table of contents

Appendix:

Study of ICT Resources in National Government Agencies and Local Governments

Summary

Consultant: Doris Bustillo Junod

The study provides an assessment of the use of ICT resources in a series of representative government agencies, at the level of both national and local government, with the goal of evaluating government preparedness to participate fully in the types of development initiatives contained in this strategy.

A total of 25 institutions were visited, including local governments, ministries, and semi-autonomous agencies. ICT managers were interviewed, and a survey was completed for each which covered four fundamental areas: ICT infrastructure, budget allocations, management and control of processed information, and human resource management. The results can be summed up in the following fashion:

• 48% of the institutions surveyed showed a good level of ICT resource planning, while 28% had begun planning infrastructural development, and 24% showed very poor development in this area;

• in terms of budget, only 12% had their own budgets available for developing ICT resources, while 24% had some funds of their own while another portion came from foreign aid; the majority (64%) used a combination of national budget financing and foreign aid;

• 36% of the institutions surveyed had almost completed the electronic processing of the information handled in the institution, while 20% had processed up to 70% of their information and the remaining 44% had minimal or partial levels of processing; and

• in almost all cases, the person in charge of the ICT unit had a degree in engineering, or a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a discipline related to computing; the majority of institutions provide at least 1-2 training sessions for the agency’s employees, while 60% have hired specialized experts to conduct training when necessary.

The study concluded that the enormous discrepancies among institutions, as well as the most important deficiencies found in terms of infrastructure and resources, maintenance and budget, and standardization of software and protocols, are due to the lack of a national ICT policy and not to individual failures.

The study recommends that the Presidential Commission for Public Sector Modernization take up ICT policy as an integral part of its mission, and seek to establish overall norms and standards, as well as ongoing coordination among ICT departments and their managers; the study also recommends continuous training of public employees at all levels to maximize the appropriate use of ICT resources, as well as the rationalization of foreign aid use in terms of ICT acquisitions.

Conectándonos al Futuro, San Salvador, El Salvador

Updated  25-06-1999

[Table of Contents]  [Executive Summary]  [Introduction]   [Chapter I Context]  [Chapter II Building]  [Education]  [Migration]  [Local Development]   [Rural Development]  [Micro-Small Enterprise]  [Learning Organizations]  [Infocenters]  [Government]   [Democracy & Citizenship]  [Business Competitiveness]  [Culture & Identity]  [Quality of Life]  [Conclusions]

Appendices: [Methodology]  [Project Implementation]  [Monitoring & Evaluation]   [Local Development]  [Migration]  [Rural Technology Transfer]  [Water Resources]  [Electronic Commerce]   [Public Information]  [Government ICTs]  [Evaluation of 3 Organizations]   [Electronic Conference]  [Participants]  [Bibliography]   [Glossary of Acronyms]

All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce all or part of this publication as long as the complete source is cited: Conectándonos al Futuro de El Salvador, "Strategy for Building a Learning Society", San Salvador, 1999, http://www.conectando.org.sv/English/Strategy/