Program Features

The program is designed to continually build on existing skills, develop new personal skills as well as be entertaining and engaging. Twenty days away from work is a big commitment and there is lot to cover within the allotted time. There are also differences in the way in which individuals process information and learn.

In order to accommodate these different and often conflicting requirements the program is designed around the following streams.

1. Core Workshop Program. Study of the core knowledge areas integrated with group workshops to apply the techniques discussed and evaluate their applicability to the participant’s work environment.

 

1. Field Study Exercises. A number of external trips are arranged to look at how the development of ICT policy affects different sectors and members of society. This is to help place the issues into perspective and give them a face.

 

1. Personal development. We develop a number of key soft skills during the program which will be of benefit during policy development and implementation.

 

1. Team Building and Networking. Building effective teams and constructing networks is a key message throughout the program. Opportunities are presented throughout the program for developing these skills.

 

Local Opportunities for supporting entities

Donor Agencies such as the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), often rely on a series of Technical Assistance (TA) consultancies to develop the initial strategic frameworks for ICT infrastructure and regulatory implementations. In fact many of these TAs are inefficient and more expensive than required as they develop both a conceptual framework as well as perform a diagnostic of the current environment.

The Global eTeam Schools of Government material is the result of over 30 years of Technical Assistance experience and provides the distilled results of what works and what doesn’t. The consulting phase of ICT developments in developing nations may be accelerated by bypassing the development of conceptual models and proceeding directly to diagnostic, planning and execution phases.

Capacity Building

Donor agencies in most cases require successful bidders to provide a program of capacity building. This requires the winning party to train local businesses or consultancies to be able to perform part of the work once the consultancy has finished.

In the majority of cases this program is actually of little value and does not conform to a systematic program of training. The Global eTeam Schools of Government Fellowship Program may be used as a standardised model for capacity building. By requiring all local participants in a TA or implementation to have attended the training on the appropriate modules from the Global eTeam Schools of Government Fellowship Program you implement a method for ensuring consistent training within a single framework.

If those same modules and program are being delivered within a Tertiary Education environment you ensure that capacity is being built organically as well as via donor programs.

Dealing with Businesses

Microsoft Corporation has many partners who have the potential to provide services of benefit to Governments. In many cases however they will be unable to successfully bid for government work or if successful will fail to meet the objectives while still making a reasonable profit.

The causes are many; however a primary failing is that they do not see ICT the same way a government does. It normally takes many years of working with governments to understand the mechanisms that are used to derive policy, develop regulation, procure infrastructure to meet policy objectives and execute projects.

The Global eTeam Schools of Government Fellowship Program provides such businesses with the means to quickly understand the way governments approach ICT issues, how the procurement process will work and how their performance will be measured.

In Government, ICT decisions and directions are more likely to be based on economic, social, political and legal considerations than they are on technical considerations. In the developing nations add in the complication of culture, corruption and lack of capacity and it quickly becomes clear that even mature partners will have difficulty dealing with government business.

The Global eTeam

The Global eTeam (GeT) has been providing ICT Policy education and training in Africa since the beginning of 2008.  Microsoft Corporation has been the initial Sponsor of this Schools of Government program throughout Africa.

GeT is the developer of the Schools of Government education and training material. As a content provider we have developed around 2,000 pages of content designed to be re-useable, to be customised to individual regional or national requirements, to be enhanced and updated.  Content is available in English and French.

We provide collaborate learning technologies such as blogs; wiki and forums for knowledge sharing through our subscription based Global Knowledge Vault.

We are in the process of becoming a blended learning company. It is not about replacing face-to-face training with eLearning, but rather providing more than one mode of delivery in order to suite the content and audience.  Blended learning is said to improve student satisfaction, it may enable more of a self-paced approach and ultimately it’s about using different avenues to reinforce messages which lead to improved learning outcomes.

While we are a wholly owned Australian company our consultants are based in many countries including, Senegal, Thailand, China, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Introduction to AusAID’s Australian Leadership Awards (ALA)

The goal of the Australian Leadership Awards (ALA) Fellowships program is to develop appropriately trained current and aspiring leaders in priority areas, who, in the short to medium term, will be in a position to advance key regional policy objectives and increase institutional capacity of the partner countries.  ALA Fellowships are designed to complement individual bilateral country programs by offering flexible fellowship placements which address current and emerging needs at the country, sub-regional and regional levels.

ALA Fellowships do not lead to academic qualifications. Instead, they are designed to provide short term opportunities for study, research and professional attachment programs in Australia, delivered by Australian organisations, to nominated fellows from eligible countries.

