Background
President Dr. Irfaan Ali has reiterated his government’s vision to create a digital and data-driven Guyana. This could also see some of Guyana’s tech services being exported in light of the progress being made to mainstream the use of technology in health, national security, education, and economic improvement.
The digital economy is giving developing nations the chance to boost income and productivity, foster long-term growth, and lessen inequality. The gap between developed and developing nations is likely to widen if they do not make an effort to take advantage of this global trend.
A successful digital economy depends on the free flow of people, information, and capital, all of which should be embraced. The digital economy represents a significant opportunity for emerging nations to develop given the quick changes in technology, the economy, and society. To help the country escape the middle-income trap and capitalize on this new trend, it is a new growth engine that will raise the country’s productivity and income.
A Future Digital Economy
By the end of the decade, Guyana, which is located on the North Atlantic coast of South America, plans to implement national digital governance. All citizens across the nation will benefit from the transformation in terms of development, inclusivity, and quality of life.
Guyana, a nation in South America with fewer than a million people, has begun addressing a specific geographic issue; the accessibility to government services varies greatly between its coastal, denser-populated areas and its hinterlands. Guyana is acting quickly to close the gaps in public services in various regions in order to address the problem and keep working toward its 2030 goal of becoming digitally driven.
The Digital Project
The government of Guyana launched the ICT Access and E-Services for Hinterland, Poor and Remote Communities project, which consists of improving access to ICT nationwide, facilitating digital access to public services and information, and raising the digital literacy of local communities to enable them to use e-services.
In this project, a capacity-building strategy was developed in collaboration with NRD Companies, a global supplier of gov-tech, IT solutions, and consulting services, to address the identified ICT gaps in Guyana. NRD Companies has already conducted a thorough analysis of the nation’s ICT capabilities of more than 50 governmental organizations.
The Division of Social Protection and Health of Guyana, which is essential to ensuring the social security of rural communities, will be modernized with the help of NRD Companies. The technical specifications will be prepared by NRD Companies.
Advantages for the People of Guyana
Although the NRD Companies’ strategy is primarily focused on modernizing the structure of the state’s ICT infrastructure, the infrastructure itself will serve as the foundation for government e-services that will benefit all citizens, especially those who live in remote and underserved areas. The government will be able to better serve citizens by offering online services in the areas of social support, healthcare, education, and other vital services.
Long-term, it will lay the groundwork for achieving the SDGs such as lowering poverty, improving population health and well-being, reducing inequality, advancing gender equality, and others. In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services for all, especially for those who live in remote areas, the government of Guyana intends to deliver e-government services through 200 ICT hubs distributed in remote communities.
According to Brigadier (Retd) Mark Phillips, the Prime Minister of Guyana, the success of this project is essential for the development of Guyana. During a meeting with Jose Eguren, Senior Advisor, and Jairo Valverde, Guyana’s Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program, the project’s sponsor, and 200 of those communities, he noted, “We have identified 200 of those communities to be connected and to benefit from everything that comes under the umbrella of e-governance. Once those communities have the hubs and once the Government’s e-services are developed, it’s going to improve the integration of all Guyana”.
Nationwide Digital Security
Guyanese can anticipate improved methods of conducting business as well as heightened security at airports and agencies as the government works to advance technology throughout the nation. In 2022, Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo stated, “We have a modern grid, clean, dependable power, ready-made roads, bridges, and ports, as well as the broadband technology and bandwidth across the nation that we need to support a digital economy. We’re going to start moving in the first step in a few months, I just got back from the Middle East.”
The Vice President reaffirmed the government’s intention to issue a national ID card that would contain all the biometrics necessary to support an electronic passport. Dr. Jagdeo remarked that this will be safer, more trustworthy, and accepted by other nations. The local airports will also undergo a revolution as a result of this move, thanks to the addition of e-gates and other cutting-edge technological features.
If you want to submit your articles, research papers, and book reviews, please check the Submissions page.
The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
