Regional Strategy on State-Citizen Interaction and Emerging Uses of Technology

Much attention has focused on the role of technology, particularly social media, in organizing opposition movements and mobilizing popular uprisings. However, little attention has been paid to how governments are using these technologies to enhance their legitimacy and demonstrate their accountability in response to the newly empowered citizenry. This project will investigate how the same technologies can be used as a tool to facilitate the inclusion of citizen perspectives in redefining governance, justice and security arrangements in a context of reconstruction and reform. It will do so through a series of working documents and region-based workshops and meetings. The first two meetings will be held in Cairo and Dakar between June and October 2011.