ICT for the Renaissance of Sudan Workshopsudanicta.org/.../02/SICTA-ICT-Workshop-Report.pdf · The workshop was organized by the Sudan ICT Advisory Group (SICTA)* in a highly participatory

ICT for the Renaissance of Sudan Workshop

2020

PRELIMINARY REPORT SUDAN ICT ADVISORY GROUP (SICTA)

4-5JANUARY,2020|KHARTOUM,SUDAN

ICT for the Renaissance of Sudan Workshop Report – January, 2020

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This Report

This report is intended to provide a summary of the workshop entitled “ICT for the Renaissance

of Sudan” and its main outcomes. The workshop was organized by the Sudan ICT Advisory

Group (SICTA)* in a highly participatory and interactive approach, bringing together

participants from various disciplines. Participants represented a wide spectrum of stakeholders

from across the ICT ecosystem in Sudan.

This report is arranged in four parts:

1. An executive summary that provides recommendations and proposed key initiatives at a

high level.

2. Summary of the experts’ Keynotes presented at the workshop.

3. Description of the methodology, composition of the participants, their “work groups”,

and the different ICT “domains” that the participants addressed through their work

groups. Highlights from the content of the Keynotes and “Ignite Talks” are summarized

in the third part of the report to provide context.

4. Detailed descriptions of the outcomes of each Work Group and its corresponding domain

In the interest of including more stakeholders’ voices; this preliminary report will be published

along with a call for contribution to ICT subject matter experts, academicians, practitioners, and

citizens. The final report will be published upon the reception, organization, and incorporation of

the relevant contributions and comments.

* The Sudanese ICT Advisory Group (SICTA) is a think-tank founded by a group of independent

Sudanese ICT experts who have taken the initiative to help shape a viable ICT sector in Sudan. SICTA’s

role involves working closely with Sudan’s ICT ecosystem by providing ICT-related consultations,

strategy development, public policy drafting, capacity building and technical support.


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Table of Content This Report ......................................................................................................... 1

1. In a Nutshell .................................................................................................. 9

1.1. The Brief .................................................................................................. 10

1.2. ICT Sector Challenges ................................................................................ 12

1.3. Proposed ICT Initiatives ............................................................................. 15

1.3.1. Proposed ICT Initiatives – Immediate ........................................................ 15

1.3.2. Proposed ICT Initiatives - Short-term ........................................................ 16

1.3.3. Proposed ICT Initiatives - Long-term ........................................................ 16

1.4. Next Steps- Roadmap ................................................................................. 17

1.5. Proposed post workshop follow-up mechanism ............................................... 18

2. Workshop Methodology ................................................................................ 20

2.1. ICT Domains ............................................................................................. 20

2.2. Selection Criteria for Participants ................................................................. 22

2.3.Approach .................................................................................................. 23

2.3.1. Establishing a Reference Point .................................................................. 23

2.3.2. Inspiring Innovation ............................................................................... 23

2.3.3. Curating Crowd Wisdom ......................................................................... 23

3. Key Notes .................................................................................................... 26

3.1. First Keynote - Scene Setting ....................................................................... 26

3.2. Second Keynote - IT Industry in Sudan - Vision and Roadmap .......................... 26

3.2.1. The Basic Premise .................................................................................. 26

3.2.2. Roadmap .............................................................................................. 27

3.2.3. Proposed Organizational Setup ................................................................. 28

3.3. Third Keynote - ICT and the 2020 Budget ...................................................... 28

3.4. Fourth Keynote - Recommendations and Guidelines for Sustainable Development of ICT Sector in Sudan ........................................................................................... 29

4. Domain- Specific Recommendation ................................................................. 31


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4.1. Policy & Regulations Working Group Scope ................................................... 31

4.1.1. Policy & Regulations Participants Profiles .................................................. 31

4.1.2. Policy & Regulations Working Group Members .......................................... 31

4.1.3. Policy & Regulations Discussion Summary ................................................. 32

4.1.4. Policy & Regulations Recommendations ..................................................... 32

4.1.4.1. Recommendations for the Year 2020 (Immediate Timeframe) ..................... 32

4.1.4.2. Recommendations for the Short-term (the Three-year Transitional Period) ... 33

4.1.4.3. Recommendations for the Long-term (Beyond the Three-year Transitional Period)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………33

4.2. Digital Government Domain ........................................................................ 34

4.2.1. Digital Government Working Group Scope ................................................. 34

4.2.2. Digital Government Participants Profiles .................................................... 34

4.2.3. Digital Government Working Group Members ............................................ 34

4.2.4. Digital Government Discussion Summary ................................................... 34

4.2.5. Digital Government Challenges and Opportunities ....................................... 35

4.2.5.1. Governance ........................................................................................ 35

4.2.5.2. Regulatory Frameworks and Policies ...................................................... 35

4.2.5.3. Human Capital .................................................................................... 35

4.2.5.4. Business Processes and Data .................................................................. 35

4.2.5.5. Change Management ............................................................................ 36

4.2.5.6. Others ............................................................................................... 36

4.2.6. Digital Government Recommendations and Initiatives .................................. 36

4.2.6.1. Recommendations ................................................................................ 36

4.2.6.1.1. Governance ..................................................................................... 36

4.2.6.1.1.1. Establish or leverage existing bodies (empowered and accountable for the transformation) .................................................................................................. 36

4.2.6.1.1.2. Sponsorship ..................................................................................... 36

4.2.6.1.1.3. Develop or Refine an ICT Master Plan for the entire sector with clear milestones and monitoring framework (Performance Monitoring) .............................. 36


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4.2.6.1.1.4. Define Strategic Objectives for the government digital journey beyond 2021…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..36

4.2.6.1.2. Policy Reform and Regulatory Review ................................................. 36

4.2.6.1.3. Business Process and Data .................................................................. 37

4.2.6.1.4. Human Capital ................................................................................. 37

4.2.6.2. Short-Term Initiatives .......................................................................... 37

4.2.6.2.1. Conduct a Digital and Readiness Assessment for government entities to understand the current state and pain-points, and understand current and future demands………. ................................................................................................. 37

4.2.6.2.2. Review current and previous investments and projects and determine the next steps for each ..................................................................................................... 37

4.2.6.2.3. Develop Strategic national datasets that combine and integrate all primary data sources within the state ................................................................................. 37

4.2.6.2.4. Empower the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) to obtain relevant information from the various entities ..................................................................... 37

4.2.6.2.5. `Public Procurement Process – Review and Enforcement ......................... 38

4.2.6.3. Other Specific Initiatives - Ministry of Finance ......................................... 38

4.2.7. Considerations ....................................................................................... 38

4.3. ICT for Development (ICT4D) Domain ......................................................... 38

4.3.1. ICT4D Scope ......................................................................................... 38

4.3.2. ICT4D Participants Profiles ..................................................................... 39

4.3.3. ICT4D Working Group Members ............................................................. 39

4.3.4. ICT4D Discussion Summary ..................................................................... 39

4.3.5. ICT4D Key Stakeholders ......................................................................... 39

4.3.6. ICT4D Challenges .................................................................................. 41

4.3.7. ICT4D Objectives and Service Targets ....................................................... 42

4.3.7.1. Mapping the criticality of the problems and the government priorities .......... 42

4.3.8. ICT4D Recommendations and Initiatives .................................................... 42

4.3.8.1. ICT4D Short-Term Initiatives ................................................................ 43

4.3.8.2. ICT4D Long-Term Initiatives ................................................................ 43


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4.3.9. ICT4D Constraints ................................................................................. 44

