The
casestudyon digitalliteracyoncommunity andlocaladministrationlevel
Commissionedby:
Blink 42-21, CSO Platform for designing and innovating solutions for identified social challenges
Abouttheproject:
The goal of this intervention is to identify additional modalities for using technology and digital innovations at the local level by strengthening the capacities of local self-government, especially in the context of public administration reform. We believe that this is possible by improving the use of digital tools that are accessible to citizens and encourage direct civic participation, as well as by utilizing data in decision-making in the Municipality of Kochani.
This project is part of a broader grant scheme implemented in all Western Balkan countries and is supported by the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency within the Weber 3.0 project. It is implemented by the Think for Europe Network (TEN) at the regional level, while the local coordinator is the Institute for European Policies from Skopje. This intervention will be implemented from May 1, 2024, to February 28, 2025.
Authors:
Dr. Irena Bojadzievska, researcher
ThisReportwasdevelopedwiththesupportoftheEUandtheAustrianDevelopmentAgency -ADA. The content of this Report is the sole responsibility of the project implementers and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ADA or the EU.
1.Introduction
All the reform processes for public sector organizations focus on improving organizational performance and service delivery. With the introduction of information and communication technologies, the reform processes in the public sector branded as e-government services or processes entered an era of digital transformation. This transformation is changing the working culture in the traditional way of providing services. These changes are constantly developing, changing and upgrading due to the developments of technologies and such changes affect all the services across both central and local governments.
Inparallelwiththedigitaltransformationoftheprocessesthedigitaltransformationofhumancapital is inevitable. These processes are not stand-alone, they are fully dependent on human resources. Therefore, building the skills, competencies, and abilities of public servants enables the effective implementation of policies and programs. Capacity building initiatives aimed at enhancing human resources and developing digital literacy go hand in hand in with digital transformation. The lack of digital literacy or digital skills of the civil servants make digital government services unusable. This is crucial to optimize both individual employee productivity as well as overall organizational performance.
The key message is that digital transformation of processes is impossible without digital transformation of human capital managing and working on those very processes.
2.Providingdigitalservicesatlocallevel
Digital literacy refers to the skills needed to use digital technologies and applications productively atwork(vanDijk&Hacker,2018).Thereisnotmuchofadifferencebetweenthedigitalskillsneeded forcentralgovernmentvis-à-visthoseneededinlocalgovernment.Eventhoughthetypeofservices can vary and be very different, the digital skills that any civil servant needs are basically the skills that make the job done.
Europe’sDigitalDecadeistheEuropeanUnion’sdigitaltransformationprogrammeupto2030.Ithas four key pillars:
• skills;
• digitalisation of public services;
• digital transformation of businesses; and
• secure and sustainable digital infrastructures.
This demonstrates that digital skills are an integral part of developing any level of governance and society in general.
Digital skills are nowadays seen as a key factor in the digital transition of countries, necessary for its success. Strengthening digital skills has therefore become an integral part of national digital transformation strategies. In 2018, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development defined digital skills as “the knowledge and skills a person needs to use ICT to achieve identified goals in personal and professional life.” UNESCO defines digital skills as a set of abilities to use digital products, communication applications and networks to acquire and manage information. Digitalskillsallowpeopletogenerateandsharedigitalcontent,connectandcooperate,andaddress challenges for effective and creative realization in privateand professional life. The ITU has taken a more hands-on approach to the concept of digital skills and defined three skill levels with a focus on technical competencies or skills1:
• Basic skills: Basic skills for basic tasks, including hardware, software, and basic Internet operations.
•Intermediateskills:Skillsthatallowpeopletouse technologyin moremeaningfuland useful ways, including professional digital skills, and broaden with the latest technology updates.
• Advanced digital: Skills that are required by ICT professionals, such as computer programming and data analysis, including skills related to emerging technologies such as AI, big data, cybersecurity,InternetofThings,andapplicationdevelopment,andareacquiredthroughadvanced formal education.
In practice when thinking at what skills the local administration needs, the short answer will be the set of skills that allow for a citizen and community engagement and ensure the municipal staff is sufficient and owns the skills to carry out service design.
1 Nakjeva Ruzin A , Stojova R , Savitska V., (2021), DIGITAL SKILLS ASSESSMENT REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA, ITU
Human capital reflects a company's collective ability to find out the best solutions based on the knowledge of employees in the company. Human capital refers to the process related to training, education,andotherprofessionalinitiativesaimedtoincreasethelevelofknowledge,skills,abilities, values, and social assets of an employee which will lead to his/her satisfaction and performance, and ultimately affect company performance. Human capital represents individual knowledge stock ofanorganizationthatisrepresentedbyitsemployees.Humancapitalcomprisesknowledge,skills, and experiences employees bring when leaving the company including the know-how, education, vocational qualification, knowledge-associated work, work assessment, psychometric assessment, competence-associated work, entrepreneurial spirit, innovative spirit, proactive and reactive abilities, and the ability to change2 .
