About Us

Vision

CITO will lead in establishing a world-class national ICT sector that will foster Jamaica becoming the most developed knowledge-based society in the region

Mission

CITO’s mandate is to contribute to the increase of national wealth and the e-Powering of Jamaica by means of an effective National ICT Strategic Plan that will facilitate the development of an efficient and integrated public sector and national ICT environment, and increased capacity and capability of our people to leverage the opportunities that ICT gives rise to across the global economy.

CITO will also provide ICT standards and policy advice, ICT project support and e‑governance leadership to the public sector through our competent staff working in a collaborative, communicative, facilitative, flexible, performance-driven manner to achieve our goals across the government and the nation.

Background & Overview

The Central Information Technology Office (CITO) is a publicly owned company which was established by the Government of Jamaica in 2001. It is intended to be an enabler for national development through its charge to formulate, update, coordinate and monitor implementation of the National Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy. Within that context CITO’s also has a public sector mandate in defining, implementing, monitoring, sourcing, and continuously improving public sector ICT services which create quality and efficiency in a cost effective manner.

CITO monitors and co-ordinates the activities outlined in National Strategy. Its functions are therefore central to the promotion, development and growth of the ICT sector. The strategy analyses the capabilities and skills, which currently exist in the country and proposes policies, strategies, projects and programmes to achieve critical ICT objectives of national importance.

CITO reports directly to the Minister of Energy, Mining, and Telecommunications, through him, to the Information Sub-Committee of Cabinet. The organization is governed by a board of directors on which its Chief Executive Officer sits.

Role and Functions

• Develop, update, coordinate and monitor implementation of the National ICT Strategic Plan in accordance with national development policies by establishing effective partnerships with all key stakeholders across the public, private and NGO sectors.
• Monitor and report on national e-readiness status, with a particular view to Jamaica’s ratings on key international indices.
• Make national policy recommendations and develop specific strategies to improve Jamaica’s e-readiness ratings, and address opportunities and threats arising from Jamaica’s international e‑readiness rankings.
• Develop, update, coordinate and monitor implementation of the GoJ’s e-Government Strategy.
• Develop and promulgate the adoption of government-wide ICT standards and policies to create common interoperability platforms and greater efficiency in the use of ICT resources.
• Review and support GoJ ICT projects with a view to assessing the value-added for the government, the alignment with the strategic and policy direction, and the organizational and business processes impact of such projects.
• Define priorities on the basis of government-wide projects (cross-cutting initiatives) which will reduce costs and/or increase revenues for Government of Jamaica
• Take a lead role in coordinating the implementation of cross-ministry joined-up government ICT projects which involve public/private sector partnerships
• Develop and promote ICT awareness programs and campaigns for targeted sectors as well national coverage
• Promote and foster education and professional development of public and private sectors leaders and technology managers in order to promote the increasingly effective use of ICTs
• Seek and secure funding to support CITO approved ICT projects