Iceland and Barbados may be 4,000 miles apart and have wildly different climates but as two small island nations with similar populations, it turns out there is much that the Barbados government can learn from Iceland – about digital transformation in particular. 

This, the fifth and final episode of Government Transformed series 1 was recorded during a three-day Global Government Forum-organised study tour which saw a delegation from Barbados visit Iceland. 

Vigdís Jóhannsdóttir, chief marketing officer of Digital Iceland, Marva Howell, permanent secretary of the Barbados Ministry of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology, and Kevin Cunnington, former chief of the UK Government Digital Service – who led the tour – speak to podcast host Siobhan Benita from Reykjavík about successes, lessons and just how important it is for governments to share what works with each other. 

Learn how Iceland moved from 20th to 5th place in the UN E-Government Development Index; the challenges Barbados has faced in implementing its digital transformation strategy; the merits of giving officials the freedom to make mistakes; how Iceland’s digital government efforts are making citizens’ lives easier whilst relieving pressure on the environment; and more.

As Cunnington said in the first episode of this series, and is a running theme throughout, what digital transformation comes down to, primarily, is people. And as this episode showcases communication, trust and learning from peers overseas are key to achieving true change in government.

In this episode, we refer to: 

UN E-Government Development Index.

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