WS #302 Upgrading Digital Governance at the Local Level

Summary

This workshop focused on upgrading digital governance at the local level through the Local Online Service Index (LOSI) methodology, a collaborative framework developed by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-EGOV). The LOSI project assesses municipal government portals across 95 indicators in six categories: institutional framework, technology, content provision, service provision, participation engagement, and e-government literacy. Since its pilot launch in 2018 with 40 cities, the initiative has expanded to cover 193 UN member states’ most populous cities and has been implemented in various countries including Brazil, India, South Korea, and Tunisia through partnerships with local organizations.

The Tunisian E-Government Society presented a comprehensive case study of their LOSI implementation, which assessed 24 municipalities across all Tunisian governorates. Their findings revealed that 37% of municipalities fell into the middle digital maturity category while 63% were classified as low, indicating significant room for improvement. The Tunisian team innovatively developed a two-phase approach: first conducting assessments using the LOSI framework, then implementing targeted improvements through a “quick fixes” methodology that categorizes potential enhancements as easy, moderate, or hard adjustments based on complexity and resource requirements.

The second phase demonstrated practical results, with one pilot municipality (Reba) improving its score from 30% to 39% after implementing the first batch of easy fixes, with projections suggesting scores could exceed 50% with full implementation. The discussion emphasized the crucial role of civil society organizations in bridging gaps between citizens and governments, particularly in resource-limited contexts. The workshop concluded by highlighting how this collaborative approach between international organizations, civil society, and local governments creates a replicable model for enhancing digital governance worldwide.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **LOSI Methodology and Partnership Framework**: The Local Online Service Index (LOSI) is a collaborative assessment tool developed by UNDESA and UNU-IGOV to evaluate digital governance at the municipal level. The framework uses 95 indicators across six categories to measure city portal effectiveness, with partnerships established through MOUs between UN agencies and local organizations.

– **Tunisia Case Study Implementation**: The Tunisian e-Government Society successfully applied the LOSI methodology across 24 municipalities, finding that 63% fell into the “low” digital maturity category while 37% achieved “middle” ranking. This assessment covered all 24 governorates of Tunisia and provided comprehensive baseline data.

– **Innovative “Quick Fixes” Improvement Framework**: Tunisia developed a practical three-tier improvement system (easy, moderate, hard adjustments) to help municipalities enhance their digital services. Their pilot with Reba municipality demonstrated concrete results, increasing the LOSI score from 30% to 39% after implementing the first batch of easy fixes.

– **Global Expansion and Replication**: The LOSI network has expanded to nine published reports across multiple countries including Brazil, India, South Korea, UK, and others. The methodology is designed to be adaptable to local contexts while maintaining global comparability standards.

– **Multi-stakeholder Collaboration Model**: The discussion emphasized the critical role of civil society organizations, international bodies, and local governments working together. The Tunisian case exemplified how NGOs can serve as bridges between citizens and government, particularly in resource-limited environments.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to showcase how the LOSI methodology can be practically implemented to assess and improve digital governance at the local level, using Tunisia’s experience as a concrete example of successful multi-stakeholder collaboration in digital transformation.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently professional and collaborative tone throughout. It began with formal introductions and technical explanations, evolved into an enthusiastic presentation of practical results from Tunisia, and concluded with forward-looking remarks about expansion and replication. The tone was optimistic and solution-oriented, emphasizing partnership, innovation, and the potential for scaling successful approaches globally. There was a sense of urgency toward the end due to time constraints, but this did not diminish the overall positive and constructive atmosphere.

Speakers

– **Sabrine Dachraoui** – Project coordinator of the LOSI application in Tunisia, Tunisian e-Governance Society

– **Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen** – United Nations University e-government section (UNU-IGOV), based in Portugal

– **Participant** –

– **Deniz Susar** – United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), moderator of the session

– **Salsabil Yakoubi** – Tunisian e-Governance Society, colleague of Sabrine Dachraoui

– **Audience** –

– **Dimitris Sarantis** – UNU-IGOV (United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society)

**Additional speakers:**

– **Aaron** – Works alongside Dennis at UNDESA in New York, involved in UK application of LOSI methodology

– **Steve McDowell** – Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida

– **Emmanuel Oruk** – From Uganda (mentioned as asking a question via chat)

– **Yusuf Yusufovic** – Director-General of the Center for Digital Governance in Turkey (mentioned in opening but did not speak)

# Comprehensive Workshop Report: Upgrading Digital Governance at the Local Level Through the LOSI Methodology

## Executive Summary

This workshop presented a comprehensive examination of the Local Online Service Index (LOSI) methodology, a collaborative framework developed by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) to assess and improve digital governance at the municipal level. The session featured a detailed case study from Tunisia, demonstrating how civil society organisations can successfully implement international assessment frameworks to drive practical improvements in local government digital services.

The discussion highlighted the critical importance of local digital governance, with over 65% of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets falling under local authority jurisdiction. The LOSI framework addresses this significance through a standardised methodology employing 95 indicators across six categories to assess municipal digital services across 193 cities worldwide.

## Participants and Context Setting

**Deniz Susar** from UNDESA opened the session by establishing the workshop’s purpose within the broader context of digital cooperation and multi-stakeholder collaboration. She emphasised that the session exemplified cross-functional cooperation between the technical community, private sector, civil society, and governments.

**Dimitris Sarantis** from UNU-CS provided crucial context by highlighting that over 65% of SDG targets fall under local authority jurisdiction, establishing local digital governance as essential for global sustainable development. The LOSI framework emerged from recognition that whilst national e-government assessments exist, local government digital services—which often represent the primary interface between citizens and government—lacked comprehensive evaluation mechanisms.

**Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen** from UNU-CS detailed the methodology’s development and global implementation, while **Sabrine Dachraoui** and **Salsabil Yakoubi** from the Tunisian e-Governance Society, a 10-year-old NGO with three international publications, presented their comprehensive implementation case study.

## LOSI Methodology Framework

The LOSI framework provides a standardised methodology with 95 indicators distributed across six key categories: institutional framework, technology, content provision, service provision, participation engagement, and e-government literacy. The assessment employs a binary scoring system where two independent assessors evaluate each portal, providing clear, quantifiable measurements of digital maturity levels.

Since its pilot launch in 2018 with 40 cities, the initiative has expanded to cover 193 cities (one per UN member state). The scoring ranges are: Very high (0.75-1), High (0.5-0.74), Middle (0.25-0.49), and Low (0-0.24). This approach enables both individual city assessments and comparative analysis across different municipalities and countries.

The framework’s strength lies in its ability to provide triangulation between national and local assessments. The methodology allows for customisation to local contexts and priorities, with some countries complementing core indicators with additional measures whilst maintaining global comparability.

One key finding from the 2024 survey revealed that national portals still tend to outperform local ones. However, cities with strong collaboration between national and municipal governments, as well as those with clear institutional frameworks, consistently score higher.

## Global Implementation and Partnership Model

The LOSI network has expanded through strategic partnerships established via memorandums of understanding between UN agencies and local organisations. Nine published reports now exist across multiple countries including Brazil, India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, with each implementation adapted to local contexts whilst maintaining methodological consistency.

Current ongoing applications include the United Kingdom (involving partnerships with both the Ministry of IT and universities), Mozambique, Tanzania, and Saudi Arabia. The UK application demonstrates innovative partnerships leveraging university students and cross-functional collaboration.

