Questions/Answers

Description of the initiative Virtual reception of the President (www.pm.gov.uz) is an e-government portal for communication with citizens, which processes complaints, applications and proposals. Each appeal received for consideration by a state body or other organization is taken under control by a special unit of the Presidential Administration and is not removed from control until it is qualitatively considered with the satisfaction of the applicant. A radical revision of the institutional, organizational and legal framework for dealing with citizens’ appeals was a unique experience for the modern statehood of the country. In the history of Uzbekistan’s independence, such high attention has never been paid to targeted work with citizens. Main problems: – civil servants were out of reach of citizens; – there was no real dialogue, feedback between the state and society; – government decisions were made without taking into account the real problems and needs of the population; – the level of satisfaction of citizens’ demands was critically low, as in practice article 2 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan, according to which the state expresses the will of the people, serves its interests, state bodies and officials are responsible to society and citizens, was not provided. The main goal of the initiative is an effective direct dialogue with the people and the creation of a convenient, transparent and open mechanism for maintaining constant feedback between the state and society in the framework of implementation of state policy. Objectives of the initiative: – to make a transition towards a qualitatively new model of service state; – to develop main directions of the state policy on the basis and taking into account real problems of people; – to ensure accountability of state bodies to the people, openness and transparency of the work of civil servants; – to create effective mechanisms of public control over the activities of state bodies.

Previously, public authorities were not reachable to citizens: – people repeatedly appealed to state bodies, but to no avail, as officials did not seek to solve the issues of concern to them and were limited to formal replies; – there was no effective control by higher authorities. The initiative allowed to create: – additional opportunities for citizens to apply to state bodies with applications, proposals and complaints in oral, written and electronic form; – effective vertical control of the activities of state bodies; – an automated system for monitoring the work of state bodies in the field of maintaining feedback with the population.

With the help of appeals of citizens, it was possible to analyze the activities of all state bodies in order to determine the degree of efficiency of their work. As a result, a large-scale administrative reform was carried out: – reviewed activities of more than 40 public authorities; – revised structures, tasks and functions of the The Administration of President, The Cabinet of Ministers; – a unified interdepartmental electronic system of performance discipline, accessible via the Internet, has been created. – almost all state and law enforcement agencies have upgraded their websites and created the possibility of electronic appeal. In general, tremendous work has been done to transform the activities of state bodies towards transparency, maintaining a dialogue with citizens. Since the launch of the initiative, a total of 3 437 771 appeals have been received. From citizens 19 942 offers on need of improvement of the legislation have been processed. As a result, over the past 3 years, 2 869 normative-legal acts have been adopted aimed at eliminating problems and solving acute social issues.

Sustainability is ensured by: – continuous modernization of the portal with the creation of convenient, open and accessible forms of dialogue between government agencies and citizens; – functioning of special structures in The Administration of President responsible; – existence of a separate law on appeals and administrative and criminal liability for violation of this law; – systematic improvement of the skills of civil servants to consider appeals; – increase political activity and interest of citizens to actively participate in political decision-making; – ensuring stable financing from the state budget.

The following significant shortcomings were noted in the state administration and civil service: – often people when applying to public authorities faced unreasonable financial costs, the need to stand in long queues; – people did not have accessible and convenient channels of appeal to state bodies with applications, complaints and proposals; – due to the lack of proper control, state bodies formally treated citizens ' appeals. The initiative allowed: – to remove barriers between citizens and state bodies; – to create opportunities to address through the Internet, as well as through specially created websites. The process became convenient and operational. In addition, it became possible to track online the course of consideration of appeals by state bodies. Openness and transparency contributed to the strengthening of public control; – to establish free and open discussion among people on current issues in social networks and messengers, which in general had a positive impact on freedom of thought, speech and belief, as well as freedom of opinion and expression.

During the period January 1, 2017 - November 1, 2019, 3 437 771 appeals were received, including 1 763 848 from women. Taking into account the large number of requests from women, special attention is paid to improving their social situation. Laws “On protection of women from oppression and violence”, “On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men” were adopted. The activities of the Committee of women of Uzbekistan have been revised. Public Fund to support women and the family has been established. “Women’s consultations” and special “hot lines” were organized. 5 324 women have been provided with housing.

