Current ICT Initiatives and Projects in Mozambique
Mozambique is currently investing in several ICT projects as a consequence of the gradual realisation of the ICT Policy and its implementing strategy and the Mozambican eGovernment Strategy. Most of the projects implemented in the public sector concur to the implementation of the eGovernment in Mozambique although it is not yet being implemented as set out in the strategy. Some of the projects currently implemented are listed in the following section.
Electronic Government Network (GovNET)
GovNet project has being implemented since 2004, and at that time was defined as the Pilot Phase aimed at providing the necessary support in the definition of the technical (hardware, software, networking) requirements, communication protocols to be put in place, naming conventions to be established, definition of security rules. During the Pilot phase the institutions that were connected were the central level of the government, all located in Maputo. Following the Pilot Phase due to its successful implementation, the Italian Government extended its funding and the Extension Phase took place benefiting 4 to 5 institutions at provincial level. From 2010 a third phase has started expanding connectivity to the districts. It is planned to cover all of the 128 existing districts in Mozambique.
Funding: Italian Government, World Bank and Government of Mozambique, and implemented by the National ICT Institute (INTIC), the former ICT Policy Implementation Unit (UTICT).
Geographic scope: National covering government agencies.
State Financial Administration System eSISTAFE
The State Financial Administration System also designated as e-SISTAFE and currently under implementation takes advantage of the capabilities offered by ICTs and it is proposed to provide financial administration services through the Internet using a single Bank account for all government institutions expenditures. Through this system the institutional budgets are assigned and monthly reports are also presented allowing the Ministry of Finance to present the annual State Financial Report in a timely fashion, present quarterly reports about the execution of the budget and submit the proposed State Budget to the Parliament before 30th September each year.
This project also demonstrates that government transactions such as G2G (government-to-government), G2B (government-to-business) and G2C (government-to-citizen) can be done more effective and efficient when availed electronically so long as all the security mechanisms are taken. This project is being implemented by the Ministry of Finance, through the Development Centre of Financial Information Systems (CEDSIF).
Funding: World Bank
Geographic scope: National covering government agencies.
Mozambique eGovernment Communication Infrastructure Project (MEGCIP) 2010 - 2014
Hosted at the Ministry of Science and Technology, with the main objective of supporting the Government of Mozambique efforts to lower communication costs by using international capacity to extend the geographic reach of the broadband networks and contribute in improving the efficiency and transparency through e-Government applications. This project has several components which deal with communication infrastructure, policy and regulation, eGovernment applications and institutional capacity building and different parts of the project components are implemented by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National ICT Institute (INTIC), The Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Mozambican National Institute of Communications (INCM).
Funding: World Bank, with an implementation time frame of 2010 to 2015 with a total budget of $30,000,000 USD
Geographic scope: National
Mobile ICT Unit
The Mozambican Mobile Unit address the problem of ICT skilled human resources in the country by providing a number of training courses in variety settings, which has proven to be ideal for the needs of those that live in districts isolated from all ICT facilities provide in the cities. In the case of Mozambique these facilities have been delivered in a tract with a container that was set as a classroom, equipped with 10 computers and 20 sets. This mobile ICT technology has provided access to learning by offering interesting and relevant programs for public servants and other community members. Within the Mobile Unit, these groups can also access a variety of information provided by the Internet and communicate with people from all over the world through email.
Funding: UNDP and Italian Government
Geographic scope: Districts
Provincial Digital ResourceCentres (CPRDs)
Provincial Digital Resource Centres (CPRDs) are an organizational mechanism that helps concentrate ICT infrastructure, skills and investment and provide a single entry point for ICT deployment and activity in the provinces, stimulate local demand and use of ICT by all sectors of development and support capacity building and development of local content. The first CPRDs were established in 2004 in the Provinces of Inhambane and Tete by the ICT Policy Implementation Unit, with funds provided by UNDP.
The successful impact that these centres have created within these provinces, with the provision of ICT training courses, computer maintenance, network administration, data base designs and many other ICT services that were not offered at a provincial level have led to further funding from UNDP, Microsoft, Government funds through the Public Sector Reform Program and Italian Government, which allowed for the extension of these facilities to 6 more provinces (Nampula, Gaza, Sofala, Zambezia, Cabo Delgado and Niassa) from 2005 to 2009.