4.4. ICT for Economic Development Domain ....................................................... 44

4.4.1. ICT for Economic Development Scope ....................................................... 44

4.4.2. ICT for Economic Development Participants profiles .................................... 45

4.4.3. Working Group Members: ....................................................................... 45

4.4.4. ICT for Economic Development Challenges ................................................ 45

4.4.4.1. Common Challenges (shared across multiple domains) .............................. 45

4.4.4.2. ICT for Economic Development Domain Challenges .................................. 46

4.4.5. ICT for Economic Development Recommendations ...................................... 46

4.4.5.1. Common Recommendations (applicable across the Sudanese ICT Sector) ..... 46

4.4.5.1.1. Immediate (within the year 2020) ........................................................ 46

4.4.5.1.2. Short-Term (within the 3-year transitional period) ................................. 47

4.4.5.1.3. ICT for Economic Development Long-Term (beyond the transitional period)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………47

4.4.5.2. ICT for Economic Development Domain-specific Initiatives ........................ 48

4.4.5.3. Digital Industries ................................................................................. 48

4.4.5.3.1. Short-Term ...................................................................................... 48

4.4.5.3.2. Long-Term ...................................................................................... 48

4.4.5.4. Using ICT in Development Initiatives (Short-Term) ................................... 48

4.4.5.4.1. Short-Term ...................................................................................... 48

4.4.5.4.2. Long-Term ...................................................................................... 48

4.4.5.5. Capacity Building (Short-Term) ............................................................. 49

4.4.5.6. Research and Development (Short-Term) ................................................ 49

4.4.5.7. Asset Management (Short-Term) ............................................................ 49

4.4.5.8. E-Commerce (Long-Term) .................................................................... 49

4.5. Data & Analytics Domain ........................................................................... 50

4.5.1. Data & Analytics Scope ........................................................................... 50

4.5.2. Participants Profiles ................................................................................ 50


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4.5.3. Working Group Members ........................................................................ 50

4.5.4. Data & Analytics Discussion Summary ....................................................... 50

4.5.5. Data & Analytics Current Challenges ........................................................ 51

4.5.5.1. Challenges for Evidence-Based Decision Making in Public Sector ................ 51

4.5.5.2. Data Collection Challenges .................................................................... 51

4.5.5.3. Issues That May Hold Back the Transitional Government and the Elected Government from Moving Forward (Short-Term and Long-Term) ............................. 52

4.5.6. Data & Analytics Recommendations .......................................................... 53

4.5.6.1. Awareness Raising ............................................................................... 53

4.5.6.2. Immediate Assessment of Information Management Capacity in the Public Sector …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………53

4.5.6.3. Build Institutional Information Governance Framework ............................ 54

4.5.7. Proposed initiatives ................................................................................. 55

4.5.7.1. Agree with Neighborhood Committees’ representatives to participate in: ...... 55

4.5.7.2. Immediate data-driven decision support to government top priorities ........... 55

4.6. Financial Inclusion Domain ......................................................................... 56

4.6.1. Financial Inclusion Participants Profiles ..................................................... 56


4.6.3. Financial Inclusion Discussion Summary .................................................... 57

4.6.4. Financial Inclusion Key priorities .............................................................. 57

4.6.4.1. Critical Success Factors for Financial Inclusion ........................................ 57

4.6.4.2. Addressing Key Priorities ..................................................................... 58

4.6.4.2.1. Regulatory Modernization/Reform ...................................................... 58

4.6.4.2.2. Financial Inclusion Stakeholders ......................................................... 58

4.6.4.2.3. Key Stakeholder Needs ...................................................................... 59

4.6.4.3. Addressing Key Challenges ................................................................... 60

4.6.4.3.1. Key Challenges ................................................................................. 60

4.6.4.3.2. Key Initiatives to Address the Financial Inclusion Challenges ................... 60


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4.7. Infrastructure Domain ............................................................................... 61

4.7.1. Infrastructure Participants Profiles ........................................................... 61


4.7.3. Infrastructure Discussion Summary ........................................................... 61

4.7.4. Infrastructure Challenges ........................................................................ 62

4.7.5. Infrastructure Proposed initiatives ............................................................ 62

4.7.5.1. Due Diligence and Assessment for Existing ICT Infrastructure .................... 62

4.7.5.2. Developing a Strategy and Roadmap for the ICT infrastructure .................. 62

4.7.5.3. Efficient Utilization of Infrastructure ...................................................... 63

4.7.5.4. Cyber security and National Risk Management ........................................ 63

4.7.5.5. Infrastructure National Projects ............................................................. 63


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Part One Executive Summary


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1. In a Nutshell

Here is what you need to read as important recommendations if you have 15 seconds and

want to get the essence of this report:

1. There is an evident need to establish an empowered and accountable ICT governmental

body to oversee the reform and transition of this sector.

2. The ICT sector, if managed properly, is capable of adding significant value to civil

services by way of reducing waste, improving cross-agency collaboration, and supporting

the decision-making process.

3. The government’s efforts to restore trust, improve transparency, and combat corruption

can significantly benefit from digitally transforming particular functions like government

procurement and financial inclusion through digital services. This in turn will open more

doors to re-integrate the country into the international scene.

4. A Digital Readiness Assessment is due for government agencies to identify and leverage

currently functional assets, and build on them.

5. Political will and the full support of the executive government are critical for the

transformation of this sector.


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1.1. The Brief

Sudan is currently going through a critical phase of political, economic, and social transition.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) holds great potential in helping the

achievement of a socio-economic leapfrog for Sudan.

In realizing the principles of the Sudanese revolution of Freedom, Peace, and Justice, The ICT

sector has a lot to offer through enabling the priorities of the transitional government, by

bringing to life the values of transparency and accountability, and by being a true catalyst for the

reform of civil services. This transformation, however, needs to be backed by serious political

will that is capable of creating synergies across all government agencies, and with actors in the

wider ICT ecosystem.

This workshop was the start of a serious dialogue among the wide spectrum of ICT ecosystem

stakeholders. Methods to have a structured way to curate ideas included “Design Thinking” and

“Ignite Talks”, mainly to enable an inclusive co-creation exercise for a citizen-centric national

ICT roadmap for Sudan- details about the ICT domains covered, composition of the working

groups, and session methodologies are detailed in Part 3 of this report. The workshop has also

been a step towards better engagement amongst the ICT ecosystem stakeholders in Sudan by

creating the needed level of mutual understanding and empathy among the key stakeholders.

In addition to stakeholder engagement, this workshop aimed at achieving three other objectives:

1. Agreement on key ICT initiatives of urgent nature to be executed in support of the

transitional government’s priorities.

2. Identifying the key enablers to the successful execution of these initiatives.

3. Identifying and addressing the key challenges in the ICT sector, including much needed

policy and regulatory reform that would promote a healthy ICT sector in the immediate

timeframe, mid-term, and long-term.


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Recommendations of this workshop emerged from very informed discussions, and are

representative of the crowd’s wisdom. These recommendations directly address current and

common challenges across pain points in the transitional government’s priorities. These

recommendations, if implemented, also have the ability to enhance efficiencies in civil services

and citizens’ experience. At a higher level, these recommendations can enable the sector to play

its desired role as a catalyst for development of Sudan.

Beyond short- term interventions, the ICT sector is the foundation of the Knowledge Economy.

Expert recommendations presented during this workshop established that ICT can become a

productive sector in itself, contributing to economic growth with initiatives starting in the short-

term that can enable a Digital Economy as per the Sudan Economic Revival Plan (SERP 2019-

2030).


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1.2. ICT Sector Challenges

Six challenges appeared frequently in the outcomes of the domains that worked in parallel during

the first day of the workshop, with the top four representing root causes of many other

challenges:

1. Poor governance

2. Lack of skills and digital competencies

3. Lack of access to data and inefficient business/ government processes

4. Serious challenges with the current policy and regulatory frameworks

5. There has also been consensus on the need to have a common national ICT and digital

transformation vision, and a centralized government agency with the mandate to create

and oversee the implementation of that vision. Consensus has been that that government

agency should report to the highest level at the executive branch of government, and be

accountable to all stakeholders in the ICT domain.

6. Another shared view has been formulated around leveraging functional existing

infrastructure and knowledge assets. For this to happen, due diligence exercises need to

be performed in different areas to have better understanding of what is currently

functional. Detailed information about each domain’s recommendations and initiative can

be found in part 4 of this report.

