Scan-ICT
phase II kicks off in Mauritius
By Mercy
Wambui, 27 January 2006
Over 30 participants drawn from government, private sector and civil society organizations attended the launch of Scan-ICT Phase II at a workshop organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on 23 January 2006 in Port Louis, Mauritius.
Scan-ICT is a collaborative initiative coordinated by ECA with support from partners to support build Africa’s capacity to collect and manage the kind of information and data that supports ICT growth and investment and to measure its impact on society and economy.
Participants kick-started the Mauritius Scan-ICT project with a workshop, whereby participants discussed the indicators, methodology for data collection in the various socio-economic sectors of Mauritius as well as how to involve various stakeholders in the process.
In his opening remarks, Honourable Etienne Sinatambou, Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications said, "The ICT sector is not only expected to evolve as the fifth pillar of growth but will also revamp traditional sectors. He added that Mauritius is according high priority to the development of the ICT sector to transform the country into a Cyber Island.
"Measuring the Information Society, in particular the use and impact of ICTs, is a precondition for formulating and assessing ICT policies and strategies and monitoring the digital divide", said Mr. Sinatambou.
Mr. Makane Faye, Regional Advisor, Development Information Services Division (DISD), reaffirmed ECA’s commitment "towards collaborating with the Government and people of Mauritius in attaining their development objectives through the development, deployment and effective use of ICTs".
Mr. Bundhoo, Director of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) highlighted the support that can be provided by the CSO in the implementation of Scan-ICT in Mauritius. He pointed out that ICT indicators have been collected from both households and establishments since 2002 and are being integrated in the annual Continuous Household Surveys of the country.
"However, the gap between the statistics that are available, and those that are needed, particularly with reference to Value Added and Investment, is quite big and we need to bridge that gap." He said.
The workshop resulted in a number of outcomes, including the formation of a national Task Force to lead the process and identification of priority themes and forty-six ICT indicators for Mauritius. In addition, considering the high level of ICT penetration and usage in Mauritius, it was recommended that focus and in-depth work is needed to identify, develop, and use ICT indicators, which can measure the economic impact such as share on GDP.