Tourism Legal and Regulatory Education and Human Resource Development Industry and ICT Sector (including Trade and Financial Services) The members of the SWG were generally selected based on their experience and expertise in the specific sector, and were often well respected subject matter experts. With external facilitation and utilising a best practice development process, eVolve™, the SWGs met over the period May 2009 to March 2010, and crafted the national ICT policy and plan. It should be noted that some of the initiatives that were considered by the SWGs did not made its way into this document as issues of prioritisation and resourcing had to be taken into consideration. However, this plan must be reviewed regularly and be kept updated annually as St. Vincent and the Grenadines progresses over the coming years else it will run the risk of becoming irrelevant to the national goals and aspirations. And such initiatives can be re-visited. 4.3 ICT VISION The vision statement created for SVG focuses heavily on sustainability and on quality of life improvements for all of the country’s people. It gives life to the desired outcomes of the National ICT Plan. The Vision is captured in the following statement: “St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a sustainable knowledge-based society that maximises the use of Information and Communication Technology for greater competitiveness, economic development, an improved quality of life and work for all its people, at home and abroad.” The Vision is clear that the benefits of its ICT agenda must be shared equitably, within SVG and with the Diaspora. The inclusion of the Diaspora is an important mechanism in addressing resource constraints. An emphasis on improvements in the quality of work experience is explicitly detailed. Sustainability is considered key and underpins the vision, and Government expects that the considerable benefits of being a knowledge-based society will be derived by the country. 4.4 CORE VALUES It was decided that there are some core values which underpin this Vision and which must be supported throughout the implementation effort. These core values were identified as follows: Sustainable Competitive Promoting Innovation Transformative People-centred All stakeholders agreed that in the process of implementation, the core values must not be lost or subsumed, but are always explicitly built into each and every individual plan for execution. Key questions must be continuously asked: Will the outputs and outcomes of the ICT execution effort be sustainable? Will it enable St. Vincent and the Grenadines to become more competitive? Will it promote innovation? Will it enable the people and the country to become more effective and productive through its transformative capability? And finally does the execution agenda have people at its core? If any action taken or project executed under the ambit of this Plan does not provide satisfactory answers to the above tests or subset of these tests, then the action will need to be re-examined as it will not support the core St. Vincent & the Grenadines National ICT Strategy and Action Plan P a g e | 56 values defined and therefore be inconsistent with the strategic direction desired for SVG. 4.5 DESIRED OUTCOMES It was important that SVG determine the specific outcomes which it wants achieved within the life of the Plan. After much debate, particularly around the issue of available resources, the desired outcomes were defined and are presented below: Strengthened ICT sector contributing significantly to the country’s economic vigour, to the drive for OECS sub-regional integration and economic union, and to regional integration Further strengthening of legislative and regulatory framework to embrace ICT, minimize cybercrimes, and engender greater trust and confidence in ICT among all citizens Processes which is inclusive of Civil Society, the Private Sector and the Diaspora Integrated government with all appropriate information and services on line and knowledge effectively managed by 2015 Universal, affordable and secure access to Broadband Internet ICT services by all citizens, businesses and communities by 2015 ICT is accessible and entrenched into the education system and an ICT-literate society created; and persons with high aptitude and excellence harnessed and facilitated to excel in this field Health care delivery optimised by use of ICT Growth of unique and innovative medium and micro ICT enterprises in the creation of local content and local software applications