Re-designing the UN e-Government Survey in light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Towards a Post-COVID Digital Society

The e-Government Survey carried out by the United Nations has been a powerful tool for capturing the evolution of digital government in countries across the world, and to promote benchmarking and bench-learning, since its inception in 2001. Building on indicators measuring the adequacy of telecommunication infrastructure, the ability of human resources to promote and use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and the availability of online services and content, the Survey represents the most comprehensive overview of digital government progress at a global scale, and has achieved the status of well-established point of reference for practitioners and scholars alike. In a rapidly transforming global context, however, the Survey faces new challenges to capture the complexity of digital government evolution. In particular, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identified in the UN 2030 Agenda require the Survey to be revised and refined. Building on work carried out in preparation for and during the 2021 Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the E-Government Survey organized by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), this paper highlights critical issues, and suggests areas of development for the existing Survey, facing the challenges of a post-COVID digital society, and the ones of the SDGs.