National ICT Strategic Plan Government of St Kitts and Nevis Developing ICT Human Resources and Building Capacity Information Society The widespread deployment and utilization of ICTs is directly dependent upon the opportunity of a population to become ICT proficient. Whereas the public sector can set ICT strategy and policy, and the private sector can bring together opportunities and needed financial resources, both are dependent upon the intellectual capital of a nation and the ability of its people to provide the requisite skills and human capabilities. In the end, the ultimate change agent is a nation's citizens. This section explores the intellectual resources of the people of St. Kitts/Nevis, their educational background, their capabilities and potential from an ICT-related perspective, and their desire and willingness to use ICTs and help develop the ICT sector. There are a few countries that serve as development models of success and useful case studies for countries to emulate. Ireland and India are two of the more prominent. Ireland used about a third of its EU infusion money to develop education and human resources that in turn developed knowledge industries, like IT. One of the major constraints to the growth of the ICT sector in SKN has been the lack of a skilled labor force. The availability of appropriate skills is a major concern of the Government, SMEs, and educational institutions. The Government of SKN has launched a number of initiatives to address this issue, but time lags may mean that the shortage of trained labor will act as a constraint to growth and productivity improvements in the short to medium term. It has been reported that firms encounter myriad difficulties, ranging from getting IT service professionals to trouble-shooting basic PC problems to finding and retaining systems administrators. For educators, retaining good IT faculty and identifying the appropriate ICT curriculum components are difficult because of the demand for qualified professionals in this field. This shortage of ICT personnel is exacerbated by limited public sector funding. SKN’s labor sector competitiveness has been eroded somewhat in the last few years as wages Ministry of Finance, Sustainable Development, Information and Technology November, 2006 36