The partnership model enables international organisations to provide standardised frameworks and global best practices whilst local partners contribute contextual knowledge and implementation capacity. The methodology’s flexibility allows for adaptation to varying local government contexts, as local service delivery varies significantly by country, with some municipalities responsible for 80% of citizen services whilst others have more limited mandates.

## Tunisia Case Study: Comprehensive Implementation

The workshop’s centrepiece was a detailed presentation showcasing Tunisia’s comprehensive LOSI implementation across 24 municipalities representing all 24 Tunisian governorates. The project timeline included MOU signing in March 2024, training in April-May, and data collection in July, with Tunisia currently undergoing a decentralization process.

### Assessment Phase Results

The Tunisian assessment revealed that 37% of municipalities achieved middle-category rankings whilst 63% fell into the low category, indicating substantial opportunities for improvement across Tunisia’s municipal digital infrastructure. The binary scoring system across 95 indicators provided granular insights into different aspects of e-governance performance, with some municipalities achieving strong scores in e-literacy categories whilst performing poorly in other areas.

### Innovative “Quick Fixes” Framework

The Tunisian team’s most significant contribution was developing an improvement methodology that transforms the LOSI assessment from a diagnostic tool into an actionable improvement framework. Their “quick fixes” framework categorises potential improvements into three tiers based on complexity and resource requirements:

– **Easy adjustments**: Low-complexity changes requiring minimal resources

– **Moderate adjustments**: Medium-complexity improvements requiring moderate investment

– **Hard adjustments**: Complex changes requiring significant resources and time

This categorisation enables systematic and manageable implementation of digital enhancements, making improvements accessible to resource-constrained municipalities.

### Pilot Implementation Results

The practical effectiveness of the quick fixes framework was demonstrated through a pilot implementation with Reba municipality. After implementing the first batch of easy fixes, the municipality’s LOSI score improved from 30% to 39%, with projections suggesting scores could exceed 50% with full implementation of all recommended changes.

This batch-based approach enables manageable collaboration with municipalities whilst building trust and demonstrating feasibility. The strategy addresses key challenges in municipal engagement: establishing formal channels and building initial trust with local government officials.

## Implementation Challenges and Solutions

### Engagement and Trust Building

The Tunisian team described challenges in establishing formal engagement channels with municipalities and building initial trust. They addressed these challenges through strategic outreach using existing networks and providing clear documentation to demonstrate the value proposition of LOSI assessments.

### Resource Constraints

Resource limitations affect both assessment organisations and municipalities. The Tunisian case demonstrated how civil society organisations can supplement resource constraints through volunteer engagement and strategic partnerships, while the UK application leverages university students and academic partnerships.

### Contextual Adaptation

**Steve McDowell** from Florida State University raised questions about local government size and scope parameters, highlighting the challenge of meaningful comparisons across different contexts. The discussion revealed that flexible methodology application is essential, allowing countries to adapt frameworks to their specific contexts whilst maintaining comparability standards.

## Systemic Challenges and Policy Enablers

**Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen** identified that local digital governance frameworks cannot operate in isolation. National policy enablers such as electronic identification and digital signatures are essential prerequisites for transactional service delivery, creating dependencies that affect even well-resourced municipalities in developed countries.

Examples from Canada and the UK demonstrate that structural barriers to local digital service delivery exist even in advanced economies, highlighting the need for coordinated multi-level governance approaches. Private sector partnerships are essential for technological upgrades and infrastructure development, complementing national policy enablers.

## Accessibility and Inclusion Considerations

**Emmanuel Oruk** from Uganda raised an important question about accessibility for persons with disabilities, asking whether the LOSI methodology adequately considers accessibility requirements. **Dimitris Sarantis** responded that the framework does include checking for accessibility features, though this remains an area requiring continued attention to ensure equitable service delivery for all citizens.

## Future Directions

The workshop concluded with discussion of future directions for LOSI methodology expansion. **Deniz Susar** emphasised that international collaboration opportunities remain open for other countries to apply the methodology through memorandums of understanding with UN agencies.

The Tunisian team committed to continuing with a second round of implementation to measure progress over time, providing longitudinal data on digital governance improvement trajectories. Documentation and partnership frameworks will be made available to facilitate replication in other countries, with the Tunisian innovation in improvement methodology potentially becoming a standard component of LOSI implementations globally.

The team mentioned that their work was presented at ICEGov in Pretoria, South Africa, and that a recorded webinar and official report are available on the UNDESA website.

## Key Insights

Several critical insights emerged from the discussion:

### Civil Society Leadership

The workshop demonstrated how civil society organisations can effectively lead digital governance assessments and improvements whilst maintaining collaborative relationships with government entities.

### Methodological Innovation

The Tunisian quick fixes framework represents a significant methodological advancement that transforms assessment tools into actionable improvement strategies, showing how local adaptations can enhance the original framework.

### Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration

The discussion emphasised the critical role of diverse stakeholder engagement, with civil society organisations serving as crucial bridges between citizens and governments, particularly in resource-limited contexts.

## Conclusion

The workshop successfully demonstrated how the LOSI methodology can be practically implemented to assess and improve digital governance at the local level. The Tunisian case study provided compelling evidence of successful multi-stakeholder collaboration and methodological innovation.

The session highlighted that successful local digital governance requires coordination across multiple levels and stakeholders, from national policy enablers to local implementation partnerships. The combination of standardised frameworks with local innovation and multi-stakeholder collaboration creates sustainable pathways for digital transformation at the municipal level.

The workshop’s emphasis on practical results, innovative methodologies, and collaborative partnerships provides a foundation for continued expansion of local digital governance assessment and improvement initiatives worldwide.

Deniz Susar: and Yusuf Yusufovic, the Director-General of the Center for Digital Governance in Turkey. Good morning everyone. Welcome to the workshop Upgrading Digital Governance at the Local Level, workshop 3.0.2. We have 60 minutes in front of us. I will moderate this session. My name is Deniz Susar from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. I just want to give you a brief background what this workshop is about. At our department we look at how governments are using technology through our United Nations e-government survey. We look at 193 UN member states and try to measure their online progress. This e-government survey has been continuing since 2003. Since 2018 we also started looking at how the local level, specifically cities, are using online services. This is in partnership with United Nations University e-government section who is based in Portugal and Mortan is with me. We started with 40 cities in 2018, the most populous city in 40 countries. Then eventually we expanded to 193 cities. However, after getting feedback from stakeholders, the feedback was basically one city per country is not enough, can we do more? Together with UNU we developed a methodology so that our application in one city can be spread to several cities in a single country. This partnership is open to anyone. We’ve done some applications in various countries, for example Brazil, India, South Korea, a few of the names that come to mind. And of course today it is Tunisia. We recently applied the methodology together with the Tunisian e-government society so we will hear more from them. But I will ask colleagues so that they can put in the chat the link to where you can find, where you can learn more about this project. So again, we can partner as UNDESA with any government or non-government entity. We have a memorandum of understanding. We sign jointly after cleared by legal departments. Then the partnership starts. And with that, after that we share the methodology. We give access to the platform, to the entity who is running the project. In this case Tunisia e-government society. Then in our methodology at the national and at the local level, the portal of the city or the country needs to be assessed by two people who do not know each other. So at the global level, we recruit two people in each country, which is around 400 people. They assess the portals and then if there are any discrepancies, then we bring them together and we finalize the data. So the same happens at the city level. So again, I’ll give example of Tunisia e-government society. They choose number of cities in Tunisia and they recruit two people from each city and these people do the assessment. The results come to that entity and then they produce an outcome document and we do outreach like this. So it’s important, of course, to inform the city officials about their performance but also to share this experience with other countries so that they can learn from each other. So this is a very brief introduction to the project and to the objective of this workshop. So we want to expand further in several countries. This is our goal. Right now it’s happening in UK. Together with our partner in UK is the Ministry of IT and they are working together with the university. So we have two partnerships there. So I will stop here and give the floor to Morten just to explain further and then we will hear from the rest of the online speakers.

Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen: Thank you, Dennis. So as Dennis was saying, this is a partnership not just between UNDESA and UNU but also with local actors in a number of countries. So Tunisia will be presenting their results later during this session. But to put it into a context of why local government is important, we see that increasingly globally that there is strategic approaches to service delivery. Service delivery in some countries is mainly the mandate of central government. We see this particularly in smaller or low-income emerging economies. We see that in federal countries like the case of Brazil but also in India that local service delivery is taking place more on state level, so the regional level, or at the local government level. So for instance, in the context like we are in in Norway and other Nordic countries, local authorities, municipalities are responsible for some 80% of all service delivery to citizens and businesses. Only 20% is at central government. Tunisia is a country where there is a decentralization process in place and it’s also the latest report out of that. So what is the role of the LOSI network and the individual national applications of the framework? Well, it granulates the assessments that Denis and his colleagues do every two years of the largest city in each country. So that allows us, for instance, in India to say, well, we know that every two years Mumbai is assessed and that is then benchmarked with 192 other large cities globally. If we then do a LOSI framework application within that country looking at other cities, we suddenly have an amplifier where we can not only compare the progress, the strengths and weaknesses on local government service delivery online in the national context, but we can triangulate that with cities globally from the UNDESA biannual assessment or from other LOSI network applications. Now, naturally, local contexts matter. Priorities differ in different countries. So we’ve seen, for instance, that our partners in Korea and Brazil looked also at smart city-related indicators. So they complemented the core set of indicators to be assessed from the LOSI framework with a set of smart indicators related to mobility, waste, IoT and so forth to really complement that into the local context and the local national priorities. So this is where the LOSI framework is coming from. This is where the benefits are. And just to put some numbers on it, we have nine reports already published, so roughly three countries a year. There’s five ongoing. So the Tunisians are considering doing a second round. Mozambique, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, India and Korea is also in their second round. So they’ve done an application of the framework once, but they’re doing it again after a few years to see what progress is within this larger sample of national cities. So this is the context in which the framework was developed and how it’s used. And also a little bit of a background on how it is working before we hand over to our Tunisian colleagues. That’s all from me.

Deniz Susar: Okay. Thank you so much, Mortan. So now let’s turn online. Our colleague Dimitris Sarantis is online, also from UNUIGOV. And I have to say this is a joint project between UNUIGOV and UNDESA. And we very much appreciate the ongoing collaboration. Dimitris.

Dimitris Sarantis: Thank you. Thank you, Denis. So good morning, everyone. The sound is going through. The sound is okay?

Deniz Susar: Yes, it’s okay.

Dimitris Sarantis: Okay. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. So after an introduction of Denis regarding the LOSI methodology and the brief talk for today. for more than regarding the use of a local assessment and the importance of it, adjusting it to the country needs. I would share some insights regarding the logic application from our team until now. So, it’s a pleasure to be here, even though virtually, to share some perspectives on the Local Online Service Index and its transformative potential in advancing digital governance at municipal level. As said also from Morten and Deniz, logic plays a critical role in supporting the achievement of sustainable development goals, especially SDG 11, making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. As the 2024 United Nations Sea Government Survey highlights, over 65% of SDG targets fall under the jurisdiction of local authorities. So, this makes local digital governance not only relevant, but also essential. City portals are becoming the digital front doors of municipalities, providing residents with access to vital services, from waste management, public transport, to social protection and participatory budgeting. Logic helps cities assess and improve these services, using, at least for the last edition, 95 indicators across six categories. Since its pilot, as Deniz said also, in 2018, logic has evolved significantly. The 2024 edition now includes all 193 United Nations member states, most popular cities. It goes further by introducing e-government literacy in the last edition as a new category, recognising that digital inclusion requires not just access, but also the skills to engage. From real-time communication tools, to free Wi-Fi access points and multilingual platforms, cities are making progress, but challenges remain, especially around funding and the digital divide. One of the key findings from the 2024 survey is that national portals still tend to outperform local ones. However, we have seen that cities with strong collaboration between national and municipal governments, as well as those with clear institutional frameworks, score higher. This indicates that vertical alignment and shared governance models are crucial for digital success. So logic, we can say that it is not just an assessment tool, we can consider it as a framework for collaboration. In recent years, we have expanded its application beyond the most popular cities. So thanks to partnerships coordinated by UNDES and UNEGOV, as Dennis said also, countries like Tunisia, that we will hear afterwards, Uzbekistan, Korea, Greece, India, Jordan and Brazil, have implemented logic at sub-national levels. This decentralisation of digital diagnostics allows for more targeted interventions and knowledge sharing. Our aim and our hope is to see more countries join this logic network to strengthen their local digital capacities. Closing, and before giving the floor to Tunisian partners, I would say that logic is a powerful vehicle for cities to not only benchmark their progress, but also to learn from each other. With a growing pressure on cities to deliver inclusive and smart services, it is critical that we embed data-driven participatory and people-centred approaches into local governance. So I look forward to today’s discussion and to supporting more cities on their digital transformation journey. So before giving the floor to Sabrin, I would invite all participants with physical presence or online presence to submit their questions, their comments, orally or written to the chat, and so to have a discussion after the presentation from the Tunisian partners. Thank you, Sabrin.

Deniz Susar: Thank you, Dimitrius. So I think we clearly explained what this is about. I hope it’s clear to everyone as well. So I think it’s time to see it really in action, Sabrin. So the floor is yours and your colleagues. So if you can show us what this is about and what you did in Tunisia.

Sabrine Dachraoui: Thank you, Denise. Thank you, Morten as well, and Dimitrius. I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to our partners at the UNDESA and UNEU Governance Unit for making this session possible, the IGF Secretariat as well for believing in the session topic, as well as the audience for joining us today to talk about Tunisia. Before we begin the presentation, allow me to introduce myself and my colleagues. My name is Sabrin Dasharawi. I’m the project coordinator of the LUCI application in Tunisia. And I’m honoured to be here today with my colleague in the society, Selsabid Laiaqoubi, to share the latest updates and upgrades we’ve implemented at the local level. Okay, so before we… So in this session, we will focus mainly on two parts. Which represent the two most critical phases of the project. So in the next slide, you will find key messages of our session. I don’t know, Selsabid, if the audience is seeing the screen.

Deniz Susar: Yes, we see.

Sabrine Dachraoui: If you’re seeing the screen, moving to the next slide.

Deniz Susar: No, still at the first one.

Sabrine Dachraoui: Okay. Yes, now we see. Now we can see? Okay. Selsabid, if we can go back just quickly to key messages. Before I leave the floor to you to present the rest of the presentation. Good. We see right now, official partnership with the United Nations slide. If we can just move to the first part. Maybe you can continue explaining while the slide is coming up. Okay, so the first part of the presentation is…

Deniz Susar: Maybe you can continue explaining while the slide is coming on.

Sabrine Dachraoui: Okay, no problem. Okay, I’ll share from my side. Okay, I’ll share from my side. So I don’t know if the audience can see the screen moving.

Deniz Susar: It’s… Yes, we see now the first. Now we see the key messages. Please continue.

