ICTs vital for human capital development - Molefhi

KEIKANTSE LESEMELA
Correspondent | Tuesday May 28, 2013 00:00

 

Speaking at the International Telecommunications (ITU) workshop yesterday, Molefhi said Africa's inadequate ICT infrastructure contributes to limited prospects for the continent's integration as many African countries are at the lower rank of the ICT status. 'Africa has low ICT skills base. It is therefore critical that as we continue to put more resources in the area of ICT infrastructure development, we should equally intensify our efforts to develop and manage human capital,' he said.He said if properly leveraged, ICT tools are sources of vital management information for decision-making, and enable human resources management to become more strategic within organisations.

'Despite all these changes, the extent to which ICTs have been used to manage human capital in the place of work has not matched the pace at which the technology has marched,' he said. He explained that the use of ICTs has ushered in the information age, where economies compete on the basis of the ability of their citizens to access, package and use information to exploit available economic opportunities.  'Some of the developing nations such as Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and others have managed to leverage on the benefits of ICTs to compete effectively with the developed nations. These countries have demonstrated to the world that ICTs hold a great potential to fast track economic development,' said Molefhi.He said that the use of ICTs in developing and managing the labour force would be crucial.

'We are indebted to the European Union for funding the establishment of an online Botswana Labour Market Observatory which aims to provide the necessary information to improve the functioning of the labour market by reducing demand and supply mismatches,' said Molefhi.He said the workshop, which was intended to assess the role of ICTs in the management of human capital in the communications sector, would promote teleworking to allow citizens, particularly in the developing countries and small economies, to live in their societies and work anywhere as well as to increase employment opportunities for women and those with disabilities.

'If there is any sector of the economy that should lead the rest in deploying ICTs to better develop and manage people, it is the communications sector,' he said. The government of Botswana has invested in the West Africa Submarine Cable System (WACS) and the East Africa Submarine System (EASSY), which have increased bandwidth capacity and improved connectivity with the rest of the world.However, the rate of ICT uptake globally continues to grow with mobiles occupying a very central role not just as instruments for communication but also as tools for developments such as banking, learning and access to government services.