This is exactly the understanding about human capital that needs to be applied for municipal employees. Investment in their knowledge is the key to successful provision of services. If we are having the digital services in our focus, then it should be the digital skills in the focus of investment of the people working with them.
Theinvestmentinhuman capitalbuildscapacityfortheinstitution.Thenextinlineistheknowledge managementalso known asinstitutionalmemory.Strongindividualsbuildstronginstitutionsbutthe transfer of knowledge needs to remain as a source of work within the institution. People are the source of knowledge, innovation, and renewal. Humans are intangible resources that are believed to be able to develop the knowledge. That is, the better the knowledge acquired by humans is, the better new knowledge will be able to be created.
Improvementofservicesisunimaginablewithoutinvestmentinhumancapital.Thesetwothingsare inseparable. It is crucial when introducing new services and budgeting for digitalization of those servicestoalwayspredicttheinvestmentinhumanresourcesnecessarytoofferandworkwithsuch services.
Based on comparative experiences in an international context, municipalities’ websites should offer some minimum standards orinformation.The table belowoffers such experiencefrominternational research and can serve as a self-assessment method of the municipality in checking whether the requiredfieldsareavailableonitswebsite.Thisisashortextraction3 ofseveraltableswithdifferent levelsofwebsitecomplexity.Theselectionofthemostrelevantquestionswasdonebytheauthors. However, the fully available text and tables can be used by the choice of the municipality.
2 Linda R.M, Thabrani G., Firman F, 2019, The Role of Human Capital and Knowledge Management in Innovation, Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 145 8th International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM 2019), ATLANTIS PRESS
3 Nadine Blinn N., Hogrebe F., Lange, R., Nüttgens M, (2009), Benchmarking study on municipal portals: A Survey of G2B-Services in the U.S., University of Hamburg
Does anofficialweb portal for the considered city/municipality exist?
Do link functionalities toa dedicated website for economy or businesses with bundled G2B E-Services exist?
Does theentry of search terms"economy" and / or "businesses"into theinput field "search" lead toG2B EServices?
Search path from themainportal to the overview ofG2B E-Serviceson the business portal.
Does a dedicated web portal foreconomy or businesses exist?
Is location information for businesses available?
Is a geographicinformation system (GIS) available? (web.gis – applications)
Is a forum(e.g. idea box,suggestion box, complaintbox) available?
Is a feedback possibilityavailable?
Is theportal availablemultilingual (the portal is available at least in 1foreign language)?
An official web portalfor the city doesexist
An official web portalfor the city doesnot exist
Thereexistsat least 1 link to a dedicated website for economy or businesses with bundled G2B E-Services
Thereexists nolink to a dedicated website for economy or businesses with bundled G2B E-Services
Search terms"economy" and "businesses"are successful
Search terms"economy" or "businesses"are successful Search termsarenotsuccessful
1 click
2 clicks
>2 clicks
Thereexistsat least 1 dedicated website foreconomy or businesses with bundled G2B E-Services
Thereexists nodedicated website for economyor businesses with bundled G2B E-Services
Location informationfor businesses isbundled availableon the business portal otherwise:
Locationinformation forbusinesses is available
otherwise
> 3 indicatorcategorieson thebusiness
portal city map with 3 indicator categorieson the business portal
< 3 indicatorcategorieson thebusiness portal
criterion fullyavailable
functionalitiesof the criterion are partly available
criterion notavailable
criterion fullyavailable
functionalities of thecriterionare partlyavailable
criterion notavailable
complexity level0: no E-Services
complexity level1: Information
complexity level2: Download offiles
complexity level3:Interaction (editingof formsund authentication)
complexity level4: Tracking
complexity level5: Transaction(complete online processing - admissionsand payment included )
Are visible service guarantees for initial responsesby the administrationavailable?
responsetime - visible service guarantee - inless than2 workingdays
otherwise: response time - visible service guaranteewithin 2 working days
otherwise
Are the form services connected to external bodies?(e.g. country administration, state administration
E-Tendering/ E-placing - in which complexity level availableon the business portal?
