Implications of ict landscape changes in liberia

ITU Regional Symposium

“Implications of ICT landscape
changes in terms of new needs
for countries and of new
knowledge to acquire and skills
to develop for training
institutions”
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
November 16-18, 2011
Prepared by: Kolubahzizi Howard and Brenda B. Moore
Liberia Telecommunications Authority
“Developing an Effective ICT Training Capability in the Telecommunication/ICT Sector in Africa”

CONTENTS

1.0 Country Background
2.0 National ICT/Telecommunications Policy
3.0 ICT/Telecom Landscape Changes in Liberia
4.0 Assessments of Liberia’s ICT/Telecom Sector
4.1 ICT in Education in Liberia
4.2 Post-Conflict Communications: The Case of
Liberia
4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment
Report
4.4 2010 E-Government Survey
5.0 Summary
6.0: Conclusions and Recommendations


1.0 Country Background

The Republic of Liberia was established as the first black
independent nation in Sub-Sahara Africa on July 26, 1847
• Liberia has a land mass of 111,370 sq. km ,
a population of 3,482,211 inhabitants and is
situated in West Africa, bordered by the
Republics of Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and
Sierra Leone.
• Liberia recently emerged from a 14 year
civil conflict which began in 1989 and
ended in 2003 with the signing of the
Comprehensive Peace Accord in Accra,
Ghana.
• October 11 & Nov. 8, 2005 – general and
Presidential elections held and Africa’s 1st
Female President elected. President Sirleaf
was re-elected again for a 2nd term in Nov.
2011.



2.0 National ICT/Telecommunications Policy
This policy establishes the framework for the evolution of the Liberian
telecommunications sector and the transformation of Liberia towards an
information-based economy and society. Key relevant objectives of the
telecommunications policy are the following:
• Encourage partnerships or consortia of corporations and institutions to
pool resources together in building the necessary IT infrastructure.
• Coordinate the efforts of Government, the private sector, civil society,
development partners and individuals in order to ensure a shared national
development vision in telecommunications and ICT.
• Establish institutional legal mechanisms and a regulatory framework based
on international best practice.
• Collaborate with the Ministry of Education and establish telecomm
curriculum in the high schools, colleges and universities and to build
capacity in telecommunications related careers.
• Accelerate the integration of education through (e-learning) and other
socio-economic information systems through e-applications.
• Provide five thousand (5,000) career employments for Liberians in the
telecommunications and ICT sectors in technical, administrative,
operational, teaching, and project management areas by 2013.


3.0 ICT/Telecom Landscape Changes in Liberia
Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) Cable Consortium lands in Liberia
• The Consortium is building a $700 million submarine fiber optic
cable extending 17,000 km, potentially connecting up to 24
countries with a minimum broadband capacity speed of 1.92 Tbit/s.
• In anticipation of the linking of Liberia to the ACE submarine cable
system, the Government of Liberia (GoL) formed the Cable
Consortium of Liberia (CCL) as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP)
to own and operate the ACE landing station in Liberia
• Supported by the World Bank as part of the Bank’s West Africa
Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (WARCIP)
• The CCL is jointly owned by the GoL (60% shares), the Liberia
Telecommunications Corporation (20% shares), Lonestar MTN
Communications Corporation (10% shares) and Cellcom
Telecommunications Inc. (10% shares)
• On June 5th, 2010 the CCL signed the ACE Construction and
Maintenance Agreement and finalized Liberia’s membership in the
ACE Cable Consortium.
• On November 4th, 2011 the ACE cable landed in Monrovia,
providing Liberia’s first international broadband connectivity


Europe
TAT14 - TGN

Europe, Asia
Atlas Offshore - SMW3/4 - IMeWe

South America
Atlantis2

East Africa, India, Asia
And complete connectivity with SAT3/WASC/SAFE
SAT3/WASC/SAFE



4.0 Assessments of Liberia’s ICT/Telecom Sector
Between 2007 and 2010 four assessments of Liberia’s ICT/Telecom sector
have been conducted which will be used for this presentation. They are:

1. SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA: Liberia Country
Report - ICT in Education in Liberia prepared by Kofi Mangesi in May
2007 and published by the World Bank’s InfoDev
2. Post-Conflict Communications: The Case of Liberia, prepared by
Michael L. Best et al. as a communications of the ACM and published in
International Perspectives October 2007/Vol. 50, No. 10
3. Liberia Improved Budget and Assets Management Project ICT
Infrastructure Assessment Report for the Government of Liberia (GoL),
prepared by Ahmed El Sayed, for IBI International through the USAID
Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP)
Liberia Improved Budget, Assets and Mining Management (LIBAM)
Project.
4. 2010 E-Government Survey, a DPADM/UNDESA Presentation to the
Government of Liberia, prepared by Richard Kerby, Senior Inter-
Regional Adviser, E-Government and Knowledge Management



Mr. Mangesi’s report highlights the following:
• The Telecommunications Act 2007 makes provisions for ICTs in education,
however, Liberia has yet to develop any comprehensive ICT strategy for the
education sector.
• Ad Hoc Efforts at rebuilding the education infrastructure in Liberia have
included attempts to increae access to ICTs in schools and universities. A
pilot computer project under which computer laboratories were established
in seven public high schools in seven of the 15 political subdivisions has
been launched. The goal of this program is to make computer education an
integral part of public school education curriculum in all counties.
• At the tertiary level (Cuttington University and University of Liberia), there
is also a dire need for ICTs including Internet access, CD-Roms, and Web-
ready computers.

