Roadmaps for developing nations

Whilst conducting the literature review, the author noticed differences between the common roadmaps which are currently available. As indicated earlier in this chapter, most of the roadmaps have been developed in more developed and advanced nations such as Europe and America. The author, however, also found some roadmaps in use within developing nations; this was observed mainly in Asia and Africa. The most common difference observed is that most of the current roadmaps in developing nations are created by the governments, and they focus primary on ICTs. In this research roadmaps for five developing nations were considered. The nations are South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Lesotho and Malaysia. An analysis of the existing ICT roadmaps in these developing nations is offered below.

The ICT roadmap for Bangladesh was developed by the government of Bangladesh to empower its people with ICT services. It focused on improving public services to the people and offering ICT education through technology (Bangladesh Roadmap Report, 2008). The Bangladesh ICT roadmap was citizen centered and was meant for all the people in the country.

In the Philippines’ ICT roadmap plan draft document (2006), it was stated that the Philippines roadmap had the theme, “The future has come, let’s prepare for it now”. The Philippine government has noted the economic benefits of ICTs. The proper ICT roadmap plan was compiled by Ramon (2006), supporting the ideas which were raised in the Philippines’ ICT roadmap plan draft document of the same year. Thus, the focus of the roadmap was to clearly plan and state the government’s strategies and programmes which were meant to enable its citizens to access ICT solutions (Ramon, 2006). The Philippine roadmap was prepared by senior government officials from the commission for Information and Communication Technology. This was achieved through meetings with different stakeholders from national and local government units and focus groups (Ramon, 2006). In addition, two workshops were conducted and two formal presentations were provided so as to share ideas and acquire the views of other key stakeholders. People from both the private and public sectors were invited to analyse the roadmap. It was emphasized throughout the process that the focus of the roadmap was the provision of ICT services which are accessible, available, secure, and sustainable to the citizens (Ramon, 2006).

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In Pakistan, the government realized that several Pakistanis living in developed countries were contributing effectively and making successes of themselves in these nations, because of the improved ICTs available in these countries. The Pakistan vision for 2015 was based on the premise that if some of the best international practices in ICT usage are applied in Pakistan under joint action by all stakeholders then, by 2015, Pakistan would be developed. Hence, the ICT roadmap for Pakistan focused on addressing the key services needed, which could be accessible with the use of ICTs (Jaffri, 2008). The idea was to provide these services to all citizens. Some of the services mentioned were the provision of access to education for all, as well as health, good governance, jobs, knowledge and economic opportunities for all (Jaffri, 2008). The main goal of the roadmap was to create awareness of the formation of the ICT commission of Pakistan. Planning meetings were held with the relevant stakeholders and the target was to accomplish this by 2015 (Jaffri, 2008).

The government of Malaysia identified the importance of ICTs to the national economy and planned to have an ICT roadmap of its own. A report to improve ICTs, which was prepared by the National Information Technology Council of Malaysia (2010), explains the government’s strategy to improve ICTs. The focus of this strategy was to offer eServices to the people. Some of these services were: “eCommunity, eLearning, eSovereignty, eEconomy, ePublic services, eBusiness and eGovernment”. The main priority in accessing these eServices was given to the public and the rural people of the country. The plan was to achieve this through the convergence of technology such as mobile telephony, internet and broadcasting (Dato, 2008). The future technological changes were considered and the current state of ICTs was also identified so as to prepare for the ICT roadmap. The focus of the Malaysian government in the ICT roadmap was to improve its efficiency within various sectors of the country (Dato, 2008).

The Government of South Africa, though the Department of Communications (DOC, 2010) accepts that ICTs are vital for offering and enabling rural development. The focus, in this regard, is to use ICTs in various areas such as: education, healthcare, small enterprises and agriculture (DOC, 2010). The Department of Communications initiated the development of ICTs after having discovered that almost half of the population of South African lives in rural areas. The Government planned to improve ICT access in these areas by drafting a roadmap strategy aimed

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at connecting rural areas. The focus of the roadmap was to improve rural areas and reduce poverty in these communities, through ICTs. The plan is to achieve this by 2014.

The government of Lesotho – through the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology – came up with an ICT Policy to guide the country in addressing the ICT challenges faced by the majority of the Basotho (Motsoahae, 2005). The policy was proposed to bring together the government, private sector and all the people. The idea was meant to gain understanding of ICT services and needs of the people so that the government can implement a solution that is people- centered (Motsoahae, 2005). The main idea of the policy was to identify the key areas that need to be developed so as to improve service delivery and empower the Basotho. The aim was to provide better ICT services to all the people, including those in the rural areas (Motsoahae, 2005). Their focus, in this regard, is primarily on offering ICT services to the people and ICT education. Some of the ICT services include: supporting infrastructure; access to education and fast delivery of ICT Services, i.e. eGovernment, eCommerce, eHealth; protecting the environment; ensuring gender equity; and youth empowerment (Motsoahae, 2005). The ICT roadmap’s success will only be achieved through the commitment of the different stakeholders and government support.