Links to external bodies for businesses are available bundled on the business portal
Links to external bodies for businesses are available
Otherwise
complexity level0: no E-Services
complexity level1: Information
complexity level2: Download offiles
complexity level3:Interaction (editingof formsund authentication)
complexity level4: Tracking
complexity level5: Transaction(complete online processing - admissionsand payment included)
Other municipal business-oriented services - in which complexity levelavailable on the businessportal?
complexity level0: no E-Services
complexity level1: Information 13 complexity level2: Download of files complexity level 3: Interaction (editing of formsund authentication)
complexity level4: Tracking
complexity level 5: Transaction(complete online processing - admissionsand payment included)
To harness the advantages of digital technologies, the Center for Social Innovations Blink 42-21 developed the mCommunity mobile app in 2018, with the goal of promoting new forms of public participation based on the use of ICT tools. Today, mCommunity has evolved into a multifunctional digital platform comprising both a web and mobile app, enabling municipalities to digitize public subsidies and establish two-way communication with citizens to set community priorities.
Through mCommunity, citizens can report problems or propose solutions, apply for digital services (such as subsidy programs, social support, and kindergarten enrollment), receive notifications from municipalities, participate in public consultations, and communicate with elected council members. This digital platform has been recognized as a positive example of how local administration can furtherdigitizetheirserviceswhilefostering two-waycommunication withthecommunity,focusing on building trust, responsibility, and accountability at the local level. Currently, the platform is used in 10 municipalities, covering all planning regions in the country.
Byengagingcitizensasactiveusers,mCommunitycollectsvaluabledataregardingcitizeninterests and priorities. This data serves as a critical tool for municipalities, providing insights into public preferences,aidinginstrategicplanning,andofferingreal-timeinformationaboutareasthatrequire municipal action. Additionally, the polling feature provides a mechanism for public consultations, enabling municipalities to measure public opinion on various issues.
KeyFeaturesofmCommunity:
EnhancedDigitalSkills:MunicipalitiesusingmCommunityscoreabovethenationalaverage in digital skills related to data collection and management within local administrations.
Strategic Digitalization: mCommunity motivates municipalities to adopt local digital strategies and prioritize digitalization as a strategic objective. Currently, 33% of municipalities using mCommunity have adopted a digital strategy, while another 33% have addressed this issue throughother instruments, establishing a strong foundation forfurther improvement.
Boosted Community Interaction: The “swiping” functionality for reviewing citizensubmitted posts has significantly increased engagement levels, with each post receiving an average of 15-25 supports from other users.
HighParticipationRates: Onaweeklybasis,between40-60posts(e.g.,problemreportsor proposals) are published by users, generating around 90-100 comments and likes from others.
Effective Subsidy Programs: In 2024, six subsidy programs were published on mCommunity, with over 600 citizens applying through the platform representing 73% of the total applications, including both digital and in-person submissions.
3.Communicationwiththecommunity
When the municipality is offering an online service, it must make sure everyone who needs that servicecanuseit.Sometimesuserswillneedhelptouseyourserviceonline.Thisknownas‘assisted digital support’4 Users may need assisted digital support, if they lack5:
trust in the service or the internet
confidence to use an online service themselves
access to the internet
digital skills
motivation to overcome these barriers on their own.
Theassistancecanbeprovidedoverthephoneorinperson.Sometimeswebchatwillbeappropriate too.
Openness for collaboration is the key massage to get through in the community. For the persons who need assisted support in particularly for smaller communities where it is easy for the people to come the premises of the municipality, it is recommended to have a desk in a designated corner where an employee in the municipality will be providing the assistance. The assistance can be prescheduled so that the employees can sufficiently plan their time, take daily turns etc. even though some may question the efficiency and effectiveness of this method, it is clear that if the service is available online it was previously and still is available offline and requires paper work. The people who will use the offline method generate paperwork for the employees in the municipality. The amount of time the employee will use to deal with the paper work or turn it in a digital copy is equivalent to the time spent with the person using the assisted digital support. Plus, some people who will undergo the assisted digital support may go through a learning experience and never use the offline option even again not ask for digital support.
Digitalizationofservicesshallneverbeahindranceordiscouragepeoplefromusingtheservice.No digital service will ever be 100% used online only. It is up to the municipality to provide all available assistance and measure the level of online usage of the service. Assisted digital support is counted as usage of the digital service. Therefore, the success rate shall constantly grow and the municipality shall measure its own results and publish them as a good practices or good example for usage of digital services.
