After a slow down in policy formulation for two years, Malawi recently began a fresh initiative to develop an ICT policy under the leadership of the Director of the Government Public IT Services. Malawi has established an ICT policy task force and a technical working group on information and communication technology policy. The United Nations Development programme and the Economic Commission for Africa are providing technical and financial assistance for ICT policy development in Malawi. Following a needs assessment by a consultant a national ICT policy framework has been developed and submitted to the government.

The Malawi ICT policy and plan development process is based on a methodology developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for African (UNECA) within the framework of the Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI). The process is aimed at four key outputs, namely: the Framework, Policy, Plan and Structures. The Framework document, An Integrated Socio-Economic and ICT Policy and Plan Development Framework for Malawi, sets the agenda for guiding the development of other elements of the process. The Policy document which is to be based on the Framework, will aim at providing the details of the key policy commitments and considerations of the government. The corresponding Plan will provide details of the programmes and initiatives aimed at implementing the policy commitments as per the policy document. The Structures or institutional set-ups will serve as the relevant national coordinating structures, bodies or institutional arrangements to support the implementation of the policies and plans.

In a nutshell, the Policy document, based on the Framework will provide details of the policy commitments of government in relation to what need to be done towards the realization the nation’s social and economic development aspirations through the deployment, exploitation and development of ICTs whilst the Plan based on the details of the Policy document will provide details of how these policy commitments can be translated into concrete programmes and initiatives for implementation.

The Malawi NICI policy development process will cover three phases:

• The first phase of the development of Malawi national ICT policy and strategies has been completed in 2002. This phase resulted in the publication of the ICT Policy Framework document that will be used as a basis for the development of the plan and the policy documents. This document was submitted to government officials in June 2002.

• The second phase of the process has started in January 2003 and consultations are underway at the country level based on the ICT Policy Framework document. This phase will be completed by a baseline study on current indicators on ICT-led socioeconomic development issues for Malawi as indicated in the ICT Policy Framework document. The results of the new round of consultations and the baseline study to start the third phase will be available soon.

• The third phase will concentrate on activities leading to the development of the ICT policy document. This is expected to start in April 2003.

The policy document, An Integrated ICT-led Socio-Economic Development Policy for Malawi, was submitted to the government in July 2003.

Development of the implementation plan is expected to commence in mid-2006.

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