UNDP ICT Programme Officer/Focal Point

ICT Programme Office/Focal Point A

Full Name

Deepak Shrestha

Designation/Position

Programme Information Associate

Station (UNDP Country Office)

UNDP/Nepal

Email Address

deepak.shrestha@undp.org

Telephone Number

977-1-523200 ext. 1020

Fax Number

977-1-523991, 523986

Government Agency(ies) with Primary Responsibility

Ministry/Agency

Ministry of Science and Technology

Contact Person A

Full Name (First, Last)

Mr. Poorna Bhadra Adiga

Designation/Title

Joint Secretary

Email Address

pbadiga@most.gov.np

National Development Priorities

Please list the Government’s primary developmental and sectoral priorities:

Poverty reduction is the main goal. The Tenth Plan (2002/2003-2007/2008) sets a target to bring down the percentage of population living below the poverty line to 32 per cent from the current 42 per cent.  The Government’s poverty reduction strategies are: 1) high, sustainable and broad-based economic growth,2) social sector and infrastructure development; 3) Targeted Programs; 4) Good governance. Accordingly, following constitute national development and sectoral priorities:

• Agricultural development, sustainable management of natural resources and bio-diversity
• Development of tourism, water resources, information technology, industry and commerce sectors with private sector participation
• Development of Infrastructures at national and regional levels
• Human Resources development and women’s empowerment
• Development of rural infrastructure and rural energy
• Population management, social services and basic social security
• Innovation of rural technology and use of appropriate technology (including IT)
• Environmental Conservation and Promotion
• Targeted programs for the upliftment, employment, and basic security of the downtrodden, ethnicities and the deprived people
• Strengthening local bodies, non-governmental and community based organizations
• Promotion of Good Governance
   

e-Readiness Assessment

Has the Government (or any third party or donor) conducted a multi-sectoral ICT or e-readiness assessment of the country?

NO

A comprehensive e-readiness assessment is required to ensure that strategies adopted for the development of the IT sector is based on ground realities as well as to provide direction to policy formulation.
 

Existing e-Policies, -Strategies, Acts, Decrees, etc

Has the Government developed, or is the Government planning to develop, ICT policies?

YES

IT Policy 2000 sets the following broad objectives:
-          To make information technology accessible to general public and to increase employment through this means
-          To build knowledge-based society, and
-          To establish knowledge-based industries

The following constitute the key elements of plan of action as outlined in the policy document:
i)  Promoting participation of the private sector in IT sector development
ii)  Infrastructure development
iii) Human resources development initiatives
iv)  Dissemination of Information Technology
v)  Promotion of IT enabled services including e-commerce, e-governance, etc
vi)  Provision of facilities for the development of IT sector
vii)  Institutional provisions
 

Ministry/Agency in Charge of ICT Policy Formulation

Ministry of Science and Technology/ National Planning Commission

Scope of ICT Policies

Existing IT Policy lays down a broad framework for the development of IT sector in the country. While the policy seeks to harness ICTs for development, economic growth and poverty reduction and envisions provision of a host of services that have potential to complement existing public service delivery regime, it fails to give due focus on the issues of gender and public sector reform vis-à-vis ICTs. Also, there is a need to further articulate the plan of action based on rapid technological changes and ground realities.

Was the process of ICT policy formulation participatory in nature, and did it involve stakeholders?

YES
-          Government
-          Private sector
-          NGOs and
-          Academia
 

Does the Government have an official policy on ICT and Gender?

NO

Given enabling and development potentials of ICTs and the fact that gender considerations are emerging as cross-cutting issues,  policy support in the area of Gender and ICT's would be highly desirable.
 

Does the Government have an official policy on Open Source Software?

NO
 

Access

How is the Government addressing the issue of equitable access to ICT for all of its citizens, especially marginalized groups and those in rural communities?

To expand access to ICT resources to the people living in rural and remote areas, during the 10^th Plan period, the Government plans to establish tele-centers in 1500 Village Development Committees (VDCs). With a UNDP support, a pilot tele-center project has been launched  by the Ministry of Science and Technology.  The sustainable framework arising from the pilot would include mechanisms for ensuring access by the marginalized groups and rural poor, and will constitute a major input to the national roll-out programme.
 

What is the Government planning to do to increase local connectivity to the Internet?

The Government plans to facilitate private sector participation to expand telecom access to rural areas. Accordingly, VSAT, WLL and GSM have been opened for private sector participation. The planned liberalisation of telecom sector by the end of the year 2003 will pave the way for increased private sector participation in the provision of basic services which in turn will expand telecom network and enable wider diffusion of ICTs. Also, as a  physical facility to attract the private sector, an IT Park is currently under construction and is scheduled to complete in about a year.
 

Has the Government implemented, or is it planning to implement, e-government/e-governance initiatives to better deliver government services through the application of ICT and to improve government transparency and efficiency?