Stakeholders from eight different influential groups collaborated through working in seven

domains. They discussed the current state in each domain, identified and documented challenges

and gaps that are hindering progress across these domains. With thinking anchored in supporting

the transition, without loosing focus on long- term planning, participants came up with

recommendations and key initiatives that are capable of being implemented. Next steps as basis

for a transformation roadmap have also been identified.


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Figure (1) below describes the workshop structure and the deliverables that came out of

discussions. Detailed domain- specific recommendations and initiatives can be found in Part 4 of

this report.

Figure 1 - High-level description of the process followed in the workshop

Table (1) below represents the crowd wisdom, and summarizes the high-level recommendations

that were derived from the common challenges amongst the working groups during the

workshop.

Challenge

Related Recommendations

Governance Establish an empowered and accountable ICT governmental body

for planning and execution

Leverage existing bodies and current good practices

Develop and/or refine an ICT Master Plan for the entire sector

Define Strategic Objectives beyond 2021


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Skills and Digital

Competences

Revisit labor laws to support Digital Skills acquisition and retention

Create a coherent Capacity Building plan across the civil service

and key stakeholders, and leverage on complementary skills across

different government organizations to enhance digital literacy and

knowledge in the data and analytics domain

Data, Government, and

Business Processes

Establish an Enterprise Architecture Office to document/ review

existing business processes and procedures

Establish a Data Governance body to address the gap in laws,

policies and standards

Policy & Regulatory

Frameworks

Reform policies to support the digital transformation based on the

principles of quality of life, ease of doing business, fairness,

inclusion and adoption of creative economies

Reform policies to address missing or outdated laws on Data

Privacy, Intellectual Property, Investment Laws, E-Payment

Systems, Taxation Act, Competition and Anti-trust Act, and Cyber

Crime Act

Enforcement is needed on the area of Infrastructure Sharing, Access

to Information, free zones, consumer protection, and public

procurement and supply laws

Table 1 - Summary of high-level recommendations

These recommendations are capable of being implemented, with measurable impact, provided

the right level of government engagement is secured.

Part four of this report delves further into detailed recommendations for each domain that has

been discussed in the workshop.


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1.3. Proposed ICT Initiatives

A number of ICT initiatives have been proposed for the immediate timeframe, defined as the

following 10 months of 2020. Other initiatives have been marked for the short-term, defined as

the period covering the three-year transitional period. A third set of initiatives focus on longer-

term interventions paving the way for a modernized ICT sector that can have significant

contributions in the socio-economic development of Sudan.

Most of the initiatives set for the immediate timeframe are related to waste- avoidance and

enhancing operational efficiencies for the transitional government, while the short-term

initiatives are geared towards enhancing the citizen’s experience and laying the foundation for

the Digital Transformation.

1.3.1. Proposed ICT Initiatives – Immediate

1. Digital Readiness Assessment For Government Agencies

Conduct a Digital Readiness Assessment for government agencies to identify immediate

needs and short-term initiatives; e.g. secured communication platform, collaboration

platforms, workflow automation, correspondence management, … etc.).

This is critical for many aspects, including the harmonization of IT systems across the

government, which is expected to avoid waste and redundancies, promote synergies, and

ensure interoperability, in addition to enhancing the overall aggregate efficiency of the civil

service.

2. Public Procurement

a) Conduct a review to existing public procurement laws, processes, and procedures.

b) Enact and enforce public procurement systems to ensure transparency and fight

corruption.

c) Evaluate the introduction of a central digital strategic sourcing platform.

3. Evaluate and Support Existing Initiatives

a) Treasury Single Account

b) Universal Basic Income


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Figure 2 - Summary of the proposed ICT initiatives portfolio in the immediate, short and long-term timeframes

1.3.2. Proposed ICT Initiatives - Short-term

1. Re launch the Digital Government project after securing the key enablers as defined in the

recommendations above.

2. Launch of Mobile Financial Services across Sudan.

3. Launch a National Data Architecture initiative to work in data collection and architecture.

1.3.3. Proposed ICT Initiatives - Long-term

1. National Broadband Network

2. Localization of the IT industry with an eye on significantly contributing to Sudan’s GDP.

3. ICT4D projects

Figure (2) below summarizes the participants’ recommended initiatives, based on urgency.

ImmediateICTinitiatives

Digitalreadinessassessmentforgovernmentagencies

PublicProcurement

EvaluateandSupportExistingInitiatives(TreasurySingleAccountandUBI)

Short-TermICTinitiatives

DigitalGovernmentproject

LaunchofMobileFinancialServicesacrossSudan

NationalDataArchitectureinitiative(Datacollectionandarchitecture)

Long-TermICTinitiatives

NationalBroadbandNetwork

LocalizationoftheITindustry(tohaveasignificantcontributionofSudan’sGDP)

ICT4Dprojects


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1.4. Next Steps- Roadmap

The participants’ crowd wisdom, in addition to input from ICT experts, academicians, and

practitioners, concluded that the next steps should entail the creation of a central government

agency with direct reporting line to the Prime Minister of the Transitional Government, and a

clear mandate to plan and oversee the execution of two main portfolios:

1. ICT programs that align with, and enable, the Transitional Government’s priorities.

This portfolio is planed and executed on urgent basis within the 10 months through the

end of 2020.

2. Long term, strategic national vision for the sector that includes a wider footprint of

digital government and related programs.

The first mandate of this agency would be to asses the current environment, identify

infrastructure, content, and knowledge assets that can be leveraged and build on that.

Figure (3) below captures the roadmap as envisioned by the contributors.

Figure 3 - High-level ICT roadmap based on the workshop outcomes


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1.5. Proposed Post Workshop Follow-up Mechanism

A follow up mechanism is proposed to ensure successful adoption and implementation of the

workshop’s outcomes as depicted below.


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Part Two Workshop Methodology


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2. Workshop Methodology

This brief introduction provides an overview of the criteria for selecting the seven ICT domains

that formed the seven multidisciplinary teams that collaborated to identify the proposed ICT

projects. The composition of the diverse teams is also explained here along with the approach

followed to curate the ideas during this workshop.

2.1. ICT Domains

To serve the objective of positioning ICT as a horizontal, cross-cutting enabler to other sectors, it

was important to cover multiple aspects of the sector. As such, seven domains were identified as

thematic areas with more granular areas under each.

The seven identified domains are:

1. Digital Government: Discussions in this domain investigated critical factors and solutions in

the areas of transparency, effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability in government service

delivery.

Participants in this domain represented the wider segments of the Ministry of Finance,

Ministry of Interior, National Information Centre “NIC”, telecom operators, citizens, users

and start-ups

An expert with extensive experience in leading transformation projects at both corporate and

government levels facilitated this discussion.

2. Financial Inclusion: Discussions in this domain explored how the use of ICT can enable

financial inclusion. For the purposes of this workshop, financial inclusion has been defined

as the processes, systems and capacities needed to ensure access to appropriate financial

products and services, online banking and information security, as well as online payment.

Participants in this domain represented the wider segments of commercial banks, telecom

operators, and regulatory bodies: Central Bank of Sudan (CBOS) and Telecommunication

and Post Regulatory Authority (TPRA), finance, start-ups and citizens.


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A senior consultant responsible for regional Fin-Tech engagements for a major telecom

player facilitated the proceedings in this domain.

3. Digital Health and Edu-Tech: Discussions in this domain focused on how digital services

can enable health and education, including primary, technical/vocational, higher and artisan

education. Participants in this domain represented the wider segments of the health and

education sectors, citizens, private sector in health informatics, users and start-ups. A senior

knowledge management practitioner who has worked extensively in the education sector

facilitated the discussions in this domain.

