In the Techniques section:
Techniques
Avoiding eTransparency Failure: Ideas About Money
This page offers ideas about how to address one factor identified as important to the success or failure of e-transparency projects. Follow this link for more information about such factors (and some related case examples).
Idea 1: Find Someone Else To Help Pay For eTransparency
Most funding for most e-transparency projects in developing/transitional countries does not come from the home government. That funding often comes from international donor agencies. However, there are other innovative sources of finance that could be used to fund e-transparency:
- Get the vendor to pay: vendors can be allowed to charge fees for citizen/business services that are part of the e-transparency system. A sound business model can mean that the vendor bears the entire up-front costs of the system.
- Get the BOOT: very similar to the above: the vendor/system developer agrees to build, operate and own the e-transparency system for some time, on the basis of some fee-/income-generating component of the system (e.g. the ability to charge users for accessing records, licences, tenders, etc). At some agreed future point the system is then transferred from private to public ownership.
- Cost share: as above, if there is some fee-generation built into the system, then banks may be willing to lend money to intermediaries (e.g. kiosk operators); if there is some other perceived benefit (e.g. jobs in local areas) then other public agencies may be willing to cost share.
(From: Vickram Crishna, Udit Chaudhuri, Tapan Mehta, Alok Kumar Sanjay, Vivek Gupta, RK Dave & Richard Heeks)
Idea 2: Be Sustainable
Finances must be planned not just for the introduction of the e-transparency system, but also for its sustainable operation over, say, a five-year period.
(From: Richard Heeks)