Summary report on national information & communication technology held at the harare international confernce center sheraton jacaranda 3 on 31 august 2004 Author
Working Definition of the Mining Sector
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- WORKSHOP FINDINGS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- CONCLUSION
- ANALYSIS
Working Definition of the Mining SectorThe working definition proposed is that used by the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities. According to the classification mining falls into two tabulation categories:
13 – Mining of metal ores 1320 – Mining of non-ferrous ores This category includes the extraction of metal ores using processes which do not alter the chemical composition of the basic compound which furnishes the desired metal.
27 – Basic metals 2720 – Precious and non- ferrous metals This category covers essentially the refining of precious metals. The ISIC definition does not include downstream activities (fabrication and marketing) or those upstream (exploration) but these will be included as mining activities in this report. WORKSHOP FINDINGSThe capital-intensive nature of mining means that large companies (usually large multinationals) dominate the mining industry. ICT usage varies depending on the size and ownership of the mine. Large mining corporations use ICT for specialised core activities of the mine. These include:
The raw materials procurement process is seen as an area where the Internet can reduce costs, gain efficiencies and improve the raw materials purchasing process. Internet use for accessing information resources for benchmarking purposes is of major importance for large mining companies. E-mail and file transfers on E-mail are the most commonly used applications. Basic hardware and other communication technologies such as personal computers, servers and Local Area Networks are used but access to these facilities is mostly by middle level management and upwards only. For external communication the mining sector use mostly conventional telephone lines, leased telephone lines and mobile telephone channels. Most mines use radio communications for internal communications. There is general consensus that getting access to the Internet through the public switched telephone network is very difficult. Access needs patience, as lines are often bad, with frequent disconnections especially during the rainy season. Leased lines are favoured over dial up connections for Internet access but these results in a high cost of communications links. Most mining operations are labour intensive and consequently administrative applications such as Payroll, integrated accounting packages and inventory control have been used to a large extent. The level of diffusion of ICT in the areas of Resource and Process Management is high within the larger mining houses, whereas the penetration of ICT into the general workforce is low (in terms of access to computers and/or the internet). There are social pressures for large mining houses to increase the participation of local communities in both the planning and operation of mining projects. The indigenisation drive by the government of Zimbabwe has seen the inclusion of indigenous players into mining activities. Increasingly, small-scale miners are now involved in sustained mining operations. These miners usually lack business skills so that there is a need for institutional support including training in ICT within the sector. RECOMMENDATIONSThe following recommendations were made for the role players within the mining sector:
The government can also play its part by:
CONCLUSIONMajor players in the mining sector are relatively sophisticated ICT users. Small-scale and medium scale mining companies hardly use ICT at all. This poses an obvious challenge that needs to be addressed by all sector role players including the government. Most large mining houses have Internet connections although the number of individuals within the firms with access is typically quite small (middle management and upwards). E-mail is a primary benefit of the Internet to these companies and it is used both internally and to communicate with outsiders. E-mail is also used for transmitting documents and data. Information searches are a major use of the Internet by large mining corporations although users exhibit considerable frustration at the slowness of response times. Security also seems to be a problem since Internet use for financial and credit transactions are scanty or non-existent. 5. E-EDUCATION EVIDENCE External Communications: Conventional telephone lines are widely used in communication among different schools. On average 60% of the schools budgets are devoted to telephone bills and the schools normally control access to the telephones. Communication with the Ministry of Education is also done in writing for protocol. A limited number of schools have fax facilities. Universities and tertiary institutions are better equipped, commanding a number of telephone lines, and access to e-mail facilities, besides the conventional postal services. Planned use of ICT Education is planning to bring in e-mail as a communication tool to replace the widely-used telephone in schools. ICT can be used as a teaching tool in education. Examples of the foregoing include educational software, tape recorders, educational broadcasts and educational videos. Higher education institutions have programmes that incorporate ICT skills learning for all students. It is also intended to use the Internet for Electronic Distance Education and Research. Online education and training is in the pipeline for all these institutions. An insignificant 13 out of 4000 schools in Zimbabwe have Web sites. The reason is that setting up Websites may be expensive to set up for the under funded schools and hence only the private schools are able to. On the other hand, the majority of Tertiary and Higher education institutions have Web sites. The Web sites in those few schools are meant to attract foreign students to fill in vacancies not taken up by local students on the grounds of high fees. The Web sites in Tertiary and Higher Education institutions, advertise the programmes offered by these institutions on the International arena, in order to attract a student population that will bring in foreign currency to these institutions. The motivation for adopting e-education is to improve the quality of service in the schools and higher education institutions. The educational programs designed by specialists can be shared widely through video, telephone and data conferencing. Barriers on the use of the Internet CONNECTIVITY: Within Zimbabwe there is unlimited bandwidth for the half a million Internet users because fibre optic cable is used to connect different centres. However a bottleneck occurs at Mazoe Satellite Station, which is the exit point of Internet traffic to the world external to Zimbabwe, in trying to access the external Internet resources due to limitations in the infrastructure. AFFORDABILITY: The costing base of the Internet can be controlled within Zimbabwe, but once outside the country it is not possible to control the costs. Therefore Internet Service Providers have to charge their customers at competitive rates, to take care of the external costs. Moreover the costs of developing and maintaining an Internet system are forbidding for most schools and colleges. The costs