For a class at the University of the West Indies, a discussion of e-government and recent e-government initiatives from across the Caribbean.
In mid-October, and for a talk on e-government with graduate students at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica, the following presentation was delivered on e-government across the Caribbean. The presentation focussed on three areas:
- a quick overview of e-government
- an examination of how the Caribbean performed on latest e-government survey conducted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and
- a discussion of select e-govt initiatives from across the region.
According to Wikipedia, e-government, which is short for electronic government, speaks to “the digital interactions between a citizen and their government (C2G), between governments and government agencies (G2G), between government and citizens (G2C), between government and employees (G2E), and between government and businesses/commerce (G2B)”. Hence although the discussion on e-government tends to focus on G2G, G2C, C2G and G2B, G2E, which is included in the definition, is often overlooked.
The e-government initiatives highlighted during the talk are just a few of those in the Caribbean. To highlight other initiatives that might be occurring in the region, do leave the details in the Comments section below.
Image credit: ICT Pulse
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While is understand the range of benefits e-government capabilities offer Caribbean governments. I have great concerns about our cyber security preparedness noting the lag in cyber security laws across the region, and low level of overall regional cyber security awareness.
Without key cyber security issues addressed, and the bar on cyber security awareness raised we will be simply providing more cyber victims for cyber criminals and hackers.
Unless I am interpreting the index stats differently, one would observe the trend in many regions of the human capital stats predominantly ahead of those of infrastructure and online services.
The underlying reason could be matter of economics, but I am of the view that with technology, investment in the infrastructure itself could be the basis for growth in human capital. Ie to say growth in technology can give rise to growth in learning.