3. Evolution of the institutional ecosystem for e-government in Fiji

3.1 BACKGROUND

Fiji’s current e-government development dates back to a 2001 Strategic Plan and subsequent fact finding mission in 2003 on the feasibility of e-government. In 2006, the Government of Fiji formally instituted an e-government programme with the support of a loan from the Government of the People’s Republic of China.16 The e-government programme encompassed delivery of government services via an e-government portal and development of the Government Information Infrastructure (GOVNET). GOVNET connects government offices and eCommunity Centres (‘Telecentres’) located in schools.17 An early success is demonstrated in the placement of Fiji’s Government Online Portal as a finalist in the World Summit Awards in 2007.18

The Government of Fiji currently identifies four strategic purposes for its E-government Programme:

  • To implement financially sustainable service delivery models
  • To reinvent services delivery model to provide citizen-centric outcomes To enhance operational efficiencies within and across government agencies
  • To enhance ICT skills competency of government employees at all levels.19

3.2 HISTORICAL TRAJECTORY

By 2000, most government ministries and departments in the capital, Suva, were connected to the Internet services provided through the Department of Information Technology and Computing Services (ITCS). 20

The first E-government Strategic Plan (2001) was a 10 year plan covering four key areas: e-development (Fiji’s IT development); e-government (public sector development); e-business and e-personal.21 Commentators have pointed out a shortage of experienced ICT professionals which had a detrimental impact on the development of e-government at this time.22 The ICT and e-government picture in Fiji as of 2006, can be summed up thus:

“The government has adopted ICT applications such as standard financial packages and some government ministries have websites. In the business sector the ICT development is pretty advanced. Governance is the sphere in which Fiji lags behind. For instance, the accessibility of government ministries to existing ICT for effective, efficient and transparent service delivery and to enhance public knowledge of government services is challenged with the high cost of telecommunication and equipment”.23

Pathak et al. contend that the “use of ICT within government in Fiji developed gradually and without an overall guiding strategy”.24 This contention is supported by the findings of a survey assessing Fiji’s state of e-government readiness in 2006. The survey revealed almost 50% of ministries had no ICT budget plans in place.25

At this time, 12 out of 25 ministries had their own websites26 and e-government services were restricted to the provision of information and forms (e.g. passport application forms) that could be downloaded and printed. No transactions (e.g. payment for services) were possible.

By 2009, almost all ministries and departments had a website and online presence.27 Goundar analyses the progress of the Fiji E-government Programme against the United Nations E-government benchmarking ratings.28

According to this analysis, Fiji had made 100% progress against Stages 1 (Emerging), 3 (Interactive), and 4 (Enhanced) but only 2% progress against Stages 2 (Transactional) and 5 (Seamless). Goundar identifies citizens’ lack of credit/debit cards required to complete online transactions as a factor, as well as a general distrust:

“As for the transactional services, there seems to be some reluctance both on the government side and on the citizens’ side to fully embrace the idea of e-commerce transactions and online exchange of money with each other.”29

In 2011, the National Broadband Policy notes the Department of ITCS had 14 applications online across government ministries and agencies.30 As of 2015, there were 18 applications available on the e-government online portal (see Appendix A). However, the e-government online portal requires updating.31

The main e-government policy instrument is the E-government Master Plan.32 The plan articulates a ‘holistic’ e-government framework, which encompasses both technological and nontechnological aspects. The vision is primarily economic, namely, to increase Fiji’s Gross Domestic Product and reduce the cost of doing business.33

“Making government services more accessible, convenient and hassle free has been the strategy adopted by many governments in helping businesses become more competitive as well as in attracting new foreign investments into the country.”34

The current Government of Fiji E-government Programme was initially set up in 2006, with three main components which continue to date:35

  • Public Contact Centre (PCC) - the Government Call Centre for citizens to get clarifications or complain about any government service
  • Government Information Infrastructure (GII) - The GII stream is responsible for the upgrading and maintenance of the Government Information infrastructure, which involves:
    • Implementation of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) across various ministries and departments
    • Connection of government offices to the government network (GOVNET)
    • Overseeing the construction of the Government Data Centre
  • E-Applications: This stream is responsible for managing and developing the various Government Online Applications and websites, and deploying it on the e-Government SharePoint Framework.

