I got a lot of comments on this article, but the article was printed in many places, and so the comments were dotted around. I thought it might be useful to bring them together in one place.
On the Human Resources Africa Group Steve Oloo said:
"May be its because the Projects lacked good visibility study. another thing that happens in Africa and in my case I can speak of Kenya. you find that the Government can change policies and tax in a day thus making the equipments outsourced to be expensive than initially planned hence going for cheaper options that are generally expensive... another thing that happens is that the level of poverty in Africa is too much that the creativity is diverted in the line of vandalism of ICT projects...one example is the fiber-optics which is the best invention and thought to be useful to ICT only but people in Africa vandalize the just to make illuminating flowers structures to sell to the public thus hindering its usefulness...
the right personnel is also a problem since Africa , Kenya in particular see papers rather than what you can do.... Lastly the level of corruption in Africa is so deep that even a good project for all humanity must be bribed so as to be implemented..making the initial cost be peanuts compared to the cost of implementation...."
On Africa - All Things Business Phil Johnny said:
"ICT projects failure in Africa is largely due to [ LACK of will power, dedication, commitment & passion] to ensure that people in Africa benefit from Information & Communication technology which they rightly deserve. Conflict & Corruption have been plaging the continent for years. There is no doubt tons of investment opportunities in Africa but without the right people (Authorities) in the corridors of power, things could easily get out of control and no one will be seen to account for the mess. Moreover, when the willingness and readiness to make needed sacrifices is not in the hearts of the leaders, all else fails. Therefore, a COMPLETE & GENUINE CHANGE OF ATTITUDE is absolutely necessary."
On Accra Business Club - Africa | Ghana | Networking Andrew Brookes said:
"Tim great piece - very astute.
One obvious resource for ICT in Africa and other developing countries (India)is LInux and other free source software; but because the general ethos is that because people (e.g Ricard Stallman and GNU) don't charge there is next to no money to support projects. Microsoft on the other hand has a better business model ,so what it decides to get behind usually doesn't fail
Secondly it seems to me there is no thought or co-ordination by say the Ghana Government to take the data it has on official registered NGO's concerned with ICT and link activities together.
As you say some projects are maybe vague. What about this project i've been working on- You take the school wiki download a quality E-encyclodpedia of 6000 articles, 26 million words and 50,000 images which has been checked and based on the UK curriculum( http://schools-wikipedia.org) you enhance it with a search function and work out how say 10 or more children would be able to use it with a set up of server/client.
see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkCjzlVQ6_g&feature=youtu.be
There would be potential to "personalize" the system if scholars and historians contributed since the E-Encyclopedia is basically a bunch of web pages that can easily be edited. Since the set up involves a web server there is the capacity to use it to teach children construction of web pages, CSS style sheets and computer languages such as PHP.
I have had a previous meeting with the ICT co-ordinator of the Ministry of Education in Accra, and I bet if I was sitting opposite him now and put the above to him I wouldn't be surprised if he could even comprehend the possible value of such a project.
Microsoft on the other hand has just appointed Otema Yirenkyi in Ghana; what I can imagine is if Microsoft comes and says "we have the money, the ideas etc so you don't have to do much " then its easy for those with lack of imagination, vision and leadership to just go along with it.
Personally I am not against Microsoft and admire their business model ; also there is potential for joint projects such as LInux servers and Windows clients "
I replied:
"I agree fully with you Andrew. I wrote an article here http://weberpafrica.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/africa-and-open-source-software.html on the subject of why African governments should look to open source as a way of building a local IT industry.
I do believe that if these governments invested the money they spent on foreign IT products and services in a local open sourced based IT industry everybody except the multinationals would gain,
I have set out in that article how I envisioned this working.
Very much like your wikipedia for schools. Have you tried the Ministry for Education? I am sure you are correct in what you would expect from them. I have previously come across the "if it's not American and expensive how can it be any good" philosophy in Govt departments. There are potentially donor organisations that could help. "
Andrew Brookes commented:
"cheers Tim
from the perspective of an Educational resource which could be extended , I can not at the moment imagine a better one than the school wiki with search facility.When you say there are potentially donor organisations that could help, could you elaborate a little on who they may be and how I can contact them?
