[kictanet] Open Standards for Government Transformation: Enabling Transparency, Security and Interoperability

[Andrew Karanja]

Dear Colleagues,

African eDevelopment Resource Centre together with OASIS, the International
Open Standards Consortium, the World Bank's Global Information and
Communication Technologies Department/e-Development Thematic Group and World
Bank Institute invite you to attend a Global Dialogue workshop on Open
Standards for Government Transformation: Enabling Transparency, Security and
Interoperability on April 17, 2009, 2.15 pm at the Kenya Global Development
Learning Centre.

This one-day workshop offers a unique opportunity for professionals in
public administrations and the private sector to share experiences in using
open standards for transforming government. Issues surrounding  public
financial management, e-procurement, cloud computing, electronic
identification, security, and interoperability frameworks will be discussed.

This workshop will help practitioners in Washington DC and 8 other cities
(as well as online participants) to better understand the different choices
they have in order to make better policy, strategy and technology decisions
when designing and implementing ICT components of their projects, which will
maximize development impact and sustainability of these investments.

Open standards allow different systems, platforms, and devices to
communicate, and are at the very core of the new ?open? architectures. Open
standards provide choice and interoperability between systems. The Internet,
based largely on the framework of the TCP/IP and HTML standards, is a strong
example of open standards-driven innovation. Leading governments have begun
to emphasize open standards as part of their policy frameworks on ICTs. For
example the UK has recently come out with a Government Action Plan on "Open
Source, Open Standards and Re-Use". Developing countries need to incorporate
open-standards while leveraging ICT for development.

Open standards and interoperability are important for rolling out convenient
'one-stop' services for citizens and businesses. They are also important for
avoiding waste in public expenditure and unnecessary duplication of
investments. These issues are particularly relevant in the context of the
current economic crisis. For ensuring interoperability across government, it
is necessary to focus on organizational structures that help exchange of
data and information (organizational interoperability), evolving a common
language for understanding various functions of government (semantic
interoperability) and dealing with technical aspects to ensure that
different systems can talk to each other (technical interoperability).

Distinguished speakers from all over the world will examine the relevance
and promise of open standards to developing and transition countries in
their pursuit of good governance and better service delivery. Onsite
attendees will be joined via interactive video links with officials from
client countries, including Russia, Moldova, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda,
Sri Lanka and many others will join via live webcast.

The following questions will be discussed among others:

+ What should be the institutional structures for ensuring compliance to
open standards and interoperability across government?
+ What mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that interoperability
standards/frameworks are kept current in the context of rapid changes in
technology?
+ What arrangements should be put in place for connecting developing and
transition countries with international standards bodies and leading public
administrations in an era of cross-border interoperability?

This workshop is part of the broader Government Transformation Initiative
(GTI), a collaboration of World Bank with the private sector and other
stakeholders.
The initiative focuses on building capacity of government leaders to pursue
ICT-enabled public sector transformation.  The GTI will develop and promote
viable business models and best practices through peer-to-peer knowledge
sharing and training events. A project development facility to support
selected Governments in setting up the enabling environment and initiating
concrete related projects is also contemplated.


Attendance is free, but registration is required. If interested in attending
please send your request to  <mailto:wangechi at africanedevelopment.org>
wangechi at africanedevelopment.org

 

Kindest regards

 

Andrew Karanja


African eDevelopment Resource Centre
eDevelopment House  : :  604 Limuru Road
Old Muthaiga  : : P O Box 49475 00100
Nairobi : : Kenya
T +254 20 3741646/7 : :  C +254 725 650044

Training :  : Research:  :Consultancy:  : Publishing

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20090414/b6c336f1/attachment.htm>