December 2002
Project: Capacity Building of IT Secretaries of GIS Use for Governance

Background

There was a need to develop an adequate understanding of systems of governance and the embedded role of spatial information and the necessary competencies required to improve the quality of public administration, policy evaluation and policy design. In an effort to support local government to best use spatial data for decision-making for development, CSDMS was invited by the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India to build and conduct a capacity building programme for IT Secretaries of the States of India.

Objective

The objective of the capacity building programme was to increases the officers awareness, understanding and skills for data and information management in local government and assists them them to identify the capacity building needs at local levels to manage, utilise and share spatial data and information more effectively. The training programme helped the officers to understand the current situation and the starting point for improvement; build awareness on the development and adoption of internationally accepted standards and guidelines for information management and thereby promote best practices in information management; sensitise the officers to give staff responsible for spatial information in local government access to practical information management tools to reduce set up costs and duplication of effort.

Methodology and Outcomes

The training also focused on how the officers could support the development of networks through open and efficient sharing of information resources and knowledge, and assists the establishment of information loops between regional, state/territory and national levels The officers also learned how to fully exploit the information generated from local government projects at the same time ensure the sustainable management of data used or created within local government and promote the sharing and distribution of data, thus reducing costs and increasing their value.

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