ISSUE 3

Information and Communications Technology Strategies for Islands and Small States: A Summary

This event was held in Malta between 17th and 19th March 1999 with delegates attending from far flung parts of the Commonwealth including the Caribbean and Pacific Islands - all representing Islands and Small States. After a welcome and the initial opening remarks, the first session entitled "The Evolving Scenario" was opened by Prof. Bernard Woods with his vision of online access for all - including the poor (hardware/software being rented not owned; revenue being generated from the services offered rather than sales; business use subsidising personal access). Despite the huge growth of the Internet, Prof. Woods estimated that at present only 5% of the potential users of ICT have access. He hopes that the provision of ICT services will soon be seen as just another utility and receive state assistance although he also said the cross-sectoral nature of ICT provision/use makes it difficult for governments to manage.

This speech was complemented the academic approach of Prof. Lino Briguglio, Director of the Institute for Islands and Small States at the University of Malta, who is also an Economist - he posed the question "Are ICTs a right or a business opportunity?" and commented that some rights are more economically feasible than others! He noted that the total population of all Islands and Small States is not more than about 40 million although these nations hold over 30 votes at the UN and could thus form a powerful lobby. Some threats are greater for Islands and Small States - environmental vunerability, small home markets, limited human resources - but they also enjoy advantages including geographic containment and single level government making for a flexible, responsive administration. Prof. Briguglio said that the World Trade Organisation does not represent small states well so that there is a need for alliances between Islands and Small States.

The last speaker was Prof. Mary Grieco from the University of North London who is interested in the social impact of ICT and has coined the phrase "electronic adjacency" to describe the elimination of remoteness by ICT. She was impressive in her hands-on and first-hand account of both working in Ghana and of providing educational material to Ghana from London. Prof. Grieco's experience of projects managed by aid agencies was sobering since it implied a lack of co-ordination between efforts. Her greatest hope for ICT was that it could remove the need for experts, agents or information brokers allowing citizens to look after their own interests. The impression at the end of the first session was one of hopeful anticipation - the panel gave a sight of widening global opportunities through ICT and the special relevance of ICT in small states and islands.

Session two on Human Resources Development stated that as part of drafting a national ICT strategy, the human resource requirements and potential need analysis. A good ICT education/training programme will stem the typical brain drain by planning and providing a sophiscated local employment situation. Dr. Sunday Ojo from the University of Botswana gave a speech on "ICT HR Capacity Development Strategies for Islands and Small States - A Holistic perspective" in which he highlighted the need for small nations to grow indigenous capacity in ICT to avoid the ills of systems failure, under-utilisation and inefficient use. The other speakers in this session were Dr. Godfrey Baldacchino from the University of Malta who challenged islands to compete in services rather than manufacturing and to view the Brain Drain as a benefit providing training; Ghana published its expert needs on the Internet, when developing its computer literacy programme,and got 40-50 returns. Dr. Michel Arnaud, a French consultant gave an interesting review of how telecentres may be used to improve IT literacy in the community and how training in ICT differs from traditional learning - it is now the young who teach the old!

The third session was mainly allocated to discussion of a draft document prepared for UNESCO by Canadian consultant Mr. John Gilbert entitled "Promoting Co-operation Among Users of Internet-based Services in Small Countries" - copies from p.vasarhelyi@unesco.org. The document was considered a useful text proposing as it does the formation of "user consortia" to increase consumer influence with internet and telecoms service providers. This ability to band together and achieve strength through numbers is particularly relevant to islands and small states which have little sway as individual customers even at their highest level.

This was followed by a exciting presentation by Mr. Taholo Kami on the UNDP funded SIDSNET project which links 42 Pacific, Caribbean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and African island nations - see www.sidsnet.org for more information. Benefits to participating states are technical assistance and advice coupled with facilities such as "eroom" = shared webspace for collaborative work on documents. An interesting description of the strategic use of ICT to address defined business problems (as applied the to the need to manage and sustain Tuna fish stocks around 14 Pacific island territories) was given by Samuelu Taufao. The Vessel Monitoring System tracks known and unknown vessels by various methods and also links the bodies responsible for enforcement action in the member states online allowing timely action.

Session four was concerned with the role of Government agencies to formulate IT strategies and Mr. David Spiteri Gingell, for the Government of Malta's Central Information Management Unit, gave a detailed account of the Maltese experience in this regard and the lessons learnt over several years of progress. Ms Jacqueline Dubow of the World Bank outlined the InfoDev projects and encouraged representatives of Islands and Small States which are investing in ICT to contact her at jdubow@worldbank.org if seeking assistance. Dr. Cynthia Alexander of Acadia University, Canada spoke enthusiastically on her experience of providing learner-centred study and cultural support to remote and ice-bound regions of Canada. She presented a paper summarised as "Bridging Islands of Marginalization in a Sea of Technological Change: Assessing the Power of ICTs to Empower Aboriginal Peoples and Women in Canada".

The final day began with a session on Infrastructural Development with a panel made up of consultant Mr. Keith Yeomans, computer company executive Mr. Godfrey Vella and former Minister for Telecommunications in Malta, Dr. Michael Frendo. There was a lively participation on this subject as delegates compared the realities, in money and service terms, of the infrastructures available to them at home. The cost of public Internet access appeared to be inversely proportional to the wealth of the nation. Tariffs for International telecommunications are negotiated bilaterally and inequalities are known. De-regulation of telecommunication services varies by nation, but the trend away from a public monopoly was generally approved.

The ex-Minister had several creative ideas on how small nations may take advantage of their special status - from selling rights to unused wavebands in the Electromagnetic transmission spectrum to offering cable companies market access in return for infrastructural investment. Dr. Frendo cautioned nations against offering fixed term monopolies to commercial service providers however as this has been widely done during the re-construction of Eastern Europe; the result is often to leave low density regions unconnected so that ICT remains concentrated in the cities. Similarly he recommends using more than one international carrier to promote competition in rates.

As part of any new national ICT strategy formulation, the proximity of existing communication conduits and hubs should be researched as well as upcoming satellite/airborne systems as there may be local factors which give advantage. Many remote nations host vital network links and can benefit as a result.

The last session addressed Business issues and promoting the use of ICTs amongst small and medium sized enterprises and assistance available from the Commonwealth Secretariat to this end. Several examples of the profitable use of ICT in small business were given. Price Waterhouse-Coopers Consultant Mr. George Sammut and Mr. Ravichandhira Rao (Programme Manager for the Commonwealth Business Network at the Commonwealth Secretariat) shared the panel. More information can be found at www.combinet.net.

This report provided by the Editor who attended the proceedings in March.