Digital Transformation for Economic and Social Reactivation
What is Red GEALC?
The Inter-American Network of digital Government Authorities, Red GEALC, has brought together digital government agency leaders from countries in the region since 2003. Such a lineup makes Red GEALC a unique instrument to promote horizontal cooperation, support the creation of participatory public policies in the field, train government officials, provide knowledge on key aspects when developing digital government national strategies, promote solution exchange and experts’ dialogue among countries in the region.
Red GEALC’s general purpose is to support the development of digital government public policies with citizens -especially the most vulnerable populations- at the core.
Such an effort is consistent with the Organization of American States’ (OAS) policy on the relevance of integrating ICTs in political, economic and social development efforts, as has been established in the context of the Summits of the Americas since the Miami Summit in 1994, which was later emphasized by the Declaration on Connectivity of the Third Summit of the Americas held in Quebec in 2001, to be later re-emphasized by the Fourth Summit of the Americas held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 2005.
Besides having the OAS Technical Secretariat available to it, Red GEALC counts on the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) as another promoter both from a technical cooperation point of view (the IADB is part of Red GEALC’s Executive Committee) as well as by means of specific projects under the Regional Public Goods Initiative of IADB. Therefore, the purpose of Red GEALC is also consistent with IADB’s development policies, to such an extent as to be} considered by the Bank as one further mechanism for regional dialogue.
Red GEALC has the three European members of the Ibero-American General Secretariat as observer countries (Andorra, Spain and Portugal). In turn, at the request of ministers on the 5 th E-Government Ministerial Meeting, which was later approved by the region’s Foreign Affairs Ministers, Red GEALC has been recognized due to its Inter-American nature.
From its inception, the network has also counted on the support of the International Development Research Center, IDRC, and of the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA. It regularly coordinates tasks with other international agencies such as ECLAC, OECD and the United Nations.
Among the various activities described on work plan reports, Red GEALC has conducted the following outstanding actions:
• In person and virtual knowledge exchange opportunities have turned it into a key source of reference for more than 100 top officials in charge of promoting digital government among countries in the region.
• Yearly meetings to establish priorities and get familiar with regional and extra regional experiences. Every two years, together with top member country digital government authorities, ministers in charge of this topic are invited to get together.
• Biennial editions of Awards for Excellence in Electronic Government, excelGOV, in recognition of the best solutions for transparency, citizen participation, efficiency, m-government, digital transformation, cross-border services and other highlights that appear in every edition. Besides awards, special mentions are also presented with a focus on gender, open data and open-source software. Over 500 candidacies from 20+ countries have taken part and full catalogues have been created as a valuable sample of specific cases.
• Establishment of a horizontal cooperation fund, FOCOH, that has set in motion over 150 experts from 20 countries.
• Specific support to e-government solutions and exchange of health-care and social emergency experiences resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Generation of regional open-source software programs and constant support to countries in the region when establishing basic technical agreements for cross-border digital signature.
• Open data, sustainability, digital inclusion and m-government research initiatives and four resulting pilot projects including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru.
• In-person workshops with the participation of over 500 top officials from the region.
• Daily updated, online information and document repository to be publicly accessed through this platform. It has become the main online referent in the region on the subject matter (www.redgealc.org). It includes a secondary portal for each country in the region with strategies, state of the art updates, legislation and e-government news.
• Over 4000 officials being trained on e-government online courses.
• Working groups on emerging technologies, data, public innovation, open source software, digital signature and interoperability.
Comité Ejecutivo Red Gealc
The Annual Meeting of Members, in the framework of Red GEALC Annual Meeting, is the top decision-making body. It consists of the top authority of the agency representing each country in Red GEALC. Their representation can be delegated when participation in the Annual Meeting turns out to be impossible. Every country has a vote.
The other government bodies are the President and the Executive Committee. They hold office for one year (with one single consecutive reelection being allowed).
Ecuador is the 2022 President country.
The Executive Committee is the body responsible for executing decisions made in the Annual Assembly and for implementing the Annual Plan. It is composed of eight member countries elected by the Annual Assembly based on geographical criteria (two representatives from the Andean Region, two from the Caribbean, two from Mesoamerica and two from Mercosur, in this case, Bolivia and Ecuador, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvadora and Guatemala, and Brasil and Paraguay, respectively) and representatives from sponsoring organizations (OAS, Technical Secretariat, and IADB) with the involvement of the Manager of Red GEALC.
Grupos de trabajo
Working Groups are open spaces where the digital government agencies from Red GEALC member countries gather to advance on any of the Action Plan areas or to perform tasks mandated by the Executive Committee or the Annual Assembly.
The following are the on-going Working Groups: emerging technologies, data, public innovation, open source software, digital signature and interoperability.