Ponencia presentada en el ICEGOV2014, International Conference on Electronic Government, Albany, Estados Unidos, 2012, junto con Diego Cardona y Javier Sáez Core

1.
ICT for Development and the MuNet Program-
Experiences and Lessons Learnt from an
Indigenous Municipality in Guatemala
Jorge López-Bachiller
Municipality of Patzún Consultant
2ª calle, 2-75 zona 2, Patzún
Chimaltenango, Guatemala C.A.
+502 45 36 30 88
jlopezbachiller@munetguatemala.org
Javier Saenz-Core
MuNet II Project Coordinator
Italia 536 B- B8000DKL
Bahía Blanca, Argentina
+54 9 291 4545726
jsaenzcore@gmail.com
Diego Cardona
Universidad del Rosario
Calle 12 C No 4 – 80 of 1-01
Bogotá, Colombia
+57 311 2395061
diego.cardona@urosario.edu.co
ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to present experiences and lessons
learnt from the use and contribution of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) to the development of
the MuNet Program and one of its implementation
instances in Patzún (Guatemala). With 94% indigenous
population from the Maya Kaqchikel ethnic group, Patzun
economy is based on agriculture and handicraft. Since
2005, Patzun Municipality is part of the Efficient and
Transparent Municipality (MuNet) Program of the
Organization of American States (OAS). Due to the MuNet
Program, Patzun citizens and the local government were
empowered through the use of ICT and ICT-based
applications. As a result, citizens’ quality of life and
governance processes were improved.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.4 [Information Systems Applications]; J [Computer
Applications] - J.1 Administrative Data Processing –
Government
General Terms
Performance, Experimentation, Human Factors
Keywords
MuNet; Modernization; Local Government; Digital Divide;
ICT; Indigenous Population; Guatemala
1. INTRODUCTION
Located in the central part of Guatemala, Patzun has a
population of 52,000 - 94% of them indigenous from the
Maya Kaqchikel ethnic group. Agriculture products are the
main income for 90% of the population. Before 2005, the
community had poor access to ICT services. Informing
citizens was not a priority for the local government and
citizen’s participation was restricted to development tasks
and community councils.
The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2
presents the MuNet Program; while Section 3 one of its
instantiation - Patzun Municipality. Challenges and lessons
learnt from Patzun experience are discussed in Sections 4
and 5, respectively. Conclusions are drawn in Section 6.
2. MUNET PROGRAM
Continuous developments of ICTs have opened new
opportunities to transform governments. Electronic
Government (e-Government) refers to the ICT-based
transformations of government structures and processes
aiming at improving efficiency in government operations,
enhancing interactions with citizens and other social actors,
reducing transaction costs and incrementing users’
satisfaction on public services [14].
In Latin America, municipalities are the government level
where most social development activities take place.
Therefore, actions oriented to enhance relationships
between citizens and public administrations should start at
the municipality level to guarantee immediate perceptible
changes. Following this principle, the MuNet Program was
designed as part of the cooperation activities among the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) [15],
the “Andes Foment Corporation“ (CAF) [16] and the
Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) [17]
from OAS. The aim of the MuNet program is to help Latin
American municipalities in the adoption of ICT, as a tool to
increase transparency, efficiency and citizen participation.
The Program was launched in Latin America in 2005.
Comprising two phases, 11 countries and 22 municipalities,
including Patzún, participated in Phase I. The Program
methodology comprised achieving political support from
the mayor or local authority, creating a MuNet team with
municipality personnel and developing e-Government
strategies. In 2010, the Phase II of the Program was started,
with four participating countries - Panama, Guatemala,
Paraguay and Costa Rica, and 179 municipalities.
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2.
3. MUNET IMPLEMENTATION
PATZÚN EXPERIENCE
The execution of the MuNet Program in Patzun lasted for
four years. In such time frame, the municipal budget was
USD 6M, from which USD 32,000 were dedicated to ICT.
Despite the scarce resources, the municipality was able to
achieve its ICT-related strategic objectives due to
international cooperation and optimal management. The
implemented ICT initiatives are explained below.
3.1 Municipality Modernization
Initially, the Municipality had five old computers. The new
municipal government purchased new hardware and
software. Currently, 25 computers are available.
3.2 Internet Installation
The Municipality used to have a non-stable 256 kbps
Internet connection. This service was only available to the
Mayor, the Treasurer, and the Secretary. To improve the
service, a telephone company (Telgua) was hired to provide
a service of 1 MHz. Wiring of all municipality offices was
made and currently 30 staff have Internet access. Due to the
increase in personnel, more installations are being made in
new offices.
