Goaba Mosienyane's Page

First of all I must apologise for such delay in responding - this has slipped out from my notes.

In general terms, when we refer to internet in Australia, there is an existing capacity around issues like legal framework, security, human and organisation resources capacity, etc., and it continues to be built and updated. This requires enormous effort and large investment over a long period of time.

To capitalise on this investment, the internet in Australia was not used by public sector only but also by private sector. The benefit gained was a more reliable and affordable internet cost, and it could be appreciated only when its services were shared by all (general public and private and government sectors).

However the internet was based on the existing human and organisation capacity that existed in the public sector in Australia long before the availability of the internet.

There is a the downside of the internet where some government agencies opt not to use it certain applications, i.e. RBB.

With IDP, RBB...etc.in developing countries, internet could be very helpful but one needs to consider various capacity requirements to effectively embrace using the internet.

I would personally suggest that full assessment needs to be conducted and sustainability considered. Like any technology, it needs to be maintained and the cost of implementation and maintenance needs to be weighed against benefit before embarking on this road.

Maybe, at the initial stage, less advanced technology needs to be considered.

During my M&E/MIS implementation in one of the African countries, the was a question raised with the M&E/MIS system implementation - what was the prevention for data hacking. My answer to this is definitely not use the full internet applications until the protection has been built to the acceptable level against data hacking. The cost of this alone could exceed the M&E/MIS implementation cost itself. Alternative prevention could be in form of off-line internet technology (email) and it may be considered as a very low cost security prevention could be applied (Situate a computer in the secure room with office door locked)

Summary:

1. Using internet technology, one must understand the capacity requirement around it and to ensure sustainability.
2. Lower technology should be considered but the main focus should be on establishing capacity (learning by doing), then once the process is stable, consideration of technology could put in place while the process has been already be established.