4. ICT for Economic Development: Discussions in this domain were focused on identifying

digital services that can support economic planning, agriculture, trade, industry and social

development. Participants in this domain represented the wider segments of economists, civil

servants, users, IT companies’ executives, NIC and Start-ups. A seasoned analyst with

interest in researching the intersections of technology, development and peace facilitated the

discussions in this domain.

5. Policy and Regulatory: Work in this domain focused on identifying enablers and inhibitors

in the current policy and regulatory frameworks affecting ICT. Participants in this domain

came from TPRA, CBOS, NIC, telecoms and citizens. A telecom regulatory expert facilitated

the discussions in this domain.

6. Infrastructure: Conversations in this domain explored how the current infrastructure can

enable digital transformation and discussed the digital divide defined as the gap in access to

information and knowledge. Participants in this domain represented the wider segments of

telecom operation managers, ICT service providers and data centers. A lead ICT operations

management advisor facilitated this discussion.

7. Data and Analytics: Discussions in this domain looked into how we can use big data,

analytics, AI and other technologies to support evidence-based, data-driven decision making

with an eye on democratization of data. Participants in this domain represented the wider

segments of academia, start-ups, telecoms, citizens and data scientists. A senior solutions

architect with significant experience in the information technology and services industry

facilitated the discussions in this domain.


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2.2. Selection Criteria for Participants

One of the main premises of this workshop is to produce recommendations and possible

solutions that are curated from a crowd’s wisdom rather than collecting opinions of a

homogeneous group of experts. To achieve this, organizers opted to invite representatives of the

segments where requirements, thoughts and opinions are elicited by mapping the main

stakeholders of the ICT ecosystem and representing them across all domains.

Participants were selected based on their professional track records and contributions. Organizers

made every possible effort to bring in experiences from academia, citizens, private sector

including startups, government employees, regulatory bodies, telecom operators, IT companies

and civil society.

Figure 4 - Participants’ breakdown by target segment

23%

16% 13%

9% 8% 8% 8% 7% 6% 4% 3% 3% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%


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2.3. Approach

2.3.1. Establishing a Reference Point

As the workshop brought together individuals from various backgrounds and interests, it was

important to establish a starting point for the discussions. Organizers designed four keynote

speeches that were presented in the two days, summaries of which are captured in this report.

The keynotes covered:

• A scene setting presentation - SICTA

• An expert opinion on setting a vision and a roadmap for establishing an ICT industry in

Sudan - ICT Private Sector

• Government priorities as set in the 2020 national budget - Government of Sudan

• Recommendations and guidelines for the sustainable development of an ICT industry in

Sudan - University of Khartoum

2.3.2. Inspiring Innovation

Ignite Talks were short talks delivered by diverse stakeholders on different topics. The idea was

to help participants break the mold around typical thinking patterns and unleash innovative ideas

and solutions.

2.3.3. Curating Crowd Wisdom

After participants unpacked through keynotes and ignite talks, detailed work started. Organizers

used Knowledge Café practices to engage participants in interactive discussions that stimulate

innovative thinking.

A Knowledge Café is an interactive process used primarily to understand - or confirm an

understanding of - themes and patterns of collective thoughts and opinions amongst a diverse

group of individuals.


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The process is built on posing questions in a way that instigates good conversations.

• Ideas, solutions, critiques and recommendations are captured and externalized in a visual

manner.

• A domain representative briefs the room on the outcome of the discussion on their particular

table, and responds to questions from participants in the other domains; this brings synergies

across the seven domains, and as the day progresses, alignment starts to organically emerge

from the crowd.

• At the end of all rounds of questions, harvesters will collect feedback on each question from

all participants and work with the facilitator to group similar feedback in one area noting all

patterns and themes emerging from grouping feedback.

• A summary of the findings is compiled and one or two of the participants would present that

to the wider audience.


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Part Three Keynotes Highlights


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3. Key Notes

Experts in their fields presented keynotes as a way to share their views and expertise, and also to

provide context to the discussions across the various domains.

3.1. First Keynote - Scene Setting

In this Keynote, SICTA created the context for the participants’ work over the two days. The

presentation positioned ICT as a fast-tracking instrument that can work across various disciplines

to help achieve development goals.

The purpose of the workshop was clearly defined as well as the modality of work throughout the

workshop proceedings.

A snapshot of the current state of ICT in Sudan has been presented based on maturity level and

other indicators. The ICT ecosystem has been defined through mapping current stakeholders and

the interactions amongst them.

3.2. Second Keynote - IT Industry in Sudan - Vision and Roadmap

3.2.1. The Basic Premise

This keynote started by addressing an important question about the need to establish an ICT

industry in Sudan, and stated four main reasons:

1. Enabling and supporting other sectors to grow, including civil services and private

companies.

2. ICT can contribute positively to the country’s GDP and help build a Knowledge

Economy.

3. A vibrant ICT industry will create jobs.

4. Potentially energize untapped resources:

• Graduates (IT & engineers)


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• Experts (inside & outside the country)

• Academicians (inside & outside the country)

• Investors

The keynote also defined the main components of the ICT industry and quantified the potential

economic impact on the economy.

3.2.2. Roadmap

The keynote highlighted the need for a central government body with agency to oversee all

aspects of running an effective and efficient ICT sector. Figure (5) below illustrates an ICT

Roadmap based on a central ICT Council in relation to 6 main elements. The illustration also

explains the flow from a strategic view all the way to the projects that will realize the objectives

as presented in the second keynote.


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3.2.3. Proposed Organizational Setup

The keynote also suggested a particular organizational structure for the proposed ICT Council.

Figure 5 - Proposed structure for the ICT Council

3.3. Third Keynote - ICT and the 2020 Budget

This keynote highlighted the transitional government’s priorities based on the 2020 national

budget. A link has been established between ICT and how it can potentially support government

objectives in:

1. Enhancing the effectiveness and usage of the education and health budgets.

2. Establishing better governance of the social safety nets and financial inclusion.

3. Supporting job creation.

4. Improving efficiency and productivity in mining, agriculture and industry.

5. Reduction of corruption and government operating cost.

6. Effective tax and customs collection.

Despite the potentially high value that ICT can bring into the economy, the keynote established

that Sudan’s capacity is lagging in all ICT ingredients, and that there is no coherence across the

ICT policy value chain.


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3.4. Fourth Keynote - Recommendations and Guidelines for Sustainable Development of ICT Sector in Sudan

This keynote presented initial findings of a study that followed rigorous academic standards and

methodologies.

In their study, University of Khartoum academics researched four main topics:

1. Structural issues around ICT

2. ICT strategic objectives for the transition

3. Prioritization

4. Governance to achieve the objectives

The study also looked at case studies from Kenya and Tunisia as countries that have certain

similarities with the Sudan context. The study is still a work in progress.


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Part Four Workshop Domain Outcomes


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4. Domain- Specific Recommendation

In this part of the report, details of the discussions that took place at the workgroup level are

captured. Participants made clear recommendations where possible given the available resources.

4.1. Policy & Regulations Working Group Scope

The objective of this work group was to identify enablers and inhibitors in the current policy and

regulatory frameworks in relation to the potentials of ICT sector in Sudan.

4.1.1. Policy & Regulations Participants Profiles

The participants represented different sectors within the ICT ecosystem and included (telecom

service providers, international telecommunications organizations, legal firms, regulatory bodies,

financial institutions and citizens).

4.1.2. Policy & Regulations Working Group Members

• Abdalla Elfadil

• Ahmed Eldirdiri

• Ammar Hamadien

• Faisal Elmoftah

• Islam Elbaity

• Omer Omerabi

• Nasra Habbani

• Yahia Holly


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4.1.3. Policy & Regulations Discussion Summary

The work group approached policies and regulations as an enabler for ICT transformation and an

aid to achieve the transitional government priorities. Reforms and regulatory modernization

needed to enable the potential role of ICT in the different domains were a key area that was

discussed. The working group addressed the needed enablers (from a policy and regulatory

perspective) in three timeframes; the immediate (during the year 2020), the short-term (during

the three-year transitional period) and the long-term (beyond the transitional period)

4.1.4. Policy & Regulations Recommendations

4.1.4.1. Recommendations for the Year 2020 (Immediate Timeframe)

• Formulate the national ICT strategy that paves the road for the sector development and

that promotes citizen centricity.

