onswithci#zensandthenactonthefeedbackandsugges#onsitreceives.

Impactofadop#ngsocialmediaongovernmentopennessandaccessibility

WhatStepsShouldArabGovernmentsbeTaking?

WhatstepsdogovernmentsintheArabregionneedtotaketotakeadvantageofthisopportunity?•  buildingcapacityinsocialmediausageinservicedelivery

anddesignwithingovernmentastheprimarychangeneededforsuccessfullyincorpora#ngsocialmediainservicedesignanddeliverycyclesbytheirgovernment.

•  improvepublicawarenessefforts•  needforaccesstomoresocialmediachannels.•  needforashi^ingovernmentculturewithregardto

socialmediause•  transparencyandopennessingovernmentsocialmedia

prac#ces.•  needforchangeingovernments’dailyopera#onal

processestofacilitateci#zenengagementaroundservices