EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Government has developed the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Policy as tool to enable Lesotho to achieve its development goals as articulated in the Lesotho Vision 2020 Policy Document and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The policy supercedes the Lesotho Telecommunications Policy of 1999, which has basically set up the appropriate institutional framework for policy formulation, regulation and operations in the Telecommunications sector. While one of the major goals of the 1999 policy was to encourage the deployment of ICT infrastructure in the country, this particular policy takes the mandate further to give direction as to how the proposed Information and Communications Technologies could be utilised to open up new opportunities, improve service delivery and hence ease the grip of poverty on the Basotho Nation. The policy paper is structured in such a manner that the first chapter introduces the concept of ICT. The role of information in development and the importance of ICTs are introduced after a brief explanation of ICT has been provided. The picture is then completed by elaborating on the rationale of this particular policy. The second chapter considers the guiding principles behind this particular policy. The Vision and mission together with the overall goals, objectives and the strategies of the policy are articulately spelt out in this section of the document. The various stakeholders and the roles they are expected to play towards the actualisation of the policy goals are presented in chapter 3. Specifically, the policy identifies ten cross cutting catalysts that would provide the strategic framework needed to guide the successful implementation of the policy. These are ICT supporting infrastructure, Education and Human Resource Development, Enabling Legal and Regulatory framework, Rapid Delivery of ICT Services, E-Government, E-Commerce, Health, Agriculture and Food Security, Tourism and Environment and lastly, Gender and Youth. Each of the above cross cutting issue is dealt with under its own section. There is a brief introduction for each of these issues, which explain its importance, and where the country ICT Policy for Lesotho 10