Human Capacity Development and egovernment Regional Workshop on egovernment Sana a, Yemen 1-3 December 2003 Presented by Akram Najjar InfoConsult Beirut, Lebanon
Table of Contents 1.0 Human Capacity Development and egovernment...1 2.0 Initiative 1: Use ICT for Formal Education...1 3.0 Initiative 2: Use ICT for Informal Education...2 4.0 Initiative 3: Improve the Formal Education of ICT...3 5.0 Initiative 4: Improve the Informal Education of ICT...4 6.0 Initiative 5: Develop ICT Skills in the Nation s Workforce...4 7.0 Critical Success Factors...5
1.0 Human Capacity Development and egovernment egovernment is a process. It governs the provision of public products, services and information to the citizen and other parties such as the following: Individual citizens Communities The private sector NGOs The above are internal to the country. However, egovernment is also concerned with providing the similar services to parties outside the countries. Since the concern of this paper is to highlight the importance of Human Capacity Development within a country, it shall not address such international parties. One of the main requirements for egovernment is the ability of the above parties to access, absorb, share and use information and knowledge efficiently. It also relies on their ability to interact with the Government and hence, to get to know with ease its processes and mechanisms. To achieve this, the population must have the proper education levels and must be ICT literate enough to access and use such knowledge efficiently. ICT policies need to be developed under two dimensions resulting in 4 different policies: ICT can be used to assist the educational process. However, stress must also be made on educating the population in ICT. The following sections develop policies for the above 4 combinations in addition to policies on developing ICT Skills in the Private and Public Sectors. In addition to the above 4 policies, a fifth section presents policies for developing ICT skills in the private and public sectors. It is important to note that the 5 initiatives are closely interlinked and that improvement of one re-enforces the other. 2.0 Initiative 1: Use ICT for Formal Education Formal education is a key requirement for any country. Over and above that, by introducing ICT as a tool for improving Formal Education, egovernment would benefit from the following: Education is a public service, so it can also be seen as part of egovernment services Human Capacity Development and egovernment Page 1
Improving educational levels through the use of ICT would encourage citizens to use ICT and hence find it more natural to access egovernment services. As educational methods progress, more and more stress is being laid on using ICT as an educational tool. Such methods as Computer Based Training (CBT) and elearning (often referred to as distance learning or online learning) are becoming part of the educator s daily tools. Their purpose is to provide: First hand education Complementary learning Refresh learning To introduce such methods would require changes in the current primary, secondary, vocational and university education. It would also require research into available material and the development of new material. The following policies should be supported: Modernize current curricula to exploit ICT for learning purposes Encourage and make more affordable the access of educational institutions to the Internet Start drives to identify already developed educational content earmarking it for localized content and language. Encourage the development of elearning and computer based training (CBT). Such material would be mostly that requiring local content. Encourage the translation of existing material from other languages. There is no need to duplicate material already developed in other countries. Support the spread of virtual universities and educational institutes. Promote the use of educational web sites that provide support to formal education. Such sites would provide online tutorials, ebooks, articles and related material. Launch educational portals to include all private and public educational institutes. Their purpose would be to link such institutions, provide the students and teachers with information and assist the institutions in their educational capacity. The benefit of introducing ICT as a tool in formal education would be efficiency, standardization and ease of access. 3.0 Initiative 2: Use ICT for Informal Education Informal education is another major factor in the overall assessment of the human capacity of a nation. Informal education covers the knowledge and skills acquired by individuals and institutions outside their formal education. The knowledge of an individual of such issues as culture, science, business, technologies and human sciences would complement his or her formal education and develop human capacity in a nation. The knowledge of an institution of such issues as management culture, domain knowledge and general business skills is another factor in a nation s overall informal education. The impact of such knowledge on egovernment is crucial. Individuals would find it easy and attractive to have access to various egovernment portals providing health, education, science and cultural services and information. Institutions would also find it easy and useful to access various portals related to the improvement of their work. Human Capacity Development and egovernment Page 2
ICT can be a major driver in informal education. By providing Internet access to the segments of society that are challenged in various ways, the Government can ensure that part of their education is accessible informally and at little or no cost. This educational stream can also be of use to the already educated to promote research, advancement and lifelong learning. The following policies should be supported: Support the proliferation of automated and ICT supported public libraries. Support and encourage the development of elearning and CBT for informal educational subjects: science, culture, technology and other specialized subjects. Encourage the development of locally relevant educational material. Encourage the use of ICTs to encourage ongoing lifelong learning. Promote the use of citizen guides in various areas as part of general education and knowledge (legal, medical, education and other issues). Use radio and TV for the improvement of informal educational levels. Support and endorse access to web site of direct relevance to the private sector s knowledge building processes. The benefit of introducing ICT as a tool in informal education would be an increase in general knowledge and culture, a heightened use of technologies and a more efficient transfer of knowledge from more developed countries. 