• Revisit the taxation policies and spectrum and licensing regulations, including exploring

the option of incentives for expansion, growth and innovative services.

• Promote PPP and BOT models; this includes Digital Government and USF massive

implementations.

• Enable Start-ups to promote innovation and ideas incubation; this will enhance the local

software industry.

• Revise the telecom interconnection status and formulate relevant regulations that will

maximize the benefits.

• Link the currently operating regulators with the cabinet.


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4.1.4.2. Recommendations for the Short-term (the Three-year Transitional Period)

• Revise the sector`s regulators structure and enable an agile ecosystem.

• Perform a strategic market review to assess and evaluate the market.

• Revise the telecom law and then revise its subordinates such as the bylaws and

circulations.

• Set initial KPI`s for the service providers that are aligned with the incentives offered to

them.

• Plan for the 5G, IoT services and local internet.

4.1.4.3. Recommendations for the Long-term (Beyond the Three-year Transitional Period)

o Build a National Broadband Network (NBN) that will cater for the data revolution

and absorb the significant data demand and growth.

o Adopt the best practices in the field of deregulation, competition management,

spectrum auctioning and other related issues.


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4.2. Digital Government Domain

4.2.1. Digital Government Working Group Scope

The scope of the Digital Government is to address critical factors and solutions in the areas of

transparency, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability in government service delivery.

4.2.2. Digital Government Participants Profiles

o Government agencies (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior, National Information

Centre (NIC), Public procurement representatives)

o Telecommunication operators

o Private Sector and Start-ups

o Citizens/users

4.2.3. Digital Government Working Group Members

• Ahmed Abdelkareem • Akram Youssif • Alaaeldin Bushra • Amel Karar

• Fatema • Isam Abbas • Mohamed Fagiri • Mohanad Najeeb

• Salma Al-Noor • Suha Ibrahim

4.2.4. Digital Government Discussion Summary

The following section captures the set of challenges and opportunity areas identified by the

working group, along with the group’s recommendations.


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4.2.5. Digital Government Challenges and Opportunities

4.2.5.1. Governance

o Structure

• Clarity of responsibilities and accountabilities of the different governing bodies

within the sector, e.g., NIC, Nile Center, TPRA.

o Sponsorship

• Empowerment of existing bodies.

• Firm support and commitment from the government to the transformation.

o Coordination and Collaboration

• Collaboration among government entities and stakeholders; this is particularly

important for digital initiatives that require cross-entity integration.

4.2.5.2. Regulatory Frameworks and Policies

• Existence of digital regulations and policies.

• Enforcement of the existing rules and policies.

4.2.5.3. Human Capital

• Digital Skills within the public sector.

• Civil service and labor laws that pertain to attraction, development and retention

of ICT staff in the public sector.

4.2.5.4. Business Processes and Data

• Existing process suitability and fit for the transformation; i.e., conflicting

processes and procedures across entities that hinder integration and digitization

opportunities.

• Data availability, architecture and utilization.

• Policies and governing laws for data sharing, data classification and data privacy.


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4.2.5.5. Change Management

• Awareness and Adoption; the adoption of technology requires strong change

management practices including training, marketing and communications. This is

apparent in existing programs that are rolled out and not fully adopted.

4.2.5.6. Others

• Infrastructure readiness.

• Availability of funds and prioritization of initiatives and budget.

4.2.6. Digital Government Recommendations and Initiatives

4.2.6.1. Recommendations

4.2.6.1.1. Governance

4.2.6.1.1.1. Establish or leverage existing bodies (empowered and accountable for the transformation)

• Need for a central authority responsible for follow up, monitoring and evaluation.

• Revisit the relationship between the center and the states.

• The link between the government and the companies that belong to it.

• Evaluate the current makeup of critical entities.

• Provide political support to the governing body in charge of the transformation.

4.2.6.1.1.2. Sponsorship

• Decision making and political will to enforce direction and decisions.

4.2.6.1.1.3. Develop or Refine an ICT Master Plan for the entire sector with clear milestones and monitoring framework (Performance Monitoring)

4.2.6.1.1.4. Define Strategic Objectives for the government digital journey beyond 2021.

4.2.6.1.2. Policy Reform and Regulatory Review

• Review the existing policy frameworks and regulations.


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4.2.6.1.3. Business Process and Data

• Establish an Enterprise Architecture Office to document/review existing business

process and procedures.

• Establish a Data Governance body to address the gap in laws, policies and

standards.

4.2.6.1.4. Human Capital

• Establish digital capacity building programs.

• Revisit civil service labor laws to enable digital skills acquisition, development

and retention.

• Develop programs to strengthen the local eco-system to ensure long-term

sustainability.

4.2.6.2. Short-Term Initiatives

4.2.6.2.1. Conduct a Digital and Readiness Assessment for government entities to understand the current state and pain-points, and understand current and future demands

The assessment should produce the following – among other things –:

• Immediate impact initiatives; e.g. Secured Communication Platform,

Collaboration Platform, Workflow automation and Correspondence Management,

and build an Inventory of government digital assets and liabilities.

• Assess the technical adequacy of existing applications and solutions and their

functional fit.

4.2.6.2.2. Review current and previous investments and projects and determine the next steps for each

4.2.6.2.3. Develop Strategic national datasets that combine and integrate all primary data sources within the state

4.2.6.2.4. Empower the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) to obtain relevant information from the various entities

• Strengthen the Bureau in terms of capabilities and capacity.


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4.2.6.2.5. Public Procurement Process – Review and Enforcement

4.2.6.3. Other Specific Initiatives - Ministry of Finance

In addition to the short-term initiatives highlighted above, the group has identified the below

specific areas that require attention:

• Universal Basic Income; evaluate possible solutions to support the Ministry in the

rollout of the program.

• Treasury Single Account; review and assess fit for rollout.

4.2.7. Considerations

The group raised the considerations below to keep in mind:

• Impact of digital introduction to civil service staff.

• Government entities may have been in breach of software end user licenses

regulations during the past period. If and when the embargo is lifted, this will

pose a high risk of penalties to the government by international software vendors.

4.3. ICT for Development (ICT4D) Domain

This workgroup discussed the role ICT can play to enable health and education services.

4.3.1. ICT4D Scope

The mission of the Informatics Stream (ICT for Development Work Group) is to facilitate access

to information for the government, civil society, and people of the Sudan allowing informed

decision making and policy devising, and empowering the society through better knowledge. In

this roundtable we focused on Education and Health as the most important and critical public

services which ICT has the highest potential in improving the efficiency, effectiveness and

access of service provisioning.


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4.3.2. ICT4D Participants Profiles

o Government agencies (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Higher

Education)

o Civil Society (Education without Borders – EWB)

o Academia (University of Bahri)

o Private Sector and Start-ups

4.3.3. ICT4D Working Group Members

• Sara Ahmed • Anmar Hummaida • Gada Kadoda • Enayat Mukhtar

• Hussam Humrawi • Cliff James • Elwaleed Mubarak • Tarig Hashim

• Ayman Musmar • Marwan Awad • Eman Abdalla

4.3.4. ICT4D Discussion Summary

The Education and Health Roundtable first identified the key stakeholders of the public service

provisioning (education and health) in context of ICT, then identified a set of problems and

challenges. The participants determined the service qualities and objectives that citizens need to

be attended to which showed the level of abstract problem, then they prioritized the problems

and finally came up with ICT initiatives that address the challenges and problems along with the

group’s recommendations.