3.3 Employee’s Training
One feature of Patzún Municipality is the continuous
renewal of its staff. Therefore, new personnel have to be
trained to acquire the required skills. 35% of the personnel
do not have email accounts or do not use them properly. To
overcome this difficulty a corporative email platform
“@patzun.gob.gt” was deployed. In addition, personnel has
to be trained in the focused use of internet and its
applications to improve the services provided to citizens,
and to work with others government departments. To
promote a correct use of ICT, a user manual has been
developed and is shared with the new staff. In addition,
more communication devices are planned to be adopted.
3.4 MuNet Team
When the MuNet Program started, a MuNet team of
consultants was assembled and trained. Over time, this
team has been restructured with the incorporation of new
members. Nowadays, the team has a Program Manager,
who leads and defines the strategy.
3.5 Free Internet Access to Community
A part of the strategy to close the digital gap, Internet
access has been provided by the Municipality to the
community. Two free access points were installed equipped
with donated computers. The time for the use of computers
is restricted so more users can benefit from the service.
3.6 Community Digital Center
To reduce the digital gap, citizens need to be educated in
the use of ICT. In order to contribute to this task, national
and international institutions helped to create a Digital
Community Center. Opened in 2010, the Center offers free
ICT-basic courses (office and communication tools) to the
community and government institutions.
3.7 Government Website
A very important element of the Municipality ICT-driven
development has been the deployment of its website -
www.patzun.gob.gt. The website provides information
about the history, culture and geography of Patzun; as well
as information about the government’s agenda and how
citizens can be involved. Some sections, particularly those
dedicated to history and culture, include multimedia
materials, relying on free tools as Picasa and YouTube.
3.8 Language Stimulation
To promote and protect the Kaqchikel language, a team is
creating a Wikipedia version of the municipal website in
Kaqchikel. The team members are linguistics, Kaqchikel
speakers and local and international collaborators. Social
development is tightly related to the promotion and
protection of their culture. For this reason the content of the
municipal website is presented in Spanish and Kaqchikel.
3.9 Inter-Institutional Coordination
The success of the project mainly relied on the support
received from the Municipality, various public institutions
and private companies, as well as individual contributions
of collaborators from Guatemala and other countries.
Mainly, the project was developed and coordinated by
MuNet OAS, public institutions at Patzún and the National
Secretary of Science and Technology (SENACYT) [18],
Guatemala.
3.10 Other Initiatives
Some other experimental ICT-related initiatives are being
developed in Patzún in specific vertical domains: e-Health,
e-Safety, e-Learning, and e-Prevention. Results obtained so
far are positive, show the potential of ICT use.
4. CHALLENGES
After presenting the overview of the MuNet Program and
concrete examples of one implementation instance – the
case of Patzún Municipality, this section discusses some of
the main challenges faced during the project
implementation and the adopted approaches to overcome it:
o Resources – The Municipality faced difficulties to
allocate resources to the project. Resources are limited or
needed for other initiatives. Approach: To implement
small actions with great impact on the population and
thus convince the authorities about the benefit of
investing on the project.
o Human capital – The community lacked qualified human
resources able to teach informatics. Approach: To foster
international cooperation and appeal to national
organizations to contribute with such resources.
o Resistance to change – Municipal staff showed resilience
to change and adopt new working practices. Approach:
To manage cultural change and show how community
members become familiar with the use of ICT.
o Adoption of new practices – The team was uncertain
about the acceptance from public employees to adopt
ICT as a tool to enhance their efficiency, and apply it for
creating new applications. Approach: To show enhanced
efficiency in the management, leading and showing by
examples how staff can innovate on their daily work.

3.
o Changing staff - Some personnel previously trained on
ICT did not continue working at the municipality and
new staff was hired after the elections in 2011.
Approach: The new government hired younger staff that
was more familiar with ICT.
o Lack of support from central government – During the
implementation of Phase I there was lack of support
from the central government. Approach: In January
2012, the national government created the Digital
Agenda for the Change, which is expected to generate
decentralized actions. Municipal staff participated in
meetings at the national level aiming at identifying ICT-
related decision making areas or impact areas.
o Lack of strategy to bridge digital divide - Guatemala
does not have similar initiatives to reduce the digital gap.
