Transforming E-government in Kazakhstan: A Citizen-Centric Approach

Abstract

The paper aims to analyze digitalization policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of e-government services implementation. While the digitalization services are innovation dissemination, the comprehensive plan is an innovation. In this paper special attention is given to the role of citizens in the process of digitalization and their satisfaction with the provision and quality of public services. Based on results of an analysis of state programs and public surveys of the population in 2017-2019, popular sentiment was found to indicate that the Kazakhstani government placed emphasis on the digitalization of public services without adequately considering whether their actions addressed the most pressing needs of society. The state digitalization programs were aimed primarily at automating the government’s business processes and creating state information systems and databases, processes that did not directly impact the day-to-day needs of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As a result, while the government’s business processes were automated, the number of documents required for many functions was reduced, and the timeframe for the provision of public services to the population was shortened, the concept of digitalization optimization itself was not fully implemented, for several reasons. One problem leading to failures in the implementation process is using the top-down policy creation approach. Thus, the research concludes that Kazakhstan should apply the citizen-centric approach to increase the readiness of the population to use the tools of digital government and improve their satisfaction.