Mauritius has a fairly
advanced broad-based information policy compared to other African countries. Modeled
around the Singapore ICT policy, the Mauritius strategy involved creating instruments for
the implementation of ICT policy (Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunications,
the National Computer
Board), liberalizing the telecommunication sector, creating IT literate
workforce, improving the capacity of public institutions to harness ICTs and positioning
Mauritius to be a key player in ICTs by creating enabling environment and robust
infrastructure.
The Government of Mauritius
has been active in the promotion of information and communication technology in every
socio-economic sphere and steering the country towards the information age.
The computerisation of various governmental agencies dates back to 1989 with the setting
up of the following four major players: National Computer Board (NCB), Central
Informatics Bureau (CIB), State Informatics Limited (SIL) and State
Informatics Training Centre Limited (SITRAC). Government’s investment on
computerisation in the Civil Service until 1999 has been around Rs 410 million and this
amount covers hardware, software and training. There are quite a number of major IT
projects presently under implementation.
NCB is the programme manager
for the National IT Strategy Plan (NITSP)
developed as part of the Government's strategic objectives to accelerate Mauritius’
transformation into a nation where IT would be fully exploited. The NITSP project was
proposed to be carried out in three phases. Phase I is the current state assessment and
mobilisation of resources. Phase II will focus on working out an actionable plan for the
next 3 to 5 years. Phase III will focus on implementation of the plan.
On May 1997, NCB (Mauritius) and NCS (Singapore) signed an agreement to conduct the Phase
I study. Phase I study took about 6 weeks with 2 weeks of fieldwork in Mauritius. The
Phase I study report, delivered in August 1997, has reviewed and identified gaps between
the current and desired state of IT exploitation in Mauritius. The study recommended an
integrated IT strategy, "the SHOCKING strategy with a set of building blocks",
which could chart the course for Mauritius to realign its national outlook in striving for
economic and social development. The eight building blocks were:
The Standards
& Practices building block is based on the need for organisations to set up quality
systems and practices so that knowledge is retained within the organisation system and not
just within the people.
The key thrust in the Human
Resource area is to close the people management gaps within three target groups namely IT
users, IT professionals and the general public.
Organisation
Incentives must be given to the private sector to invest in IT so as to revitalise the
Mauritian economy and position Mauritius as a business hub, using IT as a strategic
weapon.
Civil
Service Computerisation must be carried out with a strategic approach.
Key Drivers
refer to the highly skilled champions who are experts in exploiting IT to enable the
enterprises to gain their competitive edge. The key thrust is to plan, select, train and
develop IT leaders backed with a reward mechanism and a supportive culture.
A strong IT
Industry will be the main driving force to push the economy towards a higher level of
performance. The Mauritius IT industry development strategy should aim at attaining the
right balance of local and external expertise. The multi-national companies linkage can be
the main agent for transfer of technology.
Innovative, visible, high
impact, deployable National Applications must be developed across sectors
as flagship applications to showcase the potential benefits of IT exploitation as well as
encouraging inter-sectors and intra-sector collaboration.
With the Global
Vision of developing Mauritius into a modern nation and the strategy to develop Mauritius
as a business hub for the region, all the sectors within Mauritius must work together.
Upon completion of Phase I,
the launching of the National Information Technology Strategy Plan (NITSP) Phase II
programme gathered a large number of IT professionals from various institutions into six
working groups to elaborate National IT Strategy Plan for the next 3 to 7 years based on
the SHOCKING framework. The working groups recommended detailed Strategic Action
Programmes (SAPs) and the following are highlights of some of the key strategic actions:
Standards and
Practices - To develop twelve sets of standards and practices to support an
effective exploitation of IT in the Civil Service and to set up an appropriate institution
to ensure their uniform enforcement and maintenance.
Human Resource
- To enhance the physical and faculty capacities of the existing IT tertiary institutions
and to set up new institutions to achieve a five-fold increase of the IT professional pool
within seven years and to set critical IT skill development centres.
Organisation
Incentives - To offer properly managed and targeted incentive schemes to
encourage effective IT exploitation among the SMEs in Mauritius, and to develop promising
local companies to boost export of IT services.
Civil Service
Computerisation - During the next stage of planning, an IT master plan for key
ministries will be developed and endorsement of government will be sought for
implementation. For the success of this programme, leadership will have to come from
various respective ministries.
Key Drivers
- A critical mass of key drivers will have to be formed as soon as possible to implement
the Strategic Action Programmes developed during Phase II and to carry out the next phase
of planning and implementation.
IT Industry
- Government will need to drive an accelerated growth of the IT sector by promoting its
effective exploitation in the Civil Service, by developing inter-sector and intra-sector
IT applications and by the setting up of a modern Software Technology Park (or Knowledge
Park).
National IT
Applications:
Government
Information Infrastructure (GII). To set up the proposed GII system for three
pilot ministries by the year 1999, extend the programme to all ministries and government
organisations by the year 2005, and integrate public services through GII to meet the
objective of bringing the Government closer to people.
Mauritius National
Identity Card (MNIC). To set up a Central Population Data Hub by the year 1999,
to produce and introduce smart card-based new National Identity Card by the year 2001, and
develop government applications for an effective exploitation of the new ID card.
The following recommendations
were considered essential for the success of the NITSP:
To seek endorsement by the
NITC of the recommended Strategic Action Programmes.
To seek the
Government’s approval of the proposed budget for the implementation of the SAPs.
To implement a number of
‘Quick Hit’ projects identified in the report to create greater impact of the
NITSP.
To set up the necessary
institutional structure to coordinate and evaluate the implementation of the Strategic
Action Programmes and continue to develop the next phase of action programmes.
To identify, recruit and
develop a critical mass of key drivers to assume the responsibilities of Civil Service
Computerisation Programme and National IT Application Programme.
Following the National IT
strategic plan in 1998, Mauritius launched a number of projects in policy formulation, ICT
awareness, human resources development, government computerization and standard setting.
Its Parliament passed an Electronic Transaction Act in July 2000 to provide appropriate
legal environment for electronic transactions covering electronic contracts, establishment
of Certification Authorities and standards to combat forgery and fraud in electronic
business. The National Computer Board (NCB) that coordinates the ICT policy has
intensified ICT programmes in areas such as electronic commerce strategy, information
security guidelines, ICT standards, electronic government and the promotion of ICT culture
through coaching, seminars and workshops. NCB has ongoing project for collecting and
analyzing baseline data to provide information on ICT market in Mauritius. |
