Fifth Caribbean Ministerial Consultation on Regional Cooperation for E-Government Capacity Building. Opening Remarks

Transcription

1 Fifth Caribbean Ministerial Consultation on Regional Cooperation for E-Government Capacity Building Opening Remarks Guido Bertucci Division for Public Administration and Development Management United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Porters, St. James, Barbados, 17 June 2004

2 Your Excellencies, Ministers John Williams and Mario Baccini, Messrs. Philip Goddard, Richard Madavo, Ms. Jennifer Britton, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to start by thanking the Government of Barbados for receiving us in this lush and friendly country, and by expressing my congratulations and appreciation to our host and partner CARICAD for cooperating in the organization of this important event. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to the Government of Italy and personally to Under-Secretary Baccini for the generous support, which has made this whole initiative and this Consultation possible. This Consultation grows from close cooperation of CARICAD, the Government of Italy and UNDESA in the area of administrative reform and e-government capacity building in the context of regional development and integration. I am very pleased that we have the opportunity in this meeting to bring one step further a process of dialogue and cooperation that began in Port of Spain and Rome in 2000, and continued in Montego Bay in 2001, in Palermo in 2002 and Point Salines in This Consultation builds upon three main trends, namely the commitment of the Region to public sector reform, the tendency toward the adoption of ICT by the Government as an aid to innovations in the public administration, and in the increasing recognition that there is ample space for regional cooperation on e-government development, since regional cooperation can produce benefits not only at the regional but also at the national level. Within the context of public sector reform, ICT and its application in and by the government has taken on an increased relevance as an aide to the process of governing. ICT has been seen as a potentially powerful tool to strengthen public reform efforts, to promote transparency and accountability, to enhance policy making and public service delivery, and stimulate more direct participation in the governing process. Consequently, most Caribbean governments have embarked on ICT implementation projects within public service. Computer technology now plays an increasingly significant role at the operational level of many Ministries and Departments. ICT was introduced in some cases as part of reform and restructuring efforts, in other as simple digitization of existing systems. As per the trend toward regional cooperation on ICT, there are a number of initiatives that witness an increasing recognition of its potential benefits and commitment to within the Region. The series of Ministerial Consultations started in 2000, which are part of a broader initiative for administrative reform and e-government capacity building by the Counties in the Caribbean Region are a testimony of this trend. The CARICOM ICT/Connectivity Agenda is a more recent and extremely valuable process of putting together a policy for ICT development and for enhancing the means of communication in the Caribbean Community. In the presentations that will take place in sessions II and III of this Consultation we will have the opportunity to learn more about these and other very relevant regional initiatives. All these efforts toward regional cooperation on ICT and e-government in the region are based on the recognition that even if the situation of e-government development might differ from country to country, there is potential for getting vast benefits out of it. The potential of regional cooperation lies in its ability to promote awareness, build leadership, exchange good practices and lessons learned, decrease disparities within the region, create economies of scale, promote 2

3 coordination and interoperability, increase avenues of resource mobilization, and address cross border challenges such as security, infrastructure and human capital development. As you know, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has a long standing programme dealing with public administration and governance. The promotion of ICT and its application are a key goal of the Millennium Declaration, which directly calls upon governments to apply new technologies, especially ICT, for development. Accordingly, knowledge management and e-government are of particular importance in the work of the Department. By working for governments and with governments in the Caribbean and in other regions of the world we have learned a number of lessons. Some of these lessons are of a universal nature, other tend to be specific to the Caribbean Region. I would like to share with you some of these lessons. One very important lesson we have learned is that while giving enthusiastic support to innovations in public administration that apply ICT to public sector activities, introducing e- government should always be a thoughtful process that prepares a favourable context first through the needed transformation and change and introduces technology after. This conclusion not so obvious at the start of e-government programs all over the world is winning more and more supporters, and is substantiated by evidence in our 2003 World Public Sector Report, copy of which are available for distribution in this venue. We have also learned that the picture of e-government readiness in the region is rather uneven. According to the result of the CARICAD/UNDESA assessment missions which will be the subject of discussion during Session II of this meeting and confirmed by the outcomes of the UN Global E-government Survey 2003, currently the Caribbean countries represent a somewhat limited capacity for e-government development. However, the majority of the Caribbean countries demonstrate unused potential for further development of the quality of their on-line presence. With respect of e-participation, and in line with the prevailing trends in the world, the Caribbean countries demonstrate of not having given enough thought yet to the use of ICT for broadening genuine citizens participation in the democratic process. I will mention one last lesson before concluding: We have learned that a careful assessment of readiness and the formulation of strategies at the national and regional level with a participatory process are powerful instruments not only as diagnostic, but also as awareness raising tools, and for optimizing policy decisions, minimize waste, reduce mistakes, make the best use of scarce resources and make government able to produce public value, i.e. what people want. Informed by these lessons, and following the decisions of the Third Caribbean Ministerial Consultation in Montego Bay in 2001, CARICAD and the Caribbean Working Group on e- Government, supported by UNDESA, have cooperated with the countries of the region in a number of activities that led to the formulation of the draft strategy which was submitted to your review in advance of this meeting, and that we trust will be further discussed and finally approved during the upcoming deliberations today. Why would the region need a common strategy on e-government? Because a lot still needs to be done in the region at the national and regional level. Awareness needs to be built, among the leadership as well as the population. Structures supporting e-government need to be put into 3