The recent ICT initiatives and projects undertaken in Liberia include the
following:



ICT Initiatives and Projects


Analysis of Factors Influencing ICT Adoption in Liberia


4.2 Post-Conflict Communications: The Case of Liberia

Michael Best et al conducted an ICT assessment of Liberia applying the
Mosaic Group’s Global Diffusion of the Internet analytic framework to
assess:
a. Liberia’s level of Internet penetration and use,
b. basic Internet infrastructure, and
c. the nation’s readiness for Internet-enabled business and economic
growth. It uses six dimensions:
• per capita pervasiveness,
• geographic dispersion,
• sectoral absorption,
• connectivity infrastructure,
• organizational infrastructure, and
• sophistication of use.
ICTs have been identified as critical tools toward Liberia’s rebirth and are
being targeted toward strengthening areas such as government operations
and transparency, economic activity and growth, post-conflict reconciliation,
and security.


Liberia
Key findings were as follows:
• Internet Diffusion - Liberia is comparatively isolated from the
international Internet connectivity with no outgoing fiber
connectivity with no major international broadband gateway
provider. This constraint limits the sector’s growth, increases
prices, and ultimately reduces the nation’s available capacity.
• Pervasiveness, Connectivity Infrastructure, and Geographic
Dispersion - Liberia sits between an experimental and established
level with the Internet available only to a small portion of the
population in the capital city, mostly via Internet cafés or
wireless ISPs with only 2 people per 1,000 with access to the
Internet at the end of 2006.
• Sectoral Absorption and Organizational Infrastructure - the
absorption of the Internet among a number of critical sectors
such as health, industry, academia, and the public was rare in
Liberia and there was a low level of capacity with less than
10% of organizations with each of these sectors connected.


Liberia
Sophistication of use - The sophistication of use in Liberia is
challenged by the weak and unreliable connectivity
infrastructure, which constrains the scale, scope, and thus
sophistication of use.


4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report

The 2010 Budget and Assets Management Project ICT Infrastructure
Assessment Report for the Government of Liberia (GoL) prepared by
Ahmed El Sayed indicates the following:

State Of Technology In Gol Ministries

• Most of GoL Ministries are using computers for normal office
operations, document processing and spreadsheets; only 30% of the
ministries have business application systems.
• 70% of the ministries have no development plans and no allocated
budgets for ICT.
• 90% has internet connectivity, consuming almost 40% of budget
allocated to IT.
• 85% has shortage in the main technical skills required to operate an
efficient IT department and ICT usage such as network administrators,
hardware technicians and help desk support.


4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report – cont.
Major Gaps that need to be addressed

• ICT Sector development in general is at an early stage; Ministry of
Post & Telecommunications as sector leader has major shortage of
ICT technical Skills, capacity and infrastructure.
• There is a lack of adequate ICT communication channel between
government ministries, all development initiatives are based on
individual initiatives with no coordination with other ministries or
stakeholders.
• There are no physical networking of any kind between ministries
and agencies. All information exchange is done through emails and
hard copies, which inhibit the chance to establish automated
business processes across ministries.
• Human resources technical capacity in government requires a
phased training program to build the capacity of the ICT
Department in each ministry.
• ICT Educational in general, specifically at the university level is not
focused enough on ICT development and capacity building in
Liberia.


4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report – cont.
Existing ICT Infrastructure and Capacity
• Government entities use many different architectures and systems, most of which
are not interoperable, making it difficult to offer shared or integrated services to
users.
• Although government-wide networks and nationwide broadband are evolving,
access to technology and ICT literacy remain problematic both within government
and Liberian society generally.
• ICT education in Liberia is not developed, available syllabuses are outdated, and
computer labs are inadequate with old computers and operating systems (Win
95).
• ICT education requires a new perspective, contents of the computer related
courses have to be developed to meet recent technologies and standards with the
focus to train an educated IT workforce capable of participating in the
development of the Liberian ICT sector and its economic development.
• Significant changes in ICT infrastructure are coming with the landing of the ACE
submarine fiber optic cable and the building of a fiber optic ring in Monrovia to
connect government agencies and ministries.
• The ICT Stakeholders in the country are more aware now of the challenges and
requirements.

4.3 Liberia’s 2010 ICT Infrastructure Assessment Report –
cont.
• Human resources technical capacity in ministries and need a phased
training program to build the capacity of the ICT Department in
each ministry.
• Syllabuses must be developed to incorporate world standard ICT
education based on international best practice.
• New Computer labs are required; the current lap is very poor and
running 10 years old computers.


