Finding ways to promote e-governance has become a priority for local governments around the world. Even though a diversity of government e-services are available in Ukraine, some challenges remain about ways to promote the national-scale adoption by citizens. In response, IREX-Bibliomist [4], the Ministry of Culture, and the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine launched an e-governance initiative to promote e-governance services with the help of NGOs and libraries.
The initiative brought together librarians and NGO representatives from 20 Ukrainian counties for a two-day training of trainers. To participate the NGOs and libraries had to submit proposals on community needs associated with e-governance services.
The training taught trainers how modern libraries and local NGOs have the necessary resources and space for developing e-governances services. Participants learned about existing e-services in Ukraine. Additionally, the training provided them with the necessary tools for communicating with different target populations including government representatives, local administrators, and citizens. A special focus was put on effective participation in local decision making mechanisms and associated electronic administrative services.
The NGO representatives that attended the training welcomed the modernization of library services. They discovered the new types of services and resources that Bibliomist libraries offer, including digital literacy training that can facilitate the deployment of e-services.
After the training, the teams were ready to roll out the program in their counties. “During the training we developed a clear vision on implementing the e-governance project in our region,” shared Roman Savchuk, trainer from the Chernihiv NGO “Ahalar”. His partner from the Chernihiv Library, Anastasiya Shyrmanova, echoed: “We didn’t know where to start the project, as there is an abundance of different information on e-governance. After this training, I got lots of practical advice on how to incorporate community needs into our project,” she said.