This high level seminar was held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 5-6 May 2007 as a joint collaboration with Asian Development Bank Institute and the National Information Technology Center of Nepal. It was attended by more than 40 high level government officials and resource speakers. All the participants discussed the challenges of implementing e-government programmes and how Nepal could overcome them. Group discussions were held, consensus reached and action plan developed. Participants requested organizers of the seminar to arrange a follow-up meeting on 10-11 November 2007 to check the progress of its implementation.
Nepal is facing numerous challenges while introducing and implementing e-government programmes, such as political issues, inadequate human resources, lack of necessary legal framework, little public awareness about ICT, poor ICT infrastructure across the nation, to name a few. Due to lack of integrated planning, ICT resources in the government offices are not fully utilized. Most of the government officials have a mindset that they will lose their jobs if ICT is introduced in their working environment. As a result, they are resistant to the proposed changes.
The goal of the seminar was to reach consensus on major e-government-related issues through expert consultation and group discussions. At the end of the seminar, an action plan for introducing e-government programmes in Nepal was developed.
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Asian Development Bank Institute