Citizens are divided into: – women; – persons under 30 years of age; – persons in a difficult life situation; – persons with disabilities (disabled) and the elderly. Entrepreneurs are divided into: – small business representatives; – representatives of medium and large businesses; – investors. For targeted work with entrepreneurs, a separate structure has been created – Reception rooms of the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan for consideration of appeals of entrepreneurs. Specific examples of improvements in individual categories: 125 billion sums have been granted for the payment of initial mortgage payments for low-income citizens with disabilities. Government coordinated task of accommodating more than 7 396 people, 4 345 of which are persons with disabilities, 2 821 – low-income families in difficult social situations (including 230 alumnus of orphanages. In order to ensure stable earnings for low-income women and timely repayment of their preferential mortgage loan, 4 056 low-income women were employed, 1 613 of which were provided with home work. Within the framework of such major projects as “Landscaped village” and “Landscaped community”, 344 444 private and 3,894 apartment buildings, 9,408 km of road surface, 1,921 km of gas and 5,781 km of water supply, as well as 9,585 km of power systems were renovated.

September 24, 2016: – interim President of Uzbekistan Sh.Mirziyoyev initiated the launch of the portal of the Virtual reception of the Prime Minister; December 28, 2016: – Virtual reception of the Prime Minister converted into a Virtual reception of the President; – People’s reception offices have been established in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent, as well as in each district and city; – The Administration of the President has established a Service for the protection of citizens’ rights, control and coordination of work with appeals; September 11, 2017: - adopted a new version of the Law “On appeals of individuals and legal entities”; February 1, 2018: – earned an updated version of the Virtual reception of the President, which appeared personal offices, the possibility of reporting harassment because of the complaint; – on the portal of the Virtual reception of the President the module “Schedules of reception of citizens by heads of ministries and departments and the direction of the address to them” is introduced. – thanks to the new system of personal identification number of the applicant, the need to re-enter personal data at each request has been eliminated and the possibility of a comprehensive study of the history of appeals of one person has appeared; February 15, 2018: – the module “Online consultant” has started to work, which allows to get prompt legal assistance on various problems and issues.

Obstacles: – bureaucracy; – low level of IT implementation; – misunderstanding of the new concept and its adoption as a one-time action; – complexity of reorientation of civil servants to work with citizens; – lack of qualified civil servants able to work with citizens. Obstacles overcoming: – full automation of the process of consideration of appeals; – large-scale informing of the population about the new initiative (800 information materials were distributed in the media); – 8 110 seminars and trainings were organized for civil servants.

Innovations: – full transition to paperless document circulation and creation of a single access point and control; – a new system of vertical control and horizontal control (by citizens through the portal); – organization of an online platform for dialogue between the state and society; – push for democratic transformation, freedom of speech and accountability; – openness and transparency contributed to the strengthening of public control; – people began to freely and openly discuss current issues in social networks and messengers, which in general had a positive impact on freedom of thought, speech and belief, as well as freedom of opinion and expression.

The initiative drew inspiration from the Republic of Korea’s experience in creating e-People System encouraging people to participate in government to improve policy. Korean portal www.epeople.go.kr inspired the creation of the Uzbek portal https://pm.gov.uz/ru, which is a single e-government access point for communication with citizens through the integration of 150 government agencies, municipalities and public associations. The portal also integrates 14 People’s reception offices operating in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent. Applicants through the personal account can observe the process of consideration of applications submitted by them.

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– The initiative can be adapted in any other country and region in the organization of direct dialogue between the state and the population. – The initiative is implemented through a special portal. Anyone with access to the Internet can become familiar with the mechanisms of implementation and operation of the initiative. – All legal documents on the initiative are freely available on the website Lex.uz on the following links (lex.uz/ru/docs/3336171, lex.uz/ru/docs/3089928).

– Portal https://pm.gov.uz was developed in record time in 2016, in 2017 and 2018 was upgraded. The amount of expenses amounted to 1 520 mln. sum; – implementation of the initiative involved approximately 30 people (staff of The Administration of President, Cabinet of Ministers, experts and specialists); – to date, 5 043 people are involved in the implementation of the initiative, including employees of the special unit in The Administration of President, Virtual reception and People’s reception; – in implementation of the “visiting receptions” component 19 934 civil servants, representatives of law enforcement and judicial bodies, including their first leaders took part.

Stability is guaranteed by: – the Law “On appeals of individuals and legal entities” and by the existence of administrative and criminal liability for its violation; – the establishment of a special unit in the Administration of the President; – functioning and constant modernization of the portal https://pm.gov.uz/ru#/; – introduction of a special course in the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Uzbekistan; – introduction of a Unified interdepartmental electronic system of performance discipline http://ijro.gov.uz/#!/ welcome for the control of state bodies for consideration of appeals; – launching hot lines on the short number 1000 and constant training of operators serving incoming calls.

