1. 1 ICT for Enhanced Service Delivery in Countries in Southern Africa: Case of E- Governance ADF V IST Focus Group Pre-event “ICT & Youth Entrepreneurship” 14 – 19 November 2006 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Presented by Luke Wasonga luke.wasonga@undp.org UNDP-RSC/SACI, Johannesburg, South Africa

2. 2 Focus of the Session  Lessons from E-Governance Platform Assessment in Southern Africa:  Lesotho  Zambia  Malawi COVERAGE  Objectives of the Assessment  Framework of Cases Study  Findings and recommendations

3. 3 Objectives of Case Study Assessment of e-gov platform aimed to measure, describe and Evaluate trends and changes in key ICT indicators so as to: Determine the level of readiness to exploit e-opportunities by all Develop new approaches to promote participation by all Develop new approaches to enhance service delivery Develop new approaches to enhance individual and institutional Capacity- especially the youth Focus: Health Education Agriculture Public service Finance

4. 4 Generic E-governance Building Blocks Institutional Infrastructure Leadership Content and Applications ICT InfrastructureHuman Capital

5. 5 ICT Infrastructure  Communication networks conducive for youth participation  Fixed communication networks  Mobile communication networks  The Internet and related value added networks  Broadcasting networks  Radio broadcasting  Television broadcasting  Government ICT networks  Enabling infrastructure  Electrical supply  Transportation

6. 6 Human Capital – Focusing on Empowerment of Youth  Technical capital  Comprise the tacit knowledge embedded in individual membership  Structural capital  Comprise the explicit knowledge embedded in institutional policies, systems, processes and procedures  Social capital  Comprise the cultural knowledge embedded in network of relationships and partnerships  Capacity building – for youth  Skills development  Professional and technical development  Research and development

7. 7 Institutional Infrastructure  Policy framework that encourages youth involvement  Form the basis for government action and intervention  Legal framework – that incorporates the needs of the youth  Defines boundaries for acceptable behaviour and provide sanctions for those falling outside  Institutional framework – that is broad based  Allocates and legitimizes responsibility and accountability to individuals and organizations  E-participation capacity – that facilitate youth involvement in knowledge creation  Defined by interest, knowledge, information, and means or ability.

8. 8 Leadership  Leadership is the cement and mortar that:  Turn blocks into a strong wall  Walls into a strong building  Determines the strength and functionality of the building.  Youth of Africa forms a key block for enhancing ICT  Both political and administrative commitment is essential for youth participation  The assessment indicated strong need to provide:  Direction to set vision, goals and strategies  Championship to inspire commitment, rally support and mobilize resources.  Coordination to ensure synergy and complementarity of efforts  Oversight to ensure harmony, shared benefits and speedy conflict resolution.

9. 9 FINDINGS

10. 10 ICT infrastructure: Finding LesothoMalawiZambiaTotal Fixed telephone operators1113 Active connection39,000130,000141,000259,000 Teledensity2.050.660.811.02 Mobile operators2237 Mobile subscribers206,000260,000627,0001,092,000 Mobile subscriber density10.82.176.144.32 ISPs48921 Internet subscribers4,00013,00016,00033,000 Internet users20,00070,00080,000170,000 Internet user density1.070.560.710.67 Radio stations10133154 Television stations2249

11. 11 ICT Infrastructure: Findings …  Access to ICT is still very low and exclusive  Low levels of ICT network penetration  Skewed geographical coverage of networks:  Favours urban and peri-urban  Along major connecting routes  No deliberate efforts to incorporate needs of the youth  Ongoing network modernization and upgrading  Lack of affordable sources of electrical energy particularly in remote rural areas  Fragmented government ICT network environment

12. 12 Content and Applications: Findings  Large number and volumes of data and information repositories (databases and registries) in government  Access to government information problematic:  Government websites are generally static with limited functionality  No official inventories of government information repositories  Government ICT application portfolios are composed predominantly of legacy applications built around financial systems and payroll.  Fragmented government ICT application environment  Different an often incompatible platforms  Limited or non-existent interoperability  Numerous ongoing ICT initiatives in each of the focal sectors  Lack of relevant local content to drive the use of ICT in development, governance and service delivery  Language and education as critical barriers to the development of inclusive information society.  Tremendous digital opportunities exist in agriculture, education, finance, governance, health and public service, governance.

13. 13 4.Human Capital: Findings  Government have strong technical, structural and social capacity. Hence, capacity challenges in government are unlikely to arise from lack qualified and competent personnel, except perhaps in ICT.  Governments are the biggest and best staff developers in the respective countries.  A variety of ICT training programmes are found locally, regionally and internationally. However, training that target soft dimensions of human capital are lacking.  Governments have national R&D institutions  ICT leadership development programmes for senior administrative and political leadership are lacking.  No operational policies defining nomination for training and post training debriefing  Retention of qualified and competent staff in government is weak even when frameworks for doing so exists.

14. 14 Institutional Infrastructure: Findings  The national policy environment is complex and crowded and at time neglect the needs of the youth  The legal systems have no provisions for cyber laws that encourage youth participation  The institutional arrangements in government remain predominantly conventional and bureaucratic.  Information management practices in government are predominantly paper-based and therefore stifle information and effective utilization.  Limitations of ongoing public sector reforms to bring about fundamental performance improvements in government

15. 15 Leadership: Findings  Lesotho and Malawi have centralized their institutional leadership for ICT at ministerial levels, while Zambia has not.  Lesotho has finalized its national ICT policy and is now on implementation strategy. Both Malawi and Zambia are yet to finalize their national ICT policies.  No supra-governmental structures for national ICT governance.  No visible evidence of ICT championship as both individual and institutional levels.  None evidence found of national ICT steering or advisory body in the three countries  No evidence of national or regional forums for leaders to debate issues on ICT capacity needs for the region.  No leadership development programmes for top political and administrative officials.  ALL THE FIVE ELEMENT(Content, Human capital, ICT Infrastructure, and Institutional Infrastructure) ARE INTERELATED AND MUST BE TAKEN TOGETHER []

16. 16 THANK YOU