1. Capacity building on ICT indicators in Arab Region Project
15th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ARAB NETWORK FOR HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (HRM/D)
Sana’a- Yemen, 8-10 December 2007
Capacity building on ICT indicators in Arab Region Project
Khalil ABURIZIK
ITU Regional Officer For Human Resources Development for the Arab Region

2. Agenda Management (Special Considerations) Monitoring & Evaluation
Brief Description of the project
Background
Current Situation
Objectives
Expected Outputs
Main Activities
Implementation Phases
Inputs
Risk
Management (Special Considerations)
Monitoring & Evaluation
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

3. Brief Description
This project aims at establishing defined indicators for measuring information society and building skills to enable collection of related data in the Arab region.
Estimated Duration: 2 years.
Coop. Agency: League of Arab States.
Executing Agency: ITU
Project Site: ITU-ARO Cairo-Egypt
Beneficiary Country: All Arab Countries (22)
Budget:231,000 US$
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

4. Background
Plans for the transformation into an information society depends on basic ICT, human resources, digital divide indicators and the availability of updated regional databases for the indicators.
At present, there are modest efforts to establish and update some indicators, all of which are not to the level needed for the transformation.
ITU, ESCWA and AIRTS in cooperation with other partners, NSOs and telecom administrations in the Arab region have conducted several activities toward general awareness and regional capacity building using the internationally agreed upon ICT indicators, to be used as reference materials for carrying out the project.
This project is part of the ITU Regional Initiatives, Resolution 17 and the Doha Action Plan adopted by the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2006 in Doha, Qatar and endorsed by ITU PP06 Antalia, Turkey.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

5. Current Situation
Countries in the region collect and disseminate data on common set of indicators.
These are indicators that have been discussed and agreed upon during the ITU and Partnership global meetings.
These are mainly:
- The “ITU traditional telecommunication infrastructure” indicators
- The “Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development’s” Core ICT Indicators for information society.
set_core_ICT_indicators.pdf
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

6. Objectives Main objectives of this project are:
Development of transformation indicators to the information society.
Training of human resources within NSOs and Ministries of CIT on data collection methods for regular updates.
Development of a regional online ICT indicators database*.
Improvement of mechanisms of obtaining data and statistics.
* The regional databases will build on and will be compatible with existing ITU/ICT Eye database and other international databases.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

7. Expected Outputs
This initiative expected to result in:
Indication of the basic characteristics of an Arab information society to compare with others worldwide.
Enable those concerned with decision-making and planning to use the database for the development of the Arab information society.
Enhancement of studies and research toward the information society, through the provision of information and knowledge; and
Increase awareness of the importance of indicators in general and ICT indicators in particular.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

8. Main Activities (1/2)
To implement the project the following main activities will be carried out:
Formation of an Arab working group in collaboration with League of Arab States (LAS).
Promotion of this project by the group to entities that are concerned with indicators, as well as Chambers of Commerce.
Find sponsors and partners in cooperation with Ministries of CIT, the private sector and the international community.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

9. Main Activities (2/2) The sponsors, along with partners, will:
Study countries requirements for the collection of necessary statistics to measure the information society.
Provide technical assistance and training of staff of NSOs and Ministries of ICT on data collection methods and updating these data.
Develop a regional online ICT indicators and find mechanism to update it; and
Organize regional activities in the area of information society indicators, its importance and measurement methods.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

10. Implementation Phases
The three phases of the initiative are to be carried out in parallel over a period of two years as follows:
Phase1: definition and collection of the core group of indicators. (Six months but may continuo as needed).
Phase 2: capacity building in the area of ICT indicators measurement. (two years. It will be overlapping the other phases); and
Phase 3: development of ICT databases. This will start in the second year of the project and last for one year in parallel with the capacity building phase.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

11. Inputs (1/6) 1- ITU contribution US$130,000
International experts 6 man- months
US$ 10,000
Adaptation of software
US$ 50,000
Training national staff
Equipment
Miscellaneous expenses
US$ 21,000
ITU overhead costs 10%
US$ 231,000
Total
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

12. Inputs (2/6) Overall management of the project
ITU contribution to this project will be:
Overall management of the project
Provision of 6 man-months of international experts
Adaptation of software for indicators database provided by ESCWA
Planning and organization of training
Provision of ITU experience and achievement in the field of ICT Indicators and measuring of Information Society
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

13. Inputs (3/6) 2-ESCWA contribution
In-kind:
ESCWA contribution to this project will include:
Provision of expertise in form of participating in all meetings and workshops conducted in the project.
Provision of software necessary for database.
Provision of a Handbook and Guidelines for database usage.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

14. Inputs (4/6) 3-AITRS contribution
In-Kind
AITRS contribution to this project will include:
(1) Organization, hosting and conduction of training workshop
(2) Documentation of training materials and making it available for members
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

15. Inputs (5/6) 4-Arab Administrations’ contribution and commitments
In-Kind, Contributions of Arab Administrations include:
1-Nomination of two part-time professional focal points (one from regulator and one from NSO equipped with utilities and having access to appropriate communication/internet facilities;
2-Provision of information required for carrying out project activities;
3-Qualified staff to be trained to enable collection, analysis and storing of information society related data and statistics in the Arab region. 2 persons from each regulator + 2 persons from each NSO;
4-Arabization of Handbooks and other training materials and working guides
5-Logistics and administrative support for project admin and during the training and meetings.
6-Provision of any other assistance that may be required by ITU including sub-contractors engaged under this project.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

16. Inputs (6/6)
5-Other resources
UNCTAD, OECD, UNESCO as will as other international and regional organizations involved will be invited to participate and assist in all phases of the project to ensure harmony and integration of effort and resources.
6-Funding Partners
Project is open to the other funding partners, upon the request. The funding partners may join the project during its implementation and may focus on its particular outcomes.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

17. Risk
Main risk lies in the fact that there are several partners with different roles as donors or beneficiaries besides that ITU is comparatively new to NSOs. The project success will rely on good coordination and integration of all resources available within project partners. A lack of coordination or use of the local resources may represent a risk for the success of the project and increase the cost needed. Collaboration with the NSOs is essential to reduce risks
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

18. Management (Special Considerations)
The Project is managed by a part time ITU Project Manager who will be assisted by part time focal points from each country in the Region as national counterparts. The role and responsibilities of the different stakeholders need to be identified. The individual experts appointed to the project will be recruited directly by ITU. The member countries have the responsibility of making the best use of inputs allocated to the project.
ITU will use its staff in Cairo regional office to ensure closer supervision of the project.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

19. Monitoring & Evaluation
For the implementation of the Project, the following
measures will be observed:
The experts and consultants will be recruited in accordance with ITU rules and regulations;
Contractors for the design of the ICT Indicators software and equipment will be selected in accordance with relevant ITU rules based on a competitive bidding within the market;
Out of country training will be done in accordance with ITU rules and regulations;
Donors are welcome to review the project progress to ensure full transparency, efficient utilisation of funds and effective implementation of the Project; and
Parties undertake to respond to correspondence related to consultations, clearances and approvals within two weeks. No reply within this period will be considered as concurrence.
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007

20. For further information:
Thank You!
For further information:
15th Annual Meeting of the Arab Network (HRM/D), ITU/ARO, Sana’a- Yemen, December 2007