4.3.5. ICT4D Key Stakeholders

The ecosystem key stakeholder identification was the first question in the brainstorming and was

used to appreciate multi-agent and inclusion of all players in the system, this stage was very

important in order to prevent the suppression of non-influencing stakeholder voices or to avoid


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shaping the whole ecosystem by the influencing expert views. The group identified the following

stakeholders as the key ones:

1. National Information Center (NIC)

2. Federal Ministry of Health

3. Federal Ministry of Education

4. The Ministry of Higher Education

5. State and local governments

6. National government

7. Citizens (patients, students, parents, families)

8. Universities and research centres

9. NGO, CBO, and community

10. Incubators, start-ups, and graduate employment institution

11. ICT service providers

12. Private sector

13. Training centres and capacity building

14. Practitioners (teachers, medical workers)

15. Financial institutions


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4.3.6. ICT4D Challenges

The working group identified many problems and challenges in the domain of Health and

Education and then used affinity relation to group them in themes. Although the session was

facilitated to give the high-level problem first, then break it down into sub-problems using

consequence “Why” questioning or any root cause techniques; the result was the reverse, the

group started with sub-problems, then grouped them into themes. When the group identified the

desired objectives and qualities they need to be attended in public service provisioning, they

actually set the bar/target of the services where the deviation from the target is the real big

problem in the domain. The problem themes that came out from the brainstorming session were:

1. Accessibility of service

2. Resources/infrastructure

3. Lack of comprehensive data for informed decision

4. Governance

5. Awareness and capacity building

6. Efficiency

7. Lack of awareness, communication and informed decision

8. Policy

9. Availability of public services

10. Disparity and exclusion in service provisioning

11. Poor Quality of public services (Education and Health)


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4.3.7. ICT4D Objectives and Service Targets

The Participant were asked to determine which objectives and qualities they wanted to be

attended in the public service provisioning, these targets would be their voice in which the

service would be benchmarked against their level. They identified the following objectives:

o Accessibility of public services ( Health and Education)

o Affordability of public services ( Health and Education)

o Quality of the delivered public services

o Inclusion

o Efficiency

o Governance

o Data

o Awareness and informed decision

4.3.7.1. Mapping the criticality of the problems and the government priorities

The top three Objectives (High-level Problems) sorted by the severity and then mapped to the 10

government priorities were:

o Accessibility of public services (health and education)

o Affordability of public services (health and education)

o Quality of the delivered public services

For these three problems we next discussed how ICT can help education and health in achieving

their public services objectives through diverse initiatives.

4.3.8. ICT4D Recommendations and Initiatives

The group suggested many initiatives to seek innovative solutions to the identified high priority

problems. The underlying logic is that ICT has the potential to enable solutions to many complex

problems through utilizing the power of its high qualities to reduce the time and space,

strengthen networking, improve communications and knowledge diffusion, foster better

measurement and enable scalability.


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4.3.8.1. ICT4D Short-Term Initiatives

1. Education/Health Information Management System (EIMS/HIMS)

EIMS/HIMS: is essentially targeting education statistic of students, teachers and

institutions and should be integrated with learning system, GIS and asset management

(chairs, tables, smart-board…etc.).

2. Digital Mapping for both Health and Education Institutions

Digital map that integrates EIMS/HIMS and hospital information system with GIS in

order to map all resources and HR data. This will help enhancing planning of resources.

3. Tracking Drugs Inventories and Integrate them with GIS (Sudan Medical Points)

This system aims to optimize the distribution of drugs at national level while identifying

any shortage of medicines in particular areas. The system is also able to help citizens in

searching for medicine in nearby locations (GIS based searching).

4.3.8.2. ICT4D Long-Term Initiatives

1. E-learning /Technology Enhancement

This initiative aims to provide learning and capacity building through ICT technology, to

students, medical students, teachers and medical workers, and coverage initiatives about

training and out-of-school learning (address the problems of accessibility, affordability

and quality of public service delivery).

2. An Integrated MRS/PHR with Pharmaceutical Informatics

The aim of this initiative is to reduce the medical error that stems from wrong

prescription and at the same time have better coordination between two health systems.

3. Telemedicine

Telemedicine initiatives aim to support low-resources remote primary health centers

suffering from common frequent diseases.


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4.3.9. ICT4D Constraints

Although ICT has the potential to help in achieving Public Service objectives, there are

limitations and constraints that need careful attention; the group came up with:

o Efficient utilization of Informatics Fund: money being collected from all telecom

services (calls, messages, internet services and content services) by services providers

under the authority of TPRA. The current utilization of this fund is controlled by telecom

companies providing government projects

o Connectivity

o Approaching the ICT system from bottom/up to foster ownership of local institutions

o Capacity Building (digital skill development)

o Equipment and IT infrastructure availability

o Electricity and other supporting infrastructure

4.4. ICT for Economic Development Domain

4.4.1. ICT for Economic Development Scope

This section presents the outcomes of the ICT for Economic Development work group as

part of the “ICT for Renaissance of Sudan” workshop. The objectives of this work group

were to identify challenges of the existing ICT infrastructure, services and skills, as well

as to recommend solutions that can support economic planning in diverse sectors such as

agriculture, trade, industry and social development.


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The work group identified two paths in which ICT can support economic development;

the first being ICT as an enabler for other sectors by increasing their efficiency and

broadening their scope of application, and the second considering ICT in itself as a

productive sector that needs attention now to enable a Digital Economy as per the Sudan

Economic Revival Plan (SERP 2019-2030). ICT also assists in measuring the

effectiveness and outcomes of economic development. The suggested key initiatives and

recommendations are shared below. ‘Common challenges’ reflect challenges raised

across various domains or applicable to the ICT sector as a whole, while ‘domain-specific

challenges’ are more relevant to ICT for Economic Development scope.

4.4.2. ICT for Economic Development Participants profiles

The participants represent a broad spectrum including an economist, experienced ICT

private sector players, academics, a representative from Central Bank of Sudan and a

representative from economic cooperatives and neighborhood committees each.

4.4.3. Working Group Members:

• Dr. Tariq Ahmed Khalid

• Alhaj Yassin

• Fares Abashier

• Amjad Abdeen

• Gamal Abdelrahim

• Omer Awad

• Dr. Mutasim Elagraa

• Dr. Hisham Abu Shama

• Dr. Azza Zeinalabdeen

• Salih Mohamed

4.4.4. ICT for Economic Development Challenges

4.4.4.1. Common Challenges (shared across multiple domains)

o Lack of a centralized government entity that can align the multiple stakeholders

and bodies within the sector.

o Lack of a common ICT strategy that provides a common vision and directive for

the different stakeholders and unifies policies.

o Lack of clear regulation in ICT-related activities (data privacy, storage ...etc.).

o Misalignment between federal and state policies regarding the ICT sector.


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o Limited ability to enforce policies and regulations by the responsible bodies.

o Government entities have limited ability to identify their ICT-related

requirements.

o Lack of transparency in government tenders.

o Current NIC structure and capabilities, as the de facto body responsible for IT

sector, do not allow development of the ICT sector within both public and private

sectors.

o Lack of documented processes.

o Information, infrastructure and capabilities available within military and relevant

to the sector are not utilized (or limited access to them is allowed).

o Poor ICT skill level and lack of structured knowledge sharing.

4.4.4.2. ICT for Economic Development Domain Challenges

o Lack of decision-supporting information (e.g. fuel consumption info).

o IT sector is weak in terms of size and capacity and is composed of a limited

number of small companies.

o Poor capacity building and management skills.

o Poor R&D link to policy (information/research-based policy is not a common

practice).

4.4.5. ICT for Economic Development Recommendations

4.4.5.1. Common Recommendations (applicable across the Sudanese ICT Sector)

4.4.5.1.1. Immediate (within the year 2020)

o Establish a centralized government body to oversee the sector.

o Distinguish between 3 functionalities needed; an implementation function (PMO

office), an entity to set policies, and an auditing or regulatory entity.

o All government institutions to have an IT auditor.

o Standardization of information, and creating a central government entity that can

identify information needs across the government sector (or assigning information

centralization to an existing body).


