CSZ in drive to promote digital platforms

Leonard Ncube
THERE has been significant development in adoption of technology and the digital drive in the country especially in the wake of Covid-19.

While the Government has been rolling out several initiatives to introduce use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTS) to promote e-business, e-government, e-learning and other online socio-economic activities in the country, the outbreak of Covid-19, which threw the country into total lockdown in March 2020, catalysed adoption of technology.

Over the years, the Government has been distributing computers to schools in partnership with the private sector and some individual organisations.

This has seen a number of digital platforms and e-learning facilities being launched in schools to facilitate use of technology in the digital divide.

The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology is also implementing the Education 5.0, which seeks to promote various facets of innovation through technology into the country’s educations sector, a key component in the attainment of Vision 2030.

Various organisations have also been on a drive to promote use of digital platforms.

One of them is the Computer Society of Zimbabwe (CSZ), which holds annual Summer and Winter Schools for its members in the country to promote skills development, networking and champion the development of the ICT industry in Zimbabwe.

CSZ draws membership from various people including professionals in the computers and ICT fields, students in the related fields, institutions and organisations as well as ordinary citizens with an interest in the ICT field.

In short, the society is a membership driven organisation with categories of Student, Graduate, Affiliate, Associate and Professional and Institutional Membership for organisations.

The society has chapters being Bulawayo, Harare and the student chapter while a lot of activities are being done to expand chapters.

CSZ is an internationally recognised professional body for Zimbabwe’s community of ICT professionals. It was founded in 1974 with one objective, that of benefitting the Computer Industry and all people who work in it.

Their vision is to be the trusted industry body, anchored on professional knowledge driving the ICT ecosystem in Zimbabwe.
CSZ’s mission is to champion the development of the ICT industry in Zimbabwe by establishing beneficial relationships and providing independent professional counsel for the benefit of members, government, industry and society at large.

The society also seeks to drive ICT content development, collection and dissemination of information, awareness, knowledge, research and standards.

The current CSZ president is Mr Allen Saruchera whose term runs between 2021 and 2022.

Mr Saruchera said the effects of digital transformation are evident in Zimbabwe where Covid-19 pandemic could be said to be a blessing in disguise with regards to technological development.

It was during the Covid-19 induced lockdown that many Zimbabweans used Zoom and online platforms for the first time to conduct meetings or carry out their work remotely as automation became the in-thing in the new normal.

“We have seen an upsurge in terms of technology uptake in the country where organisations are adapting to the need for automation and remote working. Large corporations have gone into a drive to adopt ICT. This is what we see from research, events we hold and discussions with industry,” said Mr Saruchera.

He said there has been a lot of drive to adopt technology such as e-learning in schools, entities adopting cloud based platforms for remote work for staff in the digital transformation era.

The CSZ works with the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services on how best policies by the Government can be adopted and implemented.

“There have been plans by Government to roll out digitalisation and Covid-19 speeded up the adoption of technology,” said Mr Saruchera.

He said while there has been tremendous growth, risk levels are also high hence the enactment of the Cyber security laws will come in handy in protecting online usage of information and citizens.

The 2022 Winter School will be held in Bulawayo hosted by the Bulawayo Chapter from June 29 to July 3, 2022.