Since 2005, the MuNet e-Gobierno initiative has grown considerably in Costa Rica. What started as a pilot program sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS), ICE and Canada’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development has grown into a robust digital information and services platform to be proud of. The administration of President Laura Chinchilla has been very supportive in this regard, and the Gobierno Facil digital government initiative has seen considerable growth since April 2011.

There is, however, plenty of room to grow and improve with regard to digital governance in our country. The Costa Rica Star feels that one of the most important factors in advancing Gobierno Facil is to take advantage of digital technologies for massive dissemination of important matters. Case in point: The recent programmed water service outage in the cantons of Alajuelita, Deasamparados, Escazu, and Santa Ana, when more than 140,000 residents were without water for most of the day due to maintenance in the pumps at Puente Mulas 1 and 2.

Although it could be argued that there is plenty of advanced notice with regard to major water outages in news media outlets, word-of-mouth and roving trucks fitted with loudspeakers, the Costa Rica Star feels that Gobierno Facil should lead by example and try to reach as many people in Costa Rica whenever planned outages occur. Although the municipalities affected by the recent water outages have an online presence, they did not use it to warn residents beforehand. Even the municipality of Escazu, which is pretty active with regard to online social networking, did not post any updates on the situation on Facebook or Twitter.

Costa Rica has made good use of digital information technologies in the past. A couple of years ago, for example, the Ministry of Public Safety (Spanish initials: MSP) and Fuerza Publica sent very informative text messages to ICE mobile subscribers during the holidays about safety tips. The Costa Rica Star has published articles about President Laura Chinchilla’s personal use of Twitter and the Central Bank’s (BCCR) plan to implement a mobile payments and money transfer system using mobile phones and text messaging.

Gobierno Facil could accomplish a notification system for interested subscribers using e-mail, text messaging or social networks. Compared to other functions Gobierno Facil has already accomplished, it would not be as complex or costly –but it will be a great service to the people of Costa Rica.