Workshop 2

"E-Government as a Driving Force for Institutional Integration

Towards Sustainable Development"

Opening Session

Mrs. Maria Isabel Mejia (MINTIC Colombia) is a Systems and Computer Engineer

from Andes University in Colombia. She specialized on Information Technology

Strategic Management in the same university. She has over 30 years of

experience in the field of Information and Communications Technologies. She has

worked in public entities, private companies and academia.

She coordinated Colombia’s Year 2000 (Y2K) project and was responsible of

leading the actions required to meet the millennium change. She coordinated the

design and implementation of the risk mitigation plan required by both: the public and the private sectors.

Between 2000 and 2006 she became the Executive Director of “Computers for Schools Program”, where she

designed and implemented promotional strategies to gather used computers from private and public

companies. She also led the refurbishing processes and the teachers’ educational support strategy “Computers

for Schools Program,” which benefited millions of poor children around the country.

In 2006, Mrs. Mejia was responsible for the design of the National e-Government Strategy and was its Director

until 2010. Currently, she is the Deputy Minister of Technology and Information Systems and Colombia’s

Government CIO at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies; from where she leads the

IT industry strengthening as well the improvement of public management through IT.

Session 1 – E-Government and Sustainable Development

Chair:

Ms. Rowena Bethel (UNDESA) is a Regulatory Consultant in public governance,

financial and communications sector. She is a national of the Commonwealth of

The Bahamas. She holds an LL.B from Leicester University, UK, and an LL.M in

Information Technology and Telecommunications from Strathclyde University, UK.

She is a member of both the English Bar and the Bahamas Bar. She has served in

senior executive roles within The Bahamas public service for approximately 28

years as, in-house corporate counsel to the National Insurance Board, Legal

Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, and the Executive Commissioner for the

Compliance Commission (the anti-money laundering supervisor for professional

financial intermediaries. Most recently she has served as a regulatory consultant

to the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas and for regional and international bodies. Her professional

experience have included reform of financial services and communications sectors regulation; cross-border tax

cooperation; tax treaty negotiations; strategic planning for implementation of the national investment agenda,

and developing the policy and legislative framework for the national information society agenda. She is

currently a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts in Public Administration (CEPA). She is a

former member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Tax Cooperation, and the OECD

Global Forum on Taxation. Mrs. Bethel serves as a director on several national and international boards.

Speakers:

Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro (UNDESA) is currently the Chief of the E-Government

Branch (EGB) of the Division for Public Administration & Development

Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

EGB publishes the UN E-Government Survey, conducts capacity-building and

provides online training tools for efficient, effective public service delivery based

on transparency, accountability and civic participation. Previously, Vincenzo was

President and CEO of Formit Servizi SpA, an Italian advisory company on

e-governance and of CARMA Scientific Research Consortium, a company engaged

in e-services in Agriculture and Agro-industry.

Mr. Aquaro holds a Master’s Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Bari, Italy.

Assoc. Prof. Roberto Bellotti (Italy) is professor of experimental physics, director

of the School of Medical Physics and Coordinator of the Master in "Development

and management of data centers for high performance scientific computing” at

University of Bari (Italy).

He is the Scientific Coordinator of the PRISMA Project and Member of the Board

of the ReCaS Project, co-funded by the National Operating Program of the Italian

Ministry of Education, University and Research aims at creating an e-

Infrastructure, based on Cloud Open Source paradigm, in the south of Italy’s Regions of Convergence (Calabria,

Campania, Apulia and Sicily), and a Member of the Board of Tecnopolis - Center of Research and Technology.

He is a co-author of over 250 papers published on Nature and Science and on the most important reviews of

Physics, Astrophysics and Medical Physics.

Mr. Irvin A. Halman (Panama) began his career in the Photographic Technology Division at

Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, NY, followed by product development and marketing at

the Motion Picture & Audiovisual Markets Division, and later served in management

positions in Industria Nacional de Artefactos, S.A., Leasing Panama, Kodak Panama, Kodak

Export, Ltd. and Latin America Business Manager for the Clinical Diagnostics Division of

Eastman Kodak Co. and Johnson & Johnson as well as Managing Director at DIASA and

