One of the biggest challenges badly affecting development in the Local Government is poor communication, both internally and externally. One of the strategies adopted by RALGA to address the issue is to use the Information and Communication Technologies, mainly internet and mobile telephones.

It is in this context that RALGA established online forums (so far 10 are operational) through mailing lists. The mailing forums bringing together members with the same functions (District Mayors forum, District Vice - Mayors forum, District Executive Secretaries forum,…). The result is that, while less than a year ago some authorities and technicians were hardly checking (let alone responding to) their e mails, they are now conducting online debates on various important issues. Most of the debates are about experience exchanging, information inquiring on various policies and instructions to have a common understanding.

The move allowed Local Leaders to not only improve their performance (limitless, fast and cheaper means of communication), but also to avoid numerous meetings and hence time and means waste. After this stage of basic use of ICT, which actually was meant to bring behavior change among Local Leaders vis a vis using IT in communication, RALGA envisages to go a step ahead and encourage its members to adopt a more proactive communication approach by availing information to the public through various channels such as websites, mass media, etc

We expect that the behavior change will allow Local Leaders to largely benefit from the IT infrastructure and policies existing in the country. So far, all Districts and important public institutions such as schools and hospitals are already connected to the national fiber optic back bone.