The 11th annual ICT4D conference was held in Kampala, Uganda, and it brought together 912 delegates from allover the world to discuss the impact of ICT on communities and their development.
The event ran from April 30th to May 3rd and was co-hosted by the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance of Uganda.
ICT4D is ICT for development; and at the conference, there were a number of sessions involved, conversations and networks with various speakers, participants, sponsors and partners. The entire engagement was in real-time.
With ICT having a bigger role to play in the development of Uganda, let’s look at some of the key takeaways from the conference.
Going digital Vs being digitized
Lauren Woodman, the CEO of NetHope, made a fine presentation on ‘People, Processes and Technology and how to leverage these resources to do our jobs better’. In this, she differentiated between going digital and being digitized noting that the two are never the same, yet they are interrelated and equally important when it comes to ICT4D.
She explained that being digitized involves ‘instilling a discipline around core transactions and back office processes’ while going digital is about ’empowering people to make decisions that they need to.’
The 7 steps of digital transformation
Much of the emphasis of this year’s ICT4D conference was on digitization, a process that requires intensive input, yet with a patient strategy. The steps to transforming your enterprise into a digital setting were outlined into seven, and these are:
- Analyze and Understand
- Research and Educate
- Set goals and prioritize Use cases
- Focus on Humans and Processes
- Measure and define Data
- Evaluate Technology
- Implement and roll-out
ICT can develop each and every sector in Uganda
Various discussions, break-away sessions, demonstrations, and presentations were made, and these entailed topics in various sectors that are affected by the presence or absence of ICT.
These were broken down into: Humanitarian Response and Resilience, Water Security, Digital Financial Inclusion, Health and Nutrition, Responsible Data and Information Security, Supply chain, Digital Diversity, Agriculture, and Education.
Top Concerns in ICT4D
A survey conducted by Devex and Catholic Relief Services for the ICT4D conference revealed that the top organizational concerns when it comes to development using ICT tools are: how secure the information is or how private the data collected is; how best to retain skilled staff; and whether or not to resist from change.
The survey also found out that the top benefits of ICT to Aid and development programs are: timely data; higher quality data; and an improvement in program accountability. You can check out the survey results here.
The event was closed with remarks from Honorable Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister for ICT and National Guidance, who asked stakeholders to fully get involved in the active digitization of the country’s various sectors.