One problem I have is that I went through quite a few hoops to get an NGO registered in Ghana but don't have anything registered in the UK. I did try to get support in the U.K but the feedback is " we don't help organizations or charities unless they are UK registered"!
I am not keen to bang my head against a brick dealing with UK possible EU bureaucracy to be honest"
And I replied:
"Getting money for an African NGO or other charitable organisation directly from western countries is very hard. Too much money vanished down that hole in the past. Going through a UK/EU based organisation provides any donor with some legal recourse if funds go missing.
However there are UK based organisations that already have this link between UK and Africa in place. One such that immediately springs to mind for your project is http://www.africaeducationaltrust.org which is UK based but works in Africa. There are others than could possibly help.
I have some other contacts that could possibly help. Contact me on tim.schofield1960@gmail.com if you would like us to try and work together to get this moving"
On Windhoek Business Club - Namibia Ashraf Bharmal said:
"Wrong projects for wrong reasons. There are cases of spectacular successes too but few and far apart."
and Salehe Khatibu replied:
"poor management of them "
and I said:
"@Ashraf Agreed. I feel that many donor organisations get this balance wrong because of a lack of local knowledge. A person or group is sent to Africa to evaluate the project. They stay in a luxury tourist hotel, are entertained by local people eager to say whatever they think is needed to be said to get the money flowing. None of this is wrong, but means that they don't get a clear view of what is needed and the people locally will not always tell them for fear that the project will not go ahead.
@Salehe Very true. Project management skills are some of the hardest to learn, rarest, but least appreciated skills going. Bad leadership will cause failure whatever else happens"
On Dar es Salaam Business Club - Tanzania Catherine Mkude said:
"Dear all, My name is Catherine G. Mkude and I am a PhD researcher at the University of Koblenz-Landau in Germany working on a framework for e-government systems design for developing countries. In my research, I am investigating e-government strategies, programmes and projects (applications, infrastructures, comprehensive solutions, etc.) in developed and in developing countries. In doing so, I want to determine how developing countries can leverage from the more successful e-government endeavours in developed countries.
I am currently in a stage of collecting information on experiences, practices and solutions in 5 domains of e-government implementation in developed and developing countries. These domains are (1) electronic public services, (2) electronic participation, (3) application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in policy making processes, (4) e-government infrastructure and, (5) evaluation and sustainability of e-government.
Therefore I would like to kindly ask you to participate in a survey, which investigates these domains through separate questionnaires. I would highly appreciate if you could fill in one (or even more) of the below questionnaires. The responses for the questionnaires are entirely confidential and anonymous.
The following links direct you to the respective questionnaire per domain. The approximated time to fill in a questionnaire is also indicated below. Please choose the link(s) of the domain(s) you feel most comfortable to answer.
Ashraf Bharmal said:
"Hope you paper will produce some positive results. Best wishes and Good luck"
Leticia Slame said:
"Hello Tim, it quiet interesting that has been my question why ICT Project fail to successed and if they successed it wont last long and most of the people have negative response, I will be glad if I get the reasons. "
and Ashraf Bharmal said:
"My Take:
1. Politically expeditious projects
2 Poor planning
3 FEEDS and Feasibilities , Colorfully printed, beautifully bound and presented, full of sound and fury in which affected sectors, people have no say.
4. Foreign contractors, not involving local entities in the project from the beginning who would gain hand on experience of the project, instead of six week orientation seminars at the end of the completed projects
5. Lack of post project planning of operating, maintaining."
On KwaMoja - Open Source ERP for Africa Nicholas Mmasi said:
"-Too many unfair side deals...people want to spend money and write a good report
- Demotivated staff ,less communication and unclear benefit of the system to the operating staff.
- No plan for sustainability right from the beginning,so once the donor pulls out the things end up there.
-Unrealistic requirements and system rationale... "
and I replied
"Hi Nicholas,
"-Too many unfair side deals...people want to spend money and write a good report "
I agree, I have seen too many "stage managed" visits by donors to sites where people at the sites have been given money to back up a false report.
