Knowledge sharing is important

THE E-Government Master Plan currently being formulated for this country is nearing completion.

That’s according to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Civil Service, Alyson Forte, who disclosed that his ministry has contracted Deloitte to create the plan, which is the final stage of development.

His comments while delivering remarks yesterday, morning during the opening ceremony of the Certified Knowledge Manager Training Workshop, held in the Warrens Suite of Baobab Towers, as he spoke to the development of an integrated knowledge management system for Barbados which is one of the five pillars in the Barbados Human Resources Development Strategy, and the introduction of a wide area network (WAN) for the public service, which he said are both intended to improve efficiencies within the public service.

“Both the WAN and the Knowledge Management System are expected to play a big role in the Human Resource Development Strategy now being implemented. Knowledge distribution, both formal and informal, will also help to enhance economic performance. Indeed both the WAN and the Knowledge Management System will help provide access to timely and reliable information, which is important to timely and efficient decision making in both the private and public sectors,” he said.

He made the point while noting that a suite of legislation is required to help promote transparency and accountability in this age of new digital technology, and to facilitate the implementation of the knowledge management system. To assist in that effort, he said a Freedom of Information Bill has been drafted, and is still being developed under the Governance Unit of the Ministry of the Civil Service.

Speaking more to that Bill, he said that his ministry is in discussions with the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, with the view of clearing up a few matters that relate to the Bill, including the treatment of the official Secrecy Act. Forte’s comments came as he indicated that changes may also have to be made to the Statistics Act, which limits the ability of the Statistical Department to disseminate basic data to other ministries and departments. And, he said, the situation is quite similar with health data that is collected by the Ministry of Health.

“So we might have to find ways in the whole question of knowledge sharing, to be able to come up with protocols that we can better utilise these independent databases we might have to provide integrated knowledge management systems,” the Civil Service PS added.

Regarding the WAN, PS Forte noted that the work associated with the WAN contract, which was recently signed between Government and Digicel at a cost of $2.4 million, is progressing smoothly. He said that in the first phase it covers 32 sites accounting for 70 departments and ministries; while the second phase, which should start soon, is expected to look at 25 additional sites. This computer network, he said, will provide high speed interagency connectivity for greater communication and service delivery, giving the public service an internet gateway that is secure and cost effective.

“Some of you are already making use of the telephony aspect of this WAN, and we are hoping that this will continue to develop.

“We know that the telephony has certain features that we will probably be able to do some type of conferencing instead of having to drive across the island to meetings and so. I can see Permanent Secretaries and other Ministries’ heads and so on, using this new facility to convene meetings,” he said.

With that in mind, he urged them to also make use of the human resources component of the Smart Stream system, which he said if properly utilised can make the job of human resource management that much easier. (JRT)