While the benefits of e-Government can be significant, achieving the goals of e-Government is not easy. Important barriers to e-Government discussed throughout this Toolkit are leadership failures, financial limitations, poor coordination, workplace and organizational inflexibility, and poor technical design. See “Breaking Barriers to e-Government.” Theme IV of this Toolkit considers three specific challenges: equity issues associated with differential access of women and traditionally disadvantaged groups; the digital divide; and privacy and security (which together impact user trust).

A digital divide exists between more connected nations and less connected nations and also within nations, between those who have access to ICTs and can afford them and those who are excluded by income, geography, gender, disability and other factors. The best-designed e-Government project will have limited impact if it is not accessible to large segments of the targeted population. Chapters 12 (Digital Divide) and 14 (Equity Issues) discuss how e-Government projects should be conceived with an awareness of -- and in the context of broader efforts to overcome -- the ways in which certain groups are excluded from the Information Society. The chapters emphasize the theme of inclusiveness in all aspects of e-Government, from planning to implementation.

Trust is crucial to the success of any online project that involves the collection of personally identifiable information, whether the context is commercial or governmental. Citizens and businesses will not readily use systems they do not trust to protect the confidentiality of their data. For all its benefits, the Internet is vulnerable to fraud and abuse. Therefore, e-Government must consider privacy and security issues, described in Chapter 15.

Theme IV addresses:

• equity issues (Chapter 14)

• privacy and security (Chapter 15)

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