Most of the participants in the workshops on inclusive e-government that took place in the capitals of six Western Balkan countries, considered that their countries have established very few mechanisms for e-inclusion and interoperability, even though the interest in e-Government development is high.

The workshops took place within the framework of the project "Western Balkans Network for Inclusive e-Government" and were meant to present the draft research on the levels of sophistication and inclusiveness of e-gov services conducted by project partners using the EU-level Capgemini methodology, with a goal to develop Regional eGovernment Roadmap to facilitate joint efforts by the countries aspiring to soon join the EU.

Although Croatia has made significant progress in developing public e-services, some segments of populations such as people with disabilities and aging population are not consulted along the process. Consequently, some services are not adjusted to the needs of people with disabilities that could have considerably benefited from e-services. Digital divide within the country is not addressed as well although there is an initiative of the Ministry of Economy to establish cyber cafes for SMEs in rural areas of Croatia. Computer literacy is an integral part of school curriculum but senior population is not covered. E-learning is getting more momentum within the University of Zagreb but students with special needs did not benefit from it so far.

The workshop on “Inclusive e-GovernmentЌ was held on the 11th of December, 2007, in the Hotel Palace in Belgrade. More than 40 representatives of government institutions and relevant organizations attended the workshop, as well as guests from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro.

The workshop started with the keynote speeches delivered by Slobodan Vuckovic from the National Information Technology and Internet Agency (RZII) of the Republic of Serbia and Milorad Bjeletic from BOS (Belgrade Open School).
They presented the portal www.euprava.gov.yu in brief, which was further discussed during the workshop (the degree of sophistication of the e-services assessed with the research performed according to the methodology of the European commission).

 

Workshop on Inclusive e Government in Sarajevo was organized on the 13th of December and it was held in the premises of Alumni Center for Postdgraduate Studies (ACIPS). Unfortunatelly, we faced lack of response from all invited parties, so attendance on this workshop was very low. On the workshop were present representatives of Ministry of Transport and communication of BiH, eSEE initiative, Ministry of Internal Affairs of canton Sarajevo, several NGO's and Teledomovi, which is bussines oriented NGO.

 

Representatives of the partner organizations from Macedonia (4 member delegation), Serbia and Montenegro attended the workshop as well. Workshop was opened by Valentina Pellizzer, owpsee executive directress and Sanjin Bužo owpsee coordinator.

During the month of December, 2007, four workshops are to be held within the frames of the project “Western Balkans Network for Inclusive e-Government”.

The workshops will take place in these cities, organized by the following organizations:

• December 11 2007, Belgrade, Serbia, organized by Belgrade Open School (BOS)
• December 13 2007, Zagreb, Croatia, organized by ZaMirNet   
  
• December 13 2007, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized by OneWorldSEE     
  
• December 20 2007, Podgorica, Montenegro, organized by Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses

The Metamorphosis Foundation organized a workshop on the topic “Inclusive e-Government in Macedonia”, which was held in the premises of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia on the 23rd of November, 2007. The workshop was attended by 25 representatives of government institutions and nongovernmental organizations, and a 3-member delegation from the Low Normandy (Basse Normandie) region of France, partners of the Metamorphosis Foundation.

On the 26th of November, 2007, a workshop on inclusive e-Government was held in Tirana, Republic of Albania, within the frames of the project “Western Balkans Network for Inclusive e-Government”.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the academic and nongovernmental sector, ministries and other government institutions. Mr. Pjerin Marku - ICT adviser to the Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, participated in the workshop as well.