East Africa Regional eGovernment Strategy Workshop

The eGovernment workshop aims to take stock of the regional capacity in eGovernment. The workshop which is scheduled for 17th – 19th of November is co-hosted by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and AITEC Tanzania.

eGovernment is defined as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in public administration combined with organisational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic processes and strengthen support to public policies. The potential of eGovernment goes far beyond the early achievements of online public services. It is therefore understandable that eGovernment has been defined as a priority in many countries.

However, many barriers and obstacles need to be overcome and sizeable investments are needed. Change processes in organisation and culture take time: it can take several years before the combined investment in ICT, organisation and skills deliver the full benefits.

The workshop, whose theme is eGovernment for regional economic prosperity, will bring together eGovenment champions form Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique and will come from government, civil society and the private sector. About 100 perticipants are exepcted to attend the workshop which will lead to a proposed eGovernment roadmap for the region that the EAC may pursue.

According to the organisers, this is a stock taking activity and from this event people will more aware of the various eGovernment initiatives that are taking place in the region. “At the end of the workshop, we should have a clear picture of where each government is in terms of eGovernment and also have their plans for next few years”, said Harry Hare of AITEC. “and we should also be able to se any possible linkages, if any, with the broader East African integration excersise that is hapenning at the political level,” he continued.

The workshop is co-located with the annual AITEC Tanzania exhibition which will focus of eGovernement solutions. Already several exhibitors have confirmed there participation to the exhibition that is expected to be a good mix of local and international companies. Soft-Tech Group, one of the pioneers in the ICT industry in Tanzania have taken the main sponsorship of the event and are planning to have on display an array of solutions for eGovernment.

“Information governing presents an entirely new set of challenges for decision makers, public sector professionals and citizens. The key to success is finding the right solutions and local support,” said Harrish Bhatt, the Managing Director of Sot-Tech Group. “Our mission is to explore how ICT will continue to impact on the productivity and performance of the public sectorand to support this by offering and supporting appropriet solutions,” he continued.

Some of the areas that will be discussed include Network and Data Security, Corporate Communication, Collaboration, Storage Technologies, Connectivity and Networking, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Technologies, eLearning, eProcurement, Open Source in Government.