LADS hosted a 3-day short course training for local authorities at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June. The course which ran under the theme “Digital Transformation”, aimed at empowering policymakers in local authorities with skills on how they can strategically align their councils with global trends.
LADS, which is an acronym for Local Authorities Digital Systems, is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System tailor-made for Zimbabwean local authorities. Its sole purpose is to improve the operations and competence of local authorities. It calls for the integration of all the operations of a local authority into one automated system.
The 3day training was attended by some Mayors, Town Clerks, Systems Administrators, IT personnel from various local authorities and also representatives from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works who are also working hand in hand with LADS to make sure that LADS Africa’s mandate of digitally transforming Zimbabwean local authorities is upheld.
The course which included topics on global ICT trends, smart cities concept, internet of things, data analytics and digital transformation strategies showed the benefits of using technology to radically improve local authorities’ performance in the digital era. LADS is aiming at creating a standardized ERP system for local authorities and modifying it according to the needs of a local authority by so doing creating room for sustainability.
Mrs. Machona, a representative from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works confirmed that the ministry is participating in this project when the preliminary works are done the ministry will be able to map the way forward on how the project will be implemented. She said, “We are working with the Minister to make sure that all things will be in place soon and this process we will do it this way.”
LADS is also planning on hosting more workshops for local authorities in the following months to further knowledge transfer on issues to do with systems administration and networking, smart cities concept, cyber security, website development and content management among many others.