Sabrine Dachraoui: Okay, so in this presentation, we’re going to be mainly focusing on two phases of the LUCI project or LUCI implementation in Tunisia, assessing the MGP, which is the municipal government portals, using the LUCI framework, and the second phase, which is improving the municipal website using the LUCI-based approach. So for the LUCI application in Tunisia, and before I go ahead and introduce our work, I would like to give a quick introduction about our society. So our name is the Tunisian e-Governance Society. We are a non-governmental organization. We’ve been practicing for 10 years now. These are some of our vision, our mission and our goals. So we focus on transparent, intelligent and participatory governance model, smart governance, develop innovative policies as well. And we focus on using technology. We focus on open data and we focus on smart governance. And we are also involved in other initiatives. We’re not just in, let’s say, in LUCI assessment or engaged in LUCI project. We also have other initiatives with civil society, with academia and with other entities. We have here the Open Geodata Hackathon, the Metaverse Summit and our participation in the Open Government Week, where we presented our evaluation for ministry portals as well. So we also have three recently publications, international publications to our record. In March last year, we signed a memorandum of understanding with our partners at the UNDESA. just to highlight our collaboration on the LUCI methodology and its application in Tunisia. Of course, we have achieved a significant milestone in implementing the project in Tunisia. As you can see here, the timeline for our achievements, we first participated in the ICEGov last year’s edition in Pretoria, South Africa. We also published our report, which you can find it in the official website of the UNDESA. Our participation last year in the IGF through an open forum with our partners as well, UNDESA and UNU. And last, we have a recorded webinar where we presented our findings about the LUCI application in Tunisia. So this is a quick overview about, let’s say, our team structure. We have the project management, we have the review experts who are taking care of the review phase, and then we have our assessors. This is just to give you a quick overview about the expertise that we have in the team. With that, I leave you with my friend SALSABIL YAKOUBI to present to you the first phase and the second phase of our LUCI project. SALSABIL, the floor is yours.

Deniz Susar: Yes, just to remind the time as well, so if you can finish around 15 minutes, so we give some time for questions. Okay.

Salsabil Yakoubi: Thank you, everyone. So now we’re going to start presenting our phase one, which was basically evaluating the municipal websites using the LUCI framework. And so here we have the timeline for our LUCI project detailing the key phases throughout 2024, where we began the project initiation and the signing of the MOU in March, and this was followed by scope definition and comprehensive team training in April and May, data collection assessment from mid-July, with assessment reviews conducted in August. The crucial phase of result analysis and report development spanned from August to September, culminating in the presentation of our findings in November, and the structured approach ensured thorough and systematic application of the LUCI framework. And the primary goal of the LUCI assessment is, at the end of the day, to identify digital maturity of municipality-based portals for criteria communicated by UNTESA. And the assessment process begins with preparing a final list of municipality portals to be assessed, and then teams are assigned in pairs to these municipalities. The pre-assessment phase involves two key steps. First, reviewing the UN local e-government toolkit to gain a comprehensive understanding of LUCI groupings, ranges, indicators, and criteria. And secondly, thoroughly understanding the questionnaire and the LUCI indicators explained in the instruction column. Finally, the assessment involves filling out the LUCI questionnaire by scoring each evaluated indicator in the municipal government portal with a simple yes or no. And so here we’re going to try to just give you a quick demonstration of how that would work. And so we just picked three indicators for which belong to the content provision category. And starting off with, like, to just show you a brief overview how the assessment goes. And for example, for number 222, that’s the MGP present the list of services provided by the municipality. So here we pulled up a municipal portal in Tunisia. And if we go to services, we go to civil status services, and we will find the different kinds of services that they have and more information about that. And so that satisfies that criterion. And then, for example, information about municipality history, demographics, graphical region, economy, tourism, etc. And so here we could find that in if we go to the city of Sfax and definition of the city, we do find that information. And so that then that indicator is satisfied, as you can see here. And then the last indicator that we wanted to show, for example, the availability of the portal in different languages. So for example, here, we could switch from English to French. And basically, we reiterate that process with all the 95 indicators in all six categories, and then calculate the score if it exists as zero, if it doesn’t exist as zero, if it exists as one, and then that score is divided by the total number of indicators, which is 95. And that is just a very brief overview of like how the assessment process works. And so going back to our presentation, here, we reiterate the similar like what basically what we were talking about. So the 2024 version of the LOCIE methodology introduces a significant new criterion, which is the e-government literacy or ELI, which Mr. Dimitris has already mentioned. And this expands the total number of indicators to 95 distributed across six distinct criteria. And these criteria include institutional framework with six indicators, technology with 12, content provision with 30, service provision with 22, participation engagement with 15, and the new e-literacy with 10 indicators. The scoring method is again binary, where an indicator receives a value of one if it exists in the municipal portal and zero if it’s missing. And raw scores for each city are then divided by the total number of indicators, 95, to produce the LOCIE scores ranging from zero to one. These scores are then used to identify the digital maturity level of each municipality, categorized as very high for between 0.75 to one, high between 0.5 to 0.74, middle between 0.25 to 0.49, and low for 0 to 0.24. And this structured approach allows for a clear and quantifiable assessment for digital maturity. And so this slide details the geographical and demographic scope of our assessment. And so our study actually covers all 24 governments of Tunisia, encompassing a total of 24 municipalities. And so this broad coverage allows for a comprehensive understanding of e-governance across the country at the local level. And this slide presents the overall LOCIE results of the evaluated municipalities, where we can observe that 37 of the municipalities.

Deniz Susar: Can you please go full screen to see the whole slide? Is it possible? Yes, we just see speaker mode now, yeah. Definitely. Is. Yeah, it’s better.