Eligible African Countries:

• Algeria
• Angola
• Benin
• Botswana
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Cape Verde
• Comoros
• Congo (Republic)
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• The Gambia
• Ghana
• Kenya
• Lesotho
• Liberia
• Malawi
• Mali
• Mauritius
• Morocco
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Senegal
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• South Africa
• Swaziland
• Tanzania
• The Gambia
• Togo
• Tunisia
• Uganda
• Zambia

About the Fellowships:

Target: senior officials and mid-career professionals, who in the short to medium term, will be in a position to advance key regional policy objectives and increase institutional capacity of developing countries.

Prospective Fellows should be a current leader or an ‘influencer’ of policy or reform in their chosen profession, or aspiring mid-career professionals who can demonstrate their high achievement.

Gender: gender balance is promoted

Professional Attachment Fellowships: emphasis is placed on intensive management training, peer-to-peer learning, short-term training and knowledge sharing.

Program attendees may be:

a)   Bilateral – from one country ; or

b)   Multilateral – a number of countries

Number of participants per program

Each program will be limited to 12 Fellows to allow for better take-up of knowledge, logistics for field visits and transportation.

Each fellow must be supported by an organisation, institution or government department.

Language

All training is conducted in English

Proposed Program

Based on our training experiences in Africa during the past four years, we would like to propose a 3 week (15 days) senior management style program.  The program will include:

• Face-to-face  class room style training, including workshops;
• An integrated project which is completed over the period of the program and results in a single document to be taken back to the supporting institution/government department;
• Current IT Issues will be addressed;
• Presentations will be made by topic ‘experts’
• Field visits;
• Team Building activities;
• Cultural Activities
• Personal Development

Travel time has not been included in the proposed duration of the program.

Trainer

Peter Williams, Head of GeT’s Consulting Services.

Peter is an ICT specialist and is our lead consultant for Microsoft Corporation Globally.  Peter has overall responsibility for the development and delivery of content for the Schools of Government Program.

Peter has gained valuable experience working in Africa during the past 2 year.

He is well known within Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) and to the senior government officials who attended the Microsoft /GeT Schools of Government train-the-trainer program in Arusha and Windhoek

Peter will be supported throughout the Program by senior GeT consultants and participating topic ‘experts’.

Proposed Venue

The University of Newcastle, Australia (www.newcastle.edu.au). Newcastle is a 2hr drive north from Sydney International airport.

The Global eTeam Schools of Government Fellowship Program

Schedule of Activities

The following schedule is for illustrative purposes only. The exact schedule for any program will depend on logistics, availability of venues and external participants. The order of activities may change, and some items may be substituted for similar items to achieve the same outcome

