Implications of ict landscape changes in liberia

ITU Regional Symposium

“Developing an Effective ICT Training Capability in the Telecommunication/ICT Sector

in Africa”

“Implications of ICT landscape changes in

terms of new needs for countries and of new

knowledge to acquire and skills to develop for

training institutions”

Abidjan, Ivory CoastNovember 16-18, 2011Prepared by: Kolubahzizi Howard and Brenda B. Moore

Liberia Telecommunications Authority


“Developing an Effective ICT Training Capability in the Telecommunication/ICT

Sector in Africa”

CONTENTS

1.0 Country Background2.0 National ICT/Telecommunications Policy3.0 ICT/Telecom Landscape Changes in Liberia4.0 Assessments of Liberia’s ICT/Telecom Sector4.1 ICT in Education in Liberia4.2 Post-Conflict Communications: The Case of Liberia4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report 4.4 2010 E-Government Survey

5.0 Summary6.0: Conclusions and Recommendations



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1.0 Country Background

The Republic of Liberia was established as the first black independent nation in Sub-Sahara Africa on July 26, 1847• Liberia has a land mass of 111,370

sq. km , a population of 3,482,211 inhabitants and is situated in West Africa, bordered by the Republics of Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.

• Liberia recently emerged from a 14 year civil conflict which began in 1989 and ended in 2003 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in Accra, Ghana.

• October 11 & Nov. 8, 2005 – general and Presidential elections held and Africa’s 1st Female President elected. President Sirleaf was re-elected again for a 2nd term in Nov. 2011.


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This policy establishes the framework for the evolution of the Liberian telecommunications sector and the transformation of Liberia towards an information-based economy and society. Key relevant objectives of the telecommunications policy are the following:• Encourage partnerships or consortia of corporations and

institutions to pool resources together in building the necessary IT infrastructure.

• Coordinate the efforts of Government, the private sector, civil society, development partners and individuals in order to ensure a shared national development vision in telecommunications and ICT.

• Establish institutional legal mechanisms and a regulatory framework based on international best practice.

• Collaborate with the Ministry of Education and establish telecomm curriculum in the high schools, colleges and universities and to build capacity in telecommunications related careers.

• Accelerate the integration of education through (e-learning) and other socio-economic information systems through e-applications.

• Provide five thousand (5,000) career employments for Liberians in the telecommunications and ICT sectors in technical, administrative, operational, teaching, and project management areas by 2013.

2.0 National ICT/Telecommunications Policy

3.0 ICT/Telecom Landscape Changes in Liberia Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) Cable Consortium lands in Liberia

• The Consortium is building a $700 million submarine fiber optic cable extending 17,000 km, potentially connecting up to 24 countries with a minimum broadband capacity speed of 1.92 Tbit/s.

• In anticipation of the linking of Liberia to the ACE submarine cable system, the Government of Liberia (GoL) formed the Cable Consortium of Liberia (CCL) as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to own and operate the ACE landing station in Liberia

• Supported by the World Bank as part of the Bank’s West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (WARCIP)

• The CCL is jointly owned by the GoL (60% shares), the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (20% shares), Lonestar MTN Communications Corporation (10% shares) and Cellcom Telecommunications Inc. (10% shares)

• On June 5th, 2010 the CCL signed the ACE Construction and Maintenance Agreement and finalized Liberia’s membership in the ACE Cable Consortium.

• On November 4th, 2011 the ACE cable landed in Monrovia, providing Liberia’s first international broadband connectivity


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USATAT14 - TGN

Europe, AsiaAtlas Offshore - SMW3/4 - IMeWe

South AmericaAtlantis2

And complete connectivity with SAT3/WASC/SAFE

EuropeTAT14 - TGN

East Africa, India, AsiaSAT3/WASC/SAFE


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Between 2007 and 2010 four assessments of Liberia’s ICT/Telecom sector have been conducted which will be used for this presentation. They are:

1. SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA: Liberia Country Report - ICT in Education in Liberia prepared by Kofi Mangesi in May 2007 and published by the World Bank’s InfoDev

2. Post-Conflict Communications: The Case of Liberia, prepared by Michael L. Best et al. as a communications of the ACM and published in International Perspectives October 2007/Vol. 50, No. 10

3. Liberia Improved Budget and Assets Management Project ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report for the Government of Liberia (GoL), prepared by Ahmed El Sayed, for IBI International through the USAID Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) Liberia Improved Budget, Assets and Mining Management (LIBAM) Project.

4. 2010 E-Government Survey, a DPADM/UNDESA Presentation to the Government of Liberia, prepared by Richard Kerby, Senior Inter-Regional Adviser, E-Government and Knowledge Management

4.0 Assessments of Liberia’s ICT/Telecom Sector


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4.1 ICT in Education in Liberia

Mr. Mangesi’s report highlights the following: • The Telecommunications Act 2007 makes provisions for ICTs in

education, however, Liberia has yet to develop any comprehensive ICT strategy for the education sector.