Commercial Director at ELGA. Mr. Halman served as a President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (2012-13) and former President of the Institute of Corporate Governance - Panama (2009-12), Director of Empresas Aliadas, S.A. Also served as President of the Board of the Consejo del Sector Privado para la Asistencia Educacional (CoSPAE) during the period 2001-03 and is currently a member of its Board of Trustees. He is a member of the Board of the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT) and participated in the Board of Trustees of the Centro Nacional de Competitividad representing the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama. Chaired the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama committees of Agenda Pais 2014-19, municipal and tax-related issues, Education, Fiscal Equipment and the Consumer and Competition Affairs, as well as participated in laws such as leasing, e-commerce, consumer protection, property tax, educational reform and decentralization of the education system. A member of the Institute of Corporate Governance Panama, Panama ConSoc IDB Committee, Social Action Chess Committee of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), Think Tank of the University of Panama and the Fundación Panameña de Ética y Civismo, he actively participated in other non-profit organizations such as Rotary Club Panama Sur, Rotary Foundation of Panama, founder and Director of the Global Compact Network and board member of Fundación Unidos por la Educación. Participated in the Dialogue for the Integral Transformation of the Educational System of Panama (2002) on the education task force of the Concertación Nacional para el Desarrollo (2007) and the Fundación para el Desarrollo Social de Panama (FUDESPA) in 2008-09. He was a member of the working group on Decentralization and School Autonomy of PREAL. As coordinator of the Executives for Educational Excellence program of CoSPAE, he was invited to participate as an advisor to the Quality Schools Commission of the Ministry of Education. Mr. Halman has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA and an MBA from the University of Rochester, USA.

Mr. Alfredo Moreira (Paraguay) holds a bachelor in Telecommunications Engineering and a Master degree in Investment Projects. Professor in the career of Electronic Engineering of the National University of Asuncion; 2013-2015 General Directors of ICT Policy and Development of the National Secretariat of ICTs; 2010-2012 Advisor at the Technology Commission of Science and Technology of the Chamber of Deputies; 2005 - 2015 Expert in Telecommunications Services Costs Studies.

Session 2 - e-Vision and e-Strategies

Chair:

Mr. Irvin A. Halman (Panama)

Speakers:

H. E. Mr. Getachew Negash Tekla (Ethiopia) is the Ethiopian State Minister for

Ethiopian Communication and Information Technology. He has over 20 years

work experience. Before taking the Minister position, he worked as Commissioner

for Regional Civil Service Commission and worked as General Director for Regional

Information Communication Development Agency. He also served as Head of the

Department of Regional Civil Service Reform Programme and Head of the

Department of Regional District level Decentralization Programme.

H.E Mr. Tekla has a BA degree in Public Administration from Addis Ababa University and Diploma in Law from

Ethiopian Civil Service. He also has an MA in Management from Addis Ababa University.

Mrs. Maria Isabel Mejia (MINTIC Colombia).

Mr. Leonardo Reyes (Paraguay) is currently the National Undersecretary of Public Management at National Secretariat of Public Administration. Relevant Trainings include Seminar on Cloud Computing issued by ECLAC, Special Meeting of the Board of

CLAD, xiv Ibero-American Conference of Ministers of Civil Service and State Reform

issued by CLAD, Sharing Experience in IT Service 2011 issued by Ministry of Knowledge Economy, and Transforming The State For Development In Latin America issued by CLAD. Mr. Reyes served as Undersecretary of Strategic Management and Innovation at Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador for three years, and Information Technology

National Manager at Ecuaquimica.

Session 3: e-Government Institutional Frameworks

Chair:

Mr. Cristian Castillo (Ecuador) is Senior Advisor of the President of Ecuador for the Institutional Design of the State and the improvement of the Public Administration. Before, he was the Minister of Public Administration, which is both Chief of the Cabinet and policy- maker in public management. He was also, Junior Advisor of the President for the Institutional Design of the State. Previously, he worked at the Coordinating Ministry of Production, Employment and Competitiveness as Senior Advisor of the Minister for the improvement of

the public management. Mr. Castillo served as Senior Advisor of Judiciary Council for Public Administration. As Consultant in public sector, he has worked with Azuay Local Government, Major of Azogues, University of Cuenca, University of Azuay, Netherlands Cooperation Services and Chilean Forensic Services. As an academic, he was professor and director of the Human Resources and Organizational Development Master in Universidad del Azuay. Mr. Castillo is professor of postgraduate programs at the same university.

