The Mozambican government has implemented an e-government pilot project connecting 15 national public administration entities in Maputo. The project will be scaled up to a national level later.
The project, backed by the Italian government, was co-financed by the Development Gateway Foundation, an independent, non-profit organisation focused on leveraging the Internet for the benefit of developing countries.
Called the Government Electronic Network (GovNet) Pilot, the project is part of Mozambique`s national ICT policy implementation strategy, which aims to improve public services and increase transparency in the public sector.
The pilot has established a common communications platform for the ministries of public administration, finance, health, and science and technology, among others.
The ministries now share a unified e-mail system, intranet and document management system, as well as cost-effective shared access to the Internet.
The network is being used by over 500 government employees via nearly 400 workstations.
As part of the project, a new government Web portal has also been launched at www.govnet.gov.mz, intended to increase public access to information.
It is envisaged that the site will gradually add content from all government ministries, as well as other information and services to encourage public participation in national policy processes.
"GovNet increases our capacity to coordinate national efforts to foster growth and reduce poverty in Mozambique," says Venancio Massingue, minister of science and technology. "It is a first step but already we are seeing more efficient inter-departmental communication, as well as reduced administrative costs by avoiding a duplication of efforts."
Meanwhile, plans are under way to scale up the GovNet initiative to include up to 150 other public agencies in Mozambique`s 10 provinces.
Once complete, the network will connect approximately 10 000 government workers and 7 500 workstations. In addition, GovNet is being used as the communications platform for a second Development Gateway/Italian-funded initiative to create a national land registry.
"This programme is a key component of the Development Gateway`s mission to put the Internet to work for developing countries," says the foundation`s CEO, Alan Rossi. "It enables partner countries to better address their national development issues, while demonstrating the potential for larger initiatives that could be funded by the international community."
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