Digital Citizens at Work: Mapping Citizen m-Participation Cases in Governance of Services in Tanzania

Abstract

In the digital governance era, government institutions and civic organisations haveinnovated spaces for engaging with ordinary citizens in the governance of services.Digital information and communication technology penetrate and reshapes all walksof life from collective participation to timely and quick auditing and sharing ofinformation of the status of social services. Yet, little is documented regarding mobileparticipation (m-participation) initiatives in monitoring social services and citizengenerateddata in Tanzania. This article is an exploratory work that identifies andmaps citizen m-participation projects in the monitoring of social services. Besides, ithighlights how e-services cases are in line with the current sustainable developmentgoals (SDGs). In this line, we argue that mobile phone technology is a tool forempowering citizens to participate in governance of social services. The paper deploysdocument and web analysis to identify and highlight citizen m-participation projects.The findings indicate that mobile technology amplifies the opportunity for citizenparticipation in governance processes given the high penetration rate of mobilephones for texting and calling, compared to online web-based technology that dependon the internet connection which is still scanty.