the needs of the various target groups, including those in the public service, are met. The role of the Service Commission Department will need to be defined in the context of AWARE which seeks to address the level of ICT literacy only. Under this Project, the issue of the challenges faced by the people of SVG in obtaining ICT at affordable prices will be identified. Public consultation may be necessary to determine the nature and extent of the challenge, and an analysis of the ICT market and a determination of the strategies necessary to promote competitive and fair market pricing will be needed. These outputs will inform government policy in this regard to enable and support AWARE and its related projects. The ICT Infrastructure-in-Education Project will build the required ICT infrastructure to provide Computer Based Training (CBT) through all available channels. The infrastructure will include computer labs, networks for connecting facilities, teaching and learning support software, and access to the Internet. Current training facilities would need to be reviewed and upgraded to a consistent sustainable high standard. Based on best practice research, special focus will be placed on developing and enabling ICT leadership and performance evaluation techniques. Teachers will be trained as part of their professional development, and a guide will be developed to ICT standards, professional development needs, and integration approaches. It is likely that the integration of ICT into teaching and learning will need to be incentivised and that funding will need to be identified or raised. It is also critical that teaching and learning resource materials be localised, and that regional partnerships will need to be created as a mechanism to manage cost and to enable regional growth and development. And finally, there is a need for an education portal as a mechanism to enable collaboration in the use and development of teaching and learning resources, and in enabling networking between school administrators, teachers, students and parents. Action Item: Commence software development training and content application creation at COE Conduct training of Public Service Technical Professional on Government applications The Smart People, Smart Worker Programme is designed to support ICT-enabled life-long learning. SVG is aiming to be more selfsufficient in managing its ICT development and on promoting innovation. It is being recognised that having higher level ICT skills will be valued and eventually rewarded. This Programme will therefore build on current initiatives and involve identifying the set of higher level ICT skills required to promote the development of SVG and developing an associated training plan to meet these needs. Courses will be designed and incentives will be created and offered to both training providers and students to encourage pursuance of higher level ICT skills training to create Smart People. St. Vincent & the Grenadines National ICT Strategy and Action Plan P a g e | 70 For the public service in particular, software application projects will be developed to sustain and entrench the use of the higher level ICT skills being acquired by the public sector worker – the Smart (Knowledge) Worker. This activity will be managed through a central body that will be created to identify and manage projects under the Smart Worker initiative and which will identify and engage experts to mentor, develop and transfer the skills through the experiential involvement of local professionals. So Smart Workers will be utilised for the benefits of SVG in that they would provide the capacity to provide application software systems and ICT systems to meet the needs of the public sector under this plan.