There was a time when ‘digital government’ simply meant a website, a few online forms, and a promise to cut down on paper. That was the era of e-government when technology was used mainly to automate government functions and deliver public services more efficiently. It was a one-way street: the government built systems and citizens logged in to use them.
The focus was on access and speed in doing the same old things, only faster and online. But that model now feels incomplete. The next big step is we-government, a digital transformation where citizens are not just users but co-creators. It’s about governance that listens as much as it delivers.
In we-government, the relationship between the state and the people becomes interactive and collaborative. Citizens help shape digital policies, improve public platforms, and contribute data and ideas that guide decisions.
For Sri Lanka, this evolution means moving from electronic to empathetic governance, and from systems that merely process information to systems that understand human needs. The true measure of progress will no longer be how many government services are online, but how deeply citizens feel included, heard, and valued in the digital journey they help to build.
Beyond efficiency: The soul of a digital nation
E-government, at its core, is about efficiency – faster transactions, reduced paperwork, and greater transparency. But we-government goes further. It’s about co-creation, inclusion, and trust. It’s where every citizen becomes both a participant and a policymaker in shaping national outcomes.
In 2030, digital governance will not simply be a platform for service delivery; it will be an ecosystem of shared intelligence. Picture a farmer in Anuradhapura logging into a national agri-insight portal to contribute real-time crop data, which then helps policymakers anticipate food supply challenges.
Or a youth in Jaffna designing an app that translates Government information into Tamil voice commands for visually impaired citizens. These are not fantasies. They are the hallmarks of a we-government – a system that listens as much as it speaks.
Trust: The currency of digital governance
Technology can connect, but it cannot care. That’s where human governance must lead. Sri Lanka’s digital revolution will fail if it builds platforms without trust. Every click must be anchored in confidence that data is safe, feedback matters, and decisions are transparent.
Imagine a national digital trust index that publicly ranks ministries based on responsiveness, transparency, and citizen satisfaction. Imagine an annual people’s budget lab where young innovators reimagine how public spending data is visualised and shared.
Trust doesn’t grow from technology alone; it grows from accountability. And accountability, when digitised, becomes contagious.
From portals to participation
Many countries have learnt to offer online services renewing licences, paying bills, or checking benefits with a few clicks. But only a few have truly learnt how to make people part of the decision-making process.
Sri Lanka has a chance to lead by creating digital councils and feedback platforms where citizens don’t just use Government services but instead help improve them. Why not invite rural youth to share real ideas for climate solutions? Why not publish budget plans online and let people vote on what matters most to their communities?
The goal is clear: to make governance not just easy to reach, but alive, responsive, and shaped by the people themselves.
Data as a public good
Across Sri Lanka, a new generation of innovators is quietly reshaping governance. Young coders, policy thinkers, and social entrepreneurs are proving that civic technology can be as powerful as policy itself.
From startups using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and satellite data to map road repairs, to citizen groups using blockchain to trace disaster relief funds, these initiatives show that innovation does not need to begin in ministries to strengthen government.
At the heart of this movement lies one powerful idea: data must be treated as a public good. When information is open, secure, and responsibly shared, citizens can see their own stories reflected in the nation’s progress.
A national data commons built on strong privacy laws, ethical AI, and citizen consent could make Sri Lanka one of Asia’s most trusted and transparent digital democracies, where technology serves not just efficiency, but empowerment.
Inclusivity: The moral code of 2030
If even a single citizen is left out, digital governance fails its mission. True we-government must serve everyone, whether rural or urban, wealthy or poor, able-bodied or with disabilities.
By 2030, inclusivity won’t stop at language translation. It will include adaptive platforms that can speak, sign, and simplify tasks; designs sensitive to gender; helplines tailored for seniors; and mobile solutions that reach communities far beyond Colombo.
Bridging the digital divide goes beyond connectivity; it is about fostering digital confidence, enabling citizens to use technology safely, effectively, and creatively as a new form of civic education.
Artificial intelligence, human intuition
AI will serve as a transformative tool in Sri Lanka’s we-government, enhancing human decision-making rather than replacing it.
Predictive analytics can, for instance, identify students at risk of dropping out, while multilingual chatbots provide citizens with round-the-clock access to information. Machine learning can also optimise service delivery by detecting inefficiencies across public systems.
However, the integration of AI must be guided by human judgement, as understanding context, culture, and empathy remains essential to ensuring that technology supports meaningful outcomes. Embedding ethical considerations into every algorithm will be critical, as the credibility and trustworthiness of digital governance depend on it.
Reimagining the citizen from consumer to co-creator
In the vision of we-government, citizens are not passive recipients of policies but active collaborators in their creation and implementation. Through digital platforms, they can submit ideas, monitor progress, and even co-fund public initiatives, transforming governance into a participatory enterprise.
Concepts such as a national idea ledger could enable citizens to propose innovative solutions from urban waste management to mental health programmes with the most promising projects receiving state support. Similarly, a digital volunteer corps could mobilise professionals to contribute skills in coding, design, or communication, strengthening public platforms.
By positioning citizens as stakeholders rather than consumers, governance shifts from a top-down bureaucracy to a shared endeavour rooted in civic engagement and collective ownership.
Education as the foundation of a digital republic
No transformation is truly sustainable without education. By 2030, Sri Lanka’s digital republic will require a new civic literacy, one that merges digital fluency with democratic values.
Students must learn not only to code but to care, understanding how technology can address social challenges. Schools could host governance labs where young innovators prototype citizen-centred solutions, while universities might establish public innovation studios that bring policymakers and programmers together.
When digital creativity meets civic responsibility, we-government moves from abstract theory to lived culture, embedding participation and problem-solving into everyday life.
Building a shared future
The leap from e-government to we-government is less about infrastructure and more about imagination. It requires rethinking the state-citizen relationship, moving from top-down and transactional to horizontal, participatory, and transformational.
Leaders must listen, institutions must adapt, and citizens must actively engage. Technology serves as the bridge, but empathy remains the destination.
Along the way, reforms in law, public finance, and civic engagement will be essential, and obstacles are inevitable. But the payoff is transformative: when governance shifts from ‘they’ to ‘we,’ citizens stop waiting for change and start co-creating it, fostering a digital democracy where shared purpose drives collective action.
In the end, a truly inclusive and empowered digital society is not built by the government alone; it is built together, by every citizen willing to imagine, participate, and act.
(The writer is an independent researcher)
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)