Emerging Researchers Program.
About the program:
This program is a unique opportunity for social science students and fresh graduates to participate in a comprehensive research mission to develop organizational and technological solutions for Lebanese municipalities.
Skilled researchers will collaborate on designing and implementing many features of this exciting new initiative, from high-level analytical work to on-the-ground application and engagement with municipal members and citizens.
Accepted applicants work for three months after the start date. Researchers work primarily on a task-based approach, with priority for delivery more than “clocking-in hours”. However, they should expect to work for up to 3 days per week, assuming 6-hour shifts. They work and report to the Chief Operations Officer and each other collaboratively. They are guided by academic advisors in world-leading institutions and work from our offices in Tripoli. Accepted applicants are provided with basic compensation for food and transportation, and those who live outside of Tripoli are provided complimentary accommodation. All emerging researchers are expected to work with a high level of rigor and professionalism in order to close on all work streams and facilitate communication, creativity, and delivery on requests. They will be guided and further trained on all key functions outlined below.
Key functions
o Compilation of research findings into a thorough, communicable and practical report
• Public communication of findings
o Creation of simple public communication material for the findings (visual,
written, video, etc.)
Eligibility requirements:
• Current bachelor’s or master’s degree students or graduates with academic excellence (of honors / distinction and above only) in a rigorous, analytical social sciences discipline (e.g., political sciences, public policy, law, international affairs, Middle East studies, sociology, psychology or other related / applicable majors) with a demonstrated interest in impact and research
Application requirements:
Please note that applicants who do not submit the below requirements will not be considered in the recruiting process.
Because governments need to better connect with their citizens, improve access to public services, and respond to social development, SmartGov was created to upgrade systems of governance to meet the needs and ambitions of citizens today. Enabling digital transformation of governance in Lebanon is our way of doing our part in serving our country during this increasingly difficult time.
SmartGov is an impact-oriented organization that integrates action research, strategy and technology to allow state institutions to be smart, inclusive and effective.
We believe that we can’t implement an external management application to enhance service provision and improve democracy through citizen-centricity without successful internal processes and a complete set of digitalization within the local authorities.
Today through innovative solutions, the municipal management system we are introducing will ensure that the right mechanisms are installed for every municipal process to ensure maximum transparency and accountability. We believe that we can create ground-breaking technologies to make services citizen-centric, decrease corruption and enhance efficiency through computerized solutions.
SmartGov has developed a partnership with G8T Solutions to install robust internal systems in local
authorities and our first municipality to pilot this project is the Municipality of Ras Maska. With over 4,000,000 lines of code the Municipal Management System is designed using industry leading
architecture. Currently the complicated, traditional and extremely centralized processes adopted in
administrative work exhausts citizens and results in delayed and dissatisfying services. The system
aims to increase the efficiency of the municipality by providing the right tools to modernize work
instruments raising the level of control and facilitating the delivery and completion of citizen
procedures by automating most processes.
By reducing the information and supporting documents
required of a citizen to fill out, the system will assist the municipality in providing citizens with the required services without any delays and with the desired quality. This reinforces the role of the
municipality in receiving and completing procedures while assuring accountability and transparency.
Key Performance Indicators provide accurate statistics on the completed procedures and those that
have not yet been completed along with the reasons for non-completion. Not only will the system play
a big role in minimizing the distance between the citizens and the municipality, it will provide the
municipality with all the modules required to keep track of the budget and financial status along with
performance reports.
Challenges:
Local authorities lack digital systems to completely digitize the internal mechanisms and processes. Municipalities use an outdated system that is developed more than a decade ago which also lacks modern technologies that can raise the efficiency and effectiveness in addition to facilitating citizens requests.
Solutions:
A complete set of digitalization within the local authorities to increase the efficiency of the municipality by providing the right tools to modernize work instruments raising the control level, facilitating the delivery and completion of citizen procedures and automating most of its processes.
This transformative system is implemented with respect to all of the project’s milestones and delivered all modules fully functional and with compliance to all Lebanese municipal bylaws from Standard Operating Procedures to Administrative and Financial reporting, where it almost digitized every municipal process. The outcomes of this system were very significant, automating the municipal work has increased its efficiency, transparency, and accountability, the work that took municipal agent hours, can now be accomplished within a few clicks with no errors. Also, the team performed on-site training sessions for all required municipal staff enabling them to fully operate all features of the implemented system. The municipality has already formulated its 2022 budget using the system and closed its 2021 fiscal year generating the corresponding end-of-year reports. Some of the modules implemented and now fully functioning were the following:
Accessibility: Cross-platform and cross devices implementation, an interactive map view that is linked to all of the system financial and administrative modules
Workflow management: Ensures that all procedures follow a predefined workflow and allows tracking the procedures by status and indicates which have been completed and which have not, in addition to that, citizens will immediately receive an SMS message when they submit a form, the SMS message will provide them with a tracking number and status of their submission.
Budget: Includes all the transactions and reports stated by the budgeting bylaws of the Municipalities and public funds management. The visualized charts and reports provide the administration with the follow-up and statistics tools in real-time, this feature also includes APIs which give the ability for citizens to access the detailed municipal budget and transparency in real-time graphs and charts.
Document Management System (Filing and archiving): Acting as built-in storage and archiving system with a paperless environment each paper printed has a QR code that will automatically upload and categorize documents when scanned. Every paper generated by the Municipality has a QR code which already eliminated the avenues of forgery.
