Friday, May 25, 2007

Specialized Course on





Specialized Course on
Local e-Governance in the Caribbean

posted by Unknown @ 1:15 PM 0 comments

Thursday, May 24, 2007

E-government set for launch






E-government set for launch

BAHRAIN's e-Government strategy is to be officially launched tomorrow.

The ceremony will be held under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, who is also the chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communications Technology.

It will start at Bahrain International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) at 9am and feature a number of presentations and an exhibition on the e-government system.

Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa will be one of the keynote speakers.

Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) IT director Mohammed Al Qaed and representatives from the Ministries of Interior, Industry and Commerce, and Municipalities and Agriculture will make presentations.

The CIO, which is responsible for the e-government strategy, has been working on the project for more than two years. The Bahrain eGovernment Solution Centre was opened at the CIO complex, Isa Town, last year.

CIO, IBM and Gulf Business Machines have worked together to build an e-government infrastructure for Bahrain - making the government the first in the Middle East to introduce such a system. The centre is linked to a network of IBM eGovernment centres world-wide.

posted by Unknown @ 10:07 PM 0 comments

New website to highlight economy

New website to highlight economy

By Ahmed A. Elewa, Staff Reporter


Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Finance and Industry is developing a new 'Made in the UAE' website in coordination with Dubai's e-Government.

The website aims to market national products domestically and internationally through the internet.

"This new project comes in the framework of the ministry's endeavours to strengthen the relationship between the federal and local governments, as well as the private sector, to achieve the ultimate target of sustainable development," said Dr Mohammad Khalfan Bin Kharbash, Minister of State for Financial and Industrial Affairs.

He said the site had already been prepared and it was equipped to provide services, including lists of local manufacturers.

It is supported by an advanced search engine that facilitates access to any information from the national database.

"The website has been developed to serve as a database for the local industries as it includes all the local manufacturing establishments listed with the ministry," Dr Kharbash added.

The industrial sector ranks third among the various sectors in the UAE with total investments amounting to Dh70.42 billion at the end of 2006.

It has achieved a growth rate of 134.3 per cent during the past five years, according to the ministry. The number of establishments in the country grew by more than 42 per cent from 2,509 in 2002 to 3,567 in 2006.

"What we seek by this project is the establishment of a unified electronic gateway promoting the UAE among the leaders in the application of e-commerce," said Jamal Nasser Lootah, the ministry's assistant undersecretary for industrial affairs.

posted by Unknown @ 10:03 PM 0 comments

Bahrain to launch e-government strategy for 2007-10

(MENAFN) Bahrain Tribune reported the Bahraini Deputy Prime Minister will officially launch the country's e-government strategy for 2007-10, which will include the Bahrain Electronic Gate project.

The e-government initiative, which was developed by the Bahraini Central Informatics Organization over the past two years, will be launched at a grand ceremony that will be attended by the Kingdom's President of Shura Council, members of the Parliament, ministers and governors.

During the ceremony, the attendants will receive a short presentation about the objectives of the e-government strategy and the results it is expected to generate. The presentation will also have examples of e-services offered by ministries through collaboration amongst ministries and government entities.

posted by Unknown @ 10:00 PM 0 comments

Bahrain goes on-line





(MENAFN - Bahrain Tribune) With the launch of the e-government strategy, the Kingdom yesterday entered into new era of progress and development by elevating its status equal to top five in Asia, Europe and Americas. The Kingdom will implement nine key enablers over the period of the three year strategy to augment the skill targets and overall sustainability of the e-government programme.

The initiative called 'e-government towards a better life' was launched yesterday by Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT) who highlighted the salient features of the three year e-government strategy.

He said: "Bahrain is keen for having pioneering and outstanding e-services that enhance its profile as an attraction spot for investments, financial dealing and human experience.

Shaikh Mohammed also launched the Kingdom of Bahrain's new national portal which is accessible at www.e.gov.bh and shed a light on the necessity of e-government by making the public sector more competitive, efficient and productive.

The Deputy Premier dwelled on advantages of provisioning electronically enabled services such as lesser turnaround time for providing services to citizens, better information sharing amongst government agencies and accrual of cost savings to the government.

He said that 28 important e-government services are already available on the national e-government portal and over the next three years about 167 most important services will be made available online. He urged all the ministries, individuals, media and businesses to work together for making the e-government strategy a success.

Shaikh Ahmed bin Atiyatallah Al Khalifa, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and a member of the SCICT conducted a presentation by touching upon all important aspects of three year e-government strategy.

