Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems in Botswana government departments

Abstract

This paper describes Botswana government efforts at computerising major functions of its departments. The authors examined unpublished documentary sources from the Department of Information Technology (DIT) in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and conducted interviews with two corporations to obtain relevant information. The authors noted that the Government of Botswana has massively injected funds into critical ICT projects in order to improve budgeting, productivity and services to the public, as well as to remove bottlenecks to development and improve capacity to implement and monitor projects. The government has succeeded in computerising some of its major functions, and plans to implement many more computerisation projects during the ongoing implementation of the National Development Plan 9 (NDP9) spanning the period 2003/04 – 2008/09. The paper concludes that the achievements recorded may be one of the reasons Botswana is considered a success story in Africa considering information technology's vital role in stimulating economic development.

West African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science Vol. 16(2) 2006: 79-88