Reflections from Lesedi Senamele Matlala - (Dg.o 2025 Travel Grant Awardee from School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, University of Johannesburg, South Africa)

Participating in the 26th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (dg.o 2025) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was far more than an academic milestone—it was an opportunity to represent and amplify African perspectives in a space where digital governance conversations are often dominated by voices from the Global North. As a South African scholar and evaluator, my presence at dg.o 2025 was shaped by a desire to contribute to a growing body of work that challenges dominant paradigms and foregrounds the realities, innovations, and aspirations of the African continent.
Thanks to the generous travel grant awarded by the Digital Government Society (DGS), I was able to travel to Brazil, present two research papers, and engage with an international community of scholars committed to reimagining government in the digital era. What made the experience truly unforgettable was receiving the Best Research Paper Award for my work titled “Factors Influencing the Potential Adoption of Social Media for Citizen-Based Monitoring in South Africa”—a paper that brings attention to the creative ways in which citizens in underserved communities are using technology to hold local governments accountable.
This award-winning paper, presented under Track 19: Social Media and Government, is rooted in my doctoral research and investigates how everyday South Africans, particularly in townships and informal settlements, use platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter (X) to report service delivery failures, engage with municipal officials, and document systemic neglect. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DOI), the study explores why many government institutions remain hesitant to formally adopt these citizen-led monitoring tools.
Interviews with civil servants and civic tech practitioners revealed a striking tension: while social media is widely used by citizens to demand accountability, public institutions remain largely risk-averse, treating these platforms as threats rather than as channels for co-production and responsiveness. Nevertheless, there are promising pockets of innovation—WhatsApp groups used by ward councillors, municipal hotlines integrated into digital dashboards, and public-private partnerships experimenting with tech-enabled citizen engagement.
Winning the Best Research Paper Award in this category was not just a personal honour—it was a recognition of the importance of citizen voices, digital inclusion, and African innovation in the field of digital government. As the award was announced and presented by Prof. Dr. Marie Anne Macadar, I felt a deep sense of responsibility to continue advocating for digital policies that do not simply replicate Western models, but that are grounded in local context, lived realities, and inclusive governance principles.
In addition to this paper, I presented a second study under Track 4: Evidence-Based Policy and Public Value, titled “Factors Affecting the Use of Evidence in Public Sector Programmes in South Africa: A Systematic Review of Outcome 8 Programmes.” This paper explores why, despite a proliferation of evaluations and performance reports, evidence is still underutilized in South African public policy—particularly in the housing and human settlements sector, encapsulated in Outcome 8 of the National Development Plan (NDP).
The systematic review analyzed evaluation reports, departmental reviews, and grey literature, revealing that structural fragmentation, political disincentives, and a culture of compliance continue to inhibit the translation of evidence into action. The study highlights that although South Africa has made significant investments in monitoring and evaluation (M&E), these mechanisms often operate in silos, disconnected from real-time policymaking and frontline service delivery.
Presenting this work provided an opportunity to engage with colleagues from Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe—regions facing similar struggles in institutionalizing evidence use. The feedback I received emphasized the importance of embedding evaluative thinking into the DNA of public institutions, and several colleagues expressed interest in adapting some of the South African lessons into their own reform efforts. These exchanges reaffirmed that South–South learning must be prioritized in global knowledge ecosystems.
Beyond the paper sessions, dg.o 2025 created an inspiring and generative space for cross-cultural dialogue. The conference theme—“Digital Government: Fostering Social Cohesion for Reducing Inequalities”—was especially resonant for African contexts, where legacies of colonialism, inequality, and exclusion continue to shape digital access and governance. Keynotes emphasized the critical role of data justice, the dangers of techno-solutionism, and the urgent need to protect democratic values in an increasingly digitized world.
I was particularly inspired by conversations around digital sovereignty, participatory tech design, and the ethics of algorithmic governance—all areas that African countries must engage with proactively. For me, these discussions validated the central premise of my work: that technology is not neutral, and unless we consciously embed equity, voice, and accountability into digital systems, we risk reinforcing the very injustices we seek to dismantle.
As a young African scholar, I was proud to bring my voice, my work, and my lived context to this global platform. The support from the Digital Government Society through the travel grant made this possible. It allowed me to not only present rigorous research, but to amplify the realities and aspirations of African citizens who are often missing from global datasets, policy blueprints, and technology narratives.
dg.o 2025 reminded me that research is not just about publishing papers—it’s about shifting paradigms, building solidarities, and holding space for voices that are too often sidelined. It is about challenging the idea that innovation flows in one direction and instead showing that African communities are not just recipients of digital policy—they are creators, disruptors, and visionaries in their own right.
Returning from this conference, I am more committed than ever to advancing research that is accountable to the people it studies, grounded in justice, and open to collaboration across disciplines, borders, and languages. I look forward to further engagements with the digital governance community, and to helping shape a future where digital government truly reflects the diversity, dignity, and agency of all people.