The National Broadband Policy (2011) expands on the third component, stating: “Government shall develop a range of lead applications for delivery of new, enhanced or extended services online using broadband in Health, Education, Tourism and primary production”.36

The E-government Programme is implemented by the ‘Information Technology & Computing Services Unit’ (ITCS) based under the Ministry of Finance (previously the Department of Information Technology & Computing Services). ITCS is the ICT arm of the government and is responsible for policy formulation and expert advice, systems development, information technology infrastructure building and management, training and customer support.37 ITCS has a head office in Suva, and regional offices in Labasa and Lautoka.38 In 2013, oversight of the e-Government Programme (‘e-services’) was subcontracted to a private sector company, Pacific Digital Technologies, which has conducted a review of e-government in Fiji to date, and developed a roadmap for future development.39

At a policy level, the strategic vision for e-government is aligned with national strategic frameworks.The e-Government Programme is aligned with key policy instruments:

  • National development objectives set out in the Strategic Development Plan (SDP 2003-20): GDP growth; employment and income opportunities; build competency; alleviate poverty; maintain law and order;40
  • National goal of ‘universal access to internationally competitive ICTs’.41

The government’s public statements on e-government have a vision of connectivity between government, business and citizens. In 2014, the Prime Minister expressed a vision for ICT to enable direct delivery to Fijian citizens:

“In reforming and developing its information and communication technology infrastructure, Fiji has adopted a comprehensive approach by combining a national framework for lCT development with effective and pragmatic policies and initiatives to deliver results directly to the Fijian people”.42

Although there is an alignment between e-government vision, and national development and ICT frameworks, there is no focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment within this alignment.

3.3 E-GOVERNMENT AND CONNECTIVITY ARCHITECTURE

“Meaningful access to ICT has gone beyond connectivity issues to embrace human, economic and social resources, institutional structures and governance networks, which are central to developmental outcomes.”43

Fiji gained Internet access in 1995. The connection to the Southern Cross cable was implemented in 2000, strengthening the island nation’s connectivity to the rest of the world.44 This new connectivity was not available across the country (concentrated in urban centres) and was expensive. Limited ICT infrastructure and access was identified as leading to a sharp division between rural and urban areas in Fiji.45 Chand46 identifies a number of barriers to rapid development of e-government in Fiji (and other Pacific Island Countries):

  • lack of development of infrastructure in rural areas, particularly access to electricity and telephones;
  • remoteness of small islands;
  • lack of funds to develop e-government;
  • lack of senior computer skilled people; and
  • lack of prioritisation of e-government.

The Settlement Agreement (2007) and Telecommunications Promulgation (2008) deregulated and reformed Fiji’s telecommunications sector, resulting in large price decreases and increased access.47

As with many Pacific countries (and developing countries globally), Fiji’s connectivity architecture has leapfrogged over telephone and fixed broadband to mobile Internet connectivity.48 Indeed, Fiji’s predominantly mobile connectivity reflects the global trend, with mobile phones becoming “increasingly powerful portals granting access to the online world”.49

The number of mobile phone subscriptions in Fiji grew rapidly from 35 per 100 inhabitants in 2006 to 101.1 per 100 inhabitants in 2013.50 There are no official data available on women’s uptake of mobile phones.

In the first comparative analysis of e-government and gender inclusion in 11 selected Asia Pacific countries, women’s access to ICT is highlighted as a critical prerequisite for e-government to support gender equality.51 The Review was unable to access any data on Fijian women’s access to ICT infrastructure (affordability; number/location of facilities; digital literacy in relation to men).

