E-Government Capacity Building in Bangladesh

Problem Faced: e-Government systems have the potential to improve societal conditions in developing countries, and yet design knowledge to inform interventions to encourage uptake and use of these systems is sparse.
Solution Developed: An action design research program addressed the problem of limited adoption of e-government in Bangladesh. Inadequate knowledge of the nature of e-government systems was identified as an under-lying cause of many other problems. The program aimed to reduce knowledge deficiencies among key decision makers through activities that included the delivery of a custom-made training program supported by a handbook target-ed at senior government officers. The project had modest resources and yet yielded significant outcomes.
Lessons Learned: Critical reflection established a number of design principles for a ‘sweet spot change strategy’ for interventions of this type, with the most important principle being to first identify a ‘sweet spot’, a point of maximum leverage, and then to act on it. Issues in achieving academic out-comes from action design research are noted.