If there is ever a time we, in the Caribbean region, need the CARICOM Single ICT Space, it is now, as the world continues to navigate its way through COVID-19. In this episode, we are re-joined by Jennifer Britton, of the CARICOM Secretariat, to give us the scoop on the latest achievements and developments, as well as to (hopefully) give us some indication of how close we might be to (finally!!) realising the Single ICT Space.


This episode is also available in Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and on Stitcher!

For long-time readers of ICT Pulse, the odds are you have heard of the term, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single ICT Space. We first began talking about it in earnest in 2013, as it was a key recommendation of the Regional Digital Development Strategy, which was published in 2011. A Single ICT Space – if established – would be the digital layer that could support and facilitate the realisation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

It is about seven and a half years since we, at ICT Pulse, started the conversation on the Single ICT Space. Over the last few years, a roadmap was established, which pointed to the Single ICT Space being realised by 2020. However, the initiative is way behind schedule, and at the time of writing, revised timelines have not been made publicly available.

Critical to the approach proposed for creating the Single ICT Space was for the participating governments to drive the needed changes in their home countries. However, considering the challenges and imperatives many of our countries have been experiencing on an ongoing basis over the past several years, along with the regional coordination that would be needed, it is not unexpected that the stated timelines were not achieved.

Having said this, and within the context of the Single ICT Space, 2020 was a good year – and perhaps was even a watershed year. In a nutshell, the pandemic highlighted to Caribbean governments, in a very real way, the importance of ICT to their economies, and the need for them to be leveraging ICT and technology in more meaningfully than they had been.

It is through this lens we sought to re-engage the CARICOM Secretariat on the Single ICT Space. We had discussed the topic twice before on the Podcast, the last time being in 2019; so we were overdue for a catchup.


Introducing our guest

Jennifer Britton (CARICOM Secretariat)

Jennifer Britton is the Deputy Programme Manager – ICT for Development (ICT4D), at the CARICOM Secretariat, in Guyana, and has been with the organisation for over 20 years. At the Secretariat, her key focus areas include, ICT4D, the digital economy and the CARICOM Single ICT space; and the role of Deputy Programme Manager involves policy formulation, providing technical assistance and project implementation oversight.

Additionally, Jennifer is committed to amplifying ICT as a powerful catalyst for political, economic and social empowerment, generally, and particularly of women. She is one of the Co-Founders of the group, Caribbean Women in ICT (CWIC), at the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organisations (CANTO).


Insights into our conversation

In typical form, Jennifer Britton is warm and engaging. Since it was her third time on the Podcast, for all intents and purposes, we continue from where we left off: with the Secretariat preparing for a Heads of Government Meeting, which occurred in the last quarter of 2019.

However, many of the plans that were agreed at that 2019 meeting were overtaken by COVID-19, and new priorities emerged. A much welcomed development is the potential for greater engagement with a broad range of stakeholders and regional thought leaders on the issues that must be addressed. Some of the questions posed during the course of our conversation included the following:

  1. What has happened respect to the Single ICT Space initiative, since you were last on the show in September 2019?
  2. Have the working groups been established, and if so, what are their areas of focus?
  3. How can we work more efficiently and effectively to advance the Single ICT Space in a more substantial way?
  4. How do you think the Caribbean region fared with regard to digital transformation and leveraging ICT and technology in 2020?
  5. What is going to be different as we move to a ‘whole of government’ or ‘joined up government’ approach from what was envisaged under ‘electronic (e-)government’ or ‘seamless government’, for example?
  6. One of the priority initiatives you indicated in our previous conversations, was the removal of roaming rates across the region. Has there been any progress on this front?
  7. What keeps you up at night these days?
  8. Are there any imminent milestones of which we should be aware?

 

We would love to hear from you!

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits: J Britton; CARICOM Secretariat; Gerd Altmann (Pixabay)

Music credit: Ray Holman