At the moment funds have being secured from the Finnish Government through the STIFIMO project to establish three additional centres in the remaining 3 provinces (Maputo, Maputo City and Manica).
The CPRDs have been working as local hubs with a multi-sectoral and multi-functional approach, fostering linkages with local media to multiply the benefits of Internet connectivity and rural access to information, reducing internal digital divide.
Funding: UNDP, Italian Government, Microsoft Corporation, Mozambican Government and Finnish Government
Geographic scope: National
Government Portal
The Government Portal initiative is aimed at providing a single entry point to Government information and services which are organized according to the interests and needs of its consumers, allowing that those are available anytime, anyplace and anywhere. The Government Portal was launched in 2006 by the former Prime Minister Luisa Dias Diogo. Following that several Provincial government Portals have being developed and at this stage forms are being added through which citizens can access the services provided, taking in that way the Mozambican steps towards eGovernment a few steps further.
Funding: Italian Government through the GovNET Project described above above
Geographic scope: National covering government agencies.
Human Capacity Building
One of the biggest constraints that were identified during the process of drafting the ICT Policy, its implementation strategy and eGovernment Strategy was the lack of qualified human resources that could maintain the system, equipment and infrastructure that could be put in place. To overcome this, a number of ICT capacity building programs are being implemented in the government institutions at all levels. The programs implemented are aimed at providing the necessary skills to use designed applications, administrate networks, manage and design data bases and web pages as well as produce word documents, worksheets, presentations, send and receive electronic messages, search for information on the Internet and produce and content and applications.
Funding: Italian Government through the GovNet Project described above, World Bank through MEGCIP project also described above and UNPD
Geographic scope: National.
ICT Legal and Regulatory Framework
A proper development and implementation of ICT initiatives requires a legal, regulatory frame work that can protect the people and institutions that are exposed by using these kind of technologies. The legal framework also ensures or improves protection of the institutions and citizen's against different forms of electronic abuse and crime. Thus, the Government is defining a set of laws or regulations to ensure a balanced and equitable development of ICT infrastructure, adopt solutions and cryptographic codes less susceptible to violation, combat the violation of citizens' rights and attempts against public order and social and cultural values, especially pornography, abuse and violence against women and children via the Internet. To realize this, the electronic Transaction Low was prepared, which will soon be submitted to the parliament and other set of regulations will be also put in place.
Funding: World Bank through MEGCIP project also described above
Geographic scope: National
National System of Civil Registration (SINAREC)
Mozambique does not have a central registration system to register its population right from birth nor has each citizen a unique personal number, in contrary there are different ID Cards/documents that are issued independently by different ministries, such as, ID Card, Election Card, Military Card, Health Card, Driver License Card, Passports and other identification documents. Without knowing and registering the population, a nation cannot facilitate its citizens with government services in an efficient and effective manner. Thus this project is one of the fundamental corner stones in Mozambique's national e-governance strategy thus vital to the whole country.
The project aims at creating possibilities for Mozambique to efficiently and effectively plan for and implement social services for citizens, promote democracy through the availability of efficient and correct registers for voting, promote an efficient, effective and fair government, etc.
The project will run in phases, with a Pilot Phase being currently, which will apply a birth registration system with a unique ID number to a chosen set of 1000 peoples and pilot the registered population as the core of the e-government initiative including investigating and testing integrations and interoperability to the rest of the e-government.
There are also included in the project activities that will account for the creation of a legal framework for full-scale system, capacity building and also that will secure further funding.
Partners: Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Justice, the Mozambican International Bank and the Swedish Tax Agency
Biometric Driving Licence and Motor Vehicle Registration Systems
This system is used to produce new driving licence cards without the use of special equipment, which has visible security features to facilitate a quick visual check, and it contains invisible and/or confidential security features for a second-level check.
The Motor Vehicle Registration System, apart from using this solution to register motor vehicles, it is also used, amongst others, for the purpose of issuing registration plates and motor vehicle permits, deregistration of motor vehicles, change of vehicle particulars, change of ownership of a motor vehicle, financial information and accountability, transaction auditing and management information reports also. The two systems where developed to provide driving licences and vehicle number plates with the same standard and format of the ones used in the SADAC region.