• Ad Hoc Efforts at rebuilding the education infrastructure in Liberia have included attempts to increae access to ICTs in schools and universities. A pilot computer project under which computer laboratories were established in seven public high schools in seven of the 15 political subdivisions has been launched. The goal of this program is to make computer education an integral part of public school education curriculum in all counties.

• At the tertiary level (Cuttington University and University of Liberia), there is also a dire need for ICTs including Internet access, CD-Roms, and Web-ready computers.

The recent ICT initiatives and projects undertaken in Liberia include the following:


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4.1 ICT in Education in LiberiaICT Initiatives and Projects


“Developing an Effective ICT Training Capability in the Telecommunication/ICT Sector in Africa”

Analysis of Factors Influencing ICT Adoption in Liberia

4.1 ICT in Education in LiberiaITU Regional Symposium

4.2 Post-Conflict Communications: The Case of Liberia

Michael Best et al conducted an ICT assessment of Liberia applying the Mosaic Group’s Global Diffusion of the Internet analytic framework to assess:

a. Liberia’s level of Internet penetration and use,b. basic Internet infrastructure, and c. the nation’s readiness for Internet-enabled business and

economic growth. It uses six dimensions: • per capita pervasiveness, • geographic dispersion, • sectoral absorption, • connectivity infrastructure, • organizational infrastructure, and • sophistication of use.

ICTs have been identified as critical tools toward Liberia’s rebirth and are being targeted toward strengthening areas such as government operations and transparency, economic activity and growth, post-conflict reconciliation, and security.


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Key findings were as follows:• Internet Diffusion - Liberia is comparatively isolated

from the international Internet connectivity with no outgoing fiber connectivity with no major international broadband gateway provider. This constraint limits the sector’s growth, increases prices, and ultimately reduces the nation’s available capacity.

• Pervasiveness, Connectivity Infrastructure, and Geographic Dispersion - Liberia sits between an experimental and established level with the Internet available only to a small portion of the population in the capital city, mostly via Internet cafés or wireless ISPs with only 2 people per 1,000 with access to the Internet at the end of 2006.

• Sectoral Absorption and Organizational Infrastructure - the absorption of the Internet among a number of critical sectors such as health, industry, academia, and the public was rare in Liberia and there was a low level of capacity with less than 10% of organizations with each of these sectors connected.



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Sophistication of use - The sophistication of use in Liberia is challenged by the weak and unreliable connectivity infrastructure, which constrains the scale, scope, and thus sophistication of use.



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4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report The 2010 Budget and Assets Management Project ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report for the Government of Liberia (GoL) prepared by Ahmed El Sayed indicates the following:

State Of Technology In Gol Ministries

• Most of GoL Ministries are using computers for normal office operations, document processing and spreadsheets; only 30% of the ministries have business application systems.

• 70% of the ministries have no development plans and no allocated budgets for ICT.

• 90% has internet connectivity, consuming almost 40% of budget allocated to IT.

• 85% has shortage in the main technical skills required to operate an efficient IT department and ICT usage such as network administrators, hardware technicians and help desk support.


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Major Gaps that need to be addressed

• ICT Sector development in general is at an early stage; Ministry of Post & Telecommunications as sector leader has major shortage of ICT technical Skills, capacity and infrastructure.

• There is a lack of adequate ICT communication channel between government ministries, all development initiatives are based on individual initiatives with no coordination with other ministries or stakeholders.

• There are no physical networking of any kind between ministries and agencies. All information exchange is done through emails and hard copies, which inhibit the chance to establish automated business processes across ministries.

• Human resources technical capacity in government requires a phased training program to build the capacity of the ICT Department in each ministry.

• ICT Educational in general, specifically at the university level is not focused enough on ICT development and capacity building in Liberia.

4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report – cont.


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Existing ICT Infrastructure and Capacity

• Government entities use many different architectures and systems, most of which are not interoperable, making it difficult to offer shared or integrated services to users.

• Although government-wide networks and nationwide broadband are evolving, access to technology and ICT literacy remain problematic both within government and Liberian society generally.

• ICT education in Liberia is not developed, available syllabuses are outdated, and computer labs are inadequate with old computers and operating systems (Win 95).

• ICT education requires a new perspective, contents of the computer related courses have to be developed to meet recent technologies and standards with the focus to train an educated IT workforce capable of participating in the development of the Liberian ICT sector and its economic development.

• Significant changes in ICT infrastructure are coming with the landing of the ACE submarine fiber optic cable and the building of a fiber optic ring in Monrovia to connect government agencies and ministries.

• The ICT Stakeholders in the country are more aware now of the challenges and requirements.



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• Human resources technical capacity in ministries and need a phased training program to build the capacity of the ICT Department in each ministry.

• Syllabuses must be developed to incorporate world standard ICT education based on international best practice.

• New Computer labs are required; the current lap is very poor and running 10 years old computers.



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4.4 2010 E-Government Survey

• Mr. Kerby’s 2010 Survey analyzes how governments are using ICT to provide information, services and solutions to their citizens. The 2010 Survey is a comparative assessment of 192 United Nations Member States’ response to the demands of citizens for excellent services and products through Information and Communication Technologies.

