Special Issue - Digitalisation and governance, legislative oversight, and service delivery in Africa

Abstract

African governments remain seized with the permanent goal of achieving development and a better standard of living for their citizens. Government is responsible for formulating public policies that address societal issues and delivering much needed basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity and waste removal, all of which are crucial to the affirmation of human dignity and facilitating an acceptable standard of living. The delivery of basic services is also crucial to creating an enabling environment for local economic development because businesses need such services to function and continue executing economic activities in a given subnational jurisdiction. Moreover, governments can enable economic development through sound development planning, policymaking, resource allocation, implementation, and the monitoring, review and evaluation of the performance of such plans and policies vis-à-vis their goals of economic stimulation. The process of digitalisation as a product of the Third and Fourth Industrial Revolutions presents important opportunities for governments to improve the efficiency of their processes and systems and drive socio-economic change.