[kictanet] Day 2(a) of 3: 2016 ICT Year in Review Feedback - Human Capital Feedback

Tue Nov 29 16:49:38 EAT 2016

Interesting reading this. Here are some thoughts.

*a) 41% of the respondents felt that the government had provided sufficient
ICT opportunities for the youth to a moderate extent. 30% however felt
youth opportunities had not been effectively provided, while 27% felt it
had been done to a large extent.*

Comment: Not clear what ‘sufficient ICT opportunities’ means. But the
question is whether all youth, rural- or urban-based, have the same
opportunities. One area is about access to Internet. Since access is
currently in the hands of private telcos, is there a place for a public
access provider (in the same way that KBC is a public media broadcaster)
that can ensure some kind of access for all?

*c) 40% of the respondents felt that tertiary institutions were, to a
moderate extent providing the requisite skill set for the ICT industry. 34%
felt they were to a large extent providing these skills while 24% felt they
were not.*

Comment: A rather optimistic response, I thought. There may be internet
infrastructure and access at universities through KENET for example. But
the training provided at tertiary institutions on ICTs is another matter.
First of all, what kind of training? If it’s technical (learning how to
use/apply hardware and software), it’s probably restricted to particular
programs e.g. Computer Science. But training should also include some
literacy e.g. being ethical with ICTs, privacy considerations, etc. It
should also not only be for students, but for faculty and staff as well. A
few years ago there was a big push to include HIV/AIDS information within
university curricula. Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS, I think was the term used. A
similar thing could be done with ICT technical and literacy training,
availed to students, staff and faculty.

*e) Provide general ICT literacy programmes to the public, Coding as a
skill to all students – irrespective of discipline, Continuity in
government offices (rather than sabotage of previous holder initiatives),
Improve Academia- Government-Industry linkages, Cryptography training,
Identify and support Technology Universities, Promote Incubation Center,
Have mechanisms to weed out ICT quacks, Provide ICT scholarships,
Standardize ICT Trainings, Digitization of key services - police occurrence
books, land registries should be availed to the youth.*

Comment: Encourage research on tech in academia. Too much of this is
happening in the private sector which has narrow research interests.
Supporting research in universities broadens what, who, and where is
researched.  The improvement of academia-government-industry linkages could
incorporate this.

Encourage the digital sharing of state-held data and link it to the new
Freedom of Information Act that ensures citizens can gain access to
information held in publicly funded institutions e.g the OB book, budgets
and their usage, etc.

On Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 4:26 AM, Walubengo J via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Thanx Barrack,
>
> Looks like Day1 had little reaction/comments. Feel free to belatedly post
> on Policy, Legal/ Regulatory matters but just keep the correct subject line.
>
> Today we to move to Day2a (Human Capital feedback) and Day 2b
> (Infrastructure feedback to be sent in next email)
>
> Summary feedback on Human Capital was as follows with detailed document
> attached.
>
> *a) 41% of the respondents felt that the government had provided
> sufficient ICT opportunities for the youth to a moderate extent. 30%
> however felt youth opportunities had not been effectively provided, while
> 27% felt it had been done to a large extent.*
> *b) 58% of the respondents felt that the DLP (Laptop Project) will have a
> positive impact to a very large extent. 30% felt it would be a moderate
> impact while 12% think it will have little or no impact. *
> *c) 40% of the respondents felt that tertiary institutions were, to a
> moderate extent providing the requisite skill set for the ICT industry. 34%
> felt they were to a large extent providing these skills while 24% felt they
> were not.*
> *d) 40% of the respondents felt that Konza City will have a positive
> impact to a very large extent. 21% felt it will be a moderate impact while
> 25% think it will have no impact.*
> *e) Provide general ICT literacy programmes to the public, Coding as a
> skill to all students – irrespective of discipline, Continuity in
> government offices (rather than sabotage of previous holder initiatives),
> Improve Academia- Government-Industry linkages, Cryptography training,
> Identify and support Technology Universities, Promote Incubation Center,
> Have mechanisms to weed out ICT quacks, Provide ICT scholarships,
> Standardize ICT Trainings, Digitization of key services - police occurrence
> books, land registries should be availed to the youth.*
> Toa maoni (let hear your reactions)
>
> walu.
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>
> *To:* Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 29, 2016 8:47 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Day 1 of 3: 2016 ICT Year in Review Feedback -
> Policy, Legal & Regulatory Issues
>
> Listers,
>
> We welcome  more feedback  on day 1 discussions on how we have
> performed as an industry in 2016 . We will start day two this
> afternoon after providing a summary of day ones discussion should we
> receive feedback by then.
>
> Best Regards
>
> On 11/28/16, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Walu,
> >
> > Many thanks for the email. My humble opinion is that generally the
> > government and related agencies have made great efforts in investing
> > in ICT's. However it is worth noting that government is never good at
> > marketing itself or communicating and i guess this is where the
> > Ministry and related agencies need to pay attention. For example the
> > issue of IFMIS has really been misunderstood. Software should never be
> > blamed for fraud , people commit Fraud. We should always remember that
> > ICT's are a means to an end and not an end in themselves.
> >
> > Regards
>
>
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