• The telecommunications infrastructure index 2010 is a composite index of five primary indices relating to a country’s telecommunications infrastructure development as they relate to the delivery of e-government services. These are: Internet Users /100 persons PCs /100 persons Main Telephone Lines /100 persons Mobile Telephones /100 persons Broadband /100 persons

• Each index represents 20% weight of the overall telecommunications infrastructure index.

• The human capital index is a composite of the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, with two thirds weight given to the adult literacy rate.

Country Internet Users Mobile Fixed Lines PCs Broadband

Liberia 0.55 19.30 0.06 …. 0.0

Country Adult Literacy Gross Enrolment

Liberia 55.5 57.64

Liberia’s Infrastructure Index Data

Liberia’s Human Capital Index Data


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4.4 2010 E-Government Survey



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4.4 2010 E-Government Survey – cont.

The Web Measure Index is base upon a four-stage model. For countries that have established an online presence, the model defines stages of e-readiness according to a scale of progressively sophisticated citizen services:

1. Emerging Presence: . Stage I - e-government presents information which is limited and basic. The e-government online presence comprises a web page and/o r an official website;

2. Enhanced Presence: Stage II - the online services of the government enter the interactive mode with services to enhance convenience of the consumer such as downloadable forms for tax payment application for license renewal.

3. Transactional Presence: Stage III - allows two-way interactions between the citizen and his/her government. It includes options for paying taxes; applying for ID cards, birth certificates/passports, license renewals and other similar C2G interactions by allowing him/her to submit these online 24/7

4. Networked Presence: Stage IV - represents the most sophisticated level in the online e-government initiatives. It can be characterized by an integration of G2G, G2C and C2G (and reverse) interactions.

E-government development index

E-government development index

2010 World average 2008 World

average

0.2133 0.4406 0.2170 0.4514

2010 E-government Development Index

Online service index Telecommunication

Index value Ranking Index Value Ranking

0.0635 163 0.0189 176

Human capital index E-participation index

Index value Ranking Index Value Ranking

0.5621 155 0.0286 144

Liberia’s Global Rankings


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8 41 166 West Africa Africa

Global

30 163

Least Developed Online Service Countries Index

Liberia’s 2010 Ranking


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“Developing an Effective ICT Training Capability in the Telecommunication/ICT Sector in

Africa”

5.0 Summary.

• Liberia’s National ICT/Telecommunications policy calls for the establishment of appropriate ICT curriculum in high schools, and universities based on international best practice to build capacity in ICTs and related careers.

• Liberia’s landing of the ACE submarine fiber optic cable to provide the first international broadband connectivity creates telecommunications changes necessitating new skills and capabilities.

• Liberia suffers from a lack of a clear strategies for ICTs in education, unreliable electricity, high illiteracy rate and huge skills gap in meeting the ICT needs of the education sector.

• Liberia is comparatively isolated from international broadband connectivity and sits between an experimental and established levels with rare absorption of the Internet and low levels of capacity.

• Liberia’s ICT Sector development in general is at an early stage and sophistication of use is challenged by the weak and unreliable connectivity infrastructure.

• Liberia has a low infrastructure index, low human development index and low web measure index rankings.

• Human capacity development with a focus on the effective use of ICTs, can transport Liberia into the global knowledge economy

5.0 Summary cont-.ITU Regional Symposium


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6.0: Conclusions and RecommendationsIn accordance with the National ICT/Telecommunications Policy, the Government of Liberia should pursue career employment and capacity building that incorporates the following:

• Introduce compulsory ICT curriculum in high schools, vocational institutions and the university level using syllabuses that incorporates world standard ICT education based on international best practices.

• Develop a national plan to revolutionize the educational systems by providing every student and instructor beginning from elementary school, the use computers as the primary communications tool.

• Provide professional employment and career path for at least five thousand (5,000) Liberians in the telecommunications and ICT sector by 2013 by providing high level training programs for key personnel in ministries and agencies to cover ICT Projects planning, and national infrastructure.



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6.0: Conclusions and Recommendations

• Invest in educational and human resource development.

• Promote job training and career opportunities in the telecommunications and ICT sector.

• Developing the capacities to represent the government and head any delegation at local and international conferences, meetings, forums and seminars relating to telecommunications and ICT policy.

ITU Regional Symposium 6.0: Conclusions and Recommendations – contd.

In this regard key steps the Government of Liberia can take include following:• Analyzing the present state of the educational system taking

account of current institutional practices and arrangements • Identifying drivers and barriers to ICT use including those related

to curriculum and pedagogy, infrastructure, capacity-building, language and content, and financing.

• Understanding of the potentials of different ICTs when applied in different contexts for different purposes with an awareness of priority education needs, financial and human resource capacity and constraints within Liberia as well as international best practices and how these practices can be adapted for Liberia’s requirements.

• The identification of stakeholders and the harmonizing of efforts across different interest groups.

• The piloting of the chosen ICT-based model to identify, and correct potential problems in instructional design, implementability and effectiveness.

• Identification of existing sources of financing and development of strategies for generating financial resources to support ICT use over the long term.“Developing an Effective ICT Training Capability in the Telecommunication/ICT

Sector in Africa”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!



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