Approach: At the local level, the two community centers
provided free internet access and delivered training on
basic ICT competencies and skills, contributing to reduce
the digital divide.
o Lack of awareness about potential benefits of ICT –
Local authorities possess limited knowledge on ICT and
its potential. Approach: Communicate in a massive and
effective way to municipal authorities the benefits
achieved through the use of ICT.
5. LESSONS LEARNED
The following two sections present some lessons learnt
from Patzún Municipality (Section 5.1) and from the
MuNet Program (Section 5.2).
5.1 Patzún Municipality
o Strategy for Digital Divide – The first important aspect
to consider is to create a strategy to reduce the digital
divide. Two mainstream topics of such strategy should
be indigenous people development and inclusion.
o Inter-disciplinarity – The project would have benefitted
more from a multidisciplinary team.
o Motivation – Part of the success of the project relied on
the highly-motivated team.
o Communication – The effective communication of both
strategy and implemented activities is crucial to raise the
interest of other institutions, creating the awareness and
support that the program requires.
o Stakeholders’ Participation – To enrich the opportunities
and benefits of the program, participation of
representatives from different areas - i.e. health,
education, youth, is required.
o Continuous Training – The support of local authorities is
needed to ensure continuous efforts to building human
capacity.
o Efficiency –The program proved the efficiency to change
traditional styles of working, reducing costs through the
use of ITC tools.
o Awareness – After taking the online e-Government
course delivered by the MuNet Program, the awareness
raised and competencies developed among government
staff constituted a key factor to design and implement e-
Government strategies.
5.2 MuNet Program
Community development in any municipality must be
accompanied with the provision of access to ICT. Since
indigenous populations have fewer resources and
opportunities, their inclusion in the knowledge society
requires the implementation of e-Government initiatives.
However, implementing such initiatives much rely on the
political will of community leaders and national authorities.
Major qualitative impacts of the MuNet Program include:
o Identifying municipal government strategic objectives in
the short, medium and long term
o Inspiring municipalities to improve their ICT
infrastructure to enhance connectivity
o Implementing online services for citizens
o Contributing to increase citizen’s trust in the municipal
government
o Expanding team members’ perspective beyond the local
context, stressing the importance of ICT in global
development.
o Deploying ICT applications to monitor the execution of
project-related tasks.
Lessons learnt from the execution of Phase I of the MuNet
Program are classified into the following perspectives:
o Program Planning – It is important to define the terms of
reference of project consultants and local stakeholders,
and to establish local teams ensuring that
interdisciplinary and multiple skills are represented.
o Training – Officials and municipal workers should have
a preparatory phase for the program implementation.
Technology Adoption – A wide gap was identified
among cultural and social diversity across teams. To
overcome differences, required and essential
organizational changes were implemented and a record
of the identified technical challenges was maintained for
future improvements. Additionally, as long as the
program implementation progresses and ICT becomes
embedded in the administration, new ICT demands
emerged from specific areas – health, education, etc.
o Political Management – Top-level leadership is essential
for project success. Such leadership should manifest
abilities in management and communication to share the
achievements with project stakeholders, and maintain the
e-Government strategy according to the municipal
development plan.
o Dissemination – Document all facts and events and
dedicate special efforts to internally and externally
disseminate the project progress. Moreover, awareness
should be raised among project stakeholders on the
opportunities offered by ICT.
o Sustainability – It's essential to create legal, financial,
and political instruments as well as building national and
international networks to provide project sustainability.
o Collaboration - MuNet contributed to strengthen
collaboration among government authorities and
officials, guaranteeing autonomy in the long term.
Methodological Approach - MuNet offered a
comprehensive methodological framework for the
municipalities to use.

4.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper introduced the MuNet Program and the
experience of its implementation in Patzun Municipality.
The Patzún experience - called “Patzún, all its information
in a click” has participated in several competitions; winning
a third place in the call to the best local innovations
organized by the Executive Secretariat of the Presidency
Coordination (SCEP). In addition, it has being nominated
in the category of e-Inclusion for the World Summit
Awards 2011 Guatemala.
Next steps for Patzún Municipality include presenting the
program and its progress to the Municipal Corporation and
obtaining their commitment to continue the activities under
the Modernization Commission, led by a Councilor. To
raise more visibility, there will be an official re-launch of
the website and presentation of the actions carried out by
the Municipality to reduce the digital divide. Finally, the
Municipality will continue its efforts to publicize its actions
in this field, both nationally and internationally.
Next steps for the MuNet Program include seeking allies in
government who are committed to implementing e-
Government strategies and updating and improving several
methodologies.
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