Success and Failure in eGovernment Projects

Success/Failure Case Study No.4

First Steps in Implementation of Pakistan's National Database & Registration Authority

Case Study Author

Mubashir Ahmed (mahmed@hrp.savechildren.org.pk)

Application

More an institution than an application, the creation of Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) arose from the merger in 2000 of the National Database Organisation and the Directorate General of Registration. The planned underlying technical infrastructure for NADRA is a nationwide data communication network using Internet protocols that will offer access to a central 'National Data Warehouse'.

Application Description

The intention behind NADRA is that it should develop:

It has also taken on a registration function, to register all people, things, births and deaths in the country, and to utilise information and communications technology to store and distribute this data.

Application Purpose

NADRA has been established in response to a number of issues. First, the lack of good quality nationwide data in Pakistan; for example, about who its citizens are or about the demographics of births and deaths. Second, the fragmentation of data within government, with multiple databases leading to duplication of effort and inconsistencies. Third, the previous fragmentation of organisational responsibilities between registration (data capture) and data storage. Fourth, perceived dangers of political interference in previous agencies. Fifth, the potential benefits that ICTs can offer in the capture, processing and dissemination of national statistics and other public data.

Stakeholders

NADRA has a very broad range of stakeholders. Since it aims to act as the focal point for large swathes of government data, almost every government body can be regarded as a stakeholder at both national and provincial level. This includes all those bodies concerned with revenue and tax; the armed forces; the police; and the election commission. Given plans for a national ID card, all Pakistan residents can also be seen as stakeholders.

Impact: Costs and Benefits

Great care must be taken in assessing the state-of-play with NADRA. It has announced an ambitious list of undertakings and potential benefits, ranging from fighting crime, terrorism and corruption to better national planning to improved poverty alleviation. However, it is, as yet, a very young organisation that has only just starting on the path of implementation. Intentions must not be confused with impacts. To date, NADRA has prepared a citizens' database and completed scanning and data entry of 64 million national data forms. Quality of data output from this exercise has been judged as good, although there have been delays.

Evaluation: Failure or Success?

It is too early to evaluate NADRA, except to say that it is implementing the first part of its project within a context of both enablers and constraints.

Enablers/Critical Success Factors

  1. Top-level commitment . Commitment of government from the highest level has been the most critical enabler. This has come not merely in terms of statements, but also in the commitment of large sums of money and other resources.
  2. Use of secure technology . New technology has been used to try to ensure that the issuance of identity cards and passports will be relatively foolproof and tamper-proof.
  3. Supportive human resources . Some human resource factors have been supportive. The project leadership appears well motivated, and the approach used has enabled large numbers of short-term staff to be hired to enter data onto the database swiftly.

Constraints/Challenges

  1. Human resource loads . Human resource issues have also been a constraint to NADRA's progress because of the massive HR requirements the project imposes. Lack of staff/skills and the difficulties of hiring short-term staff have led to some delays.
  2. Equipment shortage . Shortage of equipment (i.e. computers, scanners, sensors and other related accessories) has also been a major constraint in deriving maximum benefit from this exercise and in meeting timescales.
  3. Political instability . Although not a current issue for NADRA, large-scale information systems projects in Pakistan have often faced the challenge of political instability. Changes of governments have been frequent in Pakistan. Often, one government starts a project and when the next regime takes over, it immediately stops the project more on political than on cost/benefit grounds.

Recommendations

  1. Successful e-government projects require resource commitments . This means commitments of money, staff and equipment that must be present to sustain not merely project implementation, but also ongoing project operation. Sustainability of projects requires sustainable supply of resources. This applies equally to the resource of political support. Key stakeholders must support the e-government project both internally and externally, and must continue to support it throughout its life.
  2. Where personal data is involved, security and privacy issues must be addressed . Projects like NADRA are taking on a great responsibility: centralising a large set of personal data (about individuals' health, criminal record, etc.), making that data accessible online, and transferring large amounts of that data via networks. Such projects must give a high priority to issues of data security and data privacy: setting in place encryption, passwords, firewalls, and personnel policies that minimise the risk of data being corrupted or accessed illegally; and setting out a clear policy about ownership, responsibility, access and use for all data items.
  3. Stakeholder skills and awareness often need raising . In setting up a central e-government facility, care must be taken to attend also to the skills and awareness of other stakeholders involved. Users within government must be trained: not just to use the new technologies, but also to understand and manipulate the data they are accessing. Citizens, too, must understand more about data and more about ICTs if they are to be true stakeholders in such e-government projects, rather than merely passive observers.

Further Information

http://www.nadra.gov.pk

Case Details

Author Data Sources/Role : Web Site, Documents and Interviews; No Direct Role
Outcome : Too Early To Evaluate. Reform : eAdministration (making strategic connections in government).
Sector : General Services (Data and Statistics).
Region : South Asia. Start Date : 2000. Submission Date : August 2002

Last updated on 19 October, 2008.
Please contact richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk with comments and suggestions.