Mayors and their Information Technology administrators from all the municipal councils in the East region have been armed with relevant knowledge on Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs during a 3-day capacity building workshop organised by the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies, ANTIC.
Organised under the banner “Local Development in the era of digital transformation”, ANTIC used the platform to propose up-to-date ICT skills to the local administrative authorities and their staff, a way to optimize, modernise and fasten the decentralization process and its total implementation which is a priority of the Cameroon government.
Speaking during the opening of the capacity building forum, the Director General of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies, Professor Ebot Ebot Enaw, noted that the seminar is part of efforts undertaken by his structure to help municipal councils nationwide boost service delivery and revenue collection through the adoption and integration of ICTs into the day to day running operations
To the ANTIC boss, drilling the mayors and their IT staff with the 21st century skills will enable them exploit the vast horizons and opportunities offered by ICTs that can help in accessibility, quality and cost-effectiveness of municipal council services and related structures under the tutelage of council authorities
The digital transformation of councils by ANTIC is its 5th edition, and as at now one hundred and twenty seven councils representing a total of 35 per cent of all the councils in Cameroon have benefited from this great initiative since 2020 when the caravan kicked off in Bafoussam.
Within this period, outstanding projects have been realized thanks to this ongoing collaboration with ANTIC notably the development of IT Master Plan and support for maturation of ICT projects in some of the councils.
The 3-day exchange zoomed on the importance of an IT Master Plan for councils, process of building secured information system, digitalization of the civil status registry, seeking funding for ICT projects, management cycle of ICT projects and change management meanwhile an assessment with a view of establishing an inventory of the ICT penetration in the region was done.
The council digitalization process is piloted by ANTIC in collaboration with the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development, Special Council Support Fund, FEICOM, National Civil Status Registration Office, BUNEC, Public Contract Regulatory Agency, ARMP, and the National Participatory Development Program, PNDP
Benly Anchunda
