Digital Inclusion and Participation

All citizens and residents in the Kingdom have equal rights to get easy and affordable access to the Internet and digital government services and actively participate in the consultations and decision-making processes. The Kingdom has implemented several projects and initiatives related to the connectivity, availability, affordability, and accessibility of government portals and services and increasing digital literacy and skills. More importantly, the Kingdom developed special initiatives and implemented measures to ensure meaningful connectivity and access to eGovernment services and build digital literacy and skills for vulnerable groups, such as women, youth, the elderly, people with disabilities, low-income citizens, migrants, etc.

Digital inclusion and leaving no one behind are high on the Kingdom's Government agenda and are part of the Saudi Vision 2030 objectives. The third pillar, "An ambitious nation," directly refers to the benefits and needs of digital transformation and the need for digital inclusion of all Saudi citizens and residents, with a special focus on vulnerable groups. Moreover, as a Vision Realization Program of Vision 2030, the National Transformation Program identifies several objectives directly focused on the digital inclusion of all citizens, including vulnerable groups. These objectives include:

• Objective 13: Foster values of equity & transparency.
• Objective 14: Improve the quality of services provided to citizens.
• Objective 23: Develop the e-Government.
• Objective 34: Strengthen the Communication Channels with Citizens and Business Community.

The ICT Sector Strategy also addresses the importance of digital inclusion. The Second theme, “Increase local content,” directly refers to the need for advanced technology and digital knowledge and awareness among citizens and residents. It also highlights the need for increasing female participation in the ICT sector.

The Digital Government Strategy addresses the issue of improving the overall eParticipation environment through Strategic Objective 1.2. Strengthen Saudi citizen engagement to increase trust in government.

For this purpose, the Strategy looks to increase the involvement of citizens by placing them at the centre of Government by engaging them in service design and policy-making. The Strategy outlines one specific Initiative 1.2B Promote public consultations and E-Participation.

To promote Digital inclusion, the strategy defines two strategic objectives:

• Strategic objective 6.2: Foster capabilities and skills and promote digital culture.
• Strategic objective 6.3: Enable change management, communication and governance.

The Digital Government Policy also sets the overall direction to achieve sustainable long-term government digital transformation in the Kingdom. The first pillar (component) of the Policy is dedicated to engagement, which requires the participation of and collaboration with institutions from the government, the private sector, civil society, and benefi¬ciaries so they can provide valuable inputs for digital government implementation. The Engagement Pillar comprises the following six principles: Transparency, Collaboration, Data and privacy, Information sharing, Innovative Government Culture, and Inclusion.

This is incorporated into the digital-by-default initiatives with alternative access points and specific life events and personas, e.g., youth, elderly, residents, migrants, low-income households, rural areas, women, etc. It is part of the design standard to target the needs of end-users. Direct engagement initiatives are pursued (Tafaul, Watani, eConsultations Portal, Tawasel, Private Sector Feedback Platform, etc.). Indirectly, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), user ratings and feedback on portals, pages and services are monitored and combined with input via call and service centers for continuous service improvement. Similarly, the many social media profiles maintained by authorities proactively provide information to various user communities, albeit the two-way dialogue is still in its infancy in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia also works to ensure digital inclusion in Saudi rural areas. The Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) are implementing the Digital Inclusion of Saudi Rural Areas project and the Wireless Broadband (WBB) initiative to serve rural and remote areas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, breaking the digital divide and enabling inclusion, and future prosperity to those communities. Starting in 2018, the WBB offers ICT services with an average internet access speed of 10 Mbps per rural household, regardless of its location within the targeted areas. The objective is to ensure broadband access to close to 3000 remote localities, covering more than 450k households and 2.57 million inhabitants.

The question of digital inclusion and leaving no one behind is also a central part of the social protection framework. The Strategy aims to provide tailored care and support to the most vulnerable citizens and prepare and train those unable to find employment. The strategy defines the service channels for contacts with vulnerable groups by establishing touchpoints that cater to the digital and non-digital needs of the Saudi population.

• Digital Inclusion in Saudi Arabia.
• ePartiipation in Saudi Arabia.