UN set to boost ICT capacity of Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

Bangkok, 07 March,

(Asiantribune.com): Cambodian human resource capacity in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for socio-economic development is set to make a great stride with the launch of a United Nations ICT capacity building programme.

High-level officials are to attend the inaugural National Workshop of the “Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders” (Academy), a core ICT for development curriculum developed by the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 9 to 12 March.

The event is co-organized by APCICT and the National Information Communications Technology Development Authority (NiDA) of Cambodia.

Leewood Phu, Secretary General of NiDA, and Dr. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director of APCICT will preside over the signing ceremony. Over fifty participants are expected to attend, including senior government officials responsible for ICT and or e-Government projects, officials from over twenty government ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Rural Development, and the Ministry of Women, as well as academics from numerous universities, and representatives from international development agencies based in Phnom Penh.

In identifying ICT for development as a national objective, Cambodian officials have targeted ICT human resource capacity building as a key priority. Equipping policy-makers and project managers with the necessary ICT skills and knowledge to develop and deliver effective public services is the primary objective of the Academy. The Academy includes a comprehensive curriculum on ICT for development, currently with eight standalone but interlinked modules.

The Academy has been adopted and institutionalized into national ICT human capacity building frameworks in a dozen countries in Asia and the Pacific since its official launch at the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy in June, 2008. More partners are working with APCICT to roll out the Academy at the national level throughout Asia and the Pacific.

The launch event in Phnom Penh will be immediately followed by a four-day Academy training workshop. Three Academy modules will be delivered throughout the workshop: Module 1 – The Linkage between ICT Applications and Meaningful Development; Module 2 – ICT for Development Policy, Process and Governance; and Module 3 – e-Government Applications.

The workshop comes at a time when Cambodia’s recently established e-government system, the Provincial Administration Information System (PAIS) has grown to serve 10 out of the country’s 24 provinces. In coordination with ACPICT, NiDA will continue to implement and disseminate the comprehensive Academy training curriculum in order to increase ICT human resource capacity at various levels of the Cambodian government, secure sustainable funding for future training and ICT related projects and programmes and enhance e-governance capabilities.

UN-APCICT

The United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT) is a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), established with a membership identical to that of ESCAP and is located in Incheon, Republic of Korea. APCICT aims to strengthen the efforts of the member countries of ESCAP to use ICT in their socio-economic development through building human and institutional capacity for ICT. http://www.unapcict.org/