Source: The Chronicle

This revelation was made by Madam Eva Andoh-Poku, the Acting Administrator of GIFEC, during her address at the launch and dissemination of the report on the Assessment of Internet Universally Indicators (IUI) in Ghana.

Madam Eva Andoh-Poku highlighted the IUI was introduced in Ghana in July 2020, marked by the inaugural meeting of the national Multistakeholder Advisory Board (MAB). 

This meeting, she maintained brought together 40 leading experts and stakeholders from diverse sectors, including government, regulatory bodies, academia, private sector, media organisations, and civil society groups.

The IUI, as defined by UNESCO, aims to foster a comprehensive understanding of the national internet landscape and policies contributing to sustainable development. 

It evaluates these policies against UNESCO’s R.O.A.M principles and formulates policy recommendations to enhance internet development within the country.

Madam Eva Andoh-Poku expressed satisfaction that the objectives of the IUI have been successfully achieved, crediting the consultants for their diligent work, particularly Development House. 

She underscored that Ghana’s completion of the assessment places it among the few countries that have taken the lead in this regard, with 34 other nations making steady progress towards completion.

Notably, she highlighted that Ghana, alongside Benin and Kenya, stands out as one of the African countries that have successfully completed these assessments. 

This accomplishment signifies a significant step towards enhancing internet development and policy formulation on the continent, she concluded.

Credit: ClassFMOnline

The Field Trip forms part of efforts to maintain effective oversight over and enhance the sustainability of GIFEC projects. It also helps the Administrator to identify opportunities, challenges and gaps, to help continuously improve Operations.

Specifically,  Mr. Sefah passed through Kyebi and paid an unscheduled visit to the J. B. Danquah Memorial Library and ICT Centre, which doubles as GIFEC’s Eastern Regional Office, where training for 20 Visually-impaired citizens was taking place, as part of the Introduction to Computer Basics for Visually Impaired (ICBVI).

He interacted with trainees and encouraged them to maximize the value of the training, to enhance their lives. The discussion also touched on ways to improve and effectively expand the training for the benefit of more visually-impaired citizens.

He commended the Regional Manager for great maintenance culture established at the facility, and had fruitful discussions with him on ways to improve GIFEC Regional Operations, in general.

Accompanied by Kwahu South MCE – Hon. Emmanuel Atta-Ofori Sr., the Administrator also conducted an inspection of the GIFEC Cyberlab at Obo Presbyterian Primary and Junior High School in the Kwahu, where he engaged the Headmaster and ICT teacher. 

He shared ideas with them on ways to better care for the computer workstations and accessories provided, in order to ensure a healthy maintenance culture, for the longevity of the equipment provided, for the benefit of the community.

Next, he visited the Obomeng Community ICT Centre (CIC), where a planned renovation (11 such being undertaken across the country) will be done by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as part of the ongoing Digital Transformation Centres (DTC) Initiative.

He entreated the Centre Manager and other Officers to keep up with the good work to ensure the ICT lab is well-maintained. 

Mr. Sefah also paid a courtesy call on the Queen Mother of Obomeng, as tradition demands, to listen to the perspective and wisdom of Nananom.

He reiterated that GIFEC is working with its technical partners on behalf of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation to conclude the Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project (GRT&DIP) this year, with the establishment of 1,006 more Sites, to bring the total output under the Nana Akufo-Addo government to an unprecedented 2,600 Sites.

The Obomeng Hemaa, on behalf of Obomeng Hene, who away but was represented by the Obomeng Krontihene, thanked and blessed the delegation,  and the Government, for the great digitalisation efforts being undertaken.

Mr. Sefah wrapped up his field trip with visits to GIFEC CyberLabs in Kwahu Asakraka and Bepong, where the iconic Dr. J.B. Danquah was born.

In Bepong, he interacted with participants and School Officials regarding recent GIFEC training in Kids’ Coding and Basic Computing for Artisans  He told the audience that the mind is one’s greatest asset. He got much helpful feedback and promised the delivery of more training in the communities to benefit citizens this year.

Overall, Mr. Sefah captured much information to take back from the Field Tour, to help improve GIFEC Operations for the benefit of citizens and stakeholders.

