The ‘ICT‐as‐a‐Business’ Programme This Programme focuses on the development of the ICT sector itself and as a contributor to economic growth. It focuses the creation and maintenance of a pool of skilled ICT persons through training, entrepreneurial development, and professional certification who will be deployed to support and grow the sector. It includes the role of government in the strategic outsourcing of public sector ICT work as a mechanism to stabilise and build the capability and capacity of the sector. It also focuses on building a local market for ICT product and services to provide a base for sectoral growth, as well as providing comprehensive international marketing and ICT research focussed on emerging island states. The Programme proposes the exploitation of the OECS marketplace as a mechanism to provide a stable and defined workload and to share scarce resources and skills. Finally, the Programme has a component to assist with venture capital for ICT businesses and an ICT incubator, which collectively will move St. Lucia from being an ICT consumer to and ICT producer, starting perhaps with the utilisation of ICT in the cultural sector. 4.6 Government The e‐Government Programme This Programme seeks to facilitate the adoption of a common ICT infrastructure and architecture within government and to promote ICT as a driver for social advancement and economic growth. This Programme will ultimately facilitate multi‐channel service delivery, including the Internet, mobile phones and the conventional telephone, an integral part of anytime, anywhere, any channel service delivery. Several Projects will be executed as part of the e‐government agenda, including: Institutional Strengthening Project This project will develop the capacity of the National ICT and e‐Government Unit in the Ministry of the Public Service and Human Resource Development to serve as the central agency responsible for and empowered with planning, coordination, advisory, promotion and monitoring functions. It may include a review of the classification of ICT professionals within the public sector in order to attract and retain the best available resources. It would include the establishment of an appropriate governance arrangement for the execution of the e‐ Government Programme which would utilise a high‐level Steering Committee. Policy and standards development would be part of this project and would focus on the centralisation of IT services and functions in government, guidelines for the governance of ICT at a national level, [27]