Workshop on ICT Strategies for Islands and Small States
(Malta, 17-19 March)

The workshop was sponsored by UNESCO, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Malta and was organized by the (Malta) National Commission for IT, the Institute for Island and Small States (University of Malta) and the Commonwealth Network of IT for Development (COMNET-IT).

Opening Session

Mr Henry Alamango (Executive Director, COMNET-IT) made the opening remarks, extending a warm welcome to the participants and a vote of thanks to the organizations which had lent their support, including UNESCO, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the National Commission for Information Technology and the Institute for Islands and Small States. Particular thanks for their personal commitment was also due to Mr Pal Vaserhelyi (UNESCO) and Mr Joe Woods (Co-ordinator).

Mr Pal Vaserhelyi (UNESCO) provided a brief overview of UNESCO’s work in the field of ICT, focusing in particular on the work of the Information and Informatics Division. One of the Division’s main ongoing projects is the Memory of the World Programme which is developing a world list of major and unique historical documents which are to be digitized to allow further and more widespread study by experts. The Division’s other projects involve the training of trainers in IT, based on modular training programmes and making free software tools more easily accessible on the Internet, as well as supporting initiatives like this workshop and concrete follow-up action.

The Hon Jesmond Mugliett (Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Malta) highlighted the fact that the concept of space is always a problem for small states. He identified a number of challenges facing small states, including the need for new modes of creating prosperity, universal access to ICT, inclusive education and social cohesion. The development of a National Strategy for Information Technology had been developed by the Malta Council for Science and Technology(MCST) in 1992 and had involved over 100 experts. One of its most tangible results had been the introduction of very comprehensive IT programme in school curricula at all levels. IT was being introduced in other areas falling under the responsibility of the Parliamentary Secretary, i.e. youth and sport, where YouthNet 2000, an Internet-based initiative to network NGOs and other local and international players, was being set up.

Rev Prof Peter Serracino Inglott (Chairman, MCST) added some footnotes to the Parliamentary Secretary’s comments on the National Strategy for Information Technology. The latter was made up of three components, namely infrastructure, education and business opportunities. The education component of the strategy may not have been so successful due to the fact that what was required was a whole change in the way of approaching education and a new set of thinking skills. The implementation of the IT Strategy involves not only an investment in the hardware or infrastructure, but also a cultural change, a different mode of thinking, the bringing about of a learning society and the knowledge-based economy where knowledge is traded as a commodity. Malta projected itself perhaps rather ambitiously as a hub rather than a node. The Malta ICT Strategy was actually developed as the basis for a new system of integrated resource management. The collapse of the centralized planned economies, and the fact that small island states could not abandon their future to market forces, meant that governments had to play a role not in prescribing what action should be taken, but in promoting the use of ICT-based tools to develop alternative policy scenarios. This would allow policy-makers a clear picture of the possible consequences of particular policy decisions. Policy decisions would then be taken on the basis of discussion and agreement. The Malta ICT Strategy, in contrast with Singapore’s strategy, had evolved in a bottom-up way from the grassroots up .