The montly statistics of HowTo platform visits.
Gov.gr has boosted the number of digital systems and services in Greece and dramatically increased the number of their users (>70% of the population). In this direction, HowTo has been designed to deliver simple, online micro-courses, that guide citizens and public servants in the use of the new systems and services. HowTo supports continuous training for new features and capabilities and certification where needed. Its communities foster collaboration and peer-to-peer problem-solving.
Innovation Summary
Innovation Overview
The initiative led by the Ministry of Digital Governance in Greece addresses a critical challenge in the country: the need for comprehensive digital transformation within the public sector. By supporting the digitization of government procedures and services, hundreds of new digital services have been developed, empowering citizens to conduct online transactions seamlessly. The howto.gov.gr platform serves as a training platform, particularly targeting individuals lacking digital skills, such as the elderly and immigrants. This innovation strives to improve Greece's ranking in the Digital Economy & Society Index (DESI) within the EU. The 1 million page views per month during its peak period, demonstrates the interest of users.
The primary objective of this innovation is twofold: to empower the public employees who support critical government services and systems and to serve as an educational resource for citizens who are unfamiliar with modern technologies.
The innovation in Greece's Ministry of Digital Governance highlights its agility through continuous training on new features and the empowering force of communities of practice. It's not just about implementing a singular system; rather, it's a dynamic process that embraces agility and adaptability.
One of the standout aspects of this initiative is its commitment to continuous training on new features. This embodies the agile principle of iterative improvement. By consistently updating and educating users on the latest functionalities, services, and systems that are developed, the innovation ensures that citizens and public servants stay abreast of advancements. This approach fosters a culture of lifelong learning, vital in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
Moreover, the emphasis on communities of practice underscores self-support and collaborative learning. By creating spaces where individual public employees can share knowledge, troubleshoot challenges, and exchange best practices, the initiative harnesses the collective intelligence of diverse stakeholders. These communities foster innovation and self-sufficiency by encouraging individuals to seek help and guidance from peers, thereby reducing reliance on external support structures. This community-driven approach not only supports skill development but also cultivates a culture of collaboration and problem-solving.
By focusing on continuous training and communities of practice, HowTo establishes a resilient framework for sustained growth and adaptation in Greece's digital governance landscape.
The determination of this course of action likely involved extensive research and collaboration among various government bodies, technological experts, educators, and community builders to understand both the current challenges and future demands. Implementation involved leveraging open standards, the Moodle e-learning platform, and the Discourse open platform for communities, to create a comprehensive practical training and support hub.
Innovation Description
What Makes Your Project Innovative?
The HowTo innovation demonstrates distinctiveness in crucial areas:
Continuous and Tailored Skill Enhancement: It introduces micro-e courses guiding citizens in digital service usage. Also, it trains public servants to navigate new platforms effectively, offering focused and continuous skill enhancement.
Community-Driven Learning: Establishing Communities of Practice fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, and problem-solving among employees. This collaborative approach enriches collective capabilities, departing from traditional siloed learning.
Comprehensive Digital Empowerment: Addressing citizens and public servants, it offers digital courses, enhancing skills for a proficient society. This holistic approach ensures inclusivity and sustainability, distinguishing it from singularly focused initiatives.
This innovation’s multifaceted digital literacy approach caters to diverse societal levels, providing tailored learning and fostering a more interconnected community.
What is the current status of your innovation?
HowTo has successfully offered specialized courses to citizens and public servants, tailored to their roles within the Greek public sector.
The implementation phase involves the execution of various micro e-courses and specialized sessions, to equip both citizens and public employees with essential skills for navigating digital services and platforms effectively. Additionally, the establishment of Communities of Practice fosters collaboration among employees, enhancing their collective capabilities.
More than 4,300 citizen specialists have been trained and certified and more than 6,000 public servants have been trained and supported through the community for using newly developed digital systems. More than 3 million citizens/year since 2021 accessed the platform.
The project's focus is on ensuring widespread digital literacy among citizens and proficiency among public servants and the evaluation phase, which is underway to gauge the effectiveness and impact of these initiatives.
Innovation Development
Collaborations & Partnerships
The innovation process involved diverse collaborators. Citizens actively engaged in courses, ensuring the user-centric design of digital services. Government officials played a pivotal role, receiving specialized training to facilitate effective service delivery. Civil society organizations contributed insights, fostering community-centric learning through Communities of Practice. Companies partnered by providing expertise in digital platforms, empowering citizens and public servants.
Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries
Citizens enriched skills via tailored courses, navigating government platforms adeptly. Officials honed proficiency in new systems, enhancing service delivery. Civil society embraced collaboration in Communities of Practice, refining service execution. Companies added expertise, ensuring innovation relevance and societal empowerment. All benefited with improved digital literacy, collaboration, and service efficiency, fostering a connected, proficient community.
Innovation Reflections
Results, Outcomes & Impacts
The HowTo portal (howto.gov.gr) witnessed substantial success and acceptance. During the pandemic, training efforts accelerated, supported by micro-e courses, especially on pertinent topics like vaccination procedures, reaching a monthly high of 643,000 unique visitors in November 2021.
The communities platform (communities.digi.gov.gr) hosts two large communities (employees of Citizens Service Centers-CSS and editors of the Registry of Administrative Procedures-Mitos), gathering more than 2,000 users and providing continuous training and support.
To increase platform engagement and user acceptance we have to add the enhanced confidence of users in utilizing the new services and the improved skills displayed by the public servants.
Challenges and Failures
The HowTo portal faced hurdles in training and certifying a large pool of professionals. Managing the surge in online participation caused operational challenges. The training of 3000 employees in the new information system of the Citizen Service Centers, within a month, demanded careful content and activity designs, increased resources, and community support. Despite challenges, it's operational in 1000+CSCs, continuously updating the micro-course with new functionalities. Responsive actions focused on scalability, improving efficiency, and leveraging community support for effective training. The initiative remains dynamic, adapting to evolving user and organizational needs.
Conditions for Success
For an innovation like HowTo, a robust infrastructure supporting seamless online training is vital. Clear policies facilitating quick adoption and adaptation are crucial. Strong leadership ensuring active engagement and ongoing guidance is necessary. Adequate human and financial resources for scalability are pivotal. Additionally, fostering a culture valuing continuous learning and digital literacy fuels sustained motivation, enhancing the innovation's success. Constant iteration, stakeholder involvement, and adaptation are also key to meeting evolving user needs and staying relevant in a dynamic digital landscape.
Replication
The HowTo innovation hasn't been replicated yet to address similar challenges in other domains. However, its adaptability could be applied in various organizations. Its potential lies in providing tailored digital courses and fostering community-based learning for different sectors, enhancing digital literacy. Its scalability permits use by smaller agencies seeking efficient digital integration. This model could benefit larger governments aiming to bridge digital divides and upskill their workforce. Other organizations could leverage this approach to empower users and optimize service delivery, fostering a culture of continuous learning. Although not yet replicated, its transferability makes it promising for future adoption.
Lessons Learned
The HowTo project gave crucial lessons to us and others working on similar initiatives. Agility in adapting to scale is vital, especially when faced with surges in participation. Leveraging community support for training proved instrumental in ensuring effectiveness and user engagement. Continuous evolution is key; integrating new functionalities while being responsive to user needs fosters sustained relevance. Additionally, embedding a culture of learning and adaptability aids in refining offerings to meet evolving demands. Successful initiatives demand proactive responses to challenges, emphasizing scalability, community-driven support, and a dynamic, evolving approach to sustain innovation's relevance.
Anything Else?
The HowTo platform contains 19 courses for citizens 13 for public servants and 5 courses for open-source platforms used for communication, collaboration, and learning. It is based on the open-source software Moodle (https://moodle.org/).
The community platform is based on the open-source software Discourse (https://www.discourse.org/) and is available at https://communities.digi.gov.gr/
The core team behind HowTo comprises 4 educators (1 with ICT skills for setting up the platforms) and 3 community experts who carried out the project load. The size of the team compared to the impact it achieved in training hundreds of thousands of citizens and thousands of public servants demonstrates the disruptive effect of the innovation.
Project Pitch
Status:
- Identifying or Discovering Problems or Opportunities - learning where and how an innovative response is needed
- Generating Ideas or Designing Solutions - finding and filtering ideas to respond to the problem or opportunity
- Developing Proposals - turning ideas into business cases that can be assessed and acted on
- Implementation - making the innovation happen
- Evaluation - understanding whether the innovative initiative has delivered what was needed
Innovation provided by:
Media:
Files:
- howto A brief HowTo presentation
Date Published:
22 July 2024