ITU STATISTICS FIJI 2013 DATA52

Fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 8.5
Mobile-cellular 101.1
Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 1.2
Mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 53.5
Households with a computer (%) 34.2
Households with Internet access at home (%) 26.7
Individuals using the Internet (%) 37.1

UNITED NATIONS E-GOVERNMENT SURVEY 201453

Fiji Telecommunication Infrastructure Index 0.2872
Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 33.74
Fixed- telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 10.11
Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 98.18
Fixed (wired) - broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 1.55
Wireless broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 23.39

Fiji’s mobile price plans are among the lowest cost-to-user in the Pacific region: out of twenty regional mobile phone plans, Fiji has the third cheapest plan for mobile phones (low level use and typical pre-paid use) and sixth cheapest for short message service (SMS) based use.54 Over 2012-13, prices dropped across all plans in Fiji.55 As a percentage of income, low level mobile data usage costs around 7.5% of average monthly income.56 As of 2013, bundles (calls, SMS and data) were not available in Fiji. Personal affordability has dramatically changed following competition in the market and many people have both Digicel and Vodafone SIM cards to take advantage of this competition (e.g. special offers, lower prices to call same provider phone numbers).57 Customers are further incentivized to have two phone providers because connectivity can vary between Digicel and Vodafone in different locales.

Broadband

Broadband connectivity is recognized as a key component of the institutional e-government ecosystem. In 2011, Fiji launched its first National Broadband policy, setting out the government’s vision for Fiji to become a knowledge based society with reliable and affordable ICT services.58 The National Broadband Policy identifies improved broadband as a key driver for: “improved public administration and service delivery through the development of e-government online transactions to improve quality, save cost and increase convenience”.59 The policy explicitly references universal access and defines access as a “function of availability, affordability and capacity to use”.60 As such, broadband access shall be addressed in programmes for communities “bypassed by market forces”.61 This includes a specific policy objective to “achieve broadband service availability to 95% to all urban, suburban and rural communities (and 100% of all primary and secondary schools) by 2016”.62

Although social inclusion is a stated benefit of increased broadband availability,63 the policy does not include strategic objectives to promote digital inclusion for women or other marginalized groups. The policy does not include a gender budget.

3.4 CITIZEN UPTAKE OF E-GOVERNMENT SERVICES

The stated intention of the e-Government Programme is to facilitate services on three levels:

  • Government to Government
  • Government to Business
  • Government to Citizen

The Review was not able to access data on uptake of e-government services at any service level. There are some data available on e-participation at a national level. In 2014, Fiji’s global e-participation index64 ranking was 84, just under the world average, and a rise from 109 in 2012.65 Fiji’s e-participation was 0.3922, highest in the sub-region (Pacific) (and up from 0.0789 in 2012).

Naz’s research on the role e-governance can play in public service delivery in Fiji found wide variance in citizens’ perception and expectations of service delivery and quality of services.66 Research participants (n=198) were asked whether e-governance was having a positive or negative effect on improving services and the way they accessed services. 54.6% felt e-governance was having a very positive/ somewhat positive effect, 23.7% were neutral, and 20.7% felt a very negative/ somewhat negative effect.

A 2006 survey assessing Fiji’s state of e-government readiness revealed more than 50% of government services required customers to make at least two trips, and 60% of the services need more than two levels of approvals.67 This is in line with commentators’ views at the time: “public sector red tape is the biggest hurdle in the way of improved government-citizen relationships.”68 To date, access to e-government services has not yet broadened to include mobile platform based applications.69

Of the four strategic purposes outlined in the e-Government Programme (refer Section 3.1), one is solely focused on stakeholders’ perceptions and experiences of government: Reinvent services delivery model to provide citizen-centric outcomes.70

The E-government Master Plan states:

“for E-government to succeed, government departments and agencies must move away from the current practices and reinvent service delivery models that primarily focus on the needs of their major stakeholders i.e. citizens, businesses and government employees…this cannot be solved by technology alone...but requires...sound IT governance and leadership, business process redesign and integration, cooperation amongst government agencies, private-public sector collaboration and adoption of a customer centric mind-set on the part of both government leaders and employees”.71

