UN Economic Commission: ICT unites govts, people

INFORMATION communication technology (ICT) tools can bring governments and people in the Caribbean closer together. In a statement, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said approximately one third of Caribbean small island developing states and territories can be described as multi-island jurisdictions.

ECLAC said many of these countries encountered challenges which were less severe in single-island Caribbean countries.

“Their archipelagic nature means that their populations are dispersed over more than one island and that their already-small economies are fragmented,” ECLAC said.

Despite these challenges, ECLAC continued, ICT can help to support the efficient delivery of public services in multi-island jurisdictions in the areas of health, education and governance.

ECLAC said one of its recent studies discovered that the application of ICTs in government for delivering public services, can improve efficiency in the delivery of government services across islands..

The commission said governments in the region have already started to embrace e-government and implement regional and national initiatives to improve connectivity and access to technology. But ECLAC observed, more than half of households in the Caribbean still lack access to the internet. As a result, ECLAC said the effectiveness of efforts to use e-government to reach populations has been mixed and use of these tools inconsistent. The quality of internet access is also an issue in the region. ECLAC said where internet access exists, use of this technology does not always follow due to lack of affordability, skills or relevant local content.

The commission said, e-government still presents many untapped opportunities for improving public service delivery and governance outcomes in small or outlying islands of multi-island states. To seize these opportunities, the ECLAC said systems and service delivery approaches must be tailored to local needs and to the capacity of existing ICT infrastructure and include adequate training and support.