"- Demotivated staff ,less communication and unclear benefit of the system to the operating staff. "
This is what I meant by lack of good project management. It is the job of the project management to motivate and communicate with staff.
"- No plan for sustainability right from the beginning,so once the donor pulls out the things end up there. "
Excellent point. Sustainability is some thing I should have gone into greater length about in the article. Who maintains once the donor leaves. Where does the financing of that support come from? "
Nicholas said:
"Hi Tim, Donors also have bad policies that are not applicable in Africa.I have been going around trying to see why so many projects fails eve before donors pulls out.
Almost all project are in pilot mode/Nursery and never get out of the lab.Similar scenarios are readily available and visible in areas of agriculture(farming technology and techniques), small scale industries, bio-gas,ICT, healthy ,and many more....
I normally find them in exhibitions only.... "
and I replied:
"Hi Nicholas, sadly you are right, despite most involved having the best intentions. I don't believe that it is necessary though, with some changes in policy and outlook a much higher percentage will succeed. There will always be failures but the failure rate shouldn't be this low. Tim "
On Information and Technology Lisa Schnellinger said:
"Excellent points. From my experience, I think they are often true of all types of development projects, in all regions. "
On Monrovia Business Club - Africa | Liberia | Networking Deodatus Shayo said:
"Lack of ownership "
On Harare Business Club - Zimbabwe | Southern Africa Viola Marufu said:
"Tim, you have an interesting article. Interesting that you list your perspective as statements made from observations of certain African projects which does not necessarily implying that all projects are run like this. However, you should note that the major reason why some donors want local community members to staff and manage projects, rather than outsiders is because the locals know their community better and thats another way of empowering the community. Furthermore, it does not justify the expense of getting an outsider, so to speak, than getting an equally qualified local staff member.
You also say that ICT projects are a newer idea in Africa than in the west and there is limited number of qualified local project managers available. Thats not necessarily true. ICT projects are welcome and expanding in Africa. The current development is the spread of ICT effectively in rural communities and schools. In most areas the major setback is electrification. They are more and more qualified business people, educationists, economists and ordinary people who have well advanced ICT skills. So it is not necessarily an issue of skill but they are other factors influencing this. You are mixing points here.Furthermore if jobs are advertised, the right candidates apply for the job.
Then you say project employees are more interested in perpetuating the project than completing it, they prolong the project for personal interest etc. That is true where the project itself is not well managed. There is always need for an independent Monitoring and Evaluation exercise. They are also independent auditors.
A project that is really interested in benefiting the country in which its operating in will not wait to get a report on their desk. They will also put in measures to ensure all is well. This would be true no matter where the project runs. Whether its in Africa or the West, there is always need for accountability. "
I replied:
"Hi Viola, Thanks for your interesting comments. Firstly I should make clear that I am not nor have I ever been part of a donor organisation. I write from the perspective of someone who has either worked in, or observed many projects.
"Interesting that you list your perspective as statements made from observations of certain African projects which does not necessarily implying that all projects are run like this" - I agree, I tried to make the point I was writing from personal experience only, and was trying to answer why it appeared to me the failure rate was higher than normal in donor funded ICT projects. There is a high failure rate in all ICT projects.The UK NHS IT project is one of the most high profile failures.
"However, you should note that the major reason why some donors want local community members to staff and manage projects, rather than outsiders is because the locals know their community better and thats another way of empowering the community. Furthermore, it does not justify the expense of getting an outsider, so to speak, than getting an equally qualified local staff member. " - obviously it makes sense to employ local staff, my company always has, it keeps money within the local community. However my experience of projects where only local staff work has not been good, for reasons I said. It requires a balance that few projects actually have.
"You also say that ICT projects are a newer idea in Africa than in the west and there is limited number of qualified local project managers available. Thats not necessarily true. ICT projects are welcome and expanding in Africa. The current development is the spread of ICT effectively in rural communities and schools. In most areas the major setback is electrification. They are more and more qualified business people, educationists, economists and ordinary people who have well advanced ICT skills. So it is not necessarily an issue of skill but they are other factors influencing this. You are mixing points here.Furthermore if jobs are advertised, the right candidates apply for the job. " - Well again I can only comment from my own experience. Recruiting qualified local staff has always been a problem. I have regularly trawled the universities, and advertised extensively. I am not saying that there are not capable African staff, just that either they are either in private industry, or moved to the west. I have also seen many projects run by project managers with little or no training in project management. I tried in the article to understand why this is. Project management skills are very different from ICT skills.
