“Home grown solution helps to keep Government institutions away from getting into vendor lock-in circumstances due to inadequate governance on vendor management in some public institutions as well as insufficient local capability to technically modify or improve the foreign ICT solutions”.
This was said by e-Government Agency (eGA) Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Jabiri Bakari while addressing participants on the Power of Home-Grown ICT Solutions in Developing Countries during the 15th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries held in Dar es Salaam on May 2nd, 2019
“Our problems are not so complex and don’t need complex solutions either, but we have been complicating them by using solutions that were not made with our requirements in mind and we have been forced to spend a lot of resources such as money, time, human and even unnecessary high capacity infrastructure to adapt foreign made solutions to our requirements”, Dr. Bakari elaborated.
He further said that, ICT Solutions have been playing a critical role as an enabler to almost all business transformation initiatives and normally how ICT Solutions are being deployed and utilized have a very strategic impact on whether the organizations and Governments around the World can achieve their business vision, mission or strategic goals.
“For a long time developing countries have been relying on ICT solutions from developed counties to carry out their business functions and we have seen various problems with Solutions which are not homegrown, always last for the lifetime of the project. Projects that never end, And Sustaining these solutions has been a challenge since they don’t address our requirements “, Dr. Bakari commented”.
He added that, home grown solution helps to keep Government institutions away from getting into vendor lock-in circumstances due to inadequate governance on vendor management in some public institutions as well as insufficient local capability to technically modify or improve the foreign ICT solutions.
Additionally, he clarified that currently the Journey to start embracing home-grown solutions in transforming Tanzanian Public Institutions and its corresponding significant impact are clearly realized particularly in the last seven years, since the Agency came into operation.
Moreover, Dr. Bakari said in Understanding the need for innovative home-grown ICT solutions, eGA is in the process of establishing the e-Government Research, Innovation, and Development Centre (e-GovRIDC) as a hub for innovation, research and development on e-Government to spearhead the improvement of Public service delivery.
“The aim of the Government is to see that these ICT initiatives and other investments in research and innovations are used to their potential especially in supporting and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of Public’s service delivery mechanisms in all sectors”, Dr. Bakari insisted.
Furthermore, Dr. Bakari added that putting in place proper mechanisms, such as research and innovation centres, Can help to harness the power of home-grown ICT solutions and overcome the challenges of adapting foreign solutions that are not compatible with our social-economic environment
“In southern countries we have talented youth population that we need to capitalize on and build their confidence in producing production-ready solutions to solve the challenges of our People”. Dr. Bakari commented.