NO

IT policy has recognized the need to implement e-governance as a means of augmenting existing public service delivery regime. Although an approach paper on e-governance has been developed with by the Government,  a comprehensive plan of action in support of policy pronouncements is so far lacking. Resource as well as technical know-how constraints are some of the key factors impeding growth of e-governance in Nepal. This clearly is one area where UNDP assistance could make a big difference.

UNDP will support an e-governance pilot in 2003 in selected districts at municipal and VDC levels for enhanced rural urban linkages. Based on the experience from this pilot, a strategic plan of action will be developed for wider implementation of e-governance/e-government.
 

Local Content Development and Knowledge Management

Is the Government aware of or is it active in standardization and localization of ICTs (e.g. local input/output conventions and standards for digital exchange, development of local language character sets conforming to international UNICODE and other standards) for fostering local content development and knowledge management?

NO

An initiative is currently underway to standardize Devnagari (Nepali) character set. However, local content development and knowledge management is almost non-existent, with the exception of a few government ministry/line agency home pages.
 

Please suggest how UNDP can assist in further developing local content development.

UNDP could provide technical support for a national network of research institutions, development professionals, NGOs and government agencies  to collaborate and contribute towards content development and knowledge management. Institutional strengthening and technological support in this area would make a pioneering effort by UNDP.
 

International Donors of ICT for Development

Please list (in order of total contributions for 2002) the top five donors who have invested in ICT for Development.  DO NOT include UNDP.

Donor

Specific Area of Support

Amount (USD)

1

IDRC

IT Policy and Strategy Formulation

$60,671  CAD

Please list (in order of priority) the five top areas of ICT for Development for the donor community.  E.g. e-Government, e-Commerce, e-Learning, ICT policy, etc.

1

Policy and Strategy Formulation

Please list and describe the three primary ICT for Development areas of focus for your UNDP Country Office.

 NOTE: Please DO NOT list actual projects/activities, there is another section for this information.  Please describe the general focus areas (e-policies, e-government, e-commerce, e-learning, etc.) instead.

Area One
e-policies and e-strategies – Currently, UNDP’s policy support is limited to preparation of Framework for Implementation in support of policy pronouncements. There are plans to formulation of e-strategies, acts and guidelines backed by e-readiness assessments.

Area Two
Awareness of development potential of ICTs among stakeholders and rural connectivity

Area Three
E-governance (plans/initiatives indicated in other parts of this section)

Check List: Please provide additional comments where applicable.

UNDP has played or is playing a crucial role in assisting the national government with ICT policy formulation.

YES

In line with the national IT Policy introduced in October of 2000, UNDP is supporting preparation of a White Paper on IT, which is an elaborate action plan on areas of strategic importance for the development of the IT sector. With regard to specific ICTD issues, approach papers on e-commerce and e-governance along with associated actions plan have been prepared and are under review by the Government.

The ongoing pilot telecenter project is expected to feed into government’s policies on access, telecom, services delivery, etc.
 

ICT for Development is a well established programme area within your UNDP Country Office.

YES

The National IT policy 2000 is the basic frame of reference for UNDP programming. The primary objective of the policy is to provide universal access of information technology to general public. Government plans to establish 1,500 community information centers throughout the country. UNDP is in the forefront with its support for a pilot tele-center project. The  pilot aims to acquire locally derived knowledge, among others, to make tele-centers a proven tool for community based rural development and to develop mechanisms/approaches based on local contexts and ground realities to sustain the initiatives. Sustainable frameworks with successful approaches/mechanisms will be informed for replication for Government’s national rollout programme. By way of this programme, UNDP will also be contributing substantially in meeting the number of tele-centers targeted by the Government for the fiscal year 2002/2003.

Also, as indicated in the previous section, policy and strategy formulation is a major area of UNDP support to the Government. Currently, UNDP's support includes elaboration of Government's ICT policy and preparation of action plans in strategic areas.

As essential first step support for possible e-governance and local content development initiatives, UNDP has provided the Government with technical assistance for standardization of the Devnagari (Nepali language script) character sets, conforming to UNICODE standard.  Piloting e-governance and e-commerce tools  to facilitate promotion of social and economic development is planned for 2003 in rural-urban setting in selected districts. From the experience of this pilot, a strategic plan of action will be developed for wider implementation of e-governance and e-commerce at municipal and VDC levels for enhanced rural urban linkages.
 

The UNDP Country Office requires assistance in identifying UNDP’s potential niche in ICT for Development interventions in the country.

YES

Ongoing policy support will help us identify UNDP niche in ICTD interventions in the country. Nevertheless, assistance in this area would be welcome.
 

The UNDP Country Office is in partnership with the local government in ICT for Development initiatives/projects/activities.

