Earlier in the week I received a totally unexpected communication from UNDP Venezuela asking me to contact them as soon as feasible. During the ensuing Hangout, I was informed that the National Center for Information Technology (CNTI) had once again requested UNDP’s assistance. Previous efforts starting in 2006 had led to nothing as we were never able to get government’s approval on project proposals we submitted.
I did not know if I should laugh or be very pessimistic (or both) about this request but the CO assured me that this time around they can for sure get final prodoc approved by government. Apparently, the office has earmarked 200k to support and the counterpart is eager to move fast. A conference call with the counterpart is being planned for the end of the month; and an international meeting on ICTs and Development will probably take place at the end of November. We will see.
The Libya CO has recruited an international consultant to support the e-gov work that we are undertaking in Tripoli. The consultant is expected to be on the ground as soon as a visa is issued. It seems that the situation is a back to normal after the one day kidnapping of the PM. The consultant is expected to plan an International workshop on e-gov by end of November or the beginning of December. Time is running short though.
The Panama Regional Service Center has contacted Brazil to inquire about the status of IPS, the International Public Software initiative we supported until the end of 2012. The RSC has apparently focusing on South South Cooperation and see IPS as a good venture in this regard. Unfortunately, IPS is non-functional. Brazil agreed to transfer the overall support and management of the programme to Argentina but the latter was unable to get it off the ground for political reasons -as far as I understand. We even has some leftover resources (close to 50K) to be used but not even that wa sufficient to overcome the local challenges. A call with Brazil, Panama and us in on the works.
Cheers, Raúl
