Government electronic & mobile services

Measuring the level of digitization and sophistication of government services encourages policymakers and government entities to improve government services delivery and thereby the overall quality of life of society by promoting a constituent-centric view and highlighting satisfaction drivers in the delivery of digital government services.

Governments could benefit in several ways from this objective view of their services digitization. First, understanding where they stand relative to other countries will allow them to remain competitive in attracting businesses and improving the quality of life of their citizens. Additionally, it will enable governments to identify improvement opportunities to enhance electronic and mobile government services deployment and it will help them to derive actionable measures to advance citizens-centric eGovernment transformation programs. 

Our approach

The initiative was launched in 2014. ESCWA piloted this Index in several Arab countries until 2017. The first assessment of the Index was implemented in 2018-2019, and the results were published in 2020. The second assessment was conducted in 2020, and results will be published in the first quarter of 2021.

Our partners

Our activities

The Government electronic and mobile services (GEMS) Maturity Index is an assessment tool for policymakers to measure the level of digitization and sophistication of their countries’ government services.

To produce the annual GEMS report, ESCWA collects data through related focal point ministries and agencies using two types of questionnaires (a service form and an entity form). The data is then analysed by ESCWA to produce GEMS scores.