The East African Community (EAC) will host the region`s first e-government workshop in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, between 17 and 19 November.
The workshop`s theme is 'e-government for regional economic prosperity` and is aimed at taking stock of the regional capacity in e-government. It will be co-hosted by the EAC Secretariat, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and AITEC Tanzania.
The workshop is expected to bring together representatives from government, civil society and the private sector from nations such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique, with the aim of developing a proposed e-government roadmap for the region.
E-government is defined as the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in public administration, combined with organisational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic processes and strengthen support to public policies.
"At the end of the workshop, we should have a clear picture of where each government is in terms of e-government and also have their plans for next few years," says Harry Hare of AITEC.
"We should also be able to see any possible linkages with the broader East African integration exercise that is happening at the political level."
Among the topics to be raised at the event are network and data security, corporate communication, collaboration, storage technologies, connectivity and networking, customer relationship management technologies, e-learning, e-procurement and open source in government.
"Information governing presents an entirely new set of challenges for decision-makers, public sector professionals and citizens, as the key to success is finding the right solutions and local support," says Hare.
"The mission is to explore how ICT will continue to impact on the productivity and performance of the public sector, and to support this by offering and supporting appropriate solutions."
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