He visited the training Centre at Awutu Breku in the Awutu Senya District of the Region, where training was ongoing for 30 participants, which included Senior High School graduates, Women Entrepreneurs, Youth and School Teachers in Basic ICT Skills, Cybersecurity and Entrepreneurship.

Mr. Sefah spoke about the mandate of GIFEC, and the various Programmes being implemented as part of the goal of bridging the digital divide between served and underserved and unserved communities.

He said the DTC project was being implemented in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union and Cisco, and with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

The Administrator expressed appreciation to the trainer and trainees for their efforts and advised the trainees to maximise the use of the skills acquired through the training.

He said the extent of availability of knowledge and tools to the youth in the world currently, if used properly, presented the youth with the opportunity to be more efficient, effective, and smarter in our endeavours.

Mr. Hisham Iddrisu, the Centre Trainer, said the purpose of the training was to transfer ICT knowledge to participants to create their own businesses or to enhance their existing businesses.

He expressed the hope that trainees would take advantage of the knowledge and skills gained to better their lives.

Mr. Frank Osei, a trainee and a teacher, expressed his appreciation for being included in the programme as lessons in ICT and Cybersecurity had exposed him to the vulnerabilities of using the internet and pledged to share the knowledge with his students.

Mr. Sefah was accompanied by some support staff to inspect the newly constructed ICT Centre in Senya Breku and briefly engaged the Heads of the Senya DA Basic A & B Schools on the impending operationalisation of the Centre.

The DTC is in its final year of execution and is targeted at training 14,000 citizens, including Women Entrepreneurs, School Dropouts, School leavers, Head Porters, Teachers, Students, Youth and Persons with Disability in courses such as Get Connected, Entrepreneurship, Introduction to Cyber Security and Introduction to Internet of Things.

In this current cohort, 4,335 beneficiaries are being trained in 155 Community ICT Centres across the country.

The validation workshop follows research by MGA Consulting Limited, to assess and identify gaps in the training content delivered under the Digital Transformation Centres Project, and to map out additional courses which could improve the reach and impact of the project.

Speaking at the workshop, the Deputy Administrator of GIFEC, Mrs. Eva Andoh-Poku said the workshop is to validate the gap analysis and content mapping for Digital Skills training for the DTC Project in Ghana. She urged participants to make recommendations to help shape the final report.

On his part, the Director of Operations at GIFEC, Alhaji Yahaya Zakaria Osman expressed gratitude to MGA Consulting Limited, for their work and assured that the recommendations made would be implemented to the full.

The National Project Officer of ITU-Ghana, Mr. Alex Kojo Boahoma said the recommendations of the report will be adopted by ITU to serve as content for training, not only in Ghana, but in Africa as a whole.

Presenting the report, the Chief Executive Officer and Lead Consultant at MGA Consulting Ghana Limited, Mr. Michael Abbiw, outlined that the main objective for the study is to assess and identify gaps in the current content, based on the needs and characteristics of target beneficiaries, recommend adaptations to an existing content, and based on the needs assessments, propose new content to be developed.

He added that the scope of the assignment was to conduct a demand-side assessment of the digital skills needs of the project’s target beneficiaries, comprising female entrepreneurs, marginalized individuals (PWDs, school dropouts, and head potters), school teachers, out-of-school youth, and students, conduct a supply-side assessment of the course content offered to project beneficiaries, and identify additional training topics and materials for the DTC Initiative.

Mr. Abbiw mentioned that a gap analysis was conducted to determine the disparity between the project’s content offering and the digital skills needs of the beneficiaries, including the needs of marginalized individuals.

Mr. Abbiw stated that sixty-six (66) participants were sampled with forty-four (44) being females and twenty-two (22) males. “The study was intended to collect data from sixty-six (66) participants; 60 were intended for beneficiaries representing the demand side, and six represented the trainers who fall under the supply side across six (6) zones”, Mr. Abbiw said.

“After consultations with representatives from GIFEC and ITU, six locations (Ashaiman, Assin Fosu, Jasikan, Kodie Goaso and Tamale) from six regions (Greater Accra, Central, Oti, Ashanti, Ahafo and Northern Regions) were selected for 10 beneficiaries from each region and the trainer at the CIC”, He added.

