Executive Summary

The On-line Governance Survey carried out in 2000 by UNESCO and COMNET-IT drew little response from the Pacific Islands countries. Excluding Australia and New Zealand, only two of the fifteen other UNESCO member states participated in the survey. The report wisely suggested that while the data collected from the developed countries could be construed as a road map for the less-developed countries, it was vital to examine the contextual issues in developing countries in order to achieve a truly participative society - not simply one of leaders and followers.

This survey addresses the contextual issues for Internet development and e-governance for the fifteen UNESCO Pacific Islands member states. While some data was gathered from every member state, the reliability of some of this information must be questioned. The efforts of those who did respond is greatly appreciated, but it is evident the people completing the questionnaires did not always have access to the information requested. This points to a need for some reliable and easily measured statistics on Internet development, information that could be gathered on an annual basis and used to report progress across the region.

An interesting finding is the widespread interest in seeking to enhance Internet infrastructure within and between the Pacific Islands countries. All Pacific regional intergovernmental organisations and several international organisations are actively considering ways to enhance Internet infrastructure.

The heart of the issue for most Pacific Islands countries in 1999 was access. Two years on, the issue remains the same. With less than 25% of the population of most Pacific Islands having access to the Internet, it is perhaps not surprising that e-governance is not high on these countries' agendas. One country reported a "lack of knowledge on this e-governance service" as a key inhibitor. Underlying these issues of limited Internet access and limited understanding of e-governance, are even more basic issues relating to telecommunications infrastructure, quality of service and costs.

However, despite these constraints, organisations in the Pacific Islands are finding ways to establish a website. Just over half of the organisations responding to the survey, have a website. Eight of the 15 countries were also able to quote their website URL, suggesting a growing interest within Governments in attempting to make better use of ICT tools.

Issues of bandwidth and cost (equipment and telecommunications) continue to be perceived as major barriers preventing more widespread use of the Internet. However, this does not appear to be constraining Pacific Island organisations from planning. Most have a clear idea about how they could expand the use of ICT in their organisation.

Many countries could not identify any e-governance applications. Those who could, placed lists of government officials as well as national and regional statistics at the top of the list. They also indicated they were addressing content issues. Computerised databases and digitised Government documents appear to be receiving the most attention. Training of public decision-makers and government officials, and reinforcing ICT training in schools and training institutes were also identified in one third of the countries.

The biggest inhibitor of e-governance was felt to be the cost of computers and other equipment, but this was closely followed by Internet cost issues, slow Internet connections, lack of digitised government information, ownership and monopoly of telecommunication services, availability of training for Government officials and the lack of political awareness of the opportunities.

All countries now have some form of Internet access, although pricing in many countries is clearly inhibiting growth. Prices varied from US$9-10 for 10 hours of Internet connectivity to US$30-50. This compares with US$4.30, being a typical cost of 10 hours of Internet connectivity in New Zealand.

Other barriers restricting Internet development are the high cost of international bandwidth and the cost of user equipment. Many countries reported continuing investment in telecommunications infrastructure, but there was little indication how quickly these developments would flow through to improved Internet infrastructure. Few countries appear to have national plans for Internet and telecommunications development; none gave any indication what levels of budget were being committed.

This research is intended to contribute towards a foundation for moving towards a 'connected Pacific', where the UNESCO goal of "promoting empowerment and participation in the emerging knowledge society through equitable access, capacity-building and sharing of knowledge" can be achieved. The next step is to develop national and regional plans...

Click here for the full report from the UNESCO site.