Innovation: IT-based solutions to education, health issues showcased

PITB Chairman said that other provincial governments had asked the PITB to replicate the projects there

LAHORE:

The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and the Sub-National Governance (SNG) Programme on Thursday showcased IT-based innovative models of governance employed by the provincial government at Arfa Karim Software Technology Park.

PITB Chairman Umar Saif was the chief guest. Department for International Development (DFID) representative Ben French, SNG Programme provincial team leader Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh, Usman Khan from the SNG Programme and Prof Kamal Munir from the LUMS were among the guests.

Saif showcased some of the projects the PITB had worked on for the provincial government. He said that other provincial governments had asked the PITB to replicate the projects there. “The PITB has been helping them deploy the tools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he said.

He said the projects presented at the event included those funded by the UKaid under the SNG Programme’s District Delivery Challenge Fund and those currently being implemented by the PITB.

He talked about the importance of innovation for ensuring accessibility of health and education services in remote areas. He said that traditional methods of delivering services to people, particularly in less-developed districts, were no longer capable of adequately meeting their requirements.

Kamal Munir lauded the PITB and the SNG Programme for highlighting innovations that were not only practical and relevant to local realities but could significantly impact the level of satisfaction communities were getting from the services provided by the government. Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh said that the success of these projects would not have been possible without the support of government partners.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2016.