OSS for Governance and Public Administration : Strategic role of Universities possible contribution by the University of Nairobi Prof. W. Okelo-Odongo Dr. Wanjiku Ng ang a School of Computing and Informatics 1
outline ICT for Governance and Public Administration OSS as an option Role of Universities Approach by UoN 2
ICT for Governance and Public Administration Efficiency, cost-effectiveness and citizens participation are critical objectives for any governance and public administration agenda ICTs, if properly leveraged can provide required efficiency and effectiveness Improving government processes (e- Administration) Connecting citizens (e-citizens and e-services) Building external interactions (e-society) 3
ICT for Governance and Public Administration Deployment of ICTs for governance and public administration requires careful resource planning Human capacity ICT infrastructure and services Reengineering work processes Security Considerations 4
ICT for Governance and Public Administration Digital changeover warrants careful consideration of Investments in technology (costly) Technology ownership (who owns the technology?) Human capacity to manage e-environment Choice between Proprietary vs. OSS! 5
OSS for Governance and Public Administration Choice between Proprietary vs. OSS! Benefits of OSS over Proprietary Opportunity for software research, development, and commercialization Lower costs Increased reliability and security Enhanced agility and interoperability Vendor independence Social good - unrestricted availability of source code makes knowledge readily available to all of society 6
OSS for Governance and Public Administration Why consider OSS in the African context? Competing financing needs => cheaper to adopt OSS Flexibility customized to fit exact requirements Job creation (software development by the youth) Promotes cross-domain IP sharing and code reuse for accelerated development.. Case studies of OSS adoption globally Brazil, China, Norway, Malaysia, South Africa,. 7
OSS for Governance and Public Administration Factors hindering OSS adoption Huge skills gap in OSS and Open Standards Lack of Technical Support for OSS applications and services OSS Learning curve (for end-users) Integration with legacy systems Proprietary systems viewed as easier option 8
Role of Universities Primary objective of universities Build human capacity across the board Undertake research and development for the betterment of society Well placed to enhance adoption of OSS by: Training highly-skilled personnel Undertaking appropriate research that informs policy and practice e.g. technology adoption studies OSS-based R&D as a public knowledge good 9
University of Nairobi s Approach UoN background [www.uonbi.ac.ke] Oldest university in Kenya (1956) Very well ranked university in East Africa, and Africa Six colleges, each with 5 or more Schools, Faculties Student population approximately 45,000 18,000 are government sponsored 27,000 are privately sponsored. About 9,000 are postgraduate students Has 1300 academic staff members of which 260 are full and associate professors. 10
School of Computing Informatics Human Resources Faculty (22) : PhD (9), MSc (13) Students : PhD (21), MSc (100), BSc (360) Academic programmes Upto-date, competitive Masters and Bachelors programmes Practical-oriented programmes with emphasis on project-based work Developed M.Sc in FOSS Software Engineering as part of the AVOIR network 11
SCI info Infrastructure Well-equipped labs High speed internet connectivity Central location in Nairobi Collaborations and partnerships Public sector: Directorate of e- Government, Kenya ICT Board, Judiciary, MoHEST,. Industry: Nokia, SAS, IBM, Google, 12
SCI research and outreach strategy Centre for Computing for Development (CC4D) housed at SCI Vision of CC4D is to be a global point of reference for ICT Research and Innovation for sustainable development Mission of CC4D is to generate, share knowledge, and produce innovative technological solutions that address societal problems by nurturing and mentoring a community of researchers, undertaking cutting edge research, and forging partnerships 13
CC4D CC4D focusing on key thematic areas: ICT4D e-governance Mobile Financial Services ICT in Education ICT in Health ICT in Agriculture e-science Distributed Computing 14
UoN s Approach C4DLab is the operational R&D arm of CC4D Human resource in the Lab drawn from SCI faculty SCI students (PhD, Masters and Undergraduates) External Researchers drawn from Other UoN faculties Other local and international universities Other research institutions Industry, Public sector. 15
operational Model 16
UoN s Approach 17
Operationalization Formal Agreements between UoN and Clients => bilateral/multilateral MoUs formalizing working relationship Financing for University-based R&D activities Lab overheads Market/customer research Training and capacity building activities Support & Maintenance costs Mantra: Rather than spend lots of $$ on Proprietary software, channel it to support University OSS-based R&D! 18
Conclusion ICTs critical for governance and development Need for highly-skilled ICT workforce Universities play important role in high-level human capacity development Technical Universities and ICT faculties form critical link in advancing innovative use of ICT for governance and development UoN s model applies human resource (Faculty + Students) in solving real-world problems in collaboration with various stakeholders UoN s model very appropriate in enhancing the adoption and utilization of OSS for governance in Africa 19
SCI modern Labs Support staff technicians 20
SCI Library 21
CBPS Environment 22
School of Computing & Informatics (SCI) UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI Thank you! Computing Human Resource and Solution Development 23 for the Nation and the Region