Salsabil Yakoubi: Okay, sweet. Thank you. And so, yeah, we go back to the talking about the Tunisian results. And so these are the overall results. And as we mentioned, 37% of the municipalities, specifically nine out of 24, are ranked within the middle group. Conversely, a larger portion, or 63% of 15 municipalities fall into the low group. And this indicates a significant opportunity for improvement in digital maturity across many of Tunisia’s municipalities. And we have this chart that visually represents the distribution across the LOCIE index, from zero to 100%, with categories of low, middle, high, and very high. But as you can see here, most of Tunisia’s municipalities like between the row and the middle ranges. And so the slides provide a more granular view of the LOCIE scores, highlighting the top three municipalities. for each criterion for service provision, content provision, and for lastly, the tech. These results indicate varying strains across different aspects of e-governance among municipalities. This is basically a continuation of our analysis of the LOSI scores per criterion for e-literacy. We see outstanding performance from these municipalities, all achieving a perfect 100% actually when it comes to e-literacy. This highlights strong digital literacy initiatives in those areas. In terms of participation and engagement and the institutional framework criterion, these are the top performance. These detailed breakdowns of the top performers helps us pinpoint specific areas for improvement within each municipality, guiding a targeted intervention for improvement. As for our recommendations and based on our findings, we found several to improve the e-governance in the Tunisian municipalities. Firstly, to advance digital services, we recommend establishing responsive communication channels through advanced technologies and leveraging citizen centricity in service digitization. Secondly, to improve content provision, municipalities should develop user-friendly interfaces, provide thorough statistical data, regularly update municipal governmental portals, user statistics, and other multilingual content. Thirdly, extending the framework of our instructions, which involves strengthening open data policies to promote transparency and addressing gaps in privacy regulations and the right to access government information, and obviously building trust and accountability with citizens. Finally, to enhance the technical features, we suggest developing advanced search features for easier content navigation, improving user support features like frequently asked questions and help desk numbers, and these recommendations aim to guide municipalities toward higher digital maturity. And so, moving on to our second phase, where we move from more theory to action, and where we aim to improve the municipal websites using a low C base approach. And so, we now transition to the second phase using, and this is initiated in March 2025, which builds upon the insights gained from our initial evaluation and focuses on implementing targeted improvements to enhance the digital maturity of municipal online services. This is where our recommendations begin to translate into tangible actions, and our current project is actually focused on improving municipal websites, and the goal of this initiative is multifaceted to leverage research from the first phase to increase partnership between local government and civil society and improve municipal portal accessibility, really, for user experience and promoting digital inclusion at the local level. And the outputs will include training municipal members on how to conduct their own website evaluation and producing a report highlighting improved scores. And so, this is a project timeline which began in March with scope definition and team structure, followed by defining quick fixes in April, and then the pre-implementation phase in May with the implementation phase taking place in June, and post-implementation, lesson learner recommendation, and of course, the final report publication will soon follow. And this initiative involves checking portals, before and after updates, identifying problems in access, speed, and ease of use, improving structure, and ultimately making it easier for people to use. And this collaborative effort with Tunisian municipalities is actually very, very crucial for enhancing the digital governance. And so, for our scope definition, which is, again, a very crucial step for the second phase of our project, we clearly defined the scope in which ensures that our efforts are targeted and effective in promoting the municipal websites based on the LOSI framework. And this involves identifying specific aspects of the website to be addressed and the expected outcomes. And in defining the scope for improving municipal websites, we established a clear criteria for the selecting the municipalities that we want to be working with. And this criteria include their geographical location, their initial LOSI score, and their responsiveness to collaboration. For selecting the results, our priorities given to municipalities with low LOSI score, specifically those ranging from 0% to 24%, indicating the greatest need for improvement. And we also have a location-based meeting method with on-site meetings for municipalities outside of the capital region, and online meetings for those within, like, that are more far there. And communications facilitated through phone calls and emails. And the systematic approach ensures we focus our efforts on where they are most needed, and we can have the greatest impact. And so, actually, for the next step, and it’s a crucial part of our improvement strategy, it involves identifying and prioritizing immediate impactful changes that can be implemented to enhance the municipal websites. And these quick fixes are designed to address the most passing issues identified during the initial assessment phase. And so, our quick fixes framework classifies indicators into three categories, as you can see here on the screen, based on their complexity and aiming to improve the municipality score. And it’s important to clarify that the classification is based on the general complexity of the tasks from an international perspective, not necessarily on what is, like, currently available or practiced at the national level. And we have three categories, as I previously mentioned, which are easy adjustments, moderate adjustments, and hard adjustments. And this framework allows us to prioritize and implement changes effectively, starting with the easiest and most impactful adjustments. Yeah, so just a reminder that if you could conclude in two minutes. Okay, sure. So, for our pre-implementation phase, we undertook several key steps to initiate collaboration with stakeholders, conducting their mapping and outreach, identifying key municipalities. Secondly, we performed profiling, collecting conceptual data, and then, we drafted standardized partnership frameworks. And then, we aligned our shared goals, engaging municipalities in defining the improvement priorities. Finally, we formalized the collaboration by launching a pilot implementation discussion, such as Reba, which we’ll go over now. And so, actually, our chosen pilot is Reba, which has a SLUCI score of 30.52, placing it in the middle category, which is moderate for maturity, with room for significant improvement. And as you could see here on the screen, this is how they score for their LUCI, for each category on their LUCI scores. And here, this is a breakdown of all the missing indicators in the service provision, and their categorization based on our quick fixes framework. And these are for our content provision, where we see a lot of easy adjustments for institutional framework, with only one missing, for engagement and participation, e-government literacy, and technology. And so, here, we have, basically, our approach to implementing the quick fixes is based on batches, and starting with a small group of eight, and this allows us to validate the feasibility of implementation, ensuring our changes are practical, achievable, and demonstrating improvements as possible, with a minimal time cost and technical requirements, building trust, step-by-step, with the municipalities. And we chose this method to enable impact, and keep the collaboration manageable with municipalities, maintaining continuous communication, and of course, since our work reflects the voluntary resource limited capacity. And so, as a quick example, these are the suggested batch, for the first batch, these are the suggestions we made for service provision, and for content provision, and then for institutional framework. And here, you could see, actually, the suggestions that we made to the municipalities being reflected on their municipal websites. And so, actually, after the first batch, the score jumped from 30 to 39%, still placing it in the middle category, but still, we here have a proof of concept that this does work. And this is the score that we anticipate, after implementing all the easy fixes that we categorized for the Srebrenica municipality, and the score could jump above. 50% which would place the municipality portal in the high category. And as for our challenges, we encountered several from the lack of formal engagement channels as often unclear to who to contact, from the initial contact on trust building as we had to introduce the LOSI framework from its inception and the whole build credibility. Of course, we have limited resources on both sides, but we did tackle that by strategic outreach as we used our network. We also prepared documentation such as a partnership documents and one pagers outlining goals, roles and expectations. And of course, with consistent follow up, maintaining the regular friendly communication to keep them engaged. And so we do recommend using the existing networks and providing clear materials and most importantly, maintaining ongoing communication with the local partners. And at the same time, we have to balance ambition with realism. That’s why we’re going for the easy fixes first. And that’s why we’re doing it in batches. And so the way forward, as we look at it, we do see looking ahead, proposing several strategies to advance e-governance in Tunisia from advocating civil society organizations to collaborate closely with the municipalities to assist in the collection and publication of essential data and fostering PVPs for crucial e-service expansion, encouraging co-development of essential online services. And of course, we believe in collaboration with other countries interested in applying the LOCIE methodology and these international partnerships can provide valuable insights and beneficial exchanges about the best LOCIE application. And finally, we emphasize the importance of collaboration with the private sector for the technological upgrades. And so these partnerships can provide expertise and infrastructure development needed. And thank you everyone for your attention. We hope the presentation provided valuable insights into the application of LOCIE in Tunisia and our efforts enhance digital municipal governance at the local level and we’re open to questions and further discussions.

Deniz Susar: Thank you. Thank you so much, SALSABIL YAKOUBI. I think this was very, very helpful and congratulations for your efforts in this project. So you are not only applying, but you are also giving guidance to the public officials, which is very much appreciated. We have a little bit of time now for questions. I’m just following the script given to me. But before, I also mentioned that we are applying LOCIE methodology in the UK right now. So Aaron, if you want to just say two minutes about that, we’ll appreciate and then we can get questions for everyone.

Participant: Sure. Is my audio coming through well? Yes. Great. First, I just want to say thank you to everyone that helped organize at IGF, as well as my colleagues from UNDESA. I work alongside Dennis in New York. I’m sure you guys don’t envy being in Oslo when in New York, it was about 40 degrees Celsius the past three days. So I enjoyed the weather in Oslo, as well as the other amazing sessions happening at IGF in the meantime. So as Dennis mentioned, I work on the UK application of the LOCIE methodology. And I think the overarching theme that was touched upon, but that I really want to highlight in this brief input is that I think working together is more important than ever in this digital world, especially when it comes to improving the government services. As far as I can tell so far, it’s still in progress, but the UK does seem to be alongside Tunisia leading in this area. And the application of this LOCIE methodology in the UK really shows how innovative partnerships can improve people’s everyday experiences through local government, and in many cases leveraging university students, collaborations with national as well as the local municipalities. I think LOCIE and the UN provide the bridge to be able to turn this into a conduit to improve people’s everyday lives through, like I said, the digital services that are provided within their local governments. And what I like about LOCIE is it focuses on the practical cooperation, it measures how effective local government websites are, and encourages the groups and the parties involved to share their ideas and the strategies. And this teamwork that’s integrated within the methodology itself results in online services that are easier to use, more transparent, and truly more reflective of people’s needs on the ground. Thank you. The main point here is simple, when we work together and collaborate cross-functionally, just like with LOCIE, we achieve stronger and more accessible services, and the UK, just like with Tunisia, provides a further example of how entities can work together to deliver the results, because that’s how we’ll continue to deliver real improvements for communities everywhere.

