The Government Information Center

One of the key objectives of ICT Human Resource Capacity Building Program under the e-Sri Lanka Project of ICTA is to develop an e-leadership capability in government by conducting awareness-raising and training for Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs), which is critical to implement reform and drive the process of re-engineering government and introducing e-government systems.

Under this initiative ICTA will develop e-leadership within government by conducting awareness-raising and training for Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs) appointed across all government ministries, departments, statutory bodies, district secretariats, divisional secretariats and provincial councils. The CIOs play a key role within the government working as a “Change Agent” and driving the e-transformation process. They will be equipped with specialist skills to ensure they are ready to champion change within their respective line ministries and departments. The role of the CIO in government could be described in more detail as follows:

• Lead and direct organizational strategic planning, creating and maintaining an ICT strategy to guide research, development and maintenance.
• Ensure organizational alignment with government ICT policy, as directed by the National Administrative Reforms Committee (NARC) and ICTA.
• Lead the establishment of world class systems and apply them to internal systems and processes to provide for continuous improvement of performance.
• Lead organization-wide efforts on information systems security, ensuring and maintaining standards.
• Maintain ICT utilization and sharing of information systems, applications, etc, and oversee ICT investments to ensure optimization and full range of cost trade-offs.
• Ensure inter-ministry (or inter-department) coordination on ICT and serve as the organizational spokesperson on ICT issues.
• Manage outsourced contracts and services.

CIOs will participate in, and contribute to, the development of overall e-government strategies, prioritization of projects and activities, project conceptualisation, planning and implementation, working in coordination with ICTA and its appointed project management and implementation teams. ICTA expects trained CIOs actively engaged in re-engineering government, driving change management and process re-engineering within their respective ministries and departments.

ICTA together with key international and local institutions has designed and delivered several training programmes to develop government human resources at multiple levels to support the public sector and deliver citizen services through e-government. Some of the key programmes delivered to CIOs are as follows;

1. “e-Champions” an innovative programme created to equip a core group of 30 active CIOs, with the knowledge and skills to drive implementation of e-government. This key initiative was undertaken by ICTA in a strategic partnership with the World Bank Institute (WBI), Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), and the Distance Learning Centre (DLC) in Sri Lanka. The “e-Champions” Programme consisted of three components: a) Knowledge Sharing Sessions with renowned international experts via video conferences b) Face-to-Face Workshops to give participants the practical knowledge to e-government projects, which are currently not available in standard training courses and c) Study tours
2. Study Tour on ‘Estonian e-Governance and ICT policy’ organized together with the e-Governance Academy of Estonia. This programme was organized to show the importance of having in place the right national policies and strategies in the field of information society in order to achieve meaningful impacts in real life and to fully realize a leapfrogging potential of ICTs in the country’s overall development and competitiveness.
3. “e-Government Training programme for Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs)” is a specially designed programme for CIOs and delivered by the National Institute for Smart Government in India, to equip a group of 25 Sri Lankan CIOs, with the knowledge and skills to drive implementation of e-government. The training Programme consisted of classroom learning sessions with renowned e-Government personalities and study visits to e-Government sites in India.
4. e-Governance MBA – Scholarships for a part time two year MBA at the University of Moratuwa

• MBA in e Governance
• ICT HR Capacity Building for Government

The objective of the ICT HR Capacity Building Programme for Government will be to equip public sector with the skills and competencies urgently needed to manage and administer forthcoming e-government projects, including Lanka Government Network (LGN) and use e-Services such as e-Foreign Employment, e-Pensions and e-Divisional Secretariat.

To structure the Capacity Building Programme, ICTA has developed a unique ‘ICT Skills Framework’ (see figure 1 below) identifying the specific skills needed at different staff levels and categories, namely, Senior Managers, CIOs, Project Managers, IT Managers and General Staff. The Framework was developed after several months of consultation with experts from the public sector, private sector and from key partners such as the World Bank. The Framework is modularized, i.e. made up of individual course modules. This will allow ICTA the flexibility to mix and match modules according to the specific competencies required by staff and add new modules as the need arises.

The modules in the Framework are grouped under three categories: “General Skills”, “ICT Management and Technical” and “Leadership”, starting with basic ICT awareness and literacy and moving upwards towards more specialized and strategic management skills, such as strategic planning, business process re-engineering (BPR) and change management.

In the first phase, ICTA will be providing ICT skills training for government organizations and departments in the Western Province. ICTA will fund ICT Skills Training under the “General Skills” category of the Framework covering three modules, namely: 1) ICT Awareness, 2) ICT Foundation and 3) ICT Certification.

• ICT Foundation for Government Officers
• ICT Awareness for Government Officers
• Advanced Technical Training for Government Officers
• ICT Certification for Government Officers

The purpose of the project is to achieve increased e-literacy level of the country by mounting an island-wide and sustained e-literacy drive. The pilot phase of the project was completed by promoting quality certifications of international standard and by making them available for citizens at affordable prices in selected districts. This phase was completed with thousands of citizens benefiting from the program.

The second and the main phase of the project will be launched shortly to boost up ICT literacy and use of ICT applications especially among the rural citizens. ICTA is planning to deliver ICT training through ICTA’s growing network of Nenasalas and the existing network of training centers Island wide. Potential participants at the project will be given a voucher to be produced at the selected training centers to complete the training course.   This project will also equip societies in rural villages who live around Nenasalas with IT knowledge which in turn help them to be part of knowledge society and do day to day activities efficiently with available ICT resources at Nenasalas. The National ICT Literacy Project will mark the beginning of a drive to ‘Bridge the Digital Divide’ by enabling thousands of ordinary citizens to work with computers and access information over the Internet. Starting at the grass-roots level, The Nenasala centers and other training partners will equip citizens in rural Grama Niladhari divisions in all provinces to handle computers and the basics of information and communication technology. ICTA will also launch a comprehensive awareness campaign to increase the ICT awareness among the general public.

Project benefits

• Enhanced basic ICT skills in citizens, especially those living in rural communities.
• Increased ICT literacy level in the country.
• Enhanced awareness among citizens about the benefits of being ICT literate.
• Stimulated market environment with increased demand for ICT literacy courses.
• Enhance sustainability of Nenasala network