E-Participation on the international stage: a web content analysis of ten international health organisations

Abstract

International organisations provide services to many actors, most of whom are geographically dispersed. Thanks to digital technologies, an increasing number of stakeholders have gained the capacity to make their voice heard. This change can be an opportunity for international organisations to develop new e-participation processes. To date, most e-participation research focused on local governments and administrations. This paper wishes to address this research gap. Based on a methodology that was initially developed to analyse the participation features of local governments' websites, this paper conducts a comparative analysis of the websites of 10 international health organisations. Some results are similar to e-participation in a local context: organisations use their website primarily to provide access to information rather than to engage with their audience. This study also identifies two criteria that can explain why some organisations have better-developed e-participation processes: a broad audience, and ample financial resources.