He underlined the significance of the e-government programme for the development of the country and the economy while explaining how the e-government programme complements the ambitious reforms undertaken by the Kingdom in the fields of education, economy and labour market.
Shaikh Ahmed said: "The basic aim of the e-government strategy is to achieve a visible improvement in service delivery to individuals and businesses while achieving productivity and efficiency for the public sector."
The e-government strategy under the guidance of SCICT has been prepared by the renowned international management consultancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The e-government strategy details out the action plan for the electronic enablement of over 160 services from 28 government agencies, four service delivery mediums - the Internet, national contact centre, common services centres and mobile gateway over the next three years.

Ministry of Municipalities and Agricultural Affairs; General Directorate for Nationality, Passports and Residence; and Ministry of Industry and Commerce conducted presentations to address the needs of the four primary customer segments addressed in the e-government strategy - individuals, businesses, visitors and government.

Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, general director IT, appraised the audience regarding the vision, outcomes and targets for the e-government strategy. He further gave details regarding the initiatives including access through multiple channels such as the internet-enabled PCs, mobile phones, contact centre and common service centres. Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa also opened the exhibition.

Ministry of Interior, Basim Yaqoob Al Hamer, explained the eBorder system and the benefits accruing out of it to the various stakeholders including the government, tourists and businesses. The presentation revealed that over 3000 eVisas were issued during each of the past two months. List of services, available on the e-government portal, for the visitors was also presented. The presentation from Ministry of Industry and Commerce shed light on the initiatives undertaken by the Kingdom for enhancing the contribution of businesses in the economy by proper streamlining of processes and procedures. The presentation also examined the various stakeholders for the development of eCommerce in Bahrain.

posted by Unknown @ 9:53 PM 0 comments

Web 2.0 requires ‘Govt 2.0’ for citizen engagement





Web 2.0 requires ‘Govt 2.0’ for citizen engagement
Tara Hunt was a substitute speaker for fellow blogger Kathy Sierra, who is avoiding travel after receiving death threats online
By Stephen Bell, Wellington | Wednesday, 23 May, 2007

Government needs to reflect the changes in communications that have resulted from Web 2.0 technology and help facilitate two-way communication between citizens.

This was the message Canadian web and “unmarketing” guru Tara Hunt, co-founder of the Citizen Agency consultancy, delivered at the Govis conference, held in Wellington last week.

The web used to be a presentation and marketing tool, but it has turned into an avenue for two-way communication, including the “bottom-up” expression of views, as well as for grassroots action, Hunt told Government Information Services conference.

Government should reflect these changes and facilitate both communication and the creation of new internet-based businesses — becoming a “springboard” to help people find fulfillment in their business and personal lives.

For example, Web 2.0 has revealed the great business potential embodied in the “long tail”, the collectively huge number of people who share a minority interest, says Hunt. The web has enabled whole industries to be built by putting members of this long tail in touch with one another. TradeMe is the most obvious local example.

There are significant support structures government could help build, to facilitate a “democratised distribution of information”, she says. An example here would be a secure network, and interfaces to multiple platforms, that government could help create, to support these lucrative new web-based businesses, she says.

Tara Hunt

Hunt began her marketing career working for an oil and gas company, before moving into the “slow death” of advertising agency work. After this, she launched her own consultancy, Rogue Strategies, which specialises in “unmarketing”. She also managed marketing for visual search firm Riya.com, before launching the Citizen Agency, with co-founder Chris Messina.

Hunt’s Citizen Agency is an internet consultancy that “specialises in developing community-centric strategies around product research, design, development and marketing”.

As an example of where government could offer direct help, Hunt cites history and historical material. There is a wealth of this on New Zealand sites such as Te Ara, but no indication of how ordinary people could submit their own treasured photographs and oral histories without going through a narrow curatorial “bottleneck”.

But there are practical applications too. Hunt demonstrated the power of the customer mind interacting with government with the aid of a video about a Toronto group that collectively redesigned the Toronto Transit Commission’s website, making it more useful to people travelling around the city. TCC was most enthusiastic about the project.

Hunt was a substitute speaker for fellow blogger Kathy Sierra, who is avoiding travel after receiving death threats online.

She is also a supporter of Lawrence Lessig, who founded Creative Commons, a non-profit organisation which aims to lessen intellectual property controls, so as to expand the opportunity for people to legally build upon others’ work.

As a counterpoint to the Health Ministry representative Brendan Kelly’s presentation, Hunt pointed to the huge amount of population data collected by government agencies, particularly health and education agencies, and asked why people don’t have access to their own files.

It seems that a person’s record of their health belongs not to that person but to the health provider. In some cases, this could be a life and death matter. For example, if there were concerns about a drug’s side-effects, the patient concerned would probably know and be worried he or she had taken such a drug, but it might have escaped the health authorities’ attention.

posted by Unknown @ 9:50 PM 0 comments