"Then you say project employees are more interested in perpetuating the project than completing it, they prolong the project for personal interest etc. That is true where the project itself is not well managed. There is always need for an independent Monitoring and Evaluation exercise. They are also independent auditors. " - That is the point I was trying to make. It is human nature to make the projects last when you are earning money from it. The fault lies in the agencies not managing and monitoring the projects.
"A project that is really interested in benefiting the country in which its operating in will not wait to get a report on their desk. They will also put in measures to ensure all is well. This would be true no matter where the project runs. Whether its in Africa or the West, there is always need for accountability. " - Agreed, as I said at the start the only reason I wrote about Africa was that was where my experience was. "
As you can see, lots of very interesting comments came from this discussion on top of the comments on the article itself.
On the Human Resources Africa Group Steve Oloo said:
"May be its because the Projects lacked good visibility study. another thing that happens in Africa and in my case I can speak of Kenya. you find that the Government can change policies and tax in a day thus making the equipments outsourced to be expensive than initially planned hence going for cheaper options that are generally expensive... another thing that happens is that the level of poverty in Africa is too much that the creativity is diverted in the line of vandalism of ICT projects...one example is the fiber-optics which is the best invention and thought to be useful to ICT only but people in Africa vandalize the just to make illuminating flowers structures to sell to the public thus hindering its usefulness...
the right personnel is also a problem since Africa , Kenya in particular see papers rather than what you can do.... Lastly the level of corruption in Africa is so deep that even a good project for all humanity must be bribed so as to be implemented..making the initial cost be peanuts compared to the cost of implementation...."
On Africa - All Things Business Phil Johnny said:
"ICT projects failure in Africa is largely due to [ LACK of will power, dedication, commitment & passion] to ensure that people in Africa benefit from Information & Communication technology which they rightly deserve. Conflict & Corruption have been plaging the continent for years. There is no doubt tons of investment opportunities in Africa but without the right people (Authorities) in the corridors of power, things could easily get out of control and no one will be seen to account for the mess. Moreover, when the willingness and readiness to make needed sacrifices is not in the hearts of the leaders, all else fails. Therefore, a COMPLETE & GENUINE CHANGE OF ATTITUDE is absolutely necessary."
On Accra Business Club - Africa | Ghana | Networking Andrew Brookes said:
"Tim great piece - very astute.
One obvious resource for ICT in Africa and other developing countries (India)is LInux and other free source software; but because the general ethos is that because people (e.g Ricard Stallman and GNU) don't charge there is next to no money to support projects. Microsoft on the other hand has a better business model ,so what it decides to get behind usually doesn't fail
Secondly it seems to me there is no thought or co-ordination by say the Ghana Government to take the data it has on official registered NGO's concerned with ICT and link activities together.
As you say some projects are maybe vague. What about this project i've been working on- You take the school wiki download a quality E-encyclodpedia of 6000 articles, 26 million words and 50,000 images which has been checked and based on the UK curriculum( http://schools-wikipedia.org) you enhance it with a search function and work out how say 10 or more children would be able to use it with a set up of server/client.
see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkCjzlVQ6_g&feature=youtu.be
There would be potential to "personalize" the system if scholars and historians contributed since the E-Encyclopedia is basically a bunch of web pages that can easily be edited. Since the set up involves a web server there is the capacity to use it to teach children construction of web pages, CSS style sheets and computer languages such as PHP.
I have had a previous meeting with the ICT co-ordinator of the Ministry of Education in Accra, and I bet if I was sitting opposite him now and put the above to him I wouldn't be surprised if he could even comprehend the possible value of such a project.
Microsoft on the other hand has just appointed Otema Yirenkyi in Ghana; what I can imagine is if Microsoft comes and says "we have the money, the ideas etc so you don't have to do much " then its easy for those with lack of imagination, vision and leadership to just go along with it.
