Are Caribbean countries truly achieving their digital goals?

‘Going digital’ has been a buzz phrase in the Caribbean region, which has become even more top of mind, thanks to COVID-19, and the need for us to rely even more on technology. To that end, and although Caribbean countries have been talking about going digital. we discuss whether they are truly achieving their digital goals.

In an editorial piece published by the Jamaica Observer last week entitled, Achieving Jamaica’s digital goals, the following opening statements were made:

Jamaica joined the United Nations family to ensure that no citizen is left behind in this digital world. Those goals in the Government’s Vision 2030 set out a broad and ambitious set of mandates aimed at making this country “the place to live, work, raise families and do business”.

Vision 2030 is Jamaica’s national development plan, which was finalised in 2009, and would be effective until 2030. The plan, which covered all of the country’s main sectors, was a remarkable achievement that had bipartisan support; and hence, could be a blueprint for successive governments, regardless of political affiliation.

In reading the Vision 2030 with a  focus on ICT, the national outcome of a ‘technology-enabled society’ is most definitely relevant – and even more so in this day and age. However, a concern that tends to emerge is whether the underpinning strategies are in fact adequate, sufficiently granular, and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely), to facilitate timely realisation of stated overarching outcome.

Armed with this perspective on Jamaica, and extending the newspaper article rubric region-wide, the question that begs to be asked is whether Caribbean countries truly achieving their digital goals?

Is there a national developmental plan?

Generally, preparation of a national development plan or framework is a complex and time-consuming undertaking. It is an exercise that usually is outsourced to external consultants, who are charged with examining already existing government and ministerial plans, whilst also securing input from a broad range of stakeholders, including the sector or industry participants, special interest groups, non-governmental organisations, and the public at large. In summary, when done right, the participation and coordination of multiple stakeholders is essential to ensure that the final output is truly representative of the society, and its vision of the future it would like to realise.

However, preparing the plan might be the easiest step. Once it has been drafted, frequently, the review, finalisation and formal adoption stages can be protracted. Thereafter, when the plan is in effect, matters related to governance and accountability come to the fore, in order to ensure that the activities and initiatives outlined in the plan are, in fact, implemented.

Unfortunately, few Caribbean countries, such as Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, have current national development plans. Some would have prepared a plan at least once, but the effective period would have elapsed many years ago. Caribbean governments tend to be more inclined to develop national plan and/or strategy for key sectors of their economies, instead of a full and overarching plan.

In some instances, when there is no sector plan or strategy, the political manifesto of the ruling government becomes the de facto national or sector development plan, and drives the initiatives and programmes which will be pursued. However, use of political manifestos can result in a disjointed approach to national, or even sector, development, which in the long run, may result in (relatively) limited advancement of a country.

What digital goals?

Focussing more closely on ICT, the absence of an ICT sector strategy – which is the case in many Caribbean countries – tends to mean that countries do not possess, nor do they have access to, a comprehensive detailing of initiatives and activities that need to be implemented. Further, ICT is a cross-cutting element, which can improve and/or have an impact on all areas of a society. Hence, the ought be a broader thinking of the ways it can be leverage to improve all areas of the society, and not just a limited focus on infrastructure.

To that end, it can be argued that many Caribbean countries have not yet done the groundwork and critical thinking to determine how best, and in what ways, their societies can become more digital, and how ICT, in particular, can contribute to the identified or envisaged outcomes. In the absence of a national ICT/digital plan, there tends to be a mish-mash of programmes and activities, all of which are sound and valid on their own, but may not necessarily cohere in order to assertively move the society towards becoming more digital.

How can go digital?

Moving forward, it is crucial that within the context of national development, Caribbean societies think of ICT in terms of its impact on a system: not just focussing on individual programmes and activities, which would just be a component in a wider system. To that end, it ought to be appreciated that in many instances, as much as infrastructure – networks, hardware, software, applications – is crucial, those elements must be leveraged in order to really go digital.  All too often, we do not think beyond infrastructure, which is a tangible output, but which, in and of itself, does not automatically result digital transformation.

To truly go digital, we need to do the groundwork. A useful approach is to start with the end in mind, by identifying goals, determining the gaps, and deciding on a strategy to achieve the goals envisaged. There are really no shortcuts, and as much as we tend not to wish to ‘reinvent the wheel’, pre-existing plans and templates are not ‘one-size-fits-all. We still need to do the work.

Image credit:  Giulia Forsythe (flickr)

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