Fifty-two (52) public officers have gained valuable insights and skills that will help them in their professional and personal lives after successfully completing a digital transformation training course which was held from February 6, to March 9, 2023.
The 40 women and 12 men were presented with their certificates at a ceremony held at the Goodwill Parish Hall on Thursday.
The training was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works, Public Utilities and Digital Transformation.
“The course was really an introduction. We developed this course over months working with Governments, Head of Dominica Project Office-UNDP Barbados, and the Eastern Caribbean”, Laura Hildebrandt said while addressing the ceremony.
She continued, “We were talking about digital transformation, but we didn’t necessarily have a shared and common understanding of what the key pillars were of digital transformation, what some of the key terms meant, when we talked about digital skills what did we mean by that, when we talked about the importance of the private sector playing a role in digital transformation, that wasn’t always clear either.”
Hildebrandt added, “We really developed this course for you, for civil servants specifically in small island developing states, but I can say that people around the world are taking the course from Nigeria, Ecuador…”
She explained that the course was done specifically in Dominica in order to empower civil servants to have a role in digital transformation.
Hildebrandt explained further that from the course material a lot of the content highlighted how the government can work more effectively, “ internally with your administrative systems and also improve services to the public using digital technology.”
“We hope it offered a little introduction to each of these areas and certainly the beginning of the discussion within your groups to talk a little further with respect to your ministerial assessments,” she stated.
Hildebrandt said the UNDP will continue to host workshops to bring together key sectors not just the ministry, but the ministry along with key stakeholders from that sector to really understand what is going on in the digital space.
Out of the 52 people who completed the course, 8 were from the Ministry of Fisheries and Blue and Green Economy, which signifies the highest number of participants followed by the Ministry of Public Works.
Meantime, Permanent Secretary of Public Works, Public Utilities and Digital Transformation, Emile Lancelot who represented the minister said most of the participants should be aware and have knowledge of the digital transformation strategy which has highlighted that government in close collaboration with the private sector and civil society will be the driver of digital transformation which will require government to deliver high quality inclusive and sustainable digital service to the public.
“The first cohort of this training is geared at achieving these desired goals,” he noted.
According to Lancelot, the Caribbean digital transformation project has also undertaken a series of training for the identification of change managers for leading the way in the implementation of the digital transformation strategy within the sector.
He commended the participants for participating and completing this course successfully.
“I look forward to you being a champion within each of your ministries to steer the development of the road map and the digital transformation process for an efficient digital public service,” he said.
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