Implementation of ICT Strategic Plans in Public Organizations of Developing Countries: A Case of Tanzania

Background Of National Ict Policy Of Tanzania

Tanzania, as a nation, does not have a national ISP and therefore many of national level ICT initiatives have been implemented out of national ICT policy. Tanzania developed the national ICT policy (2003), which was the result of the effort of the government, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and eThinkTank group (Sawe, 2005). Later, the national ICT policy (2003) was revised to the national ICT policy (2016), which was recently published. The 2003 national ICT policy became a de facto standard and therefore many institutions adopted the format to develop their own ICT policies. A close look of these policies, however, reveals those are not ICT policies but rather are ISPs. Unlike the recently revised National ICT Policy, the 2003 ICT Policy communicates strategies rather than policy statements to be addressed. The confusion on ICT policies and ICT strategies results to organizations to develop poor ICT strategies, which are not aligned to organization strategic plan and therefore results to poor implementation of the plans.