Singapore Initiative: Co-creation of creative solutions through eGov initiatives T h e U N P u b l i c S e r v i c e Awa r d s : C ommo nwe a l t h wi n n e r s f r om 2 0 1 3 Institution: National Environment Agency The Government of Singapore faced a challenge in managing the pressures on Singapore’s environment given the increasingly high competition regarding land use in the country. This has been largely due to the rapid pace of urbanisation as well as recent high population growth. The initiative used a series of smart technologies to share environmental data, such as air quality, public health and weather, with government agencies and the public. The National Environment Agency (NEA) contributed to the creation of 86 environment and 17 spatial datasets in the government data hub, SG-Data/GeoSpace, for inter-agency sharing. In addition, 75 datasets and eight map layers were added to the Singapore Government’s one-stop portal service, www.data.gov.sg. These datasets permitted public usage and collaborated with the Public Utilities Board to provide integrated environmental information (e.g. water level information, SMS alerts for flash flood and heavy rain warnings) to the public via mobile applications to better handle environmental crises or issues. In addition, NEA is working with several Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to develop a gaming platform (Operation MACE, www.macecommand.com.sg) to raise awareness among the youth. This actively attracted environment champions to co-create solutions for everyone. As a result, Singapore has been positioned as one of the Data Collection or Product Centres (DCPC) in the region under the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) umbrella. Trinidad and Tobago Initiative: TTBIZLink Institution: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment In 2009, the World Bank’s annual Ease of Doing Business Survey had ranked Trinidad and Tobago 80th out of 181 countries, compared to 67th in 2007. This declining global competitiveness position was in part due to the inefficiencies in delivering key business services to the citizens and the private sector. The inefficiencies resulted primarily from a lack of co-ordination among the agencies involved in trade and business facilitation, leading to unnecessary delays, excessive costs, uncertainty and low levels of transparency and accountability. Applications for various trade and business related services were done through manual and paper-based processes. This required the submission of multiple copies of essentially the same information to multiple government agencies. Documents were frequently misplaced and applicants had to start all over again. To find a solution, TTBizLink was created. TTBizLink is a comprehensive suite of national e-services for trade and business related services from applicant to approving entity. Citizens and firms no longer have to visit an agency in person but can log onto the system and complete and submit e-applications anytime. The project has resulted in considerable reductions in the times required to process applications for business services. Examples include the reduction of the time taken to process ecompany registration from seven days to three days; e-work permit modules from six to two and a half weeks; and efiscal incentives modules from six weeks to eleven days. The initiative has also ensured a safe e-commerce and egovernment environment in Trinidad and Tobago. For promoting gender-responsive delivery of public services Kenya Initiative: Gender and health Institution: Nikumbuke-Health by Motorbike Women in rural areas who suffer from preventable illnesses often do not have access to adequate health care services. A 2009 health needs assessment for women in four rural communities in south-east Kenya identified major health concerns: 1) life expectancy of women had dropped from 60.1 years in 1990 to around 45.6 years in 2009; 2) early marriage and teenage pregnancy had contributed to high infant mortality and maternal death rates; 3) pregnancy, especially in adolescents, put women at a higher risk of malaria infection than any other adult group; and 4) problems such as hemorrhage, shock and bacterial infections resulting from female genital cutting on young women. Women had to travel long distances, often by foot or bicycle, to access health care at a government clinic. Some preventable diseases spread easily and treatable illnesses often became endemic. Nikumbuke-Health by Motorbike addressed this problem by reaching out to rural areas not only for conventional health care services but also for illness prevention measures such as knowledge transfer and local capacity building. Since 2009, N-HbM has reached approximately 60,000 people, which is approximately two thirds of the rural population of the Kwale district, and more than 3,000 families per year have directly benefited from the health services of the Mama-Toto Mobile Clinic. Maternal health has greatly improved encouraging pre-natal visits and the delivery of babies at government health centres for those who can afford the transportation and fees, and through the provision of knowledge and tools for safe home deliveries for those who cannot. Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 85
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