Deniz Susar: Yeah, thank you, Aaron. Thank you so much. Can I ask how many cities in the UK? Just quickly. Oh, we cannot hear you, but I… Aaron, you’re muted. I was asking how many cities did you apply in the UK? Okay, we will go back to Aaron. But now, Dimitrios, do we have any questions online, if we can take, or anyone here from the audience, please?

Dimitris Sarantis: Thanks, Dennis. I don’t see any questions in the chat at the moment, so I will invite once more participants to submit the questions in the chat. We have some time to respond to comments or questions. I would like to make just a small comment on the presentation of Salsabil. I would say that this is a very good example, a very good case of using logic methodology as an improvement framework for local government, because I knew that they have done a very good work in assessing municipalities in Tunisia. I was not aware for the next step. They went, Tunisian, as we see now, Tunisian partner went a step forward. So using the results from logic applications to really not only improve local government, but also to suggest methodological steps to do that. I was really surprised with this categorization of improvement steps in clusters, easy, medium, and more difficult to be implemented. This is very interesting, because it gives this easy win-win opportunity to local governments to design quickly and successfully improvements in the local government websites. Also this interaction that Tunisian partner in government society has with the local government authorities to apply the results of logic application in government is very interesting. So these are some comments that I have to do on the presentation, and I will pass the floor to Sabrin.

Deniz Susar: Let’s get one more question from the audience, and then we’ll get back to you. Thank you. Please, gentleman here.

Audience: Thank you. My name is Steve McDowell from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. My question is about the term local government. What’s the scope of size? Because a city like Oslo could be called a local government, or a city with two or three hundred thousand people might be called local government and have very different sets of resources and size of citizens population that you’re dealing with.

Deniz Susar: Thank you. I think I can answer that one. So when we started this project, in order to cover as many people as possible, we started with the most populous city in each UN member state. So it is not the capital. Usually people confuse with that, but it is, for example, New York City in U.S. But we know U.S. has 50 states, and it’s very challenging to define. But when Tunisian colleagues apply the methodology in Tunisia, they choose each region. When we did in Brazil application, in Brazil, I think 50 states, they chose. largest city in each state, plus the capital city. So there is some flexibility there to extend. And the name doesn’t really reflect the application, so we are focusing more on cities.

Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen: If I may just complement that, the LOSI methodology, when colleagues like Dimitris go in and advise on how to apply the methodology in a specific country, we often suggest having a balanced approach. So when we talk about local government, in the UK they call it councils, in Denmark we call it municipalities, other countries have different names for that. But to try and find either a group of similar cases, so you can compare like with like as we say in academia, or try and get a representative sample. Because in most cases we can’t unfortunately assess every single local authority in a country. You also see that in some cases the city may not represent the whole metropole. So in Copenhagen for instance, it’s a city of some almost two million people in the metropole, but the municipality itself, Copenhagen, is 700,000 people. But the average size of a municipality in Denmark is about 55,000. So again, this is something we advise on, but it depends on the partner in terms of their resources and their strategic focus. But it’s then captured in the report what the case selection was,

Deniz Susar: and what the pros and cons are. Thank you very much. Sure, thank you for the question. Let’s go back to online again. Dimitrios, I think you had a question, or Sabrin wanted to say something.

Sabrine Dachraoui: I don’t know if we actually have questions, but thank you Steve for the intervention. That was actually a very interesting question. Our partners actually addressed the question very well. With that said, I would like to emphasize some points before we leave the floor for you, Denise and Morten, for the closing remarks, because we’re apparently running out of time. The main reason why we are here today at the IGF doing this session is because we believe in the potential of the joining forces. That said, our workshop is under the sub-theme of digital cooperation as it’s communicated, and it refers to the collaborative efforts between governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, all parties moving together to address global digital challenges. Some of the policy questions that we wrote in the descriptions, or we might go through them very briefly, as I said, the role of civil society and private sector. One of the significant takeaways from the Tunisian case study is the indispensable, let’s say, or important role of civil society. So we take us as an example, the Tunisian government society, we led the LOSI assessment, and this highlights how civil society organizations with their deep understanding of local communities can serve as crucial bridges between citizens and governments. They can independently collect data, they can assess services, they can provide valuable feedback, they can help governments identify gaps in areas of improvement to support governmental efforts. That’s a powerful model for advancing local digital governance, especially if governments or resources are limited. The next is the role of international organization and best practices. Now this is a scope, a scoop, sorry, for people who would like to collaborate with us. I would like to say is international organizations like UNDESA and UNU-IGOV play a vital role in this. Their provision of methodologies like LUSI along with guidance and support offers a framework, a standardized actually framework for assessment and global perspective on best practices. Another important note is that I know change can be challenging at some point. We want to see changes fast in local and our local governments, especially in our digital transformation journey, and that’s why addressing challenges in digital transformation requires a flexible approach, and this is what we were trying to apply in our second phase, is that we invented, let’s say, the quick fixes framework in that we wanted to apply this flexible approach of seeing the long term.

Deniz Susar: Just if you could conclude, so we have four minutes only. Okay, okay. But I want you to conclude in the next 15 seconds.

Sabrine Dachraoui: Okay, us as a society, I want to emphasize our openness to collaboration. So our team brings together experts across multiple disciplines, from technical implementation to policy design as well, giving us a unique holistic, let’s say, perspective of digital governance challenges.

Deniz Susar: If I can give two minutes to Morten, just to say, but Sabrin, you already started concluding the session. Your points are well taken and very to the point, Morten.

Dimitris Sarantis: I just wanted to put… Sorry Morten, before Morten, just one minute, because we have one question from the audience, from the participants. Can I make it? From Emmanuel Oruk from Uganda, how accessible

Deniz Susar: is it the project for a person with disabilities? Yeah, Dimitrios, if you can respond to that in

Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen: the chat, Morten. Okay, so I just wanted to put some of the findings of the Tunisian case into a global perspective, where the key weaknesses for the Tunisian municipalities are not the provision of information online, it’s more about transactional services. And this is where these findings also have a role to national policy and the role of national government in providing the key enablers for digital transactional services, like electronic identification, digital signatures, and providing also a national set of policy and technical components to enable and empower local authorities to deliver services online, not just information. And this is something we see not just being a challenge in emerging economies, we see this also in the classical global rich north, where federal countries, for instance, don’t have a national infrastructure for for e-identity or signatures. This is the case in Canada and the UK, for instance, and that becomes a barrier for transactional service delivery and the transactional development. So the local framework cannot work exclusively in isolation, it is linked to also national policy priorities and enablers and direction given from the national government. So that’s a very interesting outcome of the Tunisian in a regional perspective.

