Diia – Ukraine implements the world’s leading digital government in the midst of war. what is our excuse?

Ukraine has successfully implemented a surprisingly comprehensive set of digital government services, with 70 key public services available, half of the adult population participating, and by 2024 all The goal is to digitize government services. in a war with Russia.

The stunning achievement was announced at a special meeting of the CIO Strategy Council, a group of Canada’s leading CIOs and industry leaders.

Senator Colin Deacon opened the special event and introduced Mstyslav Banik, Director of eServices Development Directorate, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ukraine. Banik appeared via his Zoom link from Ukraine. A video recording of the presentation can be found at this link.

According to Senator Deacon, one of the first actions President Volodymyr Zelensky took immediately after his election was to create a Ministry of Digital Transformation with the explicit goal of “building the most convenient country in the world.” Yes, it was more than just digitizing services. It’s about simplifying them and reinventing how they’re delivered.

Case Study

Deacon has since published a comprehensive case study that can be downloaded from this link.

Zelenskyy’s strong commitment to this initiative is reflected in the name of the mobile application, which is central and symbolic of government service delivery. It’s called Diia, which means “action” in Ukrainian. It is, aptly, also an acronym that roughly translates to “Meet the State”.

According to Banik, Zelenskyy’s personal commitment provided the “political will” that helped the project succeed even in the midst of war.

He explained that the Ukrainian government, like the federal government, has many ministries that may resist the large-scale changes this project represents. The team responsible for the design and implementation, made up mostly of technology experts, “didn’t understand politics very well,” says Banik, with a shy smile.

The world has come to regard Zelensky as a great wartime tactician, but according to Bannik, he is also a master of government politics.

Zelenskky appointed a Chief Digital Transformation Officer and ensured that all ministries are in very strong government positions, equivalent to Deputy Minister level in Canada. It sent a message to the heads of all government departments.

He also sent a clear message to the design and execution team that the digital transformation staff’s job is to “bring victory to the heads of government departments.”

According to Banik, one department head, an impressive figure both physically and politically, vowed that “digital passports will never exist.” Months later, he attended a press conference. and bowed to his department’s successful first step towards a digital passport.

Obstacle after obstacle was removed by this incredible team using everything from persuasion to what is considered social media shame.

The team did their homework. They identified the top companies that need to adopt digital signatures and documents to deliver critical mass. When the president of a major bank said his bank would not support this, they said thousands and even hundreds of thousands of customers who had successfully used the Diia app would give up the convenience. Or you may have to move to another bank. Bank.

With half of Ukraine’s adult population participating, the ability of any one company to resist hiring has been greatly reduced.

Ukraine has also passed a law making it illegal to refuse to accept digital documents. Still refusing or resisting, businesses used social media to shame themselves, and videos of disgruntled customers quickly went viral in Ukraine. According to Barik, the impact of social media has been enormous.

Public support was essential to the successful implementation, and it was well received. The team not only designed the portal and app, but also redesigned government services and simplified them for greater convenience. They didn’t just digitize the passport, they tried to “reinvent the concept of the passport.” As another example, Mr. Barik noted that a 58-field form was reduced to his 10-field form. After that, we continued driving to make the process frictionless, with the aim of further reducing input.

Before the development of the app started, they had a lot of consultation and communication with all the stakeholders. That communication didn’t end when the portal and app were created. There is an extensive video-based training component to assist anyone trying to learn how to use digital government services. We also have a trainee test and the training has been so successful that prospective employers want test results to prove that the candidate is competent when it comes to digital services. .

To encourage usage, the Diia app also enabled live streaming of TV channels. This includes a large Eurovision contest featuring Ukrainian musical groups.

This might seem irrelevant design-wise, but it was not only popular, it was visionary. The Russians attacked media sites and the government established two-way communication with the public. The government was able not only to convey the message, but also to consult with the citizens. Banik said he received between one million and two million responses to surveys and other requests for public opinion and consultation.

Security and privacy are recognized as the top barriers to digital identity and digital government. Apps and portals are designed to win users by providing better protection than physical documents.

Trusting neither the cloud nor devices, the digital signature is split in two, half held in government cloud storage and the other half held on citizens’ devices. Once your identity is verified, your signatures are put together.

Even if the document is called, it is not saved in the app. Relevant information will be requested from government registers and evidence will be provided where required. But whether it’s a signature or a code, a QR code, a bar code, or a number key for financial services, they’re designed to update every three minutes, so if someone sees a photo or It is almost impossible to copy them by other duplicates.

The popularity of the app and the services generated offer what a digital signature should do: a higher level of privacy and security. can be used to log in or access services instead of . This maintains knowledge between government departments and citizens about what citizens are accessing. There is no need to involve third parties who may monetize or securely store that information.

lesson learned

What can we in Canada learn from Ukraine? Hopefully we are already learning and there are signs that governments in all sectors are taking new approaches to e-government initiatives. We are moving forward, but have we acted boldly and quickly enough?

the idea of ​​you need to simplify the process Important before creating an online portal or app. If our aim is not just to bring a service online, but to make it the ‘most convenient service’, we will all be fine. Like Ukraine, we need to think about reinventing what we take for granted and making it more effective.

have political will Overcoming resistance to change with the most powerful force is something we can learn. Governments have traditionally found many reasons why the process cannot be simplified. What COVID has taught us is that if we ‘can’t’, we can do it if we want to.

Security is no excuse for inactionCreative solutions should be sought to enhance security without sacrificing convenience.

make it easy, make it interestingHosting the Eurovision finals on government portals was a pastime, but it helped build a huge user base that was not just enthusiastic, but fans.

Do not be afraid Exercising Legislative Power with Large Participation Embrace apps and standards with businesses and stakeholders to deliver more value and convenience to citizens.

An opportunity to share and lead

Ukraine’s digital government experiment has been so successful that even Estonia, a global pioneer in digital government, is adopting the Ukrainian model for digital services.

Ukraine is willing to share information and source code with the government and standards bodies such as the CIO Strategic Council. By offering to share its experience, Ukraine is serving its people and the peoples of countries around the world. They even provide us with their experiences and designs. If only we were willing to accept such a gift from this besieged nation that has proven that digital government can run even in times of war.

However, sharing is effective only when there is a common framework and standards under which innovation can be shared. Standards allow us to innovate with the knowledge that what we develop can be shared and used widely. Developing standards is where Canada can truly advance its digital government.

The CIO Strategic Council is a strategic vehicle for this kind of leadership. More than just a national forum for discussion, it develops standards used in Canada and around the world. It also pursues a complementary strategic role of becoming an accreditation body that issues accreditation marks to leading organizations that meet national standards for digital governance. By leveraging groups like this and continuing to bring all stakeholders together to find common ground, we too can contribute to our citizens and the world stage.