Policy makers who formulate Information and Communication Technology agendas for governments will attend Commonwealth workshop

The Commonwealth Secretariat, in collaboration with the Government of Swaziland, is organising a workshop to help African countries enhance their respective national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) agendas.

Participants at this workshop, taking place from 20 to 28 October 2008 in Swaziland's capital, Mbabane, include Senior information officers and policy makers responsible for formulating and writing national ICT strategic plans.

An ICT report presented at last year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda identified Africa as the region with the widest digital divide in the Commonwealth and the least number of mature ICT programmes.

Digital Divide

Digital divide refers to the gap between those countries with effective access to digital and information technology, and those without access to it. This divide can be within communities and countries, and between states.

In Anthony Ming's 2008 publication - 'Bridging the Digital Divide for Networked Government' - he wrote that there is no silver bullet to bridging this divide. Instead, he said that the process requires a series of coordinated strategies, the first of which is the development of a national ICT agenda. Mr Ming is an ICT Advisor at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The seven-day workshop will provide an introduction to the internationally accepted standards established by countries like Canada and the United Kingdom whose ICT systems are in what is referred to as the mature stage.

"Benefits of ICT maturity include sophisticated infrastructure to deliver online initiatives such as e-governance, e-health and e- learning," explains Mr Ming.

Participants at the workshop will examine various techniques that are required for successfully designing and implementing national ICT agendas. By its conclusion attendees are expected to complete an Action Plan for advancing the ICT programmes within their own countries.

Similar workshop will take place in the Caribbean in January and in Asia next May.