Stakeholders in the public and private sectors in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will meet in Mauritius this week to discuss the use of ICT by governments in the region.
The seventh annual SADC ICT in Government Summit and Networking Forum takes place from 29 to 31 May.
The event is hosted by local ICT research firm ForgeAhead, with sponsors including Telkom, Microsoft, Standard Bank and the State IT Agency.
According to ForgeAhead, the framework of the conference discussions will be based on research conducted by the research firm on the state of public sector ICT. The research was conducted between November 2007 and April 2008, it says.
The summit will consist of high-level public and private sector ICT outcomes-based deliberations on how ICT can help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development goals, ForgeAhead says.
Participants will look at challenges and opportunities that governments face when deploying e-government services to enhance service delivery.
Keeping track
ForgeAhead says discussions include a critical evaluation of the status of e-government in Southern Africa, and how government and private sector partnerships can be formed to facilitate ICT development and digital inclusion in the region.
ForgeAhead says it has developed e-government indicators for the SADC region, which will be revealed at the summit.
The indicators are to be used annually as a basis to measure the adoption of e-government in the region and to provide comparisons to similar initiatives in the other regions of Africa, it says.
"The e-government track will also highlight our findings from the research we`ve conducted into the status of e-government in the SADC region and provide guidance to those governments looking to embark on e-government projects of their own."
The conference also includes country case studies which provide insights into the best practices that have been achieved, with panel discussions at the end of each track, says ForgeAhead.
The conference agenda also includes the harmonisation of ICT policy and regulatory environments in Southern Africa for effective government collaboration.
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