The extent to which such a shift in the government-citizen relationship has happened, however, has been questioned. Rahman and Naz point out the risk of ‘top down’ e-government:

“E-governance will definitely fail if the participatory process that it required of a citizen-centric system is not embedded in the initiatives. Our underlying assumption is that if citizens are not included in the e-governance model of development, then the potential of e-governance as a tool for poverty alleviation cannot be harnessed and the digital divide will certainly widen not only between elites in the South and those in the North but also between the rich and the poor within urban and rural areas and between the State and the citizens in a society such as Fiji.”72

Commentators point out the lack of ‘bottom up’ input and demand informing and creating new dynamics in e-government strategy:

“Due to the absence of such an involvement from the very grassroots level, a divide exists between ministries, departments, agencies of government and the ordinary communities, particularly those living in outer islands and remote locations.”73

“Government agencies in...Fiji do not seem to be much motivated to build sound government-citizen partnerships. Citizens can see little of the internal workings of government.”74

“Governments need to develop citizen-centric models that involve increased participation of key stakeholders outside government.”75

The government’s vision for e-government has been criticized for lacking focus on the potential of ICT and e-government to address human development.76

A 2004 policy submission on the draft IT Policy77 by the University of the South Pacific (USP) calls for increased emphasis on the application of ICT to human and social development.78 In particular, a lack of vision to harness ICT for poverty reduction has been pointed out. Poverty is a significant issue in Fiji and some academic commentators think e-government initiatives have not been sufficiently integrated into policy attempts to tackle a complex and multidimensional problem.79 Further,

“Poverty in Fiji is more about communication and access than lack of physiological needs. It is about being deprived of the information needed to participate in the wider society...at the grassroots level people are still unconnected. They are not empowered to participate in the planning and implementation of policies that affect them.”80

Research on e-government, public governance and corruption by Pathak et.al. highlights critical gaps between the people and government with regards to ICT development: “(D)espite repeated government instability, corruption that seems to grow progressively and poverty..., Fiji has made significant investments in ICT”.81 Chand criticizes e-government’s progress to date, stating that it is predominantly aimed at promoting and servicing the business sector and benefitting middle/upper class citizens who can access Internet services. Under these conditions, poor urban and rural citizens become even further marginalized.82

There is a dearth of recent (post-2010) academic critique of access to e-government and ICT in Fiji, and the most up-to-date data on e-participation indicates greater inclusion (see following section). The deregulation of the Fijian telecommunications sector (2007- 08) which resulted in significant price drops for mobile phones, the rise of Internet enabled smart phones and the adoption of 3G and 4G broadband may help explain greater inclusion. However, the extent to which increased Internet access to e-government includes the most marginalized citizens (poor, women, rural) is not clear.

3.5 CURRENT STATUS OF E-GOVERNMENT SERVICES

Fiji’s E-government Development Index ranking

In 2014, Fiji ranked as a ‘High’ E-government Development Index country, coming third highest in Oceania after Australia and New Zealand.83 Fiji’s ranking climbed twenty places from 2012 to 2014 (from 105 to 85). Within the Pacific sub-region, Fiji leads across all E-government Development indices (online service delivery; telecommunication infrastructure; human capital).84 This picture of e-government represents a shift from the barriers to e-government identified by Chand85(see Section 3.3). This change can be accounted for by the development of the Government of Fiji e-Government Programme.

Currently, e-government in Fiji primarily consists of online information and applications for a limited number of services. The government has an official website through which it provides information on various government ministries and current news.86 The government site includes official press releases and links to government agencies with their own websites. The e-government webpages indicate around 55 government ministries and agencies and statutory, regulatory entities have their own websites,87 including the Fiji Parliament.88

A number of online government services are available to individuals and businesses via the e-government portal. These include, for example, registration of company names; foreign investors’ business applications; application for government scholarships; registration for exams and results publishing; application for forestry licenses; online services for marriage registration (special license) and requests for birth, death and marriage certificates (see Appendix A for a full list of services).89

The website of the Ministry for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation offers information but no online services. There are no links to the e-government online portal or other online services.90

