If he Ministry of Economy hires a courier to complete a physical procedure that involves taking paperwork to Huehuetenango, a courier will wait to gather the necessary packages to go to that department, causing a great delay in public services. “But if this process is automated, it can be received in seconds”exemplifies Lisardo Bolaños, former vice minister of Economy.
Along these lines, Guatemala has a task to promote services linked to digital government. The current ratings are challenging, taking into account the Electronic Government Development Index, published by the United Nations (UN) in 2022, where Guatemala ranked 126th out of 193 countries who were part of the study. Furthermore, in the Electronic Participation Index it ranked 114 out of 193. These numbers reflect that Guatemala is “lagging behind several countries,” according to Eddie Cux, coordinator and executive director of the Presidential Commission on Open and Electronic Government.
Boost existing practices
For these figures to improve, it is necessary to massify digital government services, a task that involves both the government and another actor that might be crucial: the universities. Particularly, the faculties of Law and Legal Sciences are the first group that can influence from the academy “to carry out the digitalization process and analyze how the academic sector begins to get used to it, in this case those who are studying law that they begin to adapt to the implementation of legal procedures“, highlights Bolaños, who is also the technical coordinator of Guatemala No Se Detiene.
At the moment There are already 119 procedures related to commerce and work in Guatemala that can be completed digitally, a figure recorded by the portal Asísehace.gta tool developed by Mineco through the National Competitiveness Program (Pronacom).
Among the institutions that already have these online facilities is the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT)which leads the list with 27 procedures; automated banks, with 14; the General Property Registry, which counts 13; It is followed by the Commercial Registry, with 12, and the General Registry of State Acquisitions, with eight. However, these 119 procedures do not even represent a quarter of the total pie.
In addition to lawyers, the union of accountants and auditors It can be a driving force for online efforts, since they are the main careers where higher education, in Bolaños’ opinion, can “include the digitalization axis within the classes.”
The University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC) It already has a 100% virtual career.
Jaime Augusto SaraviaCoordinator of the Degree in Criminology and Criminalistics, highlights that inter-institutional agreements must be concluded between State entities and universities, because for example many platforms such as electronic consultations of the Property Registry, the files of the digital processes that today Nowadays, the Judicial Branch is only available to duly registered professionals, “so the fact of having agreements can give students the opportunity to have a user who can initiate consultation processes.”
He adds that, since last year, the Automated Fingerprint and Palmprint Identification System (AFIS) of the Criminalistics Office (Gacri) of the National Civil Police (PNC) -for educational reasons-. “It has great advantages, among them being that it is linked to Renap, which has access to all of Renap’s rental companies, which is the most important record of footprints in Guatemala and by simply entering certain data regarding the person who is registered, in a matter of seconds you can know the entire history of a person,” says Saravia.
For its part, Roberto Carlos Escotocommunication director of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC), assures that: “we practically added the law of simplification of procedures to the curriculum. We have many letters of understanding with the Registry of guarantees furniture, intellectual property registry, registration and certification service providers, which is the Electronic signaturewhere students are practically being given tools to become technical and we are doing the same thing at the School of Graduate Studies: technicalizing students.
For Angelica Rochadirector of Innovation and Technologies for learning at the University of the Valley of Guatemala (UVG)universities must be “the spearhead, for those who do come with us to commit that they will have those digital skills or competencies.”
From universities, future professionals not only have the opportunity to learn how to take advantage of the procedures that are carried out online, but to develop digital skills that allow them to implement new online processes. This is accompanied by “digital fluency, which is not only knowing how to use technological tools, but also understanding what is the best use to make of them,” highlights Rocha.
From the Presidential Commission on Open and Electronic GovernmentCux emphasizes the task they have to lead this “incorporation of the academy, as well as students, especially so that they contribute to generating applications and platforms in support of public institutions that improve this digital innovation.”
Milton Arguetadean of a Faculty of Law of the Francisco Marroquín University and member of Council of Higher Private Educationpointed out that in addition to including three Law and Technology courses in its programs, he said that the real challenge is “to change the culture that has prevailed for years in the union of lawyers and notaries. An easy solution is to teach the new generations that “They already have that predisposition to technology, implementing digital solutions in procedures or legal situations that can be automated.”
He adds that, “if the Executive Body begins to make its own procedures more flexible, digitalize, modernize and automate, the user will have nothing left but to adapt and the same will happen to those who train at universities.”
Services pending to be digitized
The Asísehace.gt portal accounts 547 procedures that must be done face-to-face Given this, Bolaños identifies that another point where universities can influence is in the “conversation of the challenges that addressing the areas that are not yet subject to this digitalization entails in the future, so that universities are important proponents of how “It needs to move in that direction and provide valuable references for the modernization that the Guatemalan public sector requires.”
For Cux, another way to move towards digitalization is through certifications with international validity –such as Microsoft programs– “that allow contributing to the certification of professionals in interoperability (refers to the technologies and mechanisms that allow the use of data between systems) and digital innovation, in order to generate applications.” Making use of these tools in Guatemala is important, since, according to Rocha, “we have to be able to adopt emerging technologies at work, not only in industries that are dedicated to the development of technologies, but in all sectors where technology can generate an impact”
Internships in public entities
Furthermore, another way is to take advantage of the tools they learn from the classrooms. to implement them in various public institutions. “The government can manage the coordination of professional practices within public institutions to develop platforms internally and also the contribution to society through digital literacy. These are mechanisms that can be taken advantage of from the academy,” adds Cux.
The next step to move forward is to establish “agreements between the public sector and universities to be able to identify which techniques are already being carried out digitally, in such a way that there is training for teachers”suggests Bolaños.
On the other hand, we must find a way to support research from the university regarding how to carry out digitalization processes. “The more factors involved in the process, a more digital Guatemala can be achieved. Or, for example, a partnership with a university that helps you evaluate regulatory updates and operational manuals. What we have learned with digitizations and simplifications is the role of the industrial engineer in the process to understand the steps” Add. This is accompanied by the complementary work of a programmer, a lawyer and an economist, who would support the evaluation of the cost of the processes.
Digital government socialization
Although Guatemala is in a process to achieve digitalization, there are already practices that allow procedures to be carried out from an electronic device, however, Not all Guatemalans have any idea of how to take advantage of them.
On this path towards a digital government, it is important to communicate, both from the university classrooms and from the government, the changes in the modality for carrying out the procedures, since there is a task of publicizing “the reforms that are being made and The modifications also represent a very important change in the paradigm of how processes are managed by the public sector. A higher level of information is required on how it is being done so that the population realizes that it is more transparent, more efficient and faster“, indicates Bolaños.
This “poses a challenge in terms of letting the population know that these procedures are already online, that they have to trust that there are systems that are available and make it easier to carry out the procedures in public agencies,” says Cux. However, this diffusion must be accompanied by a “digital literacy work so that people understand technologythat in the departments you can access an internet cafe or windows that the State can make available to carry out procedures from the department, but for that to happen people need to understand from how to open an email to how to carry out public management.”
Find more from Guatemala No Se Detiene on our Prensa Libre and Guatevisión video channels, alliance content focused on solutions journalism.
#seek #greater #digital #services