Finally, he outlined a significant observation in respect to training materials used for the training saying “from our analysis we discovered that Female Entrepreneurs and Marginalized individuals want their training materials in English but in Hard Copy format. They also wanted video recordings of practical sessions in their local language.”

At the end of the workshop, participants recommended the following training courses: Introduction to MS Office Suite, Introduction to ICT Tools, Entrepreneurship, Digital Entrepreneurship and Programming.

Participants present at the workshop were staff from staff of GIFEC, ITU staff and selected CICs Managers from the Greater Accra Region.

The DTC project is in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Cisco and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), and aimed at increasing a digitally literate citizenry, to boost their ICT capabilities to enable them to participate more meaningfully in the Knowledge Society of today.

The main objective of the project is to expand the digital capabilities and benefits of ICT to marginalised groups, particularly in the unserved and underserved communities in Ghana. The project which started in 2021, has trained over 6,500 citizens including, head porters, school dropouts, PWDs in basic and intermediate Cisco-certified courses within all the 16 Regions across the country.

Madam Akofio-Sowah, who also serves as a Member of the Board of the Ghana Domain Name Registry, in her initial remarks, said that the visit was in line with required Stakeholder Engagements, especially as we get beyond the COVID disruption. According to her, the visit also served as an avenue to pay a courtesy call on the new Administrator of GIFEC.

She mentioned that CSquared currently owns and operates over 1000 kilometres of metro fiber in Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda and more than 2000 in 5 cities in Ghana: Accra, Tema, Kasoa, Kumasi, Takoradi and 180KMs in Monrovia, Liberia. She also touched briefly on the history and ownership structure of CSquared and their core Wholesale Open Access business model.

In response, the Administrator (CEO) of GIFEC – Mr. Prince Sefah acknowledged that CSquared is a well-regarded contributor of 1% of its Net Revenues to GIFEC’s base of funding. Further, he highlighted key projects and programmes being undertaken by GIFEC.

He intimated the enormity of the Ghana Rural Telephony & Digital Inclusion Project, being implemented by GIFEC on behalf of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation and the government, touching 2,016 Communities, and connecting about 3.5 million more Ghanaians with Voice and Data Network Services.

He mentioned briefly, other key expanded initiatives of GIFEC, such as the Capacity Building Programme, especially the Girls in ICT and the Digital Transformation Centres programmes.

Mr. Sefah finally touched on GIFEC’s Cyberlabs Programmes and Community ICT Centres (CICs), including the fact that 30 more have been expanded, bringing the number to 273, at various stages of operationalisation.

Estelle expressed her particular interest in the CICs, from their earliest days, while serving as the CEO of Busy Internet.

Further discussions around how both organizations can mutually benefit from leveraging fiber infrastructure to accelerate access to Voice and Data Services.

Also discussed was on ongoing efforts at GIFEC to strengthen internal structures to meet expanding Mandates.

Both CEOs determined to look for more opportunities for closer collaboration between the two organizations, going forward.

In attendance at the Meeting were the Deputy Administrator of GIFEC – Mrs. Eva Andoh-Poku, the Director of Administration and Human Resources – Alhaji Faisal Issahaku Gbanjili and the Director of Operations – Alhaji Yahaya Zakaria Osman.

The districts are Techiman Municipal, Techiman North, Kintampo North Municipal, Kintampo South, Nkoranza South Municipal, Nkoranza North, Atebubu-Amantin Municipal, Pru East, Pru West, Sene East and Sene West.

At a short ceremony held at the Auditorium of Valley View University, the Director of Operations at the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Alhaji Yahaya Zakaria Osman urged the teachers to put in maximum efforts in training the Girls.

He said, GIFEC, under its ICT Capacity Building and Skills Development Programme has trained trained citizens in basic ICT skills, and provided basic ICT equipment to aid in their learning and training. “GIFEC has embarked on several interventions, including the provision of ICT equipment and training of Students, Teachers, Artisans, and Persons in various industries with basic and intermediary ICT Skills under the ICT Capacity Building and Skills Development Programme”, Alhaji Yahaya stated.

