Digital Transformation for Public Value: Development Gateway’s Insights from Agriculture & Open Contracting
In today’s fast-evolving world, governments and public organizations are under more pressure than ever before to deliver efficient, transparent services that align with public expectations. While this increased pressure is largely due to the rapid digitization of public life, it is also the case that digital transformation is perfectly placed to be the ideal enabler of public value. When implemented correctly, that is.
In this blog, we delve into the key concepts behind digital transformation and how it can enhance public value by promoting transparency, informing policy, and supporting evidence-based decision-making.
The Path to Enabling Public Value
Creating public value requires governments and public organizations to focus on results that align with the needs and expectations of the public, using resources wisely and maintaining accountability and transparency as they do so. Serving as a guiding principle for public managers and policymakers alike, aiming to add public value ensures that actions taken are about improving service delivery and attaining meaningful societal impact.
The concept of public value originated from the book “Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government,” written by Hauser Professor of Nonprofit Organizations, Mark Moore, in 1995. Moore’s theory on public value parallels the private sector’s customer-oriented approach, suggesting that public administrators should focus on how:
- Public activities create value for service users, relevant stakeholders, and general citizens;
- Public administrations can attract resources and leverage their authority and legitimacy; and
- Public administrations, institutions, and services can become more efficient and effective through developing service ecosystems and advancing the betterment of society.
Digital Transformation: Building a Strong Foundation for Value Creation
Digital transformation—the use of information and communication technologies to develop new capabilities in business, government, and society—goes well beyond mere automation. It involves adopting technologies to boost productivity, create value, and improve social welfare. Digital transformation offers significant opportunities to enhance public value, yet it also presents certain challenges that require strategic solutions to ensure it is implemented equitably and sustainably.
Data and digital technologies provide a pathway for governments to create public value through increased transparency and informed decision-making. By collating data, enhancing data systems and safeguards, and promoting cross-functional operations through interoperable data systems, we can establish a strong foundation for value creation in the public sector.
At Development Gateway, we focus on making data more usable and interoperable to drive better decision-making and transparency. Below are two of our programs where we helped achieve this, building a pragmatic foundation for value creation in the public sector.
Towards Interoperability and Transparency: The ‘a Livestock Information Vision for Ethiopia’ (aLIVE) Program
There has been increasing focus in the development space for the need to create seamless, integrated data ecosystems. Such ecosystems allow for the free flow of data between systems and across ministries and departments in the public sector while ensuring that said data remains secure. While system interoperability may be a key focus for governments aiming to improve efficiency and service delivery, this is often technically challenging for them to achieve.
In the aLIVE program, we are working with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and other stakeholders to digitize livestock traceability in the country, ensuring increased accessibility to and quality of livestock data. The initiative addresses challenges faced by farmers, policymakers, and stakeholders resulting from fragmented and inconsistent livestock information. By establishing a unified, accessible data platform, aLIVE supports better decision-making, enhances market access, and boosts the productivity and resilience of Ethiopia’s livestock sector.
aLIVE enables public value through digital transformation of the livestock sector in the following ways:
Improved decision-making: By providing reliable, timely livestock data, the program enables government agencies, NGOs, and farmers to make more informed, data-driven decisions. This facilitates better resource allocation and more effective, evidence-based policies.
Enhanced livelihoods: The program helps farmers improve their productivity and increase their income-generating potential by offering data-driven insights on market conditions, livestock management, and disease control.
Sectoral coordination: By integrating five legacy systems for livestock into a common data standard—the Livestock Information System (LIS)—aLIVE facilitates coordination among stakeholders in the livestock sector, fostering collaboration and reducing duplication of efforts.
Resilience and adaptation: Access to timely, readily available data is essential for livestock management, as it allows farmers to better adapt to challenges such as climate change and disease outbreaks, thereby enhancing the resilience of the livestock sector.
Improving Public Procurement Processes: DG’s Open Contracting (OC) Portal
Through our Open Contracting initiatives, we leverage data and technology to improve how governments manage public contracts. This, in turn, benefits citizens and promotes social and economic development, enhancing public value by increasing the transparency, accountability, and efficiency of public procurement processes.
An example of this is the county-level Open Contracting Portal we developed with the government of Makueni County in Kenya. This has since been designated as a digital public good (DPG) and added to the Digital Public Goods Alliance’s (DPGA’s) Registry, which ensures the OC Portal aligns with ethical, inclusive, and sustainable digital development principles.
The OC Portal is an interactive site providing detailed information about each step of the tender, award, and implementation process. It includes a series of charts that offer helpful data insights that can be utilized by civil society, the government, and the public. In addition to the public data available on the platform, government users can also access the Corruption Risk Dashboard—a tool that identifies tenders and awards based on specific metrics that indicate possible corrupt activities. The Portal also includes various ways in which to incorporate feedback from the public, including an SMS feature allowing for great accessibility.
The OC Portal exemplifies how digital public goods can enable public value by enhancing transparency and accountability while also reducing corruption, improving service delivery, and fostering economic growth.
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While the concept of adding public value may seem abstract or theoretical, its true significance is to be found in its practical applications. Real-world efforts—such as promoting transparency, enhancing decision-making, and supporting sustainable development—demonstrate how public value can be effectively operationalized and turned into tangible outcomes that have a positive impact on society.