Other key elements of the E-government Programme are government-to-government applications. Government stakeholders91 gave the following examples:

  • digitisation of land records (titles and deeds), allowing online availability of all land records to public servants in the relevant Ministry;
  • digitisation of medical records accessible by health personnel (each Fijian has a National Health number);
  • online tax system accessible by tax professionals. The intention is for tax payers to be able to access tax and superannuation services (Fiji National Provident Fund) online in the future (each Fijian has a Tax Identification Number)
  • online applications for specific Ministry programmes used in-house by Ministry staff (rather than for public applications online). An example given is the Ministry for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation application for single parent assistance.

The aim is to move most counter services to online services in the next 3-5 years.92 An example of two flagship e-government initiatives are outlined in the text boxes below.

BOX 1
ELECTORAL REGISTRATION

The Information Technology & Computing Services Department implemented a computerization of the 2001 elections, facilitating registration and verification of voters. A website allowed voters to check their electoral details were correct. While this proved useful during the pre-election period, the website apparently generated a number of privacy issues and as a result was brought offline and the May 2006 election was not put online.93 Privacy issues were resolved for the September 2014 election and the system was again online.94 During the 2014 election, voters were able to check online and via mobile phone whether they were registered to vote and their polling station. Each Fijian citizen of voting age has an Electronic Voter Registration Number. Key informant interviews report the system worked very well.

BOX 2
GOVERNMENT TELECENTRES

The Fijian Government Community Telecentre (GCT) Initiative (‘Telecentres’) is a flagship Government of Fiji initiative aimed at increasing IT and Internet access for rural, urban and peri-urban communities. The programme began in 2011 under the Ministry of Communications. Most Telecentres (referred to as e-community centres on the Government of Fiji e-government website) are located in schools. Telecentres are open during school hours and after school between 4.00pm - 9.00pm. Access is free and there are Telecentre assistants (‘Lab assistants’) to provide technical support. There are currently 26 Telecentres nationally. By April 2015, over 125,000 users had accessed Telecentres. The Telecentre programme made it to the nomination round of the 2015 Project Prize (Capacity Building category) by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the only Pacific Island Country to obtain this distinction.

 

