The e-Government Activity area in UNU-IIST has grown since the
beginning of the e-Macao Project in 2004. A portfolio of projects has
been established and successfully executed, from the e-Macao Program -
Building a Foundation for Electronic Government in Macao, through the
UNeGov.net initiative - Bulding a Community of Practice for Electronic
Governance, to concrete research and development projects on:
Strategic IT Planning for Public Organizations, Standards and Best
Practices for e-Government, Software Infrastructure for e-Government,
Semantic Interoperability for e-Government, etc. UNU-IIST is
increasingly recognized as a center of research and practice on
e-Government, evidence of significant external funds brought to
UNU-IIST through such projects, many workshops and schools organized
in developing countries, a number of invited presentations, and
increasing requests for assistance from various governments and public
sector organizations.

In order to support the running of such projects, enhance visibility
and further increase funding opportunities, a Center for Electronic
Governance at UNU-IIST was established in January 2007. The mission of
the Center is - working in partnership with institutions from
developing countries as well as international and other UN
organizations, to build capacity and provide know-how and advice in
planning, implementing and evaluating programs for Electronic
Governance. The Center will fulfill its mission through a range of
activities including: academic research, best practice development,
research and development projects, human capacity development,
institutional development and development of communities of practice.

The purpose of this report is to introduce the Center: Rationale -
reasons for establishing the Center; Mission - what is the Center
going to do and who will benefit from it; Vision - what do we want the
Center to become; Strategies - how will the Center fulfill its vision;
Organization - how is the Center going to be organized; and
Sustainability - how will we ensure the future success of the Center.