Parliamentary Officers attend ICT workshop in Uruguay-examine ways of using ICT and social media to make parliament more transparent.

The National Assembly of Guyana, recognising the importance of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in ensuring that its work is transparent, accountable and effective, has sent two Parliamentary Officers, Ms. Onieka Walton (Public Relations Officer) and Mr Deo Dookie (Systems Development Coordinator) to Montevideo, Uruguay where they are currently attending a workshop on "ICT strategic planning and use of social media in parliaments".
The workshop, which is organised within the framework of the Exchange Network of Parliaments of Latin America and the Caribbean through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, began yesterday October 23, and will end on Friday, October 25, 2013.
The Regional workshop intends to respond to some of the challenges faced by parliaments of Latin America in planning strategically for the use of ICT- both to enhance the effectiveness of their internal processes and to improve their communication and information services towards citizens.
The first day of the workshop was dedicated to a discussion among participants on the budget of their respective parliaments regarding ICT, and the process of prioritisation of the ICT projects by the legislature.
The second day focuses on ICT strategic planning: the basic steps of strategic planning, their objectives and the tools that can assist in the process.
Participants also had the opportunity to discuss the draft document "ICT Strategic Planning in Parliament" prepared through the Global Centre for ICT Strategic Planning. The document aims at providing guidance to the political and administrative leaders of parliaments and their senior staff on the basic principles of strategic planning as it applies to ICT and on the steps to be undertaken by legislatures to devise their own ICT Strategic Plan.
On the third day participants will concentrate on the use of social media to engage citizens in parliament's work.Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the Social Media Guidelines for Parliaments published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union with support from the Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments (ASGP), the IFLA Section of Libraries and Research Services for Parliaments and the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament. The objective of the guidelines is to encourage more widespread, more efficient and more effective use of social media by parliaments.
The workshop, which was organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Parliament of Uruguay through the Global Centre of ICT in Parliament, is attended by Members of Parliament who are responsible for the budgeting of ICT in their parliaments, directors of ICT and the heads of Communication services in the respective parliaments.