  1. http://www.itc.gov.fj/index.php/egovernment and http://www.i-policy.org/2008/08/fiji-e-government-plan. html, Retrieved 10 March 2015 and Goundar, Sam (2009). An Evaluation of Fiji’s E-Government Status: Assessed According to UN Report on Benchmarking E-Government Progress, http://www.academia.edu/999429/An_Evaluation_of_Fijis_E-Government_Status_Assessed_According_to_UN_Report_on_Benchmarking_E-Government_Progress, Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  2. http://www.itc.gov.fj/index.php/egovernment , Retrieved 14 April 2015
  3. http://www.wsa-awards.org.nz/showcase/2007-pacific/fiji-government.html , Retrieved 15 March 2015
  4. https://www.egov.gov.fj/default.aspx , Retrieved 30 March 2015
  5. Hassall, G. (2006), ITC Policy and Practice in the Fiji Islands, http://www.irma-international.org/viewtitle/11425/, Retrieved 8 November 2015, pp 471.
  6. Data’3, e-Government Strategic Plan cited in Hassall , G. (2006), op.cit.
  7. Pathak, R. D., Singh, G., Belwal, R., Naz, R. & Smith, R. F. I. (2008), E-governance, corruption and public service delivery: A comparative study of Fiji and Ethiopia, JOAAG, Vol. 3. No. 1.
  8. Rahman, Mohammad Habibur & Naz, Rafia (2006), ‘Digital Divide Within Society: An Account Of Poverty, Community And E-Governance In Fiji’, E–Learning, Volume 3, Number 3, 2006, pp 333.
  9. Pathak, R. D., Singh, G., Belwal, R., Naz, R. & Smith, R. F. I. (2008),op.cit, pp 69.
  10. Government of Fiji (2008), Governance of E-government Final Report , http://www.i-policy.org/2008/08/ fiji-e-government-plan.html , Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  11. Chand, Anand (2006), E-Government In The South Pacific Region: Case Studies From Fiji And Solomon Islands, A Paper Presented At E-Government Conference, Organized By Undp And Uncrd, Bangkok, Thailand, 24-27 April 2006
  12. Goundar, Sam (2009), op.cit.
  13. Stage 1. Emerging: an official government online presence is established; Stage 2. Transactional: users can actually pay for services and other transactions online; Stage 3. Interactive: users can download forms, e-mail government officials, and interact via the web; Stage 4. Enhanced: government sites increase, information becomes more dynamic; Stage 5. Seamless: full integration of e-services across administrative boundaries.
  14. Goundar, Sam (2009), op.cit, pp 9.
  15. Government of Fiji (2011), National Broadband Policy, pp 13.
  16. Key informant interviews. See Appendix B for details.
  17. Government of Fiji (2007), Fiji E-government Master Plan Final Report.
  18. Ibid, pp 18-22.
  19. Ibid, pp 20.
  20. http://www.itc.gov.fj/index.php/egovernment/our-e-gov-program Accessed 20 April 2015
  21. Government of Fiji (2011), op.cit,pp 10.
  22. www.itc.gov.fj, Retrieved4 May 2015
  23. Information, Technology and Computing Services (2009). Fiji e-government – Infrastructure Dependant Fiji e-Government – Infrastructure Dependant Presentation by Network & Communications ITC Services, PACNOG Workshop, November 2009
  24. Cabinet paper, not publicly available.
  25. Government of Fiji (2007), op.cit, pg. 23
  26. Government of Fiji (2002), Strategic Development Plan (SDP) 2003-20, pp 90.
  27. United Nations (2014), H.E. Mr. Commodore Josaia V. Bainimarama, Prime Minister, Fiji, Selected messages on ICT and public service delivery, General Debate, 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly – September 2013.
  28. Reddi, U. (2011), op.cit., pp139-140.
  29. Hassall, G., (2006), op.cit.
  30. Toland and Purcell, 2002 cited in Pathak, R. D., Singh, G., Belwal, R., Naz, R. & Smith, R. F. I.(2008),op.cit.
  31. Chand, Anand (2006),op.cit., pp 4.
  32. World Bank (2010), ‘Telecommunications/ICT development in the Pacific Region: World Bank involvement’ ,Paper presented at Pacific ICT Ministerial Meeting, Tonga, June 2010.
  33. Cave, Danielle (2012), op.cit., ITU (2014), Measuring the Information Society, https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/publications/mis2014/MIS2014_without_Annex_4.pdf, pp 110.
  34. Broadband Commission for Digital Development (2014), The State of Broadband 2014: Broadband for all, http://www.broadbandcommission.org/documents/reports/bb-annualreport2014.pdf, pp 45.
  35. https://www.itu.int/net4/itu-d/icteye/CountryProfile.aspx#AsiaPacific , Retrieved 26 April 2015
  36. UNPOG (2013), op.cit., pp 5.
  37. Ibid.
  38. United Nations E-Government Survey (2014), E-government for the future we want, http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/Portals/egovkb/Documents/un/2014-Survey/E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.pdf, pp 224.
