The Brunei Darussalam government has announced early this month the creation of an Academy where government employees will be trained in IT to further the country’s e-government vision. 

The E-Government National Centre (EGNC), a department under the Brunei Darussalam Prime Minister’s Office, has teamed up with Microsoft to design and implement training programmes that will increase the IT skills of government employees through an Academy.

The initiative is a part of the government’s Human Capacity Development programme, under which the ICT capability and capacity of the civil service will be improved. The end objective is for the country to increase its ranking in the the United Nations list of e-government enabled countries.

Awang Adi Shamsul Hj Sabli, Director of the e-Government National Centre, said Brunei’s e-Government programme is undergoing a transition of focus from internal Government systems to citizen-centric and business-centric online services, making it essential to have a workforce that is skilled in IT to better support and manage the environment.

“The Academy offers us a comprehensive and customised approach for our requirements for ICT skills development,” he said.

The Director believes that having an IT-literate workforce is a key foundation for the country’s e-government vision and the overall development of the local ICT industry.

The Academy came at a time when government ministries are improving upon infrastructure with a collection of process changes and upgrades to its core IT systems.

Under the initiative, the skills of Brunei’s IT sector, including both government and private sectors will be improved over the course of the next three years.