Public procurement: The module is linked with budgeting and inventory modules for automatic transaction posting with a decision support system highlighting the most affordable prices, or the nearest delivery date
Project planning and implementation: Project Progress reports to follow up the on the current status of the project while keeping an eye on the time and materials consumed
Since SmartGov founded on the concept of using highly curated technology and social science research to allow state institution to be smart, effective, inclusive and since the Samir Kassir Foundation (SKF) has been monitoring all forms of violations of freedom of expression in the Levant in general, and in Lebanon in particular. Within the rise of ICT in the public sector, the Lebanese government have driven e-government initiatives with the goal of improving the quality of public services offered to citizens, given that governments handle citizens’ personal data, which may be highly sensitive, this project focuses on personal data protection and assessing the quality of e-government platforms and infrastructure.
The project first assumption is that effective advocacy to protect digital rights in Lebanon has to go beyond the expected circle of human rights NGOs. Since the end of 2019, Lebanon has been on the confluence of severe crises: the economic collapse and its subsequent social implications, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the meltdown of trust in and legitimacy of public institutions. Digital tools have emerged at so many levels as efficient, flexible solutions to gather data about people’s needs, work under lockdown measures, identify households that are most at risk, and register for vaccines, among others. Yet, most of these tools do not observe the most basic privacy rights of citizens, and have not been developed using coherent methodologies, which creates its own range of inter-operability challenges.
The project aims to ensure an effective balance between the protection of digital rights and quality of e-governance solutions in Lebanon. The aim is to achieve this objective by:
Sensitizing public authorities on local and international privacy protection and data management norms; and
Calling the general public to act in defense of their digital rights.
SmartGov will be evaluating and mapping e-government platforms according to the below criteria:
– respect of the relevant Lebanese legislation
– respect of international digital rights norms
– digital safety
– transparency and pedagogy
– inter-operability and integration potential with other tools / platforms
– duplication and waste of resources
A presentation of the findings will be during a public event organized by SKF and SmartGov on mid-November 2021, a comparative matrix of all available e-governance tools in Lebanon that gather personal data, will be published on SKF and SmartGov’s website and on social media channels.
At the end of the project, SmartGov and SKF will convene all relevant stakeholders, involved in the development of the tools to communicate the results and assess readiness for public reform.
SKF and SmartGov will also follow up with each relevant entity with a set of recommendations and guidance from experts in order to implement the recommendations. The project team will facilitate initial meetings among several stakeholders to encourage convergence of similar solutions and approaches. In parallel, the team will launch a robust social media campaign to educate citizens about their rights and inform them about institutions’ performance in respecting their privacy and digital rights all while providing them with government services that they deserve and are entitled to.
In line with our mission to ignite the e-reform initiative, as a result of the project’s research, we generated 3 different practice-based reports and insights related to Lebanese GovTech readiness with the intention of putting a stepping stone towards future e-reforms projects after assessing its context, rooms for improvements, best practices, and challenges. Through this project, we were able to provide thorough insights and recommendations from a Think-and-Do Tank perspective, aiming to enhance digital rights in Lebanon and make a paradigm shift in future e-government initiatives while stressing more result-oriented approaches by the executors and funding agencies.
The first report related to Lebanon’s respect for citizens’ privacy and digital rights was released during an interactive conference held at Bossa Nova Hotel on November 15, 2021. The conference was attended by different civil society organizations and governmental institutions and followed by a panel discussion and breakout rooms hosting renowned speakers and implementors to address future directions and raise advocacy.
Each report released was followed by an intensive advocacy campaign to enhance Lebanon’s digital rights provision and stress the importance of initiating e-reform and adopting GovTech solutions.
The reports:
E-Government Mapping: Overview of the Lebanese GovTech Readiness and Respect to Citizens Privacy
E-Government Mapping Research: Overview of the Lebanese GovTech Interoperability Context and Potential
E-Government Mapping: Lebanon’s E-Government UX/UI Assessment
This project at SmartGov addresses the importance of good governance and the need to engage citizens as well as public sector staff in decision-making and planning in order to reflect and react to local needs. It aims at bringing citizens and local governments together to address and solve issues facing citizens on a daily basis. Unfortunately, authorities lack the resources and platforms to do so. SmartGov addresses this gap by providing municipalities with a digital platform that facilitates access to information, consultation, participatory budgeting, and management of citizen and staff responses. The platform will incorporate features that empower citizens and increase transparency of the decision-making process as well as improve the efficiency of decision making and solution implementation of municipalities. Baladi is a cross-platform portal comes along with e-municipality services such as e-forms, e-complaints and other e-services.Baladi offers two roles for governments: one as accepting feedback from citizens (users) and integrating that feedback in the form of real-time change to policies and programs. The second model involves government opening aspects of its policy making suite of tools and engaging civil society in those individual stages. SmartGov conduct rigorous social science research to contextualize the development and implementation of our technology solutions to ensure ownership and adoption by citizens, municipal staff, and council leadership.
Challenges:
Lack of structured platforms to engage citizens in policy-making and service delivery.
Solution:
Baladi is the extent to which local authorities use technologies and data to harness the creativity of people in groups and create collaboration to jointly address policy challenges.
Under the flagship of our “Algorithms for Democracy” program and after a series of intensive research held on different levels; Municipal, civil society mobilization, citizen-centricity, democratic theories and digital technologies. Our early findings helped us to understand the context in-depth to curate groundbreaking collaborative governance technology, although the research and product development phase are constant and ongoing.
Respectively, the current phase has helped SmartGov to develop an MVP (minimum valuable product) of its cross-platform application “Baladi” which fully digitized all of the good governance efforts and projects held over decades into a single interoperable digital platform.
While the research and development are still continuing, we are currently demonstrating our technology with partners and stakeholders to reach a ready-to-launch version.
Anyone is welcome to view our current live demo and give feedback by sending a request to info@smartgov.tech
We will keep on updating this section constantly each time we have new updates.