Speakers:

Ms. Elida Reci (UNDESA) joined the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), New York in 2005 as the Governance and Public Administration Officer. Since then she has been working on the e Government development issues, serving as regional e-government coordinator for Africa and Middle East. She is currently leading the work on the United Nations Compendium on Innovative E-Government Practices, a recurrent publication of the Division and serving as a team member for several publications of DPADM/UNDESA. Ms. Reci, an institutional economist, joined UNDESA after 18 years of extensive experience in transition economies. A senior economic advisor to the Prime Minister of Albania, a former director at the Albanian Ministry of Finance and a Founder of Albanian

Public-Private Finance Institute she has been advising and working closely with parliaments, governments, civil society and business community in a wide range of issues, including transparency, accountability and participation in public administration. Ms. Reci had been part of Stability Pact Initiative for Western Balkans (1999-2005) with Economic Table II as regional expert, where she worked with several international organizations such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations Development Program, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, European Union, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, etc. A graduate of Brandeis and Harvard University, USA and a fellow of US-Ron Brown Fellowship she has also taught international trade and development economics at Tirana University. She has been presenting papers and studies at several international, regional and national conferences on development issues.

Mr. Chiheb Bouchnak (Tunisia) is currently Deputy Director of E-government Unit, Tunisia. Mr. Bouchnak has led and contributed to a series of administrative reform initiatives within the Tunisian public sector. He has been working on e-government strategy formulation and implementation for over ten years. His responsibilities include the provisions of providing on demand advice for public agencies and top

executives in the government at the national and local level. He is also a consultant for number of

international organizations in the Mediterranean region.

Following the democratic transition in Tunisia, Mr. Bouchnak’s work is focusing on citizen engagement and

open government issues. He contributed to the adhesion of Tunisia to the Open Government Partnership in

2014, and is now in charge of the national OGP action plan implementation for the 2015-2016. He also serves

as the president of “The Tunisian e-governance society”, an NGO engaged in promoting the implementation of

evidence based policies to transform the public sector through digital technology usage.

Mr. Bouchnak holds a BA in Public Management from the National School of Administration (ENA), Tunisia and

a MPA from King’s College London, UK

Mr. Victor Villar (Uruguay)

Executive Counsellor

Agency for e-Government and Information Society (AGESIC)

Uruguay

Mr. Hector Oyarce (Chile) has experience over 20 years in the public sector, public

policy and management. Mr. Oyarce has served a specialist at Advisory Unit for

Digital Government Modernization and Innovation in the Public Sector, General

Secretariat of the Presidency of Chile. Prior to joining government, Mr. Oyarce has

worked as consultant for a number of organizations such as IDB, WB, GTZ , ECLAC.

Mr. Oyarce has been teaching at public policy at the undergraduate and graduate

levels in a number of universities in Chile, including Alberto Hurtado University and

Universidad de Chile and FLACSO - Chile.

Session 4: e-Government Legal and Regulatory Frameworks

Chair:

Mr. Mike Mora (OAS) is a Specialist at the Organization of American States, in

Washington DC, with the Department for Effective Public Management of the

Secretariat for Political Affairs.

He currently serves as lead specialist on electronic government. He is responsible for

coordinating programs and projects of the OAS portfolio of the Network of Electronic

Government Authorities of Latin America and the Caribbean (RedGealc), including open

data, and the Inter-American Network of Government Procurement (RICG) previously.

He was Technical Secretary of the netwrok until March 2014.

Mr. Mora also has a vast experience on cadastre, municipal management modernization, and on capacity

building programs for public officials; all lines of work for which he has been responsible for at the OAS

throughout his 8 years with the Organization.

Mr. Mora holds a Master’s Degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University in

Washington DC. He graduated from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Colombia where he received his degree

in International Relations.

Speakers:

Mr. Salum Mussa (Tanzania) born in 1975, is a professionally Certified Public

Accountant CPA(T). Academically, he holds a Master Degree in Business Administration

(MBA) Finance from the University of Dar Es Salaam Business School. He has been

working with the e-Government Agency (eGA) of Tanzania since September 2013 as a

Chief Accountant. Before joining eGA he was a Principal Internal Auditor with the

University Of Dar Es Salaam.

Ms. Ana Gabriel (Brazil)

Advisor

Secretariat for Logistics and Information Technologies

Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management,

Brazil

Ms. Yolanda Martinez (Mexico) has extensive experience in the design and

development of projects on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Currently, she is the Head of the Digital Government Unit of the Ministry of Public

Administration. In this position, she has among its main responsibilities, the

definition and follow-up of the Digital Government Strategy, the development of

regulatory frameworks for ICT and the promotion of the digitization of government

services from the Federal Public Administration. She has previously worked in the

"Zapopan, Ciudad Digital" project, as well as in the international firm Deloitte as

Strategy and Operations Manager. Yolanda Martinez holds a Bachelor Degree in

Information Systems and a Master Degree in Administration and Public Policy from

the University of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, USA.

Mr. Stéphane Vincent (Haiti) currently serves as the Coordinator of the e-

Governance Unit in Haiti and an Advisor to the Prime Minister of Haiti in Technology.

