A Proposed Framework for E-Government Knowledge Infrastructures for Africa’s Transition Economies

Abstract

This paper proposes an empirically founded framework for building E-Government knowledge infrastructures in transition economies such as those in Africa. The proposed framework builds on the concepts of nomadic information environments. The f ramework, under the acronym NECE (Nomadic E- Government Co-Evolutionary) framework, caters for th e three levels of government: national, regional and local. At the national level lies the responsib ility of building Flexible Infrastructures. The regi onal level concentrates on the creation of nomadic netwo rks. The local level addresses the fostering of confident communities. The framework recognizes expl icitly the links and dependencies between the various levels. The strength of the framework is its systemic view in recognizing the roles of social, human resources, digital and physical resources requi red for addressing the possible social exclusion resulting from traditional “Western style” E-Govern ment implementations in developing countries. Importantly, e-government should not be conceptualize d primarily as from a technological perspective but as a tool to build of social, human, digital and physical resources in order to empower individuals, communities and whole societies