are pushed up by the use of fibre optic cables and yet there are cheaper gadgets using wireless technologies that can be adopted. The cost of the equipment which in most cases have to be imported as the country does not have the industrial base to produce most of it, is beyond the reach of many. SPEED OF ACCESS: With an increased number of Internet users, and a limited bandwidth it is difficult to use the Internet effectively for training and research due to a reduced speed of access. ICT SKILLS: The training of ICT personnel is suspect as the quality of the graduates that are produced by such institutions cannot meet the minimum requirements of the industry. The curricula in such institutions do not encourage hands-on skills. The availability of such personnel is further exacerbated by the brain-drain that is characterising the Zimbabwean employment sector. The country is importing expensive software from outside instead of developing its own local products fro the local economy, although educational institutions are churning out ICT graduates every year. ACCESS PHYSICAL ACCESS: In government schools there is one telephone line for between 800 and 1600 users. In the past public telephone booths were made available for students, but the service has since been withdrawn for various reasons and placed in public places. One of these is that these schools are minimal-profit generating institutions. Private schools have cellphones for Principal Officers and there is a marked increase in the number of students who own cellphones in the private schools. APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY: The ZIMSCI project that was sponsored by the Ministry of Education simulated laboratories for upper-top schools. It depended on demonstrations and hence it was targeted at junior secondary streams. However this project has since been disbanded due to poor management. There was also the SIDA-funded technical kits project which provided woodwork and building equipment AFFORDABILITY: The high fees charged at private schools enable them to attract skilled staff. However, because funding is low in government institutions there is inadequate support for ICT. Fees in government funded Higher Education institutions are controlled, and yet those in private colleges and universities are exorbitant to keep up with inflation. Therefore private institutions are better-equipped than government-funded institutions. RELEVANT CONTENT: The Television in Zimbabwe has a relevant cultural and language content, although the Internet does not. TRUST: There is no government policy on ICT with reference to education. LEGAL AND REGUALTORY FRAMEWORK There are private educational institutions which access the Internet through Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which are in turn regulated by the government. The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAS) and the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), are regulatory authorities that are a duplication of efforts and hence have to be merged to avoid confusion INFRASTRUCTURE: The bottleneck that occurs at the Mazoe Satellite station hinders huge volumes of information from going and coming through speedily. However within Zimbabwe itself there is an unlimited bandwidth because of the use of fibre optic cables. TAXATION: There is a hiccup in importing technology into Zimbabwe because of the 5% VAT and import duty on imported technologies according to laid down tariffs. EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR: The exodus of skilled personnel has also affected the ICT sector. ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY: It is hoped to assist rural schools through the Rural Electrification Programme, although the reliability of such electricity supply is questionable. The alternative to electricity is solar power, whose initial set-up costs are exorbitant. However, in the long term, it is a cheaper mode of power than going through the National Electricity grid. The harnessing of solar energy for this purpose may prove to be a viable alternative. ANALYSISMost educational institutions traditionally relied on telephones for communication, although some have since embraced e-mail technology. The spiralling costs that are associated with these newer technologies may be the barrier to the rapid proliferation of such. Government funding to educational institutions is dwindling, hence such institution are less likely to adopt the latest technologies. This has resulted in a widening technological gap between the privately-funded institutions who have other ways of raising funds and the government funded institutions are endowed with the latest technology, which is needed in the delivery of learning and curriculum development. The lack of an infrastructure to support education is another drawback. The National ICT backbone cannot support the demands of the education institutions for access to Internet services. Programmes such as Electronic Distance Education, and access to Internet resources can only work efficiently if the technology that support efficiency in connectivity and high access speeds is in place. This technology runs on electricity, which could either come through the National grid or alternative sources of energy. Weighing benefits against costs in selecting a reliable source of power is a prerequisite. Government policy should support the full integration of ICT into education. This relates to policies that retain skilled education and ICT staff, policies on infrastructure development, and taxation of services. RECOMMENDATIONS The e-education sector does not have an ICT strategy in place yet. When an ICT strategy is crafted it should address issues of accessibility, intellectual property rights, curriculum development, issues of developing ICT learning materials, taxation of ICT services, ICT skills development and tariffs on imported technology. The Ministry of Education should therefore clearly articulate an ICT vision to all stakeholders. There is also an urgent need to come up with a strategy to reverse the brain drain currently affecting tuition in the education and training sectors. 6. E-COMMERCE Introduction E-commerce is a new way of doing business electronically. It is defined as web commerce where buying and selling is conducted through a host of web sites. There are four forms of e-commerce: business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), consumer to business (C2B) ,and consumer to consumer (C2C). B2B is sometimes referred to as e-business. It involves buying and selling among business entities. For example wholesalers can trade among themselves. We can have a wholesaler selling its products to a retailer. Under B2C a retailer sells its products directly to a consumer. A consumer can sell hi-tech goods to business through C2B. Lastly C2C involves consumers selling their products among themselves. Online auction systems also fall under consumer to consumer e-commerce systems. Directory: docs docs -> Application for acem docs -> Observational Assessment of Teaching Practices Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Submitted to The Teachers for a New Era project docs -> Traditional British values docs -> From Warfighters to Crimefighters: The Origins of Domestic Police Militarization docs -> Borzoi Club of America Register of Merit Program I. 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