E-Governance in Nepal: Progress, Challenges and Possibilities

Almost two decades after the first initiative towards e-Governance through the IT policy of 2000, Nepal has so far struggled with implementation of e-Governance due to political instability and the digital divide caused by socio-economic issues such as lack of infrastructure, low-income level and low-literacy rate among others. However, this case study showed that with trend towards foreign labour, Nepal has seen a huge demand for communication resulting in improvement in the communication infrastructure. With access to mobile technology, possibility of citizen reach and interaction through the means of mobile communication has become realisable. The case study shows that Nepal is mGov-ready but is still missing out on making a larger developmental impact through mGov due to issue within the leadership and the role of international agencies not complementing the process in the larger picture. It is necessary for the government of Nepal to take advantage of witnessed mGov-readiness by developing policy towards focusing on mobile-oriented citizen reach and interaction processes for e-Governance.