Africa-Press – Mauritius. Government firmly believes that the accelerated adoption of innovative technologies and digitally enabled processes in the Public Service will have ripple and catalytic effects on the socio-economic development of our country.
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This statement was made by the Minister of Public Service, Administrative and Institutional Reforms, Mr Teeruthraj Hurdoyal, this morning, at La Cannelle, in Domaine Les Pailles. He was speaking at the opening of a one-day workshop on Sandbox Framework for Adoption of Innovative Technologies in the Public Service.
The Minister affirmed that Public Sector Reforms and Transformation occupy a central place in the Government’s strategy and actions to render the Public Service modern, agile and responsive.
This, he stressed, can only be achieved with an organisation culture that promotes excellence and fosters a “whole of Government” approach in the Public Service industry.
According to Mr Hurdoyal, the Sandbox procurement model, put in place by the Ministry, provides the right platform for the accelerated adoption of innovative technologies in the Public Service.
He added that the Workshop comes at an opportune time as the Ministry is presently in the process of shaping, in collaboration with stakeholders such as the Trade Union Federations, an ecosystem of a Public Service, built around team spirit, performance, resilience, adaptability, transparency and accountability, in order to face an unpredictable and rapidly evolving local and global environment.
The various projects being implemented by the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative and Institutional Reforms were also highlighted by Mr Hurdoyal.
They include the eHR project geared towards the adoption of digitally enabled Human Resources (HR) processes across the Public Service; the Electronic Document Management System in line with the zero-paper Government policy to move away from the paper intensive file recording system; and the construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Service College in Réduit.
It is recalled that Budget 2020-2021 paved the way for the introduction of a Sandbox Framework to promote the adoption of emerging and innovative technologies in Ministries and Departments by facilitating the development of proof of concepts and pilot exercises with a view to test the possibilities of innovative technologies without prejudice basis to Government.
Some Rs 2 million were allocated for this initiative. Ministries and Departments were thus invited to submit their proposals under the Sandbox Framework.
Twenty-six submissions were received, out of which four would benefit from funding and technical assistance from the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative and Institutional Reforms.
