E-Rwanda Workshop
Videoconference on Preparing and Implementing Integrated ICT Projects:
Good Practices and Lessons Learned
Ghana- Rwanda-Sri Lanka-US
October 4, 2005
Summary of Proceedings
Part I: e-Sri Lanka: Lessons Learned from the Country and Bank Perspective
After initial introductions were made from all sites, the Sri Lankan side started by presenting the overall vision of e- Sri Lanka, going on to describe the lessons learned from the program’s 9 month implementation period.
Background: e-Sri Lanka was set up to use ICT as an enabler of socio-economic development, as well as to develop the ICT sector within Sri Lanka. With the concentration of development in the capital, Colombo, as well as in the SW of the country, the objective of e-Sri Lanka is to extend this development and bring the dividends of ICT to every city and village in the country, and to transform the way the Sri Lankan government works. The program has been in an implementation phase for the past 9 months, and, having tested out pilot projects, is now rolling out bigger implementation programs.
Lessons learned from the Country Perspective:
-Leadership/Authority:
- Information & Communications Technology Agency (ICTA), the implementing agency of e-Sri Lanka, was set up as a private organization, wholly owned by the government, to allow flexibility in its operations and recruiting, etc.
- Leadership from the top was a critical issue, especially in ICTA’s infancy. ICTA was born under one administration, and continued on under the next – it now has the backing of the prime minister
- At the moment ICTA has no authority over line agencies, but through an act of parliament was mandated as a policy-setting agency, with implementation authority for the entire e-lanka program - currently under a 5-year time frame. Its authority was derived solely through this act, and it therefore tries to balance working with ministries despite not holding specific authority over them.
-Partnership Development:
- ICTA is a small group, and the plan is to stay small – in order to implement the broad e-Sri Lanka vision, it was particularly important to build partnerships. Overall, it has been pretty successful in this regard.
- Due to its private sector image, it was initially received with suspicion as programs were implemented within government. It had to strike a balance between engaging the private sector and managing government expectations.
-Stakeholder Consultation:
- One of the early lessons learned was the importance of communicating the vision of e-Sri Lanka to the country as a whole, and having a well-defined communications strategy in place.
- Consultation with stakeholders was also an important avenue for support, carried out through focus groups on various program areas, and within the program areas as well, for specialized expertise.
-Project Management:
- It was critical to adopt a project management approach to everything the agency did – for staying on track, setting deadlines – as a result, ICTA has not slipped up in achieving targets
- Lack of project management capacity was an issue faced in the early days at local implementation levels. The need to build capacity in government and the private sector in parallel with program components was an important lesson learned.
Lessons learned from World Bank perspective
Lesson 1 : Ensuring good quality project management
-Need for quality project management: most importantly to have the project manager in-country and available to think creatively with the team
-Need to keep disbursement categories simple: ICT projects involve turnkey approaches, with lots of elements that are difficult to categorize. Keeping the disbursement categories simple, and having the same disbursement percentage for each category would go a long way towards reducing conflict
-Need for appropriate procurement measures: In many cases, there are no precedents within the Bank for procuring goods for large-scale ICT projects, and the necessary experience is not readily available within the Bank. A key lesson learned is to make sure that everyone is aware of the Bank’s 1 step and 2 step procurement process
-Need for appropriate contract documents: The Bank’s standard bidding documents are not suitable for such ICT projects, as they cannot handle partnership agreements, software licensing agreements and IPR.
Lesson 2: Gaining political support without political intereference
-Need for political support without interference – e-Sri Lanka has, on its behalf, the outspoken advocacy of the Prime Minister, as well as the Minister of science and technology
-Need for building on local, cultural traditions: One of the early issues faced was the Prime Minister’s desire to have e-lanka’s telecenters placed within temples, as opposed to the initial design of rural entrepreneur-managed telecenters. Although initially worrisome, this turned out to be an ideal solution, as the temple location ensured high human traffic and sustainability through temple donations.
Lesson 3: Establishing the right institutional set-up
-Need for appropriate Institutional framework: The ICTA was autonomous and could hire people at market rates, attracting people of high caliber, also ensuring it could adopt a results oriented, project management approach. Expatriate Sri Lankans were also tapped to come back and work at reduced rates, towards their country’s development. In addition, ICTA had an independent board for management and oversight.
- High Level support: Get program support from the head of state, and have the agency report directly to their office
- Image control: in making the ICTA autonomous and private sector oriented, people began to associate it with the private sector - not with government.
- Sunset clauses: the e-Sri Lanka program was initially set up with a 5 year horizon, which was transferred to the ICTA. This caused a number of problems with donors and domestic organizations – ICTA is in the process of getting the clauses overturned.
Lesson 4: Overcoming opposition
-Need for overcoming opposition: Expect opposition – It is not realistic to undertake a far-reaching development project with a broad, ambitious vision without encountering some resistance. Undertake a stakeholder analysis to figure out who are the potential winners and losers of the project.
- Consult with as many stakeholders as possible: ICTA failed to consult with telecom operators in Sri Lanka - when it came time to roll out the planned fiber optic network in rural areas, they were taken to court in an effort to prevent it from going forward.
-Need for strategic communications: in all levels, in all languages. ICTA has one of the first trilingual websites in government.
-Need for broad representation: extremely important to have geographic, ethnic and religious coverage within the agency and program.