Personally I am not against Microsoft and admire their business model ; also there is potential for joint projects such as LInux servers and Windows clients "
I replied:
"I agree fully with you Andrew. I wrote an article here http://weberpafrica.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/africa-and-open-source-software.html on the subject of why African governments should look to open source as a way of building a local IT industry.
I do believe that if these governments invested the money they spent on foreign IT products and services in a local open sourced based IT industry everybody except the multinationals would gain,
I have set out in that article how I envisioned this working.
Very much like your wikipedia for schools. Have you tried the Ministry for Education? I am sure you are correct in what you would expect from them. I have previously come across the "if it's not American and expensive how can it be any good" philosophy in Govt departments. There are potentially donor organisations that could help. "
Andrew Brookes commented:
"cheers Tim
from the perspective of an Educational resource which could be extended , I can not at the moment imagine a better one than the school wiki with search facility.When you say there are potentially donor organisations that could help, could you elaborate a little on who they may be and how I can contact them?
One problem I have is that I went through quite a few hoops to get an NGO registered in Ghana but don't have anything registered in the UK. I did try to get support in the U.K but the feedback is " we don't help organizations or charities unless they are UK registered"!
I am not keen to bang my head against a brick dealing with UK possible EU bureaucracy to be honest"
And I replied:
"Getting money for an African NGO or other charitable organisation directly from western countries is very hard. Too much money vanished down that hole in the past. Going through a UK/EU based organisation provides any donor with some legal recourse if funds go missing.
However there are UK based organisations that already have this link between UK and Africa in place. One such that immediately springs to mind for your project is http://www.africaeducationaltrust.org which is UK based but works in Africa. There are others than could possibly help.
I have some other contacts that could possibly help. Contact me on tim.schofield1960@gmail.com if you would like us to try and work together to get this moving"
On Windhoek Business Club - Namibia Ashraf Bharmal said:
"Wrong projects for wrong reasons. There are cases of spectacular successes too but few and far apart."
and Salehe Khatibu replied:
"poor management of them "
and I said:
"@Ashraf Agreed. I feel that many donor organisations get this balance wrong because of a lack of local knowledge. A person or group is sent to Africa to evaluate the project. They stay in a luxury tourist hotel, are entertained by local people eager to say whatever they think is needed to be said to get the money flowing. None of this is wrong, but means that they don't get a clear view of what is needed and the people locally will not always tell them for fear that the project will not go ahead.
@Salehe Very true. Project management skills are some of the hardest to learn, rarest, but least appreciated skills going. Bad leadership will cause failure whatever else happens"
On Dar es Salaam Business Club - Tanzania Catherine Mkude said:
"Dear all, My name is Catherine G. Mkude and I am a PhD researcher at the University of Koblenz-Landau in Germany working on a framework for e-government systems design for developing countries. In my research, I am investigating e-government strategies, programmes and projects (applications, infrastructures, comprehensive solutions, etc.) in developed and in developing countries. In doing so, I want to determine how developing countries can leverage from the more successful e-government endeavours in developed countries.
I am currently in a stage of collecting information on experiences, practices and solutions in 5 domains of e-government implementation in developed and developing countries. These domains are (1) electronic public services, (2) electronic participation, (3) application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in policy making processes, (4) e-government infrastructure and, (5) evaluation and sustainability of e-government.
Therefore I would like to kindly ask you to participate in a survey, which investigates these domains through separate questionnaires. I would highly appreciate if you could fill in one (or even more) of the below questionnaires. The responses for the questionnaires are entirely confidential and anonymous.
The following links direct you to the respective questionnaire per domain. The approximated time to fill in a questionnaire is also indicated below. Please choose the link(s) of the domain(s) you feel most comfortable to answer.
- Domain electronic public services: http://cmkude.limequery.com/index.php/983413/lang-en. Approximate time is 40 minutes.
- Domain electronic participation: http://cmkude.limequery.com/index.php/388819/lang-en. Approximate time is 40 minutes.
- Domain ICT in policy making: http://cmkude.limequery.com/index.php/776413/lang-en. Approximate time is 35 minutes.
- Domain e-government infrastructure: http://cmkude.limequery.com/index.php/375388/lang-en. Approximate time is 30 minutes.