4 place, budgetary support needs to be ensured, interoperability and coordination must be established. There is a way for doing all this for the benefit of the countries and the region as a whole, and this way is outlined in the draft Strategy submitted to your deliberations today. The programmatic framework contained in the Strategy was outlined taking into consideration national and regional priorities and those of prospective donors. It is based on the information provided directly by countries through the e-readiness assessment, and informed by review and analysis of the prior work conducted in the region by counties, regional and international organizations. We have evidence that Caribbean countries are interested in and committed to the strategy and its action plan. We have the support of the Italian Government to go to the next phase to work at the country and regional level to formulate specific project ideas, within this programmatic framework. We have indication that other partners are also interested to join in. We aim at agreeing on a very focused set of programmatic priorities where regional action and a common and concerted approach can add value. We aim at stimulating thinking on needed parallel action at the national level. We believe there would be a benefit from establishing a follow up facility/mechanism to support countries within the region to formulate projects at the national and regional level, and facilitate the funding of these initiatives by matching the proposals with the programmatic priorities of prospective donors, and meeting their requirements for review, approval, monitoring and evaluation. We expect that this meeting will not discuss cooperation on e-government alone, but widen the scope of the cooperation of CARICAD, CARICOM, Italy and DESA to the broader area of ICT for Development, where e-government constitutes an entry point. We pledge the continuous support of UNDESA to provide policy and technical advice to requesting governments to build national and regional capacity through all the stages of the process, sharing our experience, expertise and network, namely the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN), which as you all know, is the largest and most comprehensive in the world in the area of public administration. Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, This Consultation represents yet another opportunity to put into practical use the knowledge that was created and the wisdom that was gained since we first stated to debate e-government issues in Port of Spain four years ago. More specifically, there are a number of key objectives that we hope this Consultation will achieve: To reach consensus on the Strategy, as common vision for e-government development in the region. This will be the task to be achieved during today s works. The proceedings of this meeting may feed into CARICOM Meeting of ICT Ministers of October

5 To define the way forward, on the basis of the Action Plan and within the programmatic framework of the strategy, and select a few, focused regional and country activities to be implemented immediately after the conclusion of this meeting, which are relevant, feasible, and fundable, and able to produce quick successes within a one or two year scope. To consolidate partnerships already in place, and open discussions for the establishment of new ones, and to explore how this initiative can work in synergy with other initiatives in place in the region, so that they do reinforce rather than duplicate each other. It is my hope that his meeting will generate concrete ideas that each one of us can bring back home, and the commitment that once back home we will stop and think about specific working modalities on how to approach the e-government development issues in our respective countries and organizations, in order to obtain maximum benefit from regional cooperation, and to foster national development. This meeting is an opportunity for regional cooperation on e-government that CARICAD, the Government of Italy and UNDESA have been creating for four consecutive years. I have every confidence that it will be well used. I trust that the discussions and deliberations as well as the presentations that will take place during this meeting will further our understanding and consensus on how to bring the good ideas contained in the Strategy into meaningful implementation, so as to proceed on a sound path of regional cooperation for e-government capacity building within the Caribbean region. In this spirit, please accept my best wishes for a successful meeting. 5