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o Align federal and state-level policies.

o Identify ICT needs for government and private sectors, and link needs to

resources.

o Create citizen information databases, and classify citizens into categories for

different economic livelihood initiatives.

o Transform the Central Bureau of Statistics, while not an ICT entity in and of

itself, to become an independent information repository (uninfluenced by

government mandates).

4.4.5.1.2. Short-Term (within the 3-year transitional period)

o Centralize information and ICT resources.

o Centralize and automate procurement.

o Establish and maintain databases for any required information, and create

mechanisms for information exchange between and within public and private

sectors.

o Use ICT for education, health and other services.

o Institute NIC as the centralized entity through which all government IT activities

are aligned (enforcement needed by using incentives and compulsions).

o Establish an IFMIS through Ministry of Finance.

o Improve social programs and tailor them to Sudan challenges.

o Link between service providing entities and revenue generating entities within the

government.

4.4.5.1.3. ICT for Economic Development Long-Term (beyond the transitional period)

o Implement IoT (Internet of Things) in agriculture, mining and other economic

sectors (pilots can be done in the short-term period).

o Institutionalize need-based R&D by collaboration between academia, government

entities and private sector.


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4.4.5.2. ICT for Economic Development Domain-specific Initiatives

4.4.5.3. Digital Industries

4.4.5.3.1. Short-Term

i) ICT is a public good and should be incentivized as a sector to maintain information

e.g. reducing taxes for relevant companies.

ii) Establishment of National Incubators.

iii) Inviting international companies and private sector to participate in establishment of

industries.

iv) Tailoring ICT standards and best practices to suit Sudan environmental challenges.

v) Categorizing ICT companies and creation of a capability maturity model.

4.4.5.3.2. Long-Term

i) Creation of free zones in partnership with international technical companies that can

allow integration with global value chains.

ii) Tailored solutions to support SMEs in the ICT sector instead of large-scale

standardized projects.

4.4.5.4. Using ICT in Development Initiatives (Short-Term)

4.4.5.4.1. Short-Term

i) Addressing lack of adequate ICT infrastructure serving economic development

sectors.

ii) Digitizing and providing access to public sector information, and integrating

databases across relevant ministries, private sector, civil society, ...etc.

iii) Using ICT health, citizens’ status and other indicators to improve social programs and

tailor them to Sudan challenges.

iv) Humanitarian relief and disaster readiness based on data and AI (Artificial

Intelligence).

4.4.5.4.2. Long-Term

i) Introducing Internet of Things (IoT) applications in agriculture, industry …etc, and

ICT for education initiatives.


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4.4.5.5. Capacity Building (Short-Term)

i) Definition of required ICT skills per ministry/entity.

ii) Creating national capacity building initiatives and raising awareness on importance of

ICT knowledge transfer.

iii) Every ministry/body in the government should have a training entity with

enforcement mechanisms for implementation.

iv) Using private sector to support training by incentivizing (e.g. tax reduction).

4.4.5.6. Research and Development (Short-Term)

i) Link research with industry needs; convergence between industry and academia.

ii) Adopt research-based policy (currently there is a lack of R&D link to policy).

4.4.5.7. Asset Management (Short-Term)

i) Identify existing ICT assets and create asset registry.

ii) Reuse existing infrastructure (e.g. Africa City of Technology).

4.4.5.8. E-Commerce (Long-Term)

i) Using ICT to stimulate internal and external trade.

Inviting international companies and private sector to participate in establishment of

industries.


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4.5. Data & Analytics Domain

4.5.1. Data & Analytics Scope

This working group discusses Democratization of data, and how can Big Data, analytics, AI

(Artificial Intelligence) and other technologies be used to support evidence-based, data-driven

decision-making.

4.5.2. Participants Profiles

• Government agencies (Central Bureau of Statistics “CBS”, National Information Center

“NIC”)

• Telecommunication Service Providers (Data Scientists)

• AI consultants

• Citizens (Neighborhood Committees)

• Startups

4.5.3. Working Group Members

• Amro Abubaker • Moawia Gaafar • Mohamed Hashim • Badr Aldin Makki

• Ola Karrar • Ahmed Shibrain • Ihab Shulli • Mohamed Fagiri

• Hafez Al-Haj • Samir Mohammed • Akram Majeed

4.5.4. Data & Analytics Discussion Summary

During the workshop participants discussed the issues and challenges holding back making

informed decisions based on evidence.


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4.5.5. Data & Analytics Current Challenges

4.5.5.1. Challenges for Evidence-Based Decision Making in Public Sector

o Data fragmentation and isolation of information systems.

o Lack of data sharing mechanisms and willingness in institutions to share data.

o Fear of sharing data due to lack of awareness and lack of law enforcement.

o Citizens don’t always share their correct information for cultural reasons.

o Lack of awareness among decision makers about data importance.

o Lack of information management and data management.

o Most of data archives are not digitized.

o Absence of tools and processes to manage big data.

4.5.5.2. Data Collection Challenges

o No resources allocated for public sector data collection and integration.

o Absence of well-defined roles and job opportunities relevant to data/information, hence

absence of specialists.

o Weakness or lack of information systems for most of institutional procedures.

o Absence of central body in charge of information governance.

o Absence of master data management.

o Lack and weakness in baseline information.

o Unified location coding (Geo-coding).

o Weak capacity of enumerators and system operators.

o Data collection right has been abused by some governmental institutions due to

weakness of law enforcement.


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4.5.5.3. Issues That May Hold Back the Transitional Government and the Elected Government from Moving Forward (Short-Term and Long-Term)

o Lack of accurate population census.

o Lack of accurate economic census.

o Lack of accurate information about public services, institutions and companies.

o Lack of data driven insight about existing conflicts and their causes.

o Lack of national information portal to citizens, which affects their awareness of their

rights and the ease of life opportunities.


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4.5.6. Data & Analytics Recommendations

4.5.6.1. Awareness Raising

To work on raising the public awareness of the importance of Data and Evidence-based

decision making targeting all stakeholders and beneficiaries.

Who:

o Citizens

o Decision makers (ministers and directors of governmental institutions and non-

governmental organizations)

o Public sector employees (data workers)

Why:

o To get the buy-in from government, and showcase data benefits

o Improve quality of service

o Citizens data literacy

o Raise awareness on the importance of data among citizens

o Raise awareness on the importance of data quality among government employees

o Raise data rights awareness among all

Channels:

o Mass media campaigns (TV, radio, press, …etc.)

o Social media

o Direct (in neighborhoods, through Neighborhood Committees)

o Events (workshops for public sector)

4.5.6.2. Immediate Assessment of Information Management Capacity in the Public Sector

There is an urgent need for an immediate national assessment for the current status of

information management capacity in the whole country’s public sector.


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Stakeholders

o National Information Center (NIC)

o Information units in governmental institutions

o Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)

o Others (TBD)

Tasks to consider

o Map governmental institutions in the country in terms of information.

o Assess data availability among governmental institutions.

o Assess availability of information systems among governmental institutions.

o Assess information management human potentials in governmental institutions.

o Assess available ICT infrastructure in all governmental institutions.

4.5.6.3. Build Institutional Information Governance Framework

To form an empowered central body to be responsible for setting and monitoring policies and

regulations of information and data governance in the public sector:

A) Propose Information Governance (IG) Policy Framework to set out the standard to be

applied for managing information, including the principles, standards, procedures and

guidelines to ensure information control, quality, compliance, transparency, value,

accessibility, security, sharing, accountability and privacy.

B) Set national information standards

i. Geo-coding

ii. National identifiers coding

C) Set standards for Information Security (as part of IG Policy Framework) for information

in the Public Sector, by following the scientific approach of Information Security

(InfoSec) covering Information Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability standards.

D) Set or participate in information regulations and policy making.

E) Facilitate and support information governance monitoring.


