Welcome to Linköping University and the course: Sustainable e-Government for Resilient and Innovative Democratic Public Administration (SeGRID). The course is organized twice during 2020, in June for young professionals from the Western Balkan, and in August for young professionals from the Baltic Region and the Eastern partnership.
SeGRID is funded by the Swedish Institute as a part of the SI Academy for Young Professionals (SAYP). SAYP is a training programme organised by Swedish universities and aimed at young policymakers, public servants and civil society actors from selected countries in the Baltic Sea Region, the EU’s Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans. The purpose of the programme is to serve as a platform for sharing experience, building knowledge and networking around public governance issues. The programme is designed to strengthen participants’ ability to lead the change in their regions.
A digitalized society: where opportunities and challenges arise
Digitalization processes challenge contemporary means of governance, calling for a need of smart and sustainable use of digital technologies. The Sustainable e-Government for Resilient and Innovative Democratic public administration (SeGRID) curricula aims to develop skills for improving core public values such as efficiency, transparency, accessibility, equality and other public values by the smart and sustainable use of digital technologies. SeGRID focuses on the digitalization of government services and administration, conceptualized as e-government. This digitalization has given rise to new demands from and opportunities for citizens, professionals and policymakers. This Swedish Institute Academy for Young Professionals (SAYP) module aims to develop skills and build knowledge in order to address the challenges surrounding sustainable e-government - such as resilience, innovation and democracy in a digital society. Participants engage with these issues through interactive learning anchored in both theory and practice.
The learning experience and work process
SeGRID focuses on interactivity, the sharing of experiences and best practices, and on the importance of collective knowledge building. This year SeGRID will combine an online DigiWeek alongside an on-campus week in Sweden in order to provide participants with the best learning experience possible. The module is preceded by minor preparatory studies in the participating countries and begins with two kick-off webinars which include getting to know each other and preparatory studies on the goals, expectations and work methods in the module. The thematic module is based upon a number of key interactive lectures, study visits and presentations known as ´gallery walks´. The gallery walks are led by researchers and practitioners from Sweden, focusing on challenges, lessons and best practices. The discussions from the lectures are mirrored in smaller groups which then focus more specifically on reflections and questions connected to the respective countries’ realities and challenges. The participants will collaborate with each other in smaller groups to discuss salient or common problems and then present their work in gallery walk presentations. Several study visits are organized at the Government Offices of Sweden, the Royal National Library of Sweden, the Swedish Institute in Stockholm and Linköping municipality for example. Participants will have the opportunity to meet with key sustainable e-government actors at the local, regional and national levels, alongside experiencing the cities of Stockholm and Linköping.
All participants become members of the SI Alumni Network, a vast professional and global contact network meant to keep building good practices and mutual learning processes for a sustainable future.
