Handbook on Strengthening ICT Parliamentary Committees in SADC Parliaments

1. Handbook on Strengthening ICT Parliamentary Committees in SADC Parliaments Support to ICT Strategic Planning in the SADC Parliaments Prof. Alison Gillwald Windhoek, 28 July 2010

2. Table of contents • Part 1 • Rationale for Parliamentary Committees on Communication • Rationale for Handbook • Part 2 • ICTs for economic growth, development and social cohesion • Part 3 • Establish of Standing ICT Parliamentary Committee • Performance and evaluation • Part 4 • Sector developments • Part 5 • Global & regional governance

3. Rationale for Parliamentary Committees • Rationale for Parliamentary Committee • Changing nature of governance in globalised world • Separation of power and delegations of powers to specialised fora and agencies to deal with complex and dynamic economic and social sectors. • Role of parliament in the institutional arrangements of sector.

4. Rationale of the handbook (1/2) Guide the Parliament’s participation in the regional and national e-strategy processes for the development of an equitable information society and knowledge economy • Contribute to the shaping of the future information society in view of the WSIS implementation, follow-up and future 2015 review. Challenges of convergence and NGN • Sector reform process and the role of Parliaments

5. Rationale of the handbook (2/2) Establishment of Parliamentary Committees • Legislative and oversight roles in the national and regional ICT policy and regulatory reform • Model committee (but separate form e-parliament task team) to demonstrate use of ICT in parliament Strengthening ICT Parliamentary Committees • Capacity building, sector understanding

6. PART I – ICTs in national, regional & continental development

7. ICT as a contribution to economic growth (macro) • Linkages between ICT penetration and economic growth • Enabling role of ICT in enhancing delivery of other commercial services • 2008 financial and economic crisis: challenges for governments • Scarcity of credit in the ICT sector • ICT backbone development for growth stimulation/economic recovery

8. ICT for development and social cohesion ICT as a contribution to development and social cohesion (macro) • ICT penetration and contribution to development • Human capital development at multiple levels – education, training, professional • Enabling role of ICTs in health, government, education

9. Rationale for handbook • It has been found that democracy by itself - elections and representative institutions – does not necessarily produce justice and prosperity. • define the essential elements of good governance and generate measures of performance for the committee

10. PART II: Parliamentary ICT Committee

11. Establishment of ICT Parliamentary Committees Lead the political engagement in the national and regional e-strategy (Mandate and role) • From the institutional commitment (vision) on ICT in parliament towards: • an ICT policy and regulatory framework for convergence and NGN (Legislative process) • (i.e. representation, participation, transparency, accountability) Oversight and management (Role and responsibilities)  • From an e-strategy towards: • ICT policy and regulation: exercising scrutiny over the executive on international, regional and national ICT plans

12. The role of Parliament Oversight, legislative and management functions • Legislate, institutional oversight, monitoring and evaluation Parliament in the institutional arrangements of the sector • Representation and accountability; participation, transparency • Institutional governance • (Parliament – Government – Regulator) Constitution and administrative justice • Public participation

13. Approving and accounting for ICT budgets Public finance for innovation and economic growth • How to identify strategic and political ICT priorities? • Legislation to foster the deployment of a stable and robust telecommunication infrastructure; and encourage the adoption of alternative models that can significantly lower the cost of broadband to satisfy this emerging need of ICT. • Extending affordable Internet access to under-served areas, overcoming high prices of the bandwidth, in addition to the development of human resources and capacity building. • Fiscal policies/stimulus packages to finance NGN infrastructure roll-out • Tax cuts/reduction; • Government transfer payment • PPP • Public investment in ICT?

14. Strengthen ICT capacity development • Training • Participation in international, regional meetings • Model committee for implementation of e-Parliament.

15. Global, regional governance • ITU • ICANN • SADC Protocol on Transport, Meteorology, Telecommunications • SADC Model Law • Regional model regulations

16. Sector developments/primers

17. Uneven reform Background • First-phase reform (incorporation, national regulatory agencies, partial privatisation & liberalisation) • Second-phase reform: (greater liberalisation & competition regulation) • Third-phase reform: (convergence, NGN, next generation regulation.)

18. Regulation 3.0: new regulatory frameworks for NGN/NGR Central policy and regulatory issues in the NGN • Review universal access • Liberalisation of ICT markets: promoting competition • Public interventions for NGN roll-out: • Fiscal measures to incentivise high-speed IP-based networks • PPP: are we ready? • Competition & pricing • Licensing: technological neutrality & open access • Interconnection: termination rates • Spectrum: commons and auctions • Broadcasting reform • Social and economic costs of cybercrime • Freedom of expression and local content • Electronic security: Intellectual property rights, privacy

19. Performance Monitoring

20. Good governance Framework & Measurement • surrounding governance context: relations between the state, the market and civil society; political space and support for active citizenship, and the impact of the global village. • parliamentary culture, the set of motivating and constraining beliefs and practices. What are the values and expectations associated with being a Member of Parliament? What is the relationship between leaders and followers? • the organizational capacity of parliament, including the strengths and weaknesses of the political and administrative sides of parliament. • Parliaments that Work, Parliamentary Centre & World Bank Institute

21. Performance criteria • Financial – Does committet operate according to acceptable standards of financial administration?. • Compliance – Does Committee operate according to the laws of the land and its own rules and procedures? • Efficiency – Does Committee organize itself and carry out its activities in ways that are reasonably efficient and dependable? Where this is not the case, the wider society, not to mention the executive, will dismiss parliament as chaotic and irrelevant. • Effectiveness –Does the Committee have an impact on government and society • Relevance – Does connect to the great issues of the day. • Sustainability - Does it have the resources, political and otherwise, to play its part in promoting good governance? These questions are meant to probe the history of the institution as well as its prospects for the future.

22. Structure of performance • Inputs – The raw materials of parliament, including MPs, staff and financial and other resources. • Activities – This describes how MPs and staff spend their time in four main lines of activity. In the parliamentary chamber, committees, party caucuses and constituencies. • Outputs – This refers to the products of parliamentary activity, notably debates, laws, resolutions, and reports and assistance to constituents. • Outcomes – This refers to the direct effects of parliamentary activities on the outside world. Our framework focuses on outcomes in relation to three governance functions—accountability, transparency and participation. • Impacts– This refers to the longer term and more indirect influence of parliament on the set of good governance, specifically democracy, rule of law, clean and effective government and peaceful resolution of conflict.

23. For more information see Or contact agillwald@researchICTafrica.com