Directed by data: how governments are creating user-centred services
During the pandemic, civil servants had to act fast to protect people – and to protect them, they first had to understand them. At GovernmentDX in Washington DC, digital leaders explored data technologies’ ability to paint a picture of their populations
“Some populations were impacted more by the pandemic than others,” recalled Ima Okonny, chief data officer at Employment and Social Development Canada. “And what we found was that these populations were also under-served by public services.”
Speaking to 40 senior digital leaders from US departments and overseas governments at GovernmentDX (now renamed Government Service Delivery) in Washington DC, Okonny was explaining how the COVID-19 crisis had prompted the Canadian government to build a much more comprehensive understanding of its populace – particularly groups such as ethnic minorities and indigenous people, where its data was thinnest and the need for help greatest.
“I came into this role in January; the pandemic happened in March, and we needed to understand what was happening,” she said. “We needed to understand who was losing their jobs. We needed to be able to issue cheques to eligible people in need. We needed to make sure we were making the right policy interventions.”
Faced with these challenges, Okonny recalled: “We had to understand our problem at the disaggregated level; and the only way we could do that was to get everyone at the table and have that conversation.” Convening a group that brought together relevant people from across the public sector – including, for example, operational managers, legal professionals, subject matter experts and Statistics Canada – Okonny put them together with her own “comprehensive, multidisciplinary data science team”, which itself includes people with a wide range of backgrounds and experience.
Institutionalising data practices
Drawing on this broad array of expertise and knowledge, Okonny and her staff introduced data and AI-powered systems to find and support those most in need. “We were able to target and identify the most vulnerable Canadians,” she recalled, “and we were able to design policy that could reach these populations, providing help where it was really needed.” This work then fed a refresh of the department’s enterprise data strategy “based on the lessons we learned in the pandemic. We needed to institutionalise some of those practices.”
Employment and Social Development Canada’s experience in the pandemic, Okonny said, neatly illustrated the importance of good data in promoting user-centred design – which is itself crucial to ensuring that public services achieve their intended results. To build effective public services, she argued, public servants need a really good understanding of the people they’re trying to reach; and that in turn depends on good data management.
“We need to get data right, and I’m not talking about the fancy stuff,” she said. “I’m talking about creating the foundational infrastructure, collecting and curating the data we need, and then building the information management practices to enable us to connect this data.”
Another way to ensure that public services are user-focused, said Okonny, is by promoting diversity and equity within the workforce. When those designing services have similar life experiences to those accessing them, she argued, they’re likely to get better results: “To be able to do a good job – in terms of user-centred design, in terms of shaping policy – we need to represent the population we serve.”
Guidance groups
To further strengthen the department’s understanding of people’s needs, Okonny continued, it commissions user research and operates an advisory committee, comprising a diverse group of Canadians, to provide feedback on its policies and plans.
Ukraine has also established an “advisory group” to guide and support the delivery of public services, noted Gulsanna Mamediieva, adviser to Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation. This group includes groups profoundly affected by war, providing critical insights into how to better address their needs. Their advice focuses on improving social services and enhancing the accessibility of online platforms, ensuring that solutions are inclusive and responsive to the challenges faced by all impacted communities.
As the conversation came to a conclusion, Clare Martorana, the US federal chief information officer, thanked the participants – digital leaders from across the federal government, and from nations around the world – for attending Government Service Delivery.
“Thank you for sharing so many incredible stories, and for the work that you’re doing in your individual countries,” she said. “I’m so grateful that you’ve joined this coalition of the willing to try and change the environments that we’re all operating in. These environments are challenging, but we are stronger together.”
The invitation-only meeting at Government Service Delivery is a private event, providing a safe space at which civil service leaders can debate the challenges they face in common. We publish these reports to share some of their thinking with our readers: note that, to ensure that participants feel able to speak freely at the meeting, we give all those quoted the right to review their comments before publication.
The 2024 meeting will be covered in four reports, covering the four daytime sessions:
· Seamless by design: the barriers to overhauling legacy technology in government – and how they can be overcome
· The tip of the arrow: how cyber security can help drive government transformation
· AI in government – how, where and why?
· What you need when you need it: the power of user-centred design
For information on the 2025 Government Service Delivery Conference and Meeting, which will be held on May 13-14, visit our dedicated website.
About Matt Ross
Matt is Global Government Forum's Contributing Editor, providing direction and support on topics, products and audience interests across GGF’s editorial, events and research operations. He has been a journalist and editor since 1995, beginning in motoring and travel journalism – and combining the two in a 30-month, 30-country 4x4 expedition funded by magazine photo-journalism. Between 2002 and 2008 he was Features Editor of Haymarket news magazine Regeneration & Renewal, covering urban regeneration, economic growth and community development; and from 2008 to 2014 he was the Editor of UK magazine and website Civil Service World, then Editorial Director for Public Sector – both at political publishing house Dods. He has also worked as Director of Communications at think tank the Institute for Government.
Related Posts