4.0 Initiative 3: Improve the Formal Education of ICT ICT is being introduced as part of general educational programs in all countries. Some differ on when such education is introduced: the primary or the secondary levels. In all cases, ICT should be part of the formal education subjects. Furthermore, such formal education can also be provided to those without access to formal education such as the aged and the poor segments of society. The following policies are meant to improve the formal learning of ICT: Identify the required ICT literacy levels for various educational levels. Spread the learning of ICT at all educational levels: primary, secondary, vocational and university. Encourage the international community and the private sector to support the development of local and national educational institutions and capacities. Encourage the use of already established ICT training material to avoid the local redevelopment of the same. Spread the task of ICT training outside the current educational establishment, at least in its early stages. This effort will assist and support that of the educational establishment. Train the teachers to ensure that proper ICT skills and knowledge are imparted. Encourage and support ICT training institutes through promotion, incentives and exemptions. Encourage the involvement of the ICT sector in formal education. Support and endorse efforts to localize training material. Formal education of ICT can be supported by the private sector through involvement of ICT companies and training institutes. Human Capacity Development and egovernment Page 3
The benefit of these policies to egovernment are in making the population ready to use the various governmental services to be provided through the egovernment process. 5.0 Initiative 4: Improve the Informal Education of ICT Much of ICT knowledge acquired in the early stages of ICT development was informal and that drive still goes on. Citizens find it easy to learn ICT content on their own. The Government should encourage this drive and promote it through the following policies: Improve ICT Skills for citizens through media such as radio and TV. Strengthen public libraries and reading places, assisted by ICT, to develop reading and information seeking behavior of the society. Raise awareness of the importance of informal education through elearning, the web and computer based training (CBT). Provide wider content of relevance to Lebanon and the region. Encourage the learning of English as it is the most widely used language on the web. Encourage ICT certification in academia and Training Institutes Informal education of ICT will often lead to a need to perfect ICT skills hence reenforcing the other proposed initiatives. 6.0 Initiative 5: Develop ICT Skills in the Nation s Workforce One of the foundation stones of the Knowledge Based Economy is a capable workforce, knowledge workers with developed technical skills. This applies to both ICT and other workforces. Most of the following objectives apply to both the private and the public sectors: Encourage ICT training institutes by providing them with incentives, connecting them with international firms having similar objectives and involving them in national training requirements Encourage the certification of workforces on ICT products that are non-technical in nature but of general use for knowledge workers. Launch elearning projects addressed at the Lebanese workforce that provide them with improved ICT and organizational skills. Identify and promote the use of ICT skills training on the web. Define ICT literacy levels for various jobs allowing managers to develop their staff and perform regular evaluations. Ensure that with time, more and more jobs include ICT skills as part of their pre-requisites. Career paths need to be streamlined to include growth in ICT skills. Encourage academic institutions to cooperate with the ICT sector to ensure that the educational programs provided by such institutions improve the ICT skills of various job types. Ensure that the Ministry of Education coordinates with universities and the ICT sector when developing its own ICT educational curricula. This would have a direct impact on the skills of future workforces. Encourage SMEs to train their workforces on ICT skills. This also requires ensuring that such SMEs provide the necessary ICT infrastructure. Develop training programs for ICT skills throughout the public sector. Human Capacity Development and egovernment Page 4
Improve the availability of books that support ICT skills by encouraging technical book fairs, reduction of taxes on books and CDs. Developing ICT skills would therefore lead to the strengthening of managerial capabilities, the proper use of technologies, the exploitation of new business processes and models and the proper use of knowledge. 7.0 Critical Success Factors To ensure that the 5 initiatives are properly planned and implemented, the following Critical Success Factors need to be addressed: 1. Commitment: Ensure that the Government and the bodies needed for improving Human Capacity are committed to the 5 initiatives. This would cover such agencies as the Ministry of Education and any ICT body such as professional agencies, entities within the government in charge of ICT and the private sector. 2. Involvement: The 5 initiatives are wide in their scope and ownership. The stakeholders are therefore numerous. These would need to be involved in the overall process: academia, the private sector, the ICT sector (companies and training institutes). 3. Funding: The 5 initiatives are extensive courses of actions or programs made up of many projects. They would require suitable funding for their success. 4. Lessons Learned: Many other countries have already launched the drive for human capacity development and have met with various challenges and opportunities. It is important to be able to learn from such countries and coordinate with them, particularly those in the region and those with similar socio-economic conditions. 5. Sustainability: Ensure the 5 initiatives are sustainable in their funding, resources, operations and results. This is a massive undertaking and requires vision and careful planning. 6. Implementable Goals: The programs and projects need to have concrete goals that are pragmatic and easy to implement. Setting goals that are too ambitious or goals that are vague and difficult to implement would lead to failure. 7. Incremental Solutions: Due to the nature of public sectors, solutions tend to come bundled in one project or program. It is important to develop incremental solutions whose phases are short providing easily attainable results early enough to gain championship and acceptance. Furthermore, incremental solutions have lower risks of failure and are easier to manage. The above Critical Success Factors will ensure that egovernment has the proper human capacity infrastructure needed for its proper operation. Human Capacity Development and egovernment Page 5