• Mr. Kerby’s 2010 Survey analyzes how governments are using ICT to provide
information, services and solutions to their citizens. The 2010 Survey is a
comparative assessment of 192 United Nations Member States’ response to the
demands of citizens for excellent services and products through Information
and Communication Technologies.
• The telecommunications infrastructure index 2010 is a composite index of five
primary indices relating to a country’s telecommunications infrastructure
development as they relate to the delivery of e-government services. These are:
Internet Users /100 persons
PCs /100 persons
Main Telephone Lines /100 persons
Mobile Telephones /100 persons
Broadband /100 persons
• Each index represents 20% weight of the overall telecommunications
infrastructure index.
• The human capital index is a composite of the adult literacy rate and the
combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, with two
thirds weight given to the adult literacy rate.



Liberia’s Infrastructure Index Data

Internet
Country Mobile Fixed Lines PCs Broadband
Users
Liberia 0.55 19.30 0.06 …. 0.0

Liberia’s Human Capital Index Data

Country Adult Literacy Gross Enrolment

Liberia 55.5 57.64


4.4 2010 E-Government Survey – cont.

The Web Measure Index is base upon a four-stage model. For countries
that have established an online presence, the model defines stages of e-
readiness according to a scale of progressively sophisticated citizen
services:
1. Emerging Presence: . Stage I - e-government presents
information which is limited and basic. The e-government online
presence comprises a web page and/o r an official website;
2. Enhanced Presence: Stage II - the online services of the
government enter the interactive mode with services to enhance
convenience of the consumer such as downloadable forms for tax
payment application for license renewal.
3. Transactional Presence: Stage III - allows two-way interactions
between the citizen and his/her government. It includes options for
paying taxes; applying for ID cards, birth certificates/passports,
license renewals and other similar C2G interactions by allowing
him/her to submit these online 24/7
4. Networked Presence: Stage IV - represents the most
sophisticated level in the online e-government initiatives. It can be
characterized by an integration of G2G, G2C and C2G (and
reverse) interactions.

Liberia’s Global Rankings
E-government development index
World World
E-government 2010 2008
average average
development index
0.2133 0.4406 0.2170 0.4514

Online service index Telecommunication
Index value Ranking Index Value Ranking
2010 E-government 0.0635 163 0.0189 176
Development Index Human capital index E-participation index
Index value Ranking Index Value Ranking
0.5621 155 0.0286 144




Liberia’s 2010 Ranking

8 41 166
West Africa Africa Global

30 163
Least Developed Online Service
Countries Index


5.0 Summary.

• Liberia’s National ICT/Telecommunications policy calls for the
establishment of appropriate ICT curriculum in high schools, and
universities based on international best practice to build capacity in
ICTs and related careers.

• Liberia’s landing of the ACE submarine fiber optic cable to provide
the first international broadband connectivity creates
telecommunications changes necessitating new skills and
capabilities.

• Liberia suffers from a lack of a clear strategies for ICTs in education,
unreliable electricity, high illiteracy rate and huge skills gap in
meeting the ICT needs of the education sector.

• Liberia is comparatively isolated from international broadband
connectivity and sits between an experimental and established levels
with rare absorption of the Internet and low levels of capacity.


5.0 Summary cont-.

• Liberia’s ICT Sector development in general is at an early stage and
sophistication of use is challenged by the weak and unreliable
connectivity infrastructure.

• Liberia has a low infrastructure index, low human development index
and low web measure index rankings.

• Human capacity development with a focus on the effective use of ICTs,
can transport Liberia into the global knowledge economy


In accordance with the National ICT/Telecommunications Policy, the
Government of Liberia should pursue career employment and capacity building
that incorporates the following:

• Introduce compulsory ICT curriculum in high schools, vocational institutions
and the university level using syllabuses that incorporates world standard
ICT education based on international best practices.

• Develop a national plan to revolutionize the educational systems by
providing every student and instructor beginning from elementary school,
the use computers as the primary communications tool.

• Provide professional employment and career path for at least five thousand
(5,000) Liberians in the telecommunications and ICT sector by 2013 by
providing high level training programs for key personnel in ministries and
agencies to cover ICT Projects planning, and national infrastructure.


• Invest in educational and human resource development.

• Promote job training and career opportunities in the telecommunications and
ICT sector.

• Developing the capacities to represent the government and head any
delegation at local and international conferences, meetings, forums and
seminars relating to telecommunications and ICT policy.


6.0: Conclusions and Recommendations – contd.
In this regard key steps the Government of Liberia can take include following:
• Analyzing the present state of the educational system taking account of
current institutional practices and arrangements
• Identifying drivers and barriers to ICT use including those related to
curriculum and pedagogy, infrastructure, capacity-building, language and
content, and financing.
• Understanding of the potentials of different ICTs when applied in different
contexts for different purposes with an awareness of priority education
needs, financial and human resource capacity and constraints within Liberia
as well as international best practices and how these practices can be
adapted for Liberia’s requirements.
• The identification of stakeholders and the harmonizing of efforts across
different interest groups.
• The piloting of the chosen ICT-based model to identify, and correct potential
problems in instructional design, implementability and effectiveness.
• Identification of existing sources of financing and development of strategies
for generating financial resources to support ICT use over the long term.



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Implications of ict landscape changes in liberia

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