Да

In 2017, the non-governmental non-profit organization “Independent Institute for monitoring the formation of civil society” (IIMFCS) conducted a formalized interview “face-to-face” at the place of residence of respondents in 14 regions of Uzbekistan with the coverage of 1,510 persons over the age of 18, 50.5% of which are men, 49.5% – women.

Indicators: – availability of knowledge about the activities of People’s receptions; – source of information; – the degree of involvement of citizens in the activities of People’s receptions; – rating of problems raised in appeals.

IIMFCS evaluation results: 90% of respondents are aware of the functions of People’s receptions. 80% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the quality of the staff of People’s receptions. People’s receptions are a popular mechanism for applying to state bodies. 88% of respondents expressed confidence in People’s receptions. The responses of the respondents indicate a change in public opinion in favor of the effectiveness of the feedback mechanisms established in Uzbekistan with the state, implemented in the year of “Dialogue with the people and human interests”, as well as the further formation of civil society in the country. The most effective channel of bringing information about the activities of the state and People’s receptions remains television. Summarizing the public opinion of Uzbekistan about the activities of the structures under consideration, we can say that the population assesses it from a positive point of view. The Ministry for IT is instructed to provide access to the center “Ijtimoiy Fikr” to statistical information on the activities of the information system for the Virtual reception, call center (1000) and People’s reception for analysis of work on consideration of appeals. The center “Ijtimoiy Fikr” plans to evaluate the initiative in 2020.

The special unit of the adviser to the President of Uzbekistan on the protection of citizens’ rights, control and coordination of work with appeals conducts vertical control of all state bodies and organizations in terms of the implementation of the initiative. People’s reception of the President People's receptions of the President of Uzbekistan in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and Tashkent People's receptions of the President of Uzbekistan in districts and cities (except cities of district subordination) People’s reception offices of the President of Uzbekistan in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and Tashkent interact at the horizontal level with municipalities and territorial divisions of republican bodies. People’s reception offices of the President of Uzbekistan in districts and cities (except cities of district subordination) interact at the horizontal level with district/city municipalities and territorial divisions of republican bodies. Through the Virtual reception of the President of Uzbekistan https://pm.gov.uz/ru#/ (section 2 - sending appeals and public days of ministries and departments) 150 state bodies and organizations are monitored and controlled. Horizontal interaction is carried out through a Single interdepartmental electronic system of performance discipline. Individual interaction with the applicant is carried out through the personal account on the portal https://pm.gov.uz/ru#/.

Based on the collection, in-depth study and generalization of proposals received, a draft State program “Year of dialogue with the people and human interests” was developed. As a result of public discussion of the project 1,310 proposals and feedback were received on the portal “System of impact assessment of legislative acts”, on the basis of which 41 points of the State program were revised. In the period of January 23-27, 2017, a media week and an international “round table” were organized in Tashkent, which was attended by over 1,300 specialists and experts, representatives of the public, media, diplomatic corps and international organizations, as well as major foreign investors operating in Uzbekistan. On March 3, 2017, the page “Dialogue with the people” was created in the social network Facebook. To date, the number of subscribers is about 178 thousand people, daily audience – 114 thousand people. About 300 new members sign up for the page every day. The page hosts online dialogue, public discussions, surveys.

Positive lessons: – mobilization of human and financial; – maximum simplification of the initiative implementation; – accelerated solution of permanent problems; – rapid gain of people's trust in the institutions of power; – concentration of opportunities of all state bodies and organizations around a single initiative; – ensuring the involvement of citizens in the process of making important political decisions; – use of different methods of achieving results within one initiative (field receptions, call-center, Virtual receptions, meetings, discussions, personal receptions, etc). Negative lessons: – too short time frame for the implementation of the initiative; – lack of awareness of the initiative by the international community; – automation of processes was carried out without taking into account specifics of regions, level of access of remote settlements to the Internet; – lack of methodological basis for the implementation of the initiative, anticipating preparation of the final report, internal and external evaluation, budget planning, etc. Plans to improve the initiative: – usage of artificial intelligence in the modernization of the portal with the creation of a comprehensive system of analysis of requests, evaluation of information and forecasting future trends; – independent internal and external evaluation of the initiative to identify vulnerabilities and shortcomings with the aim to develop proposals for the modernization of the portal.