“One of the most revolutionizing public policy developments in recent times in Pakistan in general and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular has been the introduction of digital governance tools for improved, cost efficient, transparent and accountable service delivery to the public. The sub-national governments in Pakistan, including that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is undertaking a number of e-governance reforms in its various departments, including police, revenue, health, education and district management offices under the motto ‘Technology is our new Ideology’. In what manner the use of technology is improving service delivery in KP and therefore helping the government in attaining the objectives of efficient service provision and transparency is a subject that is highly under-researched in literature.

This project attempts to investigate how the use of ICT tools is affecting efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness in service delivery by the provincial bureaucracy and making it undergo organizational and cultural changes. Further, whether digitalization has affected citizen’s trust on government’s service delivery. The project will make use of the theoretical framework of “Social Determinism” and “Technological Determinism” to understand how digital reforms in the provincial bureaucracy are re-shaping governance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Additional theoretical perspectives will be sought in the writings of Langdon Winner’s “Do Arti facts have Politics”. Since the research questions are exploratory and analytical, therefore, the project will make use of Mixed Methods of data collection from qualitative as well as quantitative sources. Primary data will be collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews from respondents selected from two broad categories: officials and non-official/ common citizens/ complainants. The use of quantitative method is necessitated by the nature of the project, which also attempts to understand the perception of the common people about the improvement in service delivery and transparency of provincial bureaucracy and for knowing the issues and problems faced by the people while accessing public services for complaint registration and redressal using the digital tools. The project intends to use survey questionnaire for collecting data through quantitative methods.”