-
Domain e-government evaluation and sustainability: http://cmkude.limequery.com/index.php/582399/lang-en. Approximate time is 30 minutes.
Ashraf Bharmal said:
"Hope you paper will produce some positive results. Best wishes and Good luck"
Leticia Slame said:
"Hello Tim, it quiet interesting that has been my question why ICT Project fail to successed and if they successed it wont last long and most of the people have negative response, I will be glad if I get the reasons. "
and Ashraf Bharmal said:
"My Take:
1. Politically expeditious projects
2 Poor planning
3 FEEDS and Feasibilities , Colorfully printed, beautifully bound and presented, full of sound and fury in which affected sectors, people have no say.
4. Foreign contractors, not involving local entities in the project from the beginning who would gain hand on experience of the project, instead of six week orientation seminars at the end of the completed projects
5. Lack of post project planning of operating, maintaining."
On KwaMoja - Open Source ERP for Africa Nicholas Mmasi said:
"-Too many unfair side deals...people want to spend money and write a good report
- Demotivated staff ,less communication and unclear benefit of the system to the operating staff.
- No plan for sustainability right from the beginning,so once the donor pulls out the things end up there.
-Unrealistic requirements and system rationale... "
and I replied
"Hi Nicholas,
"-Too many unfair side deals...people want to spend money and write a good report "
I agree, I have seen too many "stage managed" visits by donors to sites where people at the sites have been given money to back up a false report.
"- Demotivated staff ,less communication and unclear benefit of the system to the operating staff. "
This is what I meant by lack of good project management. It is the job of the project management to motivate and communicate with staff.
"- No plan for sustainability right from the beginning,so once the donor pulls out the things end up there. "
Excellent point. Sustainability is some thing I should have gone into greater length about in the article. Who maintains once the donor leaves. Where does the financing of that support come from? "
Nicholas said:
"Hi Tim, Donors also have bad policies that are not applicable in Africa.I have been going around trying to see why so many projects fails eve before donors pulls out.
Almost all project are in pilot mode/Nursery and never get out of the lab.Similar scenarios are readily available and visible in areas of agriculture(farming technology and techniques), small scale industries, bio-gas,ICT, healthy ,and many more....
I normally find them in exhibitions only.... "
and I replied:
"Hi Nicholas, sadly you are right, despite most involved having the best intentions. I don't believe that it is necessary though, with some changes in policy and outlook a much higher percentage will succeed. There will always be failures but the failure rate shouldn't be this low. Tim "
On Information and Technology Lisa Schnellinger said:
"Excellent points. From my experience, I think they are often true of all types of development projects, in all regions. "
On Monrovia Business Club - Africa | Liberia | Networking Deodatus Shayo said:
"Lack of ownership "
On Harare Business Club - Zimbabwe | Southern Africa Viola Marufu said:
"Tim, you have an interesting article. Interesting that you list your perspective as statements made from observations of certain African projects which does not necessarily implying that all projects are run like this. However, you should note that the major reason why some donors want local community members to staff and manage projects, rather than outsiders is because the locals know their community better and thats another way of empowering the community. Furthermore, it does not justify the expense of getting an outsider, so to speak, than getting an equally qualified local staff member.
You also say that ICT projects are a newer idea in Africa than in the west and there is limited number of qualified local project managers available. Thats not necessarily true. ICT projects are welcome and expanding in Africa. The current development is the spread of ICT effectively in rural communities and schools. In most areas the major setback is electrification. They are more and more qualified business people, educationists, economists and ordinary people who have well advanced ICT skills. So it is not necessarily an issue of skill but they are other factors influencing this. You are mixing points here.Furthermore if jobs are advertised, the right candidates apply for the job.
Then you say project employees are more interested in perpetuating the project than completing it, they prolong the project for personal interest etc. That is true where the project itself is not well managed. There is always need for an independent Monitoring and Evaluation exercise. They are also independent auditors.