YES
·         Municipal corporations
·         Village Development Committees
·         District Development Committees
 

Please share with us some UNDP County Office success stories, lessons learned, etc., with respect to the work that you have done in ICT for Development.

The pilot tele-center project has recently taken off. It is therefore too early for success stories and lessons. However, a lesson that can be drawn from the design process that we underwent is that intervention design would be highly realistic if underpinned by studies that help gauge potential beneficiary interest level, enthusiasm and partnership potential and opportunities. In the case of  the pilot project, we had commissioned a feasibility study in which we did  PRAs in a number of potential locations.  The study, apart from learning local realities, one gets a lot of insights from what potential contributions one can expect from the expected beneficiaries. In fact, modalities at the operational level may be best suggested by the beneficiary themselves completely suited to their ground realities. Time consuming it may be, but, there is a lot of merit in engaging line agency partners, beneficiaries and UNDP programme officers in a lot of discussion and brainstorming right at the formulation stage.. For avoiding loss of time, however, preparatory assistance phase of a potential intervention may be approved for securing whatever initial resource needed to carry out some of these high value essential activities.
 

What are the major external obstacles in delivering ICT for Development outputs, thus far?  And how has the Country Office overcome these obstacles?

The political situation is extremely volatile. Local leadership vacuum as a result of dissolution of local governance body has been a major obstacle. Due to aggravating security situation, community mobilization work (a basic project activity) is badly affected While these obstacles are out of anyone’s control at this stage, our plan is to operate at the scaled-down level depending upon security situations at selected districts/locations.
 

Project/Activity Information

Project Title

ICTs for Development (NEP/02/008)

Start Date

July 2002

End Date

June 2004

Objectives

To develop Implementation and monitoring mechanism for tele-center national rollout, including tools/methodology to assess e-readiness, social and economic impact and poverty reduction.

To develop Policy advocacy and framework for use of e-governance and e-commerce and IT related legal and regulatory frameworks

To strengthen Government capacity to a) formulate and review IT Policy, Strategy, Acts and Guidelines and b) implement the pilot and the subsequent national rollout programme
 

Description (200 words maximum)

The project will implement 15 pilot rural development telecenters in order to provide communities with shared access to Information and Communication Technologies, principally computers and the internet.  Mechanisms will be installed alongside the technology to ensure communities are able to articulate and prioritise their own information requirements and to implement necessary strategies in order to satisfy those requirements.  As ICTs are most effective when integrated with already successful development initiatives, close alliances will be forged with such programmes and information systems will be implemented that support their aims. 

Additional information supplies will be sourced and provided for known priority areas as previously expressed by government, viz; agricultural information, distance learning, tele-medicine, productive economic activities, environment protection, natural disaster mitigation.  Arising from the pilots, suitable mechanisms and policy interventions will be designed for replicating successes and for achieving a national rollout of rural development telecentres.

Additionally, surveys of e-readiness will be conducted at districts  and an international comparison of e-readiness will be conducted in order to facilitate policy development for national adoption of ICTs.  Measures to strengthen and sustain government capacity to formulate and review IT policy, strategy, Acts and guidelines will be implemented.  Measures will be also implemented for strengthening capacity of the NITC and for empowering it to implement the pilot and the subsequent national rollout programme.
 

UNDP Project Officer

Deepak Shrestha

Deepak.shrestha@undp.org

National Project Officer

Partners (National)

Ministry of Science and Technology and National Planning Commission

Partners (International)

Cross-Cutting UNDP Themes

Geographical Scope

Nine districts:
Three in Far-western Development Region
Two in Mid-western Development Region
One in Western Development Region
One in Central Development Region, and
Two in Eastern Development Region

Target Beneficiaries

Rural population including the poor and marginalized and the Government, at Central, district and local levels

Expected Outputs/ Results

1.       15 tele-centers up and running

2.       Sustainable tele-center Implementation Framework replicable at national level, including Telecenter Operations Manuals and Guidelines

3.       Instruments developed for relevant policy changes  (Acts and Guidelines) to enable replication of tele-centers.

4.       Network of NGOs for indigenous knowledge sourcing

5.       At least 10 additional Tele-centers running under public private partnership arrangement

6.       Information systems to collect and deliver information services involving line agencies at the district level.

7.       Tested E-readiness Methodology

8.      Tested Evaluation Methodology

9.       A framework for policy advocacy that proposes a development trajectory capable of achieving agreed targets for policy. 

10.   A pilot e-governance application

11.   Government Officials trained and familiarized on IT issues

Project URLs (websites)

Budget (USD) US$ 625,680

UNDP Contribution (USD)

National (USD)

Other Donors (USD)

US$ 625,680

Keywords

• Rural Connectivity
• Telecenter
• Pilot
• e-governance
• Policy Advocacy

Additional Comments