  39. Hansen,S. (2013), ‘Mobile connectivity and affordability in the Pacific: the 2013 update’ ,Presentation for APT / PITA April 2013: Network Strategies, https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/asp/.../ITU-APT-S1_Suella_Hansen.pdf, Retrieved 28 April 2015
  40. Hansen, S.(2013), op.cit, pp 8-10.
  41. Hansen, S. (2013), op.cit. Pp 13-15. This compares, for example, with 26% of average monthly income in Solomon Islands.
  42. Key informant interviews, See Appendix B.
  43. http://www.i-policy.org/2011/10/the-fiji-government-launches-national-broadband-policy.html, Retrieved 13 March 2015
  44. Government of Fiji (2011),op.cit, pp 4.
  45. Government of Fiji, (2011), op.cit, pp 8.
  46. Ibid.
  47. Government of Fiji, (2011), op.cit, pp 9-10.
  48. Government of Fiji, (2011), op.cit, pp 3-4.
  49. The e-participation index is derived as a supplementary index to the UN E-Government Survey. It extends the dimension of the Survey by focusing on the use of online services to facilitate provision of information by governments to citizens (“e-information sharing”), interaction with stakeholders (“e-consultation”), and engagement in decision-making processes (“e-decision making”). http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/en-us/About/Overview/E-Participation, Retrieved 4 May 2015
  50. http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Data/Country-Information/id/59-Fiji , Retrieved 20 April 2015
  51. Naz, Rafia (2009), ‘E-Governance for Improved Public Service Delivery in Fiji’,Journal Service Science & Management, 2009, 3: 190-203, www.SciRP.org/journal/jssm, Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  52. Government of Fiji (2008), op.cit.
  53. Pathak, R. D., Singh, G., Belwal, R., Naz, R. & Smith, R. F. I. (2008),op.cit, pp 75.
  54. Key informant interviews, See Appendix B.
  55. https://www.egov.gov.fj/default.aspx, Retrieved 30 March 2015
  56. Government of Fiji, (2007), op.cit., pp 25.
  57. Rahman, Mohammad Habibur & Naz, Rafia, (2006),op.cit, pp 334.
  58. Rahman, Mohammad Habibur & Naz, Rafia, (2006),op.cit, pp 328.
  59. Singh, G., R.D. Pathak, R.Naz, R.Belwal, (2010).”E‐governance for improved public sector service delivery in India, Ethiopia and Fiji”, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 23: 3, pp.254 - 275
  60. Pathak, R. D., Singh, G., Belwal, R., Naz, R. & Smith, R. F. I. (2008),op.cit, pp 75.
  61. See Chand, Anand (2006), op.cit., and Pathak, R. D., Singh, G., Belwal, R., Naz, R. & Smith, R. F. I. (2008),op.cit.
  62. Government of Fiji (2004). Fiji Information Technology Development Policy e0FIJI The Future Online.
  63. Hassall, G.(2006), op.cit.
  64. Rahman, Mohammad Habibur & Naz, Rafia, (2006),op.cit, and Chand, Anand (2006), op.cit.
  65. Rahman, Mohammad Habibur & Naz, Rafia, (2006),op.cit, pp 326
  66. Pathak, R. D., Singh, G., Belwal, R., Naz, R. & Smith, R. F. I. (2008),op.cit, pp 68.
  67. Chand, Anand (2006), op.cit, pp 7.
  68. United Nations E-Government Survey (2014), E-government for the future we want, http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/Portals/egovkb/Documents/un/2014-Survey/E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.pdf, Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  69. The biennial United Nations E-Government Survey report ranks countries in the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) by measuring their use of information and communications technologies to deliver public services. EGDI is composed of three critical dimensions of e-government, namely: scope and quality of online services (Online Service Index, OSI); development status of telecommunication infrastructure (Telecommunication Infrastructure Index, TII); and inherent human capital (Human Capital Index, HCI). http://unpan3.un.org/ egovkb/en-us/Data/Country-Information/id/59-Fiji Accessed 20 April 2015
  70. Chand, Anand, (2006), op.cit.
  71. www.fiji.gov.fj , Retrieved 20 April 2015
  72. http://www.itc.gov.fj/index.php/egovernment/15-about-us/192-other-fijian-government-sites Retrieved 3 May 2015
  73. http://www.parliament.gov.fj/, Retrieved 3 May 2015
  74. List of available services at https://www.egov.gov.fj/default.aspx is the most up to date information available to the Review, Retrieved 3 May 2015
  75. http://www.welfare-women.gov.fj/ Accessed 4 May 2015
  76. Key informant interviews, see Appendix B.
  77. Key informant interviews, see Appendix B.
  78. Chand, Anand, (2006), op.cit., pp 5.
  79. Key informant interviews, see Appendix B.