A project that is really interested in benefiting the country in which its operating in will not wait to get a report on their desk. They will also put in measures to ensure all is well. This would be true no matter where the project runs. Whether its in Africa or the West, there is always need for accountability. "
I replied:
"Hi Viola, Thanks for your interesting comments. Firstly I should make clear that I am not nor have I ever been part of a donor organisation. I write from the perspective of someone who has either worked in, or observed many projects.
"Interesting that you list your perspective as statements made from observations of certain African projects which does not necessarily implying that all projects are run like this" - I agree, I tried to make the point I was writing from personal experience only, and was trying to answer why it appeared to me the failure rate was higher than normal in donor funded ICT projects. There is a high failure rate in all ICT projects.The UK NHS IT project is one of the most high profile failures.
"However, you should note that the major reason why some donors want local community members to staff and manage projects, rather than outsiders is because the locals know their community better and thats another way of empowering the community. Furthermore, it does not justify the expense of getting an outsider, so to speak, than getting an equally qualified local staff member. " - obviously it makes sense to employ local staff, my company always has, it keeps money within the local community. However my experience of projects where only local staff work has not been good, for reasons I said. It requires a balance that few projects actually have.
"You also say that ICT projects are a newer idea in Africa than in the west and there is limited number of qualified local project managers available. Thats not necessarily true. ICT projects are welcome and expanding in Africa. The current development is the spread of ICT effectively in rural communities and schools. In most areas the major setback is electrification. They are more and more qualified business people, educationists, economists and ordinary people who have well advanced ICT skills. So it is not necessarily an issue of skill but they are other factors influencing this. You are mixing points here.Furthermore if jobs are advertised, the right candidates apply for the job. " - Well again I can only comment from my own experience. Recruiting qualified local staff has always been a problem. I have regularly trawled the universities, and advertised extensively. I am not saying that there are not capable African staff, just that either they are either in private industry, or moved to the west. I have also seen many projects run by project managers with little or no training in project management. I tried in the article to understand why this is. Project management skills are very different from ICT skills.
"Then you say project employees are more interested in perpetuating the project than completing it, they prolong the project for personal interest etc. That is true where the project itself is not well managed. There is always need for an independent Monitoring and Evaluation exercise. They are also independent auditors. " - That is the point I was trying to make. It is human nature to make the projects last when you are earning money from it. The fault lies in the agencies not managing and monitoring the projects.
"A project that is really interested in benefiting the country in which its operating in will not wait to get a report on their desk. They will also put in measures to ensure all is well. This would be true no matter where the project runs. Whether its in Africa or the West, there is always need for accountability. " - Agreed, as I said at the start the only reason I wrote about Africa was that was where my experience was. "
As you can see, lots of very interesting comments came from this discussion on top of the comments on the article itself.
Catherine
ReplyDeleteI feel your questions are like saying we want to know what brand of motor car you are using, what engine capacity it has and whether its diesel or petrol when the reality is they are still using a horse and cart.
When you talk about e systems my experience when ever I have tried a public quoted email on the Ghana Government web site is that you never get a reply.
On web technologies such as displaying what Ghana has to offer it seems it has not occurred to them that the people who might come to Ghana will be Oburoni's i.e foreign tourists and that they should therefore seek feedback from foreigners also
doesn't seem to have occurred to them.
If you use my contact form on my web site it works and you will get a response; my inference is that either the web forms on Ghana Government sites don't work or the routing of the inquiry to the right people is wrong or they can not be bothered.
If I was running the Ghana web site aimed at tourism I would either have a live chat or forum and make sure any inquiry was dealt with.
If you want to try yourself and do a google for Ghana Government web site and say ask something like "what is the
recommended prophylaxis when I come to Ghana " I will eat my hat if you get a response.
By the way I actually had a brief meeting with the ICT coordinator for the Ministry of Education and my impression is that haven't got a clue. I can not see that the implementation of anything "E" is going to work if they can not even get their heads around using emails!
If you want to know the state if ICT education in Weija region of Accra I can tell you; schools either have no computers or they are running on cloned Windows and in the case of one headmaster who is a friend of mine he admits to not remembering his own password to his personal email address!
Since kids in primary and secondary school are going to be the next generation the real question is "what exposure are they getting to ICT learning?" if you want to know what the state is of ICT in schools come with me to Ghana I I will show you!