Vincent develops digital strategies that ensure a smooth and productive

administrative workflow while strengthening open government. Vincent studied at

New York University and aims to revolutionize the use of Information Technology in

Haiti by promoting transparency and making data readily available and accessible.

Previously, a member of the Presidential Advisory Office on Youth and Sports,

Vincent coordinated a youth-driven project using sports as a tool for sustainable

community development in Haiti. Vincent then served in diplomacy as a Technology

Director at the UN Permanent Mission of Haiti and the General Consulate of Haiti in New York. Vincent is an

active member of the former British Council youth network, Global Changemakers. Vincent considers himself

a Haitian at heart and a Global Citizen who enjoys exploring and learning about new places and cultures.

Session 5 –Interoperability for institutional integration

Chair:

Mr. Jonas Rabinovitch (UNDESA) is senior adviser on public administration, E-

governance and knowledge management at the Division for Public

Administration and Development Management of the UN Department of

Economic and Social Affairs in New York.

He has occupied various senior positions within the UN in the past 22 years,

including UNDP Senior Urban Development Advisor, Global Manager for Capacity

2015, Senior Policy Adviser for Governance and Rural-Urban Relations, based at

the UN Headquarters in New York.

He has coordinated the preparation of UNDP corporate policy instruments,

provided substantive inputs into UN governance and public administration

programmes, UN E-Government Survey and policy advisory support to E-

Government capacity development projects in various UN member states. He was City Planner in Curitiba,

Brazil, and advised the Mayor of the City, which has received various sustainability awards. He graduated as

planner and architect at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in his native Brazil, Master's in the Economics of

Development (University College London) and published in “Scientific American”, “Environment and

Urbanization”, “VEJA Magazine”, contributed to the “World Public Sector Report”, “UN E-Government Survey”,

“UN World Economic and Social Survey on Sustainability”, among other prestigious publications.

Speakers:

Assoc. Prof. Zhai Yun (China) Ph.D., Associate Professor of the E-government Research Centre, Chinese Academy of Governance (CAG). He is one of the directors of China Soft Science Seminar and member of the E-government Cloud Computing Application Technology, which is the national key laboratory of engineering. He was the Deputy Editor of the International Journal of Computer Applications, and the session chairman of ISKE 2010. He also was the reviewer of many International Conferences and journals, such as FSKD 2010, Journal of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Research, Scientific Journal of Computer Science, Computer engineering, Computer engineering

and design, etc. He was a member of the program committee of multiple international conferences (such as DMIN2011, DMIN 2012, DMIN2013, DMIN2014 (invited, USA);

ECET 2012 (invited, Spain); AICIT Conferences Series (Korea); etc.). His research interests include smart government, new technology and mining government data. He has hosted and participated in multiple national and provincial scientific research subjects. He also published more than 30 papers, among which more than 30 times indexed by SCI/EI, in the important academic journals at home and abroad. He has also applied for China national invention patents. He has completed multiple international cooperation research projects, led by United Nations, the European Union, South Korea and other countries or international organizations.

Ms. Ayesha Al Rayesi (United Arab Emirates) is the Executive Director of Central Operations Sector in Emirates Identity Authority, a federal government organisation established in 2004 tasked to develop a national identity management infrastructure for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to manage and maintain the national population register and the digital identity program. In her capacity as an Executive Director of Central Operations Sector Ms. Ayesha heads two key functions in EIDA, ICT and the Population Registration departments. Those key departments play key role in providing a range of online Identity Services enabling many entities in the private and public sectors to improve efficiency and enhance their service delivery in line with the UAE Smart Government transformation.

Prior to her taking charge of Central Operations, she was the Head of Strategy and Planning in EIDA, providing the Director General vital insight of the corporate strategy execution, cross-departmental initiatives as well as organizational and operational performance. Ms. Al Rayesi has also been involved in different strategic government initiatives such as Sheikh Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development; a prestigious organisation aims to create a new generation of Emirati entrepreneurs by instilling and enriching the culture of investment amongst young people, as well as supporting and developing small to medium investments in the United Arab Emirates. Ms. Al Rayesi holds a degree in Business Administration.