Every time the municipality introduces a new service for the citizens, such service needs to be well promoted so that citizens can know where to find it and how to use it. Some general recommendationson how and when todo suchpromotionscan be thefollowing: Inviting experts or
4 Assisted digital support: an introduction, last accessed 24 December 2024, https://www.gov.uk/servicemanual/helping-people-to-use-your-service/assisted-digital-support-introduction 5 Ibid.
guest speakers to conduct workshops on topics such as cybersecurity, digital ethics, and media literacy. These sessions can provide real-world insights and engage the present guests in meaningful discussions. Another possibility is to invite people to test the service and share their experience online. The shared experience can be used as feedback. For people who are downloading forms or other documents on the municipality website in order to apply for a certain service, if tis service is also digitalized, there can be an interactive pop-up question or a simple link to the digital version of the services. It can be semi-assisted if there are enough instructions online on how to use the service. For services that the citizens come to the municipality with physical presence,there can be somepromotional material alongsidetheprinted formsinforming the citizen thattheservice canbeobtainedonline.Andlastbutnotleast,fortheyoungergenerationwhichthe most potential crowd for digital services, it is recommended that the digital service offered by the municipalityisprovidedthroughamobilephoneapplicationorifsuchsolutioniscostly,thanatleast the digital version of the service shall be mobile phone-friendly.
Branding municipal services is like building brand identity that helps customers to identify, as well as distinguish alternative competitive brands. If there is a consistent marketing strategy and consistent messaging, brand identity remains consistent, which helps in improving sales managementandgeneratingbetterrevenueforthebrand.Inthisdigitalera,therearevarious digital marketing tools and capabilities to improve brand identity, which help in establishing close association with customers to influence their purchasing decisions6. The same is applicable to municipal services. If certain service becomes recognizable as a brand than everyone will be using thisserviceandthemunicipalitywillberecognizedforit.Forexample,theservice“mojtermin”which initiallywasdesignedto scheduleonlineappointmentsinsecondaryand tertiaryhealthcaresystem, today is much more than that. It is a sophisticated system with a lot of healthcare data and coordinated healthcare policies and programs. Despite the initiatives to rebrand it into “my health” or“e-helath”,itwaswell deiced tostick tothe term“mojtermin” sinceeveryonealreadyrecognized this service as a brand. The same is applicable with the online application “moj vozduh”. It was initially designed as a local measurement tool for the level of air pollution. Today it is lot more sophisticated system for measuring and tracing down air pollutions in all of the country. However, the creators of this app have gone beyond the borders of Republic of North Macedonia so “moj vozduh” with a different title operates in other countries too as a private product. These examples can serve as inspiration for what a municipality can do for one or two of its most used or most important digital services and develop it in accordance with local culture and local context. The best part about local branding of services is the possibility to copy from others. Many countries copy different digital services from each other. One of the sources of inspiration is the Open Government Partnership7 initiative where the member countries even compete with such services. There is nothing wrong with copying digital services from other municipalities in other countriesbecausejustbygivingitalocalcontextitbecomesoriginalenoughtoitsend usersi.e.the citizens of that municipality. If the service is useful, it can be also shared and extended to other municipalities too.
6 Shams.R, (2024), Developing brand identity and sales strategy in the digital era: Moderating role of consumer belief in brand, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296324001930
7 https://www.opengovpartnership.org/
4.Recommendationsforadvancementofspecificskillsneededto enhancethetwo-wayexchangeatlocallevelandimprovementof theoverallcommunicationprocessatlocallevel
Insite of the fact that Information and Communication technologies (ICT) can help us to overcome many of the barriers imposed by distance, people are socially active foremost within the borders of their municipalities. Next, some public polices are likely to be locally generated and relevant only for a specific area. People act more responsibly when they control their own environments than when they are under the control of others. It stands to reason that when communities are empowered to solve their own problems, they function better than communities that depend on services provided by outsiders. Thus, the formulation of local policies shall be seen as a matter of the local community8
Therefore, if the citizens within one community are paces at the heart of its municipal decisionmaking or policy making, it is evident that the focus will be put on how to enhance better communication. Any type of communication with the citizens is welcome as long as it gives the desired result. In addition, the desired result is enabling communications between the local authorities and the community inhabitants in such a two- way manner where the latter one can be actively engaged in the policy-making processes and needs for improved services.
The skills required within the municipal employees refer foremost to the culture of openness. It means not building a comfort zone in working behind closed doors, but rather how to engage with people, how to engage stakeholders and policy makers, establish conducive environments, assesses risks and opportunities and promotes information exchange to create positive social change in the municipality. It also includes development of communication techniques, information dissemination and education, behavior change, social marketing, social mobilization, media advocacy, communication for social change, and community participation.
8
Sakowicz M.,