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Stakeholders

o Government leadership

o National Information Center (NIC)

o Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)

o Information units in governmental institutions

o Citizens

o Others (TBD)

Issues

o Information Governance

o Information Security (InfoSec)

4.5.7. Proposed initiatives

4.5.7.1. Agree with Neighborhood Committees’ representatives to participate in:

o Raising citizens’ awareness about importance of providing their correct information.

o Conducting the census.

4.5.7.2. Immediate data-driven decision support to government top priorities

The group will set a steering committee with governmental institutions to identify areas that

require immediate deployment of evidence-based decision support.


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4.6. Financial Inclusion Domain

Explore how the use of ICT can enable financial inclusion, defined as: ensuring access to

appropriate financial products and services, online banking and security, and online payment.

4.6.1. Financial Inclusion Participants Profiles

• Commercial banks

• Telecom operators

• TPRA (Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority)

• CBoS (Central Bank of Sudan)

• Private Banks

• Ministry of Finance

• ICT consultants

• Start-ups

• Citizens/users


• Mutwakil Awad • Hisham Kahin • Manal Yassin • Shihab Salih • Mohammed Alfadni

• Hadeel Khalid • Dr. Walid Kamal • Mohamed Abbas • Maria Nadir • Amin Oshi

• Mohamed Nimir • Nasra Habbani • Fatima Sharfi


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4.6.3. Financial Inclusion Discussion Summary



4.6.4. Financial Inclusion Key priorities

o Regulatory modernization/reform

o Stakeholders interest

o Business Model

4.6.4.1. Critical Success Factors for Financial Inclusion

o Business Model

o Converged regulation (that covers the different key stakeholders including financial

institutions and telecommunications service providers)

o Business vision

o Stakeholders interest

o Regulation reform

o Integrated eco-systems

o Private sector empowerment

o Incentives for banks

o Public financial education

o Diverse approaches to different demographic & socio-economic groups

o State sponsorship

o Strategic planning

o Decouple policy from operation


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4.6.4.2. Addressing Key Priorities

4.6.4.2.1. Regulatory Modernization/Reform

o Light regulations, based on a framework to avoid hindering innovation (detailed policies

can be developed while the financial model is evolving)

o Need for a converged regulatory body (banks/telecom/ICT)

o Alignment between different domains related to Fintech

4.6.4.2.2. Financial Inclusion Stakeholders

o Citizens

o Regulators (CBoS, TPRA and a newly proposed regulatory body to address convergence)

o Banks/financial institutes/micro-finance bodies

o Service providers

o Agents/point of sales

o Software companies

o Government (as a service provider)

o Telecommunications service providers

o Social welfare

o Consumers right protection agency

o Compliance body

o Investors

o CA/PKI Authority

o Technology providers

o Distribution networks

o International remittance providers

o Security compliance bodies

o Payment gateway/aggregators

o Credit scoring agencies


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4.6.4.2.3. Key Stakeholder Needs

The Sudanese Citizen

o Tools/devices

o Security

o Service portfolio (transfer, payments, loans, government services)

o Ease of use and convenience

o Awareness and education

o Affordable services everywhere

o Availability of service

Telecommunication Service Providers

o Competitive offering

o Flexibility to innovate products/services

o Brand ownership

o Wide coverage agent market

Regulatory Authorities

o Accessibility to financial transactions

o Interoperability

o Privacy/security

o Anti-money laundering

o Historical financial data

o Citizen best interest within national goals

o OPEX saving

Service Providers

o Approach and compliance

o Profit


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Banks and Financial Institutions

o Increasing liquidity

o Building a customer base

4.6.4.3. Addressing Key Challenges

4.6.4.3.1. Key Challenges

o Establishing a relevant financial inclusion business model

o Lack of regulation convergence (that covers financial institutes and telecommunication

service providers)

o Public awareness about financial inclusion

4.6.4.3.2. Key Initiatives to Address the Financial Inclusion Challenges

Financial Inclusion Business Model

o Establish a public national forum to formulate a long-term Comprehensive Financial

Inclusion Framework

o Immediate short-term financial inclusion projects to be built on existing infrastructure

and in alignment with 2020 government strategy

Financial Inclusion Regulation

o A National Financial Inclusion Vision & Strategy that needs to be sponsored by the

Prime Minister

o Establish a National Financial Inclusion Council (to realize the needed convergence of

regulations)

Financial Inclusion Public Awareness

Launch an innovative national awareness campaign with public-private partnerships for financial inclusion.


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4.7. Infrastructure Domain

The scope of the Infrastructure Working Group is to explore how the current infrastructure can

enable the digital transformation. The work group also discussed the digital divide defined as the

gap in access to information and knowledge.

4.7.1. Infrastructure Participants Profiles

o Academia

o Telecommunications service providers

o Government agencies (Mining)

o Engineering Syndicate Initiative

o Consultant

o Citizens/users


• Satti Bagouri • Hassan Hamdoun • Anas Showk • Marwan Al-

Rasheed • Khalid Ehaimir

• Kamal Omer • Mohamed Sideeg • Prof. Sharif Fadl • Waleed Abdalla • Elamin Shiekhaldin • Mohamed Galal

• Osman Elhassan • Tarig Khalil • Mohammed Babiker • Akram Bakri

4.7.3. Infrastructure Discussion Summary




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4.7.4. Infrastructure Challenges

o Clear governance for the ICT sector

o Understanding the current infrastructure status and opportunities

o Efficient utilization of resources

o Cyber security

4.7.5. Infrastructure Proposed initiatives

4.7.5.1. Due Diligence and Assessment for Existing ICT Infrastructure

o Before developing a strategy and roadmap for Sudan infrastructure, the status-quo needs

to be fully understood by conducting due diligence and assessment for the existing ICT

infrastructure (what is meant by “ICT infrastructure” is: Datacenters, connectivity

(national and international fiber, copper, microwave, radio sites, satellites and earth

stations …etc.). That includes the government and private sector.

o A Senior Government Officer needs to be assigned for this initiative with a mandate to

form a committee from all the stakeholders.

4.7.5.2. Developing a Strategy and Roadmap for the ICT infrastructure

o Short-term and long-term strategies should be developed based on a gap analysis that is

conducted after the comprehensive due diligence. The strategy should consider the

requirements of all the verticals (health, education, banking, private sector. etc)

o The strategy should also consider the Digital Readiness factors and cover all users

(individuals, business, government).

o A Senior Government Officer to be assigned for this initiative with a mandate to form a

committee from all the stakeholders.


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4.7.5.3. 4.7.5.4. Efficient Utilization of Infrastructure

o There are significant redundancies in ICT infrastructures investment in Sudan that create

inefficiencies. By enabling infrastructure sharing, the efficiency will be enhanced and

eventually lead to significant waste avoidance (hard currency) and reduction in time to

market.

o Regulation for sharing should be reviewed and enforced (national & international fiber

network, radio sites, datacenters, …. etc.).

o Senior Government Officer to be assigned for this initiative with a mandate to form a

committee from all the stakeholders.

4.7.5.5. Cyber security and National Risk Management

o Cyber security aspects are main factors to be considered in both the due diligence and the

ICT infrastructure strategy.

o To conduct awareness workshop on cyber security, risk management and disaster

recovery to identify immediate risks and mitigations.

4.7.5.6. Infrastructure National Projects

o Build a national/international fiber network consortium that is shared between local

service providers and government. The consortium should own all the fiber infrastructure

and will enable Sudan to be a connectivity hub in the region (Africa and the Middle

East).

o Development of government infrastructure to develop and support a vibrant e-

Government ecosystem (consolidation of public service infrastructure, cloud computing

services, regional datacenters).

o A national project that addresses the disparity in the coverage and quality of ICT services

in suburban and rural areas (build upon the current USF efforts to address the same issue)


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End of Report

http://www.sudanicta.org/

[email protected]

Documents

ICT for the Renaissance of Sudan Workshopsudanicta.org/.../02/SICTA-ICT-Workshop-Report.pdf · The workshop was organized by the Sudan ICT Advisory Group (SICTA)* in a highly participatory