In a context where Haiti faces numerous and significant challenges: socio-political crises, extreme poverty, environmental vulnerability, fight against insecurity and banditry, digital technology is emerging as a potential engine for the country's development, estimates the National Council Telecommunications (CONATEL)

To this end, the Haitian Government, through CONATEL and the Acceleration Laboratory of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), organized a reflection workshop on Friday, September 22, 2023, on the theme "Digital Transformation as a catalyst for development".

This workshop, which brought together government officials, private sector actors, representatives of civil society, United Nations agencies, media, university experts and researchers specializing in digital development, aimed to mobilize stakeholders of the digital sector in Haiti to develop an inclusive and effective national strategy.

Emphasis was placed on the challenges and opportunities of digital technology to achieve the objectives of the Haitian Strategic Development Plan (PSDH), in light of global practices and the obstacles to be overcome.

Engineer Joses Jean Baptiste, General Director of CONATEL is convinced that "[...] digital transformation is a powerful lever for improving public service in Haiti. This transformation fundamentally changes the way the State serves its citizens. Taking into account the needs of all kinds of the haitien public administration, digital transformation is essential both as a shortcut to reach the destination and an accelerator of movement.

Let's remember that the UNDP launched its Digital Strategy 2022-2025 last year to anticipate the constant evolution of the digital world, an essential asset for reducing disparities and leaving no one behind because the digital divide constitutes an obstacle to reducing inequality.

Haiti faces a significant delay in its development goals due to multiple crises. Despite notable advances in telecommunications, particularly accessibility to mobile telephony and the Internet, there is still a lot of potential for improvement.

The number of users of mobile connections, the Internet and social networks increased slightly from 2021 to 2022 in Haiti. In 2022, more than 65% of users had access to mobile connections compared to 64% in 2021. Furthermore, the Internet usage rate increased from 37% to 41.40% over the same period...

HL/ HaitiLibre