Lesson 5: Overcoming lack of capacity
-Establish partnership model to team up local and international firms.
-Use distance learning as a means of exchanging information
-Realise that the Bank itself does not have a lot of capacity in this area and be prepared to bring it in from outside
-Use the private sector wherever possible and outsource as much of the work as possible.
Questions from Rwanda and Ghana:
Q.What results have been achieved to date within the e-Sri Lanka program?
- e-Sri Lanka was launched formally in January 2005. Although the ICTA was created 18 months earlier, the focus up to that point was on finalizing the project design and funding together with the Bank. The e-Sri Lanka program has therefore been in operation for just about 9 months. At this point in time:
-The project design has been completed, and implementation is underway:
-Within the ‘Re-engineering Government’ program, a lot of system studies are ongoing in key departments, as is the tendering process for a government-wide information network and backbone
-The country portal initiative, aimed at linking all e-services is in the study phase
-Within the telecom area, the program is slightly behind due to the court action initiated by regional telecom operators– however, regional telecom services are to begin shortly.
-The Telecenter program has advanced well, with over 100 telecenters in operation and a target set for 1000 by 2007 - all with VSAT connections. The challenge is to make sure there is relevant content available.
-The E-society fund, set up to disburse grants to communities, has accepted its first round of applications from which 10 grants will be made available to projects developed by communities.
-In the private sector, 2 large MNCs have set up offshore operations that have created 6000 jobs in the country.
-A unique fund was set up to promote ICT sector development and build capacity of the ICT industry - the program is tendered and completed and about to start shortly.
-Establishment of a CIO forum – 600 champions in government were identified to drive the re-engineering government program component. A training program with a series of workshops has been underway for CIOs, and a national program to build ICT literacy in government is about to be embarked upon.
Q.If the Bank cannot support partnership agreements, software licensing agreements, and IPR, what kind of partnerships were developed with the private sector in Sri Lanka, and within the Bank?
In those areas, the Bank stepped aside to allow ICTA to develop the necessary partnerships –
-In the low cost PC program, ICTA has partnered with Intel and Red Hat, and developed a way of making low cost, high quality PCs for $350 with brand new intel chips and internet connectivity.
-ICTA also set up a partnership with Crimson Logic for business software at deeply discounted rates
These partnerships would not have been possible through the regular tender process.
Q. What kind of software is e-Sri Lanka using in e-government components – free and open source, or proprietary?
ICTA is pro-choice, willing to look at all options going forward – for example, the e-lanka PC project involved rolling out 100,000 low cost PCs to households. In that case, it was decided to go with open source software, taking into account pricing and affordability issues. For the re-engineering government program, again, ICTA will consider all options, and will look to India for lessons learned as well.
Q. What business model is being used for telecenters?
The rural knowledge center model, of which there are about 200, include 4-5 PCs and 128k connectivity. The location selection process was carefully carried out, with predetermined criteria – proximity to schools, infrastructure (electricity), and populations between 3000 and 5000. Centers were evenly distributed between the NE and South. The actual center operators/owners were chosen carefully through a competitive selection process – involving requests for proposals, prior to which workshops were held to build awareness about the program. With the new government, the decision was made to expand the program to include religious institutions. So there is an entrepreneurial model, and a community model with community services.
Q.How does ICTA deal with stakeholders that are not technically minded, but are able to exert political pressure and debilitate the implementation process?
The answer depends on the political realities and culture of the country – the recommended path is to use the PM/head of state’s office to have a tripartite discussion – in Sri Lanka, the ICTA is currently doing that with the regional telecom operators.
- How are CIOs selected within the e-Sri Lanka program?
The e-Sri Lanka program has appointed 600 Chief Innovation Officers - not traditional CIOs - that are tasked to be government change makers. It is currently delivering specialized strategic level training concentrating on management skills, strategic planning, change management, BPR etc. Generally, CIOs are not the secretaries (top of agencies), but second in commands – they have a bit more flexibility in being able to devote necessary resources towards program development.
Q.Who is the owner of the government backbone infrastructure and of the country portal?
At this stage, ICTA has taken ownership as they are still very new – ultimately, once operational, there will be consultations regarding an appropriate home within government for them.
- What are the costs for the e-lanka program? Are there limitations from the Bank, on how big the program can be?
Originally, ICTA and others were thinking very big, with the objective of having a very large program. This was ultimately cut down to a more modest $85 million cost of program – of that, the Bank is providing $55 million, with other donors providing the rest, e.g. Korean and Japanes governments. Care was also taken not to duplicate ongoing efforts by other donors.
Q.What kind of strategy is being used to provide affordable access to connectivity?
There were a few strategies considered for affordable access to connectivity – one was to issue a voucher scheme focusing on women, as they are the hardest to attract. The other was to promote connectivity in religious institutions, as they do not ask people to pay for services. Another alternative was to have services provided free at the centers for one day/afternoon a week.
ICTA is also planning to set up a regional telecom network, which will drive down the cost of connectivity.
- What strategy was used to attract FDI into the country?
In terms of a strategy for attracting FDI, Sri Lanka has a vibrant private sector that ICTA works with to attract such international MNCs. Additionally, ICTA participates in international forums, works with the government to provide necessary taxation benefits, and is looking into setting up state-of-the-art infrastructure within the country. ICTA is taking the lead in creating the enabling environment for MNCs to operate in Sri Lanka.
Part 2 (e-Ghana) to come…