The Minister of Information and Communications Technology Seyed Sattar Hashemi called for the development of a mechanism to report transparently the status of smart services provided by public sector, stressing the use of media to monitor and follow up on the performance of government agencies.
He made the remarks during the weekly monitoring meeting on
Thursday devoted to review the performance of the Information Technology
Executive Council including its completed measures and ongoing plans in the
areas of smart government, electronic services and data governance.
Transparency in Progress Towards Smart Services
Hashemi referred to the experience gained in the process of
digitizing and developing smart government services, stating “Under the current
circumstances, agencies that have made greater progress towards smart services
and the digitalization of their services have, in practice, found themselves at
a disadvantage.”
“Agencies’ performance should instead be clearly and
transparently documented, and their progress in delivering services to the
public should be measurable.”
The minister emphasized that a lack of transparency regarding
the status of service delivery could produce the opposite of the intended
result.
“If the public cannot clearly see the status of services
provided by government and public sector agencies, the move towards smart
services could become counterproductive, causing agencies that have taken the
lead in this area to lose their motivation to continue their efforts.”
Hashemi instructed the Secretary of the Information
Technology Executive Council to develop a mechanism, in the form of a dedicated
online platform, that would make information about the electronic and smart
services provided by government and public sector agencies publicly accessible.
“It should also enable the public to assess and monitor
agencies’ performance,” he stressed.
Media Role in Monitoring Performance
Emphasizing the need for government agencies to be
accountable for the quality of their smart services and the progress made in
their development, the ICT Minister highlighted the important role of the
media.
“Transparent reporting on agencies’ performance could
encourage greater public scrutiny and enable citizens to demand accountability,
motivating service-providing agencies to pursue their smart service development
programs more seriously.”
He also stressed the continued follow-up to ensure that
agencies working to expand electronic and smart services are assessed through a
clear and measurable framework, both in terms of their performance and the
services they deliver to the public.