Deniz Susar: Thank you. Thank you so much, Mortan. And sorry for the rush, but we have two minutes about the accessibility question or any other one. We have relevant associated features with those, we are checking those, and I appreciate Dimitrios responding in the chat. So just to say a few words in the conclusion, I think Sabrin’s remarks was really to the point. So here at the IGF, this is the UN Secretary General’s Forum on Internet Issues. It brings technical community, private sector, civil society, and of course governments together, and I think this project was a very good example of that. So with the Tunisian E-Government Society who is leading this initiative, so we are reaching out to local government officials, but we are also creating collaboration. I think the second part of your presentation is an innovation. You are building on existing methodology and further expanding it, similar to our national and local E-Government toolkits, but you are really highlighting, and I think this will be a very good example for other countries to pick from here and learn from you. And I think it will definitely help others. So I just wanted to thank you for that and conclude this session here, and the recording will be available online, and I’m sure Sabrin, people interested will be in touch with us. So thank you very much, especially to the Tunisian E-Government Society for this excellent session. Thank you.

Agreement points

Multi-stakeholder collaboration is essential for effective digital governance

Speakers

– Deniz Susar
– Sabrine Dachraoui
– Participant

Arguments

Cross-functional collaboration between technical community, private sector, civil society, and governments exemplifies effective digital cooperation

Civil society organizations serve as crucial bridges between citizens and governments in digital governance initiatives

UK application demonstrates innovative partnerships leveraging university students and cross-functional collaboration

Summary

All speakers emphasized that successful digital governance requires collaboration across multiple stakeholders including government, civil society, private sector, academia, and international organizations, with each bringing unique capabilities and perspectives.

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

LOSI framework provides standardized yet flexible methodology for digital governance assessment

Speakers

– Deniz Susar
– Dimitris Sarantis
– Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen
– Salsabil Yakoubi

Arguments

Partnership model between UNDESA and UNU enables global and local digital governance assessment

LOSI framework provides standardized methodology with 95 indicators across six categories for assessing municipal digital services

Framework allows triangulation between national and local assessments for comprehensive digital governance evaluation

Binary scoring system (0 or 1) across 95 indicators provides clear quantifiable assessment of digital maturity levels

Summary

Speakers agreed that the LOSI framework offers a robust, standardized methodology that can be adapted to different country contexts while maintaining global comparability and providing clear, quantifiable assessments.

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

National policy enablers are crucial for local digital service delivery

Speakers

– Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen
– Salsabil Yakoubi

Arguments

National policy enablers like electronic identification and digital signatures are crucial for transactional service delivery

Results showed varying strengths across different e-governance aspects, with some municipalities achieving 100% in e-literacy

Summary

Both speakers recognized that local digital governance cannot operate in isolation and requires national government support through key infrastructure like electronic identification and digital signatures to enable full transactional services.

Topics

Infrastructure | Legal and regulatory

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the critical role of international organizations in providing standardized frameworks and methodologies that enable consistent assessment and improvement of digital governance capabilities across different countries and contexts.

Speakers

– Sabrine Dachraoui
– Dimitris Sarantis

Arguments

International organizations provide standardized frameworks and global best practices for local digital transformation

LOSI framework provides standardized methodology with 95 indicators across six categories for assessing municipal digital services

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Both speakers recognized that local government contexts vary dramatically across countries in terms of size, resources, and service delivery responsibilities, requiring flexible approaches to digital governance assessment and implementation.

Speakers

– Deniz Susar
– Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

Arguments

Local government size and resource variations require flexible methodology application adapted to country contexts

Local service delivery varies significantly by country context, with some municipalities responsible for 80% of citizen services

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Both speakers highlighted the importance of practical, collaborative approaches that build trust and demonstrate feasibility through manageable implementation strategies and innovative partnerships.

Speakers

– Salsabil Yakoubi
– Participant

Arguments

Batch-based approach enables manageable collaboration with municipalities while building trust and demonstrating feasibility

UK application demonstrates innovative partnerships leveraging university students and cross-functional collaboration

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Unexpected consensus

Civil society leadership in government digital transformation

Speakers

– Sabrine Dachraoui
– Deniz Susar
– Dimitris Sarantis

Arguments

Civil society organizations serve as crucial bridges between citizens and governments in digital governance initiatives

Cross-functional collaboration between technical community, private sector, civil society, and governments exemplifies effective digital cooperation

LOSI framework provides standardized methodology with 95 indicators across six categories for assessing municipal digital services

Explanation

It was unexpected to see such strong consensus on civil society organizations not just participating in but actually leading digital governance assessments and improvements, with government officials and international organizations fully endorsing this approach as effective and necessary.

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Innovation in methodology application beyond original framework

Speakers

– Salsabil Yakoubi
– Dimitris Sarantis
– Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

Arguments

Quick fixes framework categorizes improvements into easy, moderate, and hard adjustments for systematic implementation

LOSI framework provides standardized methodology with 95 indicators across six categories for assessing municipal digital services

Framework allows triangulation between national and local assessments for comprehensive digital governance evaluation

Explanation

There was unexpected consensus on encouraging and celebrating methodological innovations that go beyond the original framework, with international organizations praising local adaptations and improvements rather than insisting on strict adherence to established protocols.

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed remarkable consensus across all speakers on the value of multi-stakeholder collaboration, the effectiveness of the LOSI framework as both assessment tool and improvement methodology, the need for flexible adaptation to local contexts, and the crucial role of national policy enablers. There was also strong agreement on the importance of civil society leadership and innovative approaches to implementation.

Consensus level

Very high level of consensus with no significant disagreements identified. This strong alignment suggests the LOSI methodology has achieved broad acceptance and validation across different stakeholder groups, indicating its potential for wider adoption and scaling. The consensus also validates the multi-stakeholder approach to digital governance as both effective and necessary for sustainable improvements.

Different viewpoints

Unexpected differences

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed remarkable consensus among all speakers with no direct disagreements identified. All participants aligned on the value of the LOSI methodology, the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration, and the need for flexible implementation approaches.

Disagreement level

Very low disagreement level – this was a collaborative workshop presentation rather than a debate, with speakers building upon each other’s points rather than challenging them. The lack of disagreement suggests strong alignment on digital governance assessment methodologies and implementation strategies, which has positive implications for continued international cooperation and knowledge sharing in this domain.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the critical role of international organizations in providing standardized frameworks and methodologies that enable consistent assessment and improvement of digital governance capabilities across different countries and contexts.

Speakers

– Sabrine Dachraoui
– Dimitris Sarantis

Arguments

International organizations provide standardized frameworks and global best practices for local digital transformation

LOSI framework provides standardized methodology with 95 indicators across six categories for assessing municipal digital services

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Both speakers recognized that local government contexts vary dramatically across countries in terms of size, resources, and service delivery responsibilities, requiring flexible approaches to digital governance assessment and implementation.

Speakers

– Deniz Susar
– Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

Arguments

Local government size and resource variations require flexible methodology application adapted to country contexts

Local service delivery varies significantly by country context, with some municipalities responsible for 80% of citizen services

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Both speakers highlighted the importance of practical, collaborative approaches that build trust and demonstrate feasibility through manageable implementation strategies and innovative partnerships.