Day/Time	Activity	Comment
Day 0	Arrival & preparation	Fellows will normally arrive over a weekend and prepare for Monday morning start.
Day 1 – Morning	Introduction & Logistics
	Policy Development Introduction	Introduction to the primary policy levers and how to apply them across different policy areas.
	Procurement Case Study
Afternoon	Workshop Introduction	Introduction to facilitating and participating in planning workshops
	Group Workshops	Participants will work in an assigned team for the duration of the program. This is the first workshop
Day 2 - Morning	Innovation Background	Innovation, what it means, impacts and how it affects culture, society, economic and legal aspects of a nation.
	Innovation Management	The correct sequencing of innovation activities within a national context.
	Case Study
	Personal development – Relaxation techniques	It is important for all professionals in this field to be able to relax. We practice a few techniques to aid in staying calm and focused
Afternoon	Workshop - Innovation
Day 3 – Morning	Introduction to Integrated Project	The Integrated project is a single project which will be completed over the entire program. It will represent a series of deliverables for a complete ICT policy program
	Interoperability	This introduces the participants to the concept of systems theory and the complexities of implementing large scale national ICT projects
	Interoperability Case Study	We look at the social, economic, regulatory as well as the technical aspects of interoperability. Often the technology is the simple part.
Afternoon	Workshop
Day 4 – Morning	Managing Social Aspects of ICT Policy	The nature of ICT means that many projects focus on the technical success of the project. Unfortunately many projects fail to deliver true value because the real measure of success is in the social impacts. We look at the various social elements and how they can be optimized during any policy discussion.
	Privacy Case Study
	Personal development - Negotiation	Everybody has a different agenda and a key skill is the ability to adjust proposals to maximize the various agendas without losing the value of the proposal. Here we look at negotiation as a basic skill for policy development.
Afternoon	Workshop
	Integrated Project Work
Day 5 - Morning	Field Visit – Social NGO	We pay a field visit to a Social Work NGO to look at the various types of social issues which can be addressed by ICT. The work of NGOs often fills the gaps which government initiatives fail to address.
Day 6&7 - Weekend	Cultural activity and visit Integrated Project Work Relaxation	Introduction to Australian Culture. A chance to unwind and to build networks with other participants
Day 8 - Morning	Managing Legal Aspects of ICT Policy	We look at the regulatory process and the implications of rapid technology change on how regulations are written, managed and enforced.
	Digital Identity Case Study	As a case study, we look at the legal and cultural issues around the various types of digital identity.
Afternoon	Workshop
Day 9 – Morning	Current Issues #1 – Green IT	Specifically we look at how Green IT policies have often had the effect of degrading living standards in developing nations.
	Intellectual Property	Intellectual Property and how to use it to generate economic activity. New IPR classifications which apply to developing nations
	Case Study – Intellectual Property
Afternoon	Workshop
	Half-time evaluation and review	This is individual time with the facilitator and other staff to help address any issues, outstanding questions and other requirements.
Day 10 - Morning	Field Study – Technical Government infrastructure	This is a field trip to a National or state government agency undergoing significant change in its ICT systems or policies.
Afternoon	Current Issues #2 – Cloud computing for Government	A presentation and session by Industry specialists targeting Cloud Computing specifically for Government Departments.
Day 11 - Morning	Digital Divide	A primary driver of ICT policy is to ensure that all citizens at all levels of society can participate in the benefits of Information technology.
	Cultural Aspects of Policy development	ICT policy varies from nation to nation based upon the cultural norms and attitudes of the nation. Approaches may vary based upon the level of conservatism, national oversight and current policy directions of the government.
	Prioritising Initiatives	There is a trade-off between economic benefits and cultural impact. We look at how we can maximize the benefit to society while reducing negative impacts by integrating ICT policy into the overall policy fabric of the nation.
	Personal Development – Maintaining the pace	Projects may drag, sometimes it hard to maintain the energy needed to achieve the goals we set. These are exercises in maintaining personal energy without becoming stressed.
Afternoon	Workshop
	Team Building - bowling	Competition is an important part of building successful teams. Tonight we relax with a bowling session with a difference.
Day 12 – Morning	Current Issues #3 – Compliance and Corruption	An important part of building economic efficiency is managing the underground cash flows. We look at how ICT policy formulations can help manage corrupt activities. We also look at ways to replace corrupt practices with compliant practices without creating negative impacts.
	Applied technology – Education Policy	This is a review of how to apply ICT in improving education. How to fund and how to implement.
	Case Study
Afternoon	Workshop Integrated Project
	Individual Reviews	Participants will review individually during the afternoon with the facilitators and other staff to ensure adequate progress.
Day 13&14 - Weekend	Social activity	Bus trip and evening entertainment
Day 15 – Morning	Field Study #3 – Local Government	Much successful implementation of ICT policy and programs occurs at the local level. We look today at how Australian Local Government works and the impacts technology has at managing the municipal level.
Afternoon	Integrated project
Day 16 – Morning	Application of technology - Medicine	We look at how ICT may improve the delivery of medical services and improve access to advanced medical services.
	Aspects of economic Development	Many areas of ICT policy have a direct impact on the economic development of the nation. Matching appropriate policies to economic segments is a key skill for ICT policy Makers.
	Case Study
Afternoon	Introduction to Economic Model	We look a standardized tool for evaluating a large number initiatives and rapidly identifying those with the greatest potential impact for the government, the citizens and for the private sector.
	Workshop	This workshop will focus on practical uses for the evaluation tool
	Team Sport - Basketball	Basketball requires strategy, planning and rapid evaluation of your opposition. We play basketball with a few changes to the rules.
Day 17 – Morning	Field study – Small Businesses	In both developed and developing nations a key indicator of the success of economic policy is the emergence and growth of a vibrant small/medium business sector. This field study will be to examine the unique requirements and impacts of the SME sector.
Afternoon	Personal development – Influence & facilitation	One of the keys to successful adoption of policy is the ability to market to and influence stake-holders to adopt and champion policy initiatives. This is an exercise in developing skills in facilitation and the building and display of credibility.
	Integrated project
Day 18 – Morning	Current Issues – Carbon Economy	ICT systems have grown globally to be one of the largest users of energy. Their impacts in terms of computing power, environmental and support must be considered in any program of meeting emissions standards. Luckily the technology to significantly lower emissions and energy usage is already quite mature. What is needed is a consistent policy stance.
	Shared services Architecture	The value, complexities and approaches to building single-windows, shared services and other cross-agency computing services to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase service delivery.
	Case Study – Tying it together	We begin the process of tying together the different technologies, social, economic, regulatory and technical considerations to produce a holistic policy position.
Afternoon	Workshop Integrated Project
Day 19 – Morning	Group Presentations – Integrated Projects	Each of the groups will present their final presentations of the Integrated Projects.
Afternoon	Networking Event	A networking event with the participants, government representatives, industry and academic specialists.
Day 20 – Morning	Summaries Q&A Next Steps and agreed follow-up

Funding criteria

Funding is only for in-Australia activities and does not support pre-departure or post fellowship activities.

