The launch ceremony brought together senior officers of the Local Government (LG) department and media representatives to experience the newly-established online platform first-hand.
The website, acknowledged as an important tool for the department’s future information management, is dynamic and offers functional levels of interactivity through multimedia support features, news updates and a citizens’ feedback corner.
Speaking on the occasion, LG Secretary Hifzur Rehman said, “Communication as a tool of citizen engagement can do wonders for service delivery. The website has given us the freedom and also made us more accountable to improve the outreach and delivery of our services by interacting more actively with citizens.”
Rehman added the department’s website has been established in line with the government’s e-governance framework. “We are strengthening our internal and external communication and with the launch of the website we have now gone a step ahead to engage with the citizens of K-P through information sharing and public participation,” the secretary said.
The website will strengthen the department’s public relations through sharing communication material such as success stories of local governments. In addition to providing information about ongoing reform measures and development projects being undertaken by the department, the website also enables users to download key documents such as the K-P Local Government Act 2013, K-P District Government Rules of Business 2013, Strategic Development Partnership Framework and Post-Crisis Needs Assessment.
The online platform was developed with the support of the German government under its Support to Good Governance Programme in order to strengthen the K-P LG department’s public relations. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) provided support to the department in process planning, content and structure development, as well as the website’s design.
The Good Governance Programme will also support the provincial government in fostering the design and implementation of a coherent legal framework, strengthening the training system for local civil service, developing models and providing advice for enhancing the quality of urban services, and supporting the design as well as the implementation of participatory planning and budgeting in urban local governments.
The website can be accessed here.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2014.
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@Taimoor: Err, you know that all Punjab departments have well maintained websites, right? PITB is the leader in IT services and has well maintained online services. Or are Khanistas going to scream that this is the first time any government department has had an online presence, and surely it must be the best one there too?
This is called 'Good Governance', not what Show-Baz does.