Workshop on Statistical Organization and Management for SADC Member States – UNSD Information Technology Group 1 Discussions Luanda, 05 December 2006

KEY CURRENT CHALLENGES Lack of IT strategies  Lack of trained personnel Qualified IT personnel  Lack of connectivity - Internally - Externally: between organisations and countries

Lack of Connectivity (Cont.)  Need to keep-up with changing pace in IT  Choice of Soft wares: many soft wares and choosing correct one is a problem. OUTSOURCING  Comparability of equipment and systems  Lack of expertise  When it’s intergraded part of the business have to do it otherwise forgo mandate.

OUTSOURCING (Cont.)  Instead of outsource in source is better but be ware that it does not disturb organisation’s rewarding system. INTERGRATED IT STRATEGY  Train more staff especially statisticians in IT  Balance Human Resource

POTENTIAL ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS  Softwares and Data bases be made easier for countries to cope with.  Bring countries together and standardize softwares and programmes.  Communicate problems and solutions.

OPEN SOURCE Can unload freely programs but it defies standardisation. Since its free there is no body responsible for it. USE OF COLLABORATIVE TOOLS  Can be used by different organisations  No guarantee of confidentiality.

COLLABORATIVE TOOLS (Cont.) No security for information. Watch and correct misleading information.

Workshop on Statistical Organization and Management for SADC Member States – UNSD Information Technology Group 2 Discussions Luanda, 05 December 2006

Key challenges Issues The prohibitive / high cots of ICT Lack of appropriate technical skills to evaluate ICT systems The inherent high risks that go with the ICT environment The extra resources that come with new ICT systems The ICT opportunities for a NSO are usually large-scale Recommendation To draw an integrated ICT policy which should be linked to the NSDS Keep it manageable We need to create a regional (SADC) inventory of SADC counties that have experienced particular ICT packages

Outsourcing Challenges Outsourcing is inevitable NSOs sometimes receive government-wide ICT packaged that do not necessarily serve their interest Outsourcing sometimes affects timeliness Sometimes outsourcing does not leave behind capacity to deal with ICT systems Solutions Outsourcing should include a capacity aspect, and that should be built- in into the contract

Role of international organisations Challenges Countries sometimes do not know where to go for help, even on ICT packages that other countries have already tried and tested Solutions The UN should ensure that all statistical packages required by NSOs are highly subsided or entirely free of charge Collective regional acquisition of ICT resources should be encouraged rather than countries acquiring ICT resources individually International organisations should collaborate with our SADC region to create an inventory of counties that have experienced particular ICT packages