AusAID’s funding will include:

• Return economy airfare from/to country’s international hub
• In Australia all transport i.e. domestic flights, taxi, train, bus etc
• Accommodation and living expenses in full for agreed number of days
• Medical insurance costs while in Australia

Program costs NOT funded by AusAID - to be funded directly by African organistation

• Domestic flights within a fellow’s home country
• Taxi/transport costs within a fellow’s home country
• Passports
• Salary/consulting fees for the duration of the training in Australia if applicable

Program cost to be funded directly by GeT:

• Visa processing and direct visa costs for each Fellow
• Office , operational costs
• Mobile / communication costs while in Australia
• Hospitality costs
• Management costs

Eligibility of Fellows:

ALA Fellowships target senior officials and mid-career professionals, who in the short to medium term, will be in a position to advance key regional policy objectives and increase institutional capacity of developing countries.

To be eligible, all fellows nominated by Australian organisation must:

• Not have Australian permanent residence status or to applying for permanent residency;

• Be a citizen of, and residing in, an ALA Fellowship’s eligible country;

• Have been working in their country of citizenship and in areas relevant to their proposed training in Australia preceding the date of the proposed commencement of their Fellowships.  Nominations must be supported and certified  by the Fellow’s country organisations or institutions through a ‘Letter of Support’; demonstrating their strong linkage with the Australian organisation, and a ‘return to work plan’ (incorporated into the ALA Fellowships CV template) demonstrating the potential of nominated Fellows to assume leadership roles and influence policy reform and development outcomes when they return to their organisation and country;

• Be able to take up the nominated ALA fellowship activities at the time and for duration proposed b the Australian organisation; and

• Be of good character.

All fellows will need to satisfy Australian Government visa requirements for entry to Australia.

Fellows must be nominated at the time of application (November 23, 2011)

The application should also include a suitable number of reserve fellows to allow for replacement in the event original nominees are no longer able to participate.  After the proposal has been accepted, nominees not included in the approved reserve list will not be allowed to replace those fellows who are unable to take up the awards.

A support letter for the proposed Fellowships program and for the nominated Fellows and Reserve Fellows must be provided with the application from each overseas counterpart organisation.

The overseas counterpart must address the following issues in their letter:

a)   Confirm support for activity;

b)   Names of individual Fellows and rationale for chosen Fellows;

c)    Expected outcomes and benefit for the overseas counterpart organisation and the Fellows;

d)   How the proposed program relates to current priorities;

e)   Activity the nominated fellow will do when he/she returns to his/her workplace.

Timeline

By Friday 7/10/2011                Cut-off date for Expression of Interest from interested universities, schools and government department

7/10/2011-  21/11/2011              GeT to work with the universities, schools and                                          government departments preparing paperwork as                                              described above.

 

All documentation to be completed by

November 21, 2011

22/11/ 2011                            Submit application

23/11/2011                             Tenders close 5pm Australia Eastern Standard time, November 23, 2011

Dec 2011 – April 2012             Review of applications.  All short-listed applications will be sent to overseas diplomatic missions for comment on the proposed activities, the Australian organisation’s presence in-country and the appropriateness of their counterpart organisation.  The diplomatic missions will rank applications based on their relevance and potential to achieve development objectives in the region and/or country.  The diplomat missions will also consider nominated Fellows and provide comment where appropriate.

May /June 2012                       Successful applicants (GeT) advised.

Successful Universities, Schools, Government Departments and Fellows advised

All arrangements to be confirmed

August - Oct 2012                   Proposed dates for training of initial 2 programs (12 participants each) between August and December 2012.

Ramadan 2012

We have taken Ramadan into consideration when proposing the program dates for 2012.  Ramadan 2012 falls between 29^th July – 18^th August.

 

Proposed dates for training.

Program 1 – limited to 12 Fellows

Commence: 27th August 2012

Finish: 15th September 2012

Alternative date

Commence: 1st October, 2012

Finish: 19th October, 2012

 

Program 11 – limited to 12 Fellows

Commence: 29th October, 2012

Finish: 16th November, 2012

Alternative date

Commence:12th November, 2012

Finish: 30th November, 2012

 

Note: Program 11 is a repeat of Program 1

All training subject to this Tender must be carried out during July – December 2012

On-going Fellowships:

Grant funding is available for further programs during 2013.

 

The Global eTeam Schools of Government Fellowship Program will continue (subject to tender) during 2013.

 

Two programs will be conducted during February – May 2013; and

Two programs will be conducted during August – November 2013.

 

 

Additional information

For additional details relating to the program, for questions and suggestions please contact me at:

 

Email:         This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Skype: loloma.dixon

Direct line/telephone: +61 2 4977 1143

Mobile: +61 400 338 578

 

A workshop facilitator will be appointed early 2012.

 

 

Cut-off date for Expressions of Interest for Program 1 & 11

Please remember that the cut-off date for Expressions of Interest is Friday, October 7, 2011