A framework for assessing the socio-economic impact of e-governance projects in developing countries

A study of more than 100 e-Governance projects showed that impact assessment of rolled out e-Governance projects remain insignificant. These findings remain inconclusive notwithstanding the fact that outcomes of public sector based ICT4D initiatives have not been fully established and disseminated. This paper proposes a framework for assessing the socio-economic impact of e-governance projects in developing countries. Socio-economic indicators for e-Governance programmes are identified and grouped into both core and contextual indicators that form the basis for the development of an evaluation model. The proposed assessment framework centered on stakeholders' participation is then subjected to expert evaluation. Outcome of our evaluation revealed wide acceptance and acknowledgement of the relevance and importance of the framework not only by experts, but also through case-study based validation tests.