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 UNDP-RSC/SACI, Johannesburg, South Africa

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

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 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 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 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 FINDINGS

10 ICT infrastructure: Finding LesothoMalawiZambiaTotal Fixed telephone operators1113 Active connection39,000130,000141,000259,000 Teledensity Mobile operators2237 Mobile subscribers206,000260,000627,0001,092,000 Mobile subscriber density ISPs48921 Internet subscribers4,00013,00016,00033,000 Internet users20,00070,00080,000170,000 Internet user density Radio stations Television stations2249

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 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 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 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 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 []

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