Bhutan ICT Policy and Strategy
Details of the organization
Name *
Ministry of Information and Communications
Organization country
Bhutan
Website (URL)
www.moic.gov.bt
Type *
Governments
National implementation mechanism
The organization has a strategy for coordinating WSIS Implementation at the national level:
Yes
The organization has a national e-strategy:
Yes
Information about the project
Project title *
Bhutan ICT Policy and Strategy
Description *
The BIPS process involved stakeholders from Government, semi-government and the private sector. Five Committees were formed along the lines of the Digital Opportunity Initiative (www.opt-init.org), covering Policy, Infrastructure, Human Capacity, Content and Applications, and Enterprise. With inputs from open consultative workshops and previous ICT studies, the Committees formulated strategies and activities designed to progress Bhutan's ICT development. Bhutan is a landlocked, mountainous kingdom with a small and scattered population. It has a rich cultural heritage rooted in Mahayana Buddhism, and a compact and competent Government. ICT is a relatively recent phenomenon in Bhutan. Three overall policy objectives underpin the initiatives in the BIPS Report: to use ICT for Good Governance; to create a Bhutanese Info-culture; and to create a "High-Tech Habitat". The initiatives are aggregated under five strategic and logical headings. Policy Policy activities focus on making governance more efficient, transparent and inclusive, introducing a modern legal and regulatory framework, strengthening the relevant policy and regulatory bodies, and investigating ways to fund ICT and reduce the costs of ICT services. Infrastructure The infrastructure activities focus on implementing the liberalized and competitive infrastructure market, and increasing co-ordination between infrastructure providers, and ensuring that there is affordable, fast, secure, sustainable and appropriate ICT infrastructure throughout Bhutan. Human Capacity Human capacity activities are aimed at ensuring appropriate ICT awareness and skills from basic computer literacy to the high level technical skills to boost the ICT industry. Activities outlined in this area aim to improve the quality and coverage of training institutions, including through developing a Centre of Excellence to boost the quality and accredit ICT training institutes in Bhutan. A national ICT awareness campaign is another important element. Content and Applications To enable Bhutan to fully harness the benefits of ICT for its development, the activities include establishing the framework for e-business, using ICT to preserve our cultural heritage, enhancing quality and accessibility of health and education, broadening our national media and web presence and supporting good governance. Enterprise Planned activities will boost the competency of the local ICT private sector, and provide business opportunities through outsourcing RGoB ICT work. Access to finance will be addressed, as well as a strategy to target export of ICT services and boost the application of ICT in non-ICT businesses. The Report identifies a number of risks to successful implementation of the BIPS strategies and activities. National commitment will be crucial, as well as financial support from our donor partners. Ensuring appropriate human capacity to implement and manage the activities will also be important. Implementation will be spread across various Government Ministries, agencies and the private sector. The newly-established ICT Units in each Ministry will be utilized to monitor progress, with bi-annual progress reports to the Council of Cabinet Ministers.
Project website
http://www.moic.gov.bt
Geographical coverage *
National implementation:
Status *
Ongoing
from
Partners
All governments agencies, corporations, private companies, international organizations
WSIS information
WSIS action lines related to this project
*
The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
*
ICT for sustainable development
*
National e-strategies
*
ICT in Parliaments
*
E-participation
*
Partnerships
*
Information and communication infrastructure
*
Access to information and knowledge
*
Capacity building
*
Building confidence and security in use of ICTs
*
Enabling environment
*
ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
*
E-government
*
E-government strategies
*
E-government systems
*
Measuring e-government
*
Knowledge management
*
E-business
*
Enabling environment
*
SME competitiveness
*
Technology and innovation
*
E-learning
*
E-health
*
E-employment
*
Role of social actors
*
E-environment
*
Protect environment
*
Ensure sustainable ICTs
*
Monitor/prevent disasters
*
E-agriculture
*
E-science
*
Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
*
Media
*
Ethical dimensions of the Information Society
*
International and regional cooperation
Millenium Declaration Goals related to this project
Eradicate poverty and hunger
Achieve Universal Primary Education
Promote gender equality & empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development
Project type *
Project
Programme
Conference
Publication
Guidelines
Connect the World Project *
The project is being considered as contributing to the objectives of the ITU Connect the World initiative?
No