Ms. Alicia Avendaño (Costa Rica) is Director of the Technical Secretariat for Digital Government, design and implementation of an Agenda for Digital Government of Costa Rica since 2006. Among some of the projects: telework project, public electronic procurement: Implementation of Mer-Link, Online Public Procurement Marketplace System in 13 institutions (March 2010). She was Digital Government Coordinator for the development and implementation of projects, such as driving permits and passports in 30 branches of Banco Costa Rica, as part of the Digital Government Strategy. Previously, Ms. Avendaño has served as “TIC@” Customs Modernization

Project Manager, Information Technology for Customs Control, Ministry of Finance, in charge of the design and implementation of new customs operation model emphasizing the intensive use of technology in Customs Offices such as Caldera, Central and Santamaria. Ms. Avendaño has earned awards for Best Public Officer, awarded by the Chamber of Exporters in 2000, Ancora National Award in Information Technology from 2005-2006, Award of Merit from the College of Computer Science Professionals in Costa Rica, November 2008, and CIO of the Year 2008 awarded by IT NOW Magazine for Central America and the Caribbean Region.

Mr. Jose Luis Liranzo Paulino (Domenican Republic) is an expert in ICT, information, e-Government, Strategic Policies, Research, Development, Trade Information and training. He has experience in implementing best practices: COBIT, ITIL, ISO 27000, ISO 20000, etc. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of information and trade and has worked on many evaluations, audit and market research projects. Furthermore, he has extensive experience using cutting-edge technologies in the area of

computing, information and telecommunications. He has professional competence in English and Spanish.

Session 6 – Multi-stakeholders’ Partnership and Cooperation

Chair: Mr. Stéphane Vincent (Haiti)

Speakers:

Mr. Armand Clotaire Lichambany (Gabon) has over 20 years in Telecommunication industry, ICT and Consulting. His specific areas of interest and expertise include Research & Development, Strategy, Network Planning, Quality Management & Revenue Assurance, Cloud Computing, Mobile services, IPTV, VoIP, ICT convergence technologies, Technology Parks Development, Business Intelligence, Next Generation Networks and Regulation. Since 1994, Mr. Lichambany has served at many leading positions in several firms and state companies in Gabon such as TIG and OPT as Network Planning Engineer, Artel ( National Telecommunication Regulatory Agency) as Secretary General, and Gabon Telecom as Deputy Secretary General and Network Planning Manager.

In 2011, Mr. Lichambany was appointed Managing Director of the ICT Department at the Ministry of Digital Economy of Gabon and, since February 2015, Deputy Secretary General. He is currently managing several flagship projects for the Government of Gabon including the Cybercity Mandji Island (future largest Technology Park of Central Africa), Cloud Gabon ( including e-Government ) and Gabon Digital Village which aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to reduce the social gap and the digital divide between rural and urban areas. At the sub-regional level, Mr. Lichambany is the ITU Expert –Consultant for the Regional Roaming and HIPSSA projects for Central Africa region. Mr. Lichambany holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Engineering and Management of Telecommunication Networks from Telecom SudParis, Evry, France (1994), a Postgraduate Diploma (DEA) in Microwave Electronics (1992) and a MSc in Electrical Engineering & Communications Systems (1991) from the University of Sciences & Technologies of Lille I, France.

Mr. Jorge Pineda (Guatemala) is currently part of the Presidential Commission for Transparency and E-Government. Born in 1970, he holds a bachelor degree of Electrical Engineering at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala and Technical Business Administration at the University Mariano Galvez of Guatemala. Mr. Pineda has graduate studies in Public Administration and Information in the Galileo University of Guatemala. He has additional studies on Electronic Government, Open Government and Public Administration in the OAS and UN. Since 2003, he has been working for the Government of Guatemala and during

the last 5 years he has been involved on e-government initiatives. Mr. Pineda has extensive research experience on the uses of ICT in Guatemala. His research is focused on how the state can open administration and improve services. The outcome of his research is the e-Government Strategies (plan 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0) which have been implemented in Guatemala. His speech in Guatemala focuses on “e-Government as a mechanism to combat corruption and encouraging transparency”.

Session 7 - Regional and International Cooperation on E-Government for

Sustainable Development

Chair: Ms. Elida Reci (UNDESA)

Speakers:

Ms. Alejandra Naser (ECLAC) is a permanent staff at the United Nations. Ms. Naser is a Computer Engineer from Chile. She holds a Master degree in Information Technology and has attended to several courses specializing in technology and informatics, and in the formulation and evaluation of public projects and programs. She is an ECLAC expert on e-government, open government, management evaluation of public programs and leading technical cooperation projects between countries of the region. For over 10 years Ms. Naser has trained professionals from the region in national and

international courses developed by the ILPES on the disciplines of digital government, open government, evaluation and use of indicators, among others.

Mr. Mike Mora (OAS)

Mrs. Maria Isabel Mejia (MINTIC Colombia)