Celebrating IT projects at ZITF

and I can confirm that the five-day annual business showcase was just one spectacular project.
Exhibiting project managers from various economic sectors in both private and public entities unveiled several exciting project plans that they have been surreptitiously working on in their organisations. Imagine over 100 project managers from all over 12 countries in one place over a five-day period in a 17-hectare arena touting their project plans and products to over 5 000 visitors.
Information technology exhibitors were not to be outdone as they came out in full force in Hall No. 4 jostling to showcase their latest digital solutions.
This week we will focus on reporting on three practical Information Communication Technology projects unveiled at this year’s ZITF that I sampled and adjudicated as value adding and exciting.
The e-Government project
Imagine downloading a Zimbabwe passport application form from the Ministry of Home Affairs website or checking your fixed birth certificate or passport details online via your personal computer from your office or home or registering your vehicle at the Central Vehicle Registry Department online.
These are some of the visionary solutions that the e-Government project will bring for ordinary citizens in the long run. Principal Director in the Ministry of Information Communication Technology Mr Cosmas Chigwamba is passionately leading the E-Government project that will see all Government ministries, Parliament and civil departments networked on one web platform to provide interactive services for all citizens in rural and urban centres.
The concept of the e-Government is not new globally but it is still at planning level in Zimbabwe.
Speaking from the ICT Ministry ZITF stand during the showcase, Mr Chigwamba said they are confident that they will successfully launch the pilot flagship e-Government sub-projects before the end of this year.
So far at least every ministry has an email address to interact with stakeholders.
Besides the E-Government project, the ICT Ministry is also rolling out the e-Learning project for disadvantaged schools and rural IT community centres for propagating IT education.
Zimbabwe Human Capital Website Project
Elsewhere at the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Hall, Mr J. T. Dewah, Director of Manpower Planning and Institutional Development in the ministry, exhibited the Zimbabwe Human Capital website project.
ZHC is more than just an ordinary website that seeks to tackle head on the country’s brain drain crisis. Incepted in September 2009, through the sponsorship of the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education and the International Organisation for Migration, the website project seeks to facilitate and contribute to the economic and social development of Zimbabwe through mobilising human skills and investment potential amongst Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.
Website manager Tapiwa Chimedza demonstrated and explained how the website disseminates information on employment, short-term consultancies and investment opportunities for skilled workers, professionals and investors, within or outside Zimbabwe. The website was established in cognisance of the fact that the majority of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have expressed willingness to participate and contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country.
The database, which is integrated to the website, is designed to capture the profiles of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who are interested in participating in various initiatives where their skills would be required at home.
State universities and polytechnics currently with a deficit of skilled lecturers have also benefited from the project as Zimbabwean trainers in the Diaspora have been lured to return for short periods to assist in lecturing key modules and building capacity within various university departments.
Over a hundred lecturers submitted their expressions of interest through the website and 25 lecturers managed to return under this programme.
The website’s database rose from 269 registered users in January last year to 3 970 this month.
Of these, 558 are registered as employers whilst 3 412 are registered as job-seekers.
Over 91 000 visitors to the website from its inception in January 2010 up to date have been recorded.
University of Zimbabwe Geo-technology Research Projects
The University of Zimbabwe Department of Geography and Environmental Science exhibited for the first time at the ZITF and attracted a lot of visitors from Dr Amon Murwira’s demonstration of the applications of geo-technology.
Imagine as a farmer tracking your cattle or vehicles and knowing exactly where they are each minute you need the geographic information.
Also imagine being able to see the place where your cattle are grazing each time you need the information.
This is possible with geo-technology, as it is one of the three most important technologies for the 21st century.
The other key technologies are biotechnology and nanotechnology. Geo-technology includes Geographical Information Systems, Global Positioning Systems and remote sensing.
Among the applications demonstrated were accurate crop area estimation for food security, cattle tracking for disease monitoring in the south-eastern Lowveld of Zimbabwe, precision farming to save costs and improve yields.
Other applications include vehicle tracking for precise fleet management, mineral prospecting with minimal fieldwork, infrastructure management, as well as optimal citing of telecommunication towers, which reduces infrastructural costs.
It was amazing to discover that the University of Zimbabwe, the country’s oldest institute of higher education and research, offers world-class training and consultancy services in the area of geo-technology projects to public and private organisations.
This undoubtedly empowers the nation at grassroots level in deriving benefits from this key technology.
l Peter Banda is the Secretary-General and Chief Executive of the Project Management Institute of Zimbabwe (PMIZ). Send your views and comments via email: [email protected]; website link www.pmiz.org.zw