Funding: World Bank
Geographic scope: National
Biometric ID Card and Passport
The new ID card is a huge step forward in solving problems of citizens who previously had to wait for months or even years for their ID cards. It incorporates biometrical features, which are used to establish a person's identity which can later be compared with stored reference data. The biometric identifiers used in this card are the fingerprint and the facial image, making it a secure identification document that is difficult to forge.
The system has being developed by Semlex, a Belgian company that invested 50 million dollars in setting up the new ID system and passport, and will recover its money from the sale of the ID cards, which will cost 180 meticais (about 6.6 US dollars) each, while the new passports cost 3,000 MT, or 3,750 MT if the document needs to be issued within two days. Local news sources have pointed out that the cost is way beyond the means of ordinary people in Mozambique, where the current statutory minimum wage is 1,486 MT for agricultural workers and 2,745 MT for workers in financial services. The old ID Cards and passports remain valid until they expire.
Criminal Registration System
An application that facilitates the exchange of records about the criminal status of the citizens used to issue criminal certifications. This system is used to facilitate the exchange of information between the provincial delegations and the central institutions that deal with this information. Through the use of this system the time length of producing a criminal certification was drastically reduced. This certification is often required for new employments, bank loans etc.
Geographic scope: National
Licencing and Management of Mineral Resources
The Ministry for Mineral Resources in Mozambique has adopted FlexiCadastre, an enterprise scale land management solution which turns to Spatial Dimension to deliver sustainable solutions that optimise land related business processes, minimise risk, provide compliance and oversight functions and integrate seamlessly with other enterprise systems. The adopted FlexiCadastre solution uses a business rule and workflow-centric approach to facilitate the efficient administration of mineral rights and contracts in multiple global jurisdictions. The adopted solution uses a web portal for data management and reporting, advanced task management, configurable business logic, best of breed GIS technologies and innovative concepts.
Multimedia Community Centres (MCC) Programme
A Program mainly implemented by the Ministry of Science and Technology but with a contribution of different institutions such as the Centre of Informatics of the Eduardo Mondlane University (CIUEM), the National ICT Institute (INTIC) and UNESCO. The program aims at providing means by which the community have access to information using a wide range of information and communication technologies using a single point. This is also serving to reduce the digital divide, reduce poverty by enabling people to solve development problems that the community faces and strengthen the community capacity.
Funding: World Bank, UNESCO, UNDP
Geographic coverage: National
SchoolNet Mozambique
SchoolNet Mozambique is a nationwide network of professional educators and schools working to make the Mozambique educational system competitive by preparing in-school youth for Internet connectivity and technology. The network aims to enhance learning opportunities for students, teachers, and the surrounding community via the Internet. SchoolNet is also seen as a way to prepare Mozambican students for work in the Global Information Society.
Students and teachers in the SchoolNet network use the Internet as a learning tool. Mozambican students have participated in Internet-based exchanges such as the Global Environment Youth Convention and the Math Olympics.
The immediate motivation for the deployment of this network was to share a single Internet connection and therefore reduce overall monthly costs in order to assure a long-term sustainability. However, once such a network is deployed the potential to include other services, that would not be possible or at least viable if each school had just its own separate network, is tremendous, for example Voice over IP, shared Mail, Proxy and WEB servers, shared applications like virtual library, just to name a few. On the other hand, once in place and functioning, such a network can easily grow just by having more schools connected to this initial backbone. It a firm conviction of the Ministry of Education that, using the wireless technology implemented in this first phase the network could easily grow up to at least 100kms from its actual focus point which means probably a few tens of schools for the case of Inhambane province. The other major goal of this project is to develop a solution that once tested can easily be replicated in other provinces all over the country.
Geographic scope: National
Environmental Management and Information System for Mining Sector
The purpose of the EMIS is to facilitate environmental procedures in the mining sector to warrant the availability of technical information and data for environmental monitoring and environmental auditing store, manage and reference documents. Ideally these should be digital, store and report on environmental surveys, on samples and on analyses performed. This management system has the benefit of extending the existing Cadastre System to include Environmental procedures and actions, it also requires:
- The Environmental requirements are closely related with the application, granting and renewal of Mineral Title
- The Mining Cadastre System has a comprehensive GIS interface utilizing ArcGIS
- Integrating the two systems would allow cost savings in terms of existing hardware infrastructure
- Integrating the two systems would allow for a single system to support and maintain
- Integrating the two systems would allow for resource pooling between the Cadastre and Environmental departments
Geographic scope: National
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