Speakers

– Salsabil Yakoubi
– Participant

Arguments

Batch-based approach enables manageable collaboration with municipalities while building trust and demonstrating feasibility

UK application demonstrates innovative partnerships leveraging university students and cross-functional collaboration

Topics

Development | Legal and regulatory

Key takeaways

The LOSI (Local Online Service Index) framework provides a standardized methodology with 95 indicators across six categories to assess municipal digital governance maturity levels

Multi-stakeholder partnerships between UN agencies, civil society organizations, and local governments are essential for successful digital governance transformation

Tunisia’s implementation across 24 municipalities revealed that 63% fall in the low digital maturity category, indicating significant improvement opportunities

The innovative ‘quick fixes’ framework categorizing improvements as easy, moderate, or hard enables systematic and manageable implementation of digital enhancements

National policy enablers like electronic identification and digital signatures are crucial prerequisites for local transactional service delivery

Civil society organizations can effectively bridge the gap between citizens and governments by conducting independent assessments and providing improvement guidance

The LOSI methodology is adaptable to different country contexts and can be expanded beyond single cities to comprehensive regional assessments

Resolutions and action items

Tunisia will continue with a second round of LOSI implementation to measure progress over time

The UK application is ongoing with partnerships involving the Ministry of IT and universities

Tunisian e-Governance Society will complete their pilot implementation with Reba municipality and publish results

International collaboration opportunities are open for other countries to apply the LOSI methodology through memorandums of understanding

Documentation and partnership frameworks will be made available to facilitate replication in other countries

Unresolved issues

How to effectively address accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities in digital service assessments

Challenges in establishing formal engagement channels with local municipalities and building initial trust

Resource limitations on both assessment organizations and municipalities affecting implementation scope

Defining optimal local government size and scope parameters for meaningful comparisons across different country contexts

Balancing ambitious digital transformation goals with realistic implementation timelines and capabilities

Suggested compromises

Batch-based implementation approach starting with easy fixes to build trust and demonstrate feasibility before tackling complex improvements

Flexible methodology application allowing countries to adapt the framework to their specific contexts and priorities

Strategic outreach using existing networks and providing clear documentation to overcome initial engagement barriers

Balanced case selection approach comparing similar-sized municipalities or creating representative samples when comprehensive coverage isn’t feasible

Leveraging university students and academic partnerships to supplement resource constraints in assessment activities

Over 65% of SDG targets fall under the jurisdiction of local authorities. So, this makes local digital governance not only relevant, but also essential.

Speaker

Dimitris Sarantis

Reason

This statistic fundamentally reframes the importance of local digital governance from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a critical component of global sustainable development. It challenges the common focus on national-level digital initiatives by quantifying how much development work actually happens at the local level.

Impact

This comment established the foundational importance of the entire discussion and provided compelling justification for why local digital governance deserves significant attention and resources. It elevated the conversation from technical methodology to global development impact.

One of the key findings from the 2024 survey is that national portals still tend to outperform local ones. However, we have seen that cities with strong collaboration between national and municipal governments, as well as those with clear institutional frameworks, score higher.

Speaker

Dimitris Sarantis

Reason

This insight reveals a critical gap in digital governance while simultaneously pointing toward the solution. It moves beyond simple performance metrics to identify the structural and collaborative factors that drive success.

Impact

This observation shifted the discussion from purely technical assessments to governance relationships and institutional design, setting up the framework for understanding why some cities succeed while others struggle.

Our quick fixes framework classifies indicators into three categories… based on their complexity and aiming to improve the municipality score… easy adjustments, moderate adjustments, and hard adjustments.

Speaker

Salsabil Yakoubi

Reason

This represents a significant methodological innovation that transforms an assessment tool into an actionable improvement framework. It demonstrates practical problem-solving that makes digital governance improvements accessible to resource-constrained municipalities.

Impact

This comment marked a pivotal shift in the presentation from theoretical assessment to practical implementation. It generated visible excitement from other participants, with Dimitris specifically noting he was ‘surprised’ and impressed by this innovation, calling it ‘very interesting’ and highlighting the ‘easy win-win opportunity’ it creates.

The local framework cannot work exclusively in isolation, it is linked to also national policy priorities and enablers and direction given from the national government… This is the case in Canada and the UK, for instance, and that becomes a barrier for transactional service delivery.

Speaker

Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

Reason

This comment provides crucial systemic perspective by identifying that even well-resourced developed countries face structural barriers to local digital service delivery. It challenges assumptions about what local governments can achieve independently and highlights the critical role of national infrastructure.

Impact

This insight recontextualized the entire discussion by showing that the challenges aren’t just about local capacity or resources, but about systemic policy and infrastructure gaps that exist even in advanced economies. It broadened the conversation from local implementation to multi-level governance coordination.

37% of the municipalities… are ranked within the middle group. Conversely, a larger portion, or 63% of 15 municipalities fall into the low group. And this indicates a significant opportunity for improvement in digital maturity across many of Tunisia’s municipalities.

Speaker

Salsabil Yakoubi

Reason

While presenting concerning statistics, this comment reframes poor performance as ‘significant opportunity,’ demonstrating a constructive, solution-oriented approach to digital governance challenges. It shows how assessment data can be used to motivate rather than discourage improvement efforts.

Impact

This framing helped maintain the discussion’s focus on solutions and possibilities rather than dwelling on deficiencies. It set the stage for the practical improvement strategies that followed and demonstrated how to use assessment results constructively.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally shaped the discussion by establishing a progression from global significance to practical implementation. Dimitris’s opening statistic about SDG targets created urgency and importance, while his observation about national-local collaboration identified critical success factors. The Tunisian team’s innovation with the ‘quick fixes’ framework represented the session’s most significant contribution, transforming the conversation from assessment to actionable improvement. Morten’s closing insight about systemic barriers provided essential context that elevated the discussion beyond local implementation to multi-level governance challenges. Together, these comments created a comprehensive narrative arc that moved from ‘why this matters globally’ to ‘how to make it work practically’ to ‘what systemic changes are needed.’ The visible enthusiasm and surprise from participants when the quick fixes framework was presented demonstrates how truly insightful contributions can energize and redirect academic discussions toward practical innovation.

How accessible is the project for a person with disabilities?

Speaker

Emmanuel Oruk from Uganda

Explanation

This question addresses the critical issue of digital inclusion and ensuring that local government digital services are accessible to all citizens, including those with disabilities, which is essential for equitable service delivery.

How many cities are being assessed in the UK application of the LOSI methodology?

Speaker

Deniz Susar

Explanation

This question seeks to understand the scope and scale of the UK implementation to better compare it with other country applications and assess the methodology’s reach.

What is the scope of size for local government in the LOSI methodology?

Speaker

Steve McDowell from Florida State University

Explanation

This question is important for understanding how the methodology accounts for the vast differences in resources, population size, and capacity between different local governments, which affects the validity of comparisons and assessments.

How can the quick fixes framework be applied and validated in other countries beyond Tunisia?

Speaker

Implied from Dimitris Sarantis’ comments

Explanation

The innovative categorization of improvements into easy, moderate, and hard adjustments represents a methodological advancement that could benefit other LOSI applications, requiring further research on its transferability and effectiveness.

How can national policy enablers (like e-identity, digital signatures) be better integrated to support local transactional services?

Speaker

Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

Explanation

This addresses a key finding that local digital governance cannot work in isolation and requires national infrastructure and policy support, which is a challenge even in developed countries and needs further exploration.

What are the best practices for civil society organizations to effectively collaborate with municipalities in digital governance improvements?

Speaker

Sabrine Dachraoui

Explanation

The Tunisian case demonstrates the potential of civil society leadership in digital governance assessment and improvement, but more research is needed on replicating this model and overcoming collaboration challenges.

How can the LOSI methodology be adapted to include smart city indicators while maintaining comparability?

Speaker

Implied from Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen’s mention of Korea and Brazil applications

Explanation

Different countries have complemented the core LOSI indicators with smart city-related measures, raising questions about how to balance local customization with global standardization and comparability.