Computer Education and Training: Human Capacity Building for e-Government in Malawi

Electronic governance has been hailed as a way to improve service delivery and responsiveness to citizens through two-way interaction, which results in the long run and generating greater public confidence in government. Apart from citizens, government interacts with business community and government nationally and internationally. The Government of Malawi has put several initiatives in area of ICT such as developing e-bill and national ICT policy, introducing Computer Studies in secondary schools, introducing computer courses in tertiary education institutions, establishing e-Government department, and currently, it is building e-government infrastructure. Some government departments and ministries are using computerised systems to support the public services. Therefore this paper discusses contribution of computer education and/or training being conducted in various training institutions in Malawi to human capacity which is one of factors that influence the successful implementation of e-government. An e-government toolkit for Malawi emphasizes continuously the development of human capital through education, lifelong education, and tax incentives to companies investing in worker training as a mission critical component of any successful, long-term e-government project.