The Director of Operations added that the objective of the programme is to enhance livelihood and increase the adoption of digitalisation by building the capacity of 100’s of ICT Teachers and other Trainers each year. The programme also provides Technical & Resource Support for the training of 1000’s of GIICT each year, training over 1,000 Kids in ICT coding, and setting up several coding clubs across the country, among others.

Alhaji Yahaya used the opportunity to thank the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Hon. Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP) for her continuous leadership and passion towards the GIICT training programme since she became the sector Minister in 2017.

The Regional Coordinating Director, Mr. George Padmore Mensah, said the region is ready to host the GIICT programme in April and added that, the region will offer its support from the beginning to the end of the programme. He advised the teachers to impart more training skills and knowledge unto the girls and exhibit professionalism in their teaching.

On her part, the Regional Education Director, Madam Effa A.D. Amuah, advised the trainers to take the training seriously since it represents a good opportunity for them to grow their knowledge base and help improve the job skills of the girls.

Also present at the ceremony were Madam Osei Agarthar, Regional Girls Education Officer, Mr. John Kodwo Amissah, Municipal Education Director (Techiman South) and Madam Ellen White, Municipal Girls Education Officer.

Others were Mr. Gabriel Gyamfi, Regional ICT Coordinator, Madam Gloria Adjarah, an Assistant Director at Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) and Mrs. Priscilla Hope, an Officer at KACE.

The Girls in ICT initiative is one of the flagship Programmes of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation and is in line with the International Girls in ICT Day, an initiative backed by all ITU Member States, which aims at encouraging and empowering girls and young women to consider studies and careers in the growing field of ICT, enabling both girls and technology companies to reap the benefits of greater female participation in the ICT sector.

Since its inception, the programme has been funded entirely by the MoCD, NCA and GIFEC, with some support from network operators and the American Tower Corporation (ATC).

This year’s GIICT programme will be held in five (5) regions with the first slated for the Bono East region. Training of the Girls starts from 4th to 15th April, and district competitions take place from 8th to 16th April. The event will be climaxed on the 19th of April, 2022.

The GIICT programme is an initiative of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), adopted by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD), aimed at introducing young girls to basic ICT skills.

The programme has been promoted, deepened and broadened by the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation – Hon. Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, to an unprecedented level.

From 2017 to 2021, 5,000 girls and 500 Teachers across 8 Regions, have been trained by, and benefitted from the programme.

The programme not only imparts topnotch digital skills to but offers life and career mentorship as well as personal computer equipment and cyber labs in the schools of many of the participants.

This year alone, an additional 5,000 girls (1,000 each in 5 Regions), are to be trained to acquire fundamental digital skills, from turning on a PC, to creating basic applications through programming (coding).
Also, about 500 teachers in all, will be trained this year, to train the girls.

Telecommunications Giant MTN Ghana donated an amount of ¢10 million in 2021, to the MoCD, to support the GIICT for the next 3 years.

Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), is the main technical resource facilitator of the GIICT initiative while the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE) trains the GIICT Trainiers.

He said this, during interviews on Ghana’s Digitalisation Agenda, at Homebase TV and Kessben FM, adding that 260 out of 510 completed sites are active and providing service to Ghanaians across the country. He reiterated the commitment of the Akufo-Addo Administration to ensuring 99% telephony coverage by December 2024.

Mr. Sefah highlighted key achievements in the Digitalisation space, emphasizing that “Digitalisation extends beyond network provision, it includes capacity building and other ICTs”. To this end therefore, GIFEC is providing various forms of tailored training for beneficiaries from different sectors of the economy. Through GIFEC’s intervention, over 500,000 persons have been trained in order to fully participate in the current digital economy. This includes teachers, students, traders, artisans and women entrepreneurs.

In his interview, he restated his commitment to conduct more follow ups to promote effectiveness and enhancement of GIFEC’s training programs such as, Girls in ICT and Coding for Kids which is a project to give opportunity to kids and the youth to explore the world of technology through the creation of websites, computer games, animation stories, mobile apps and interactive arts.

He finally touched on the need for all sim cards to be registered to eliminate the existence of SIM frauds. As a method to safeguard the registration process he encouraged Ghanaians to embrace the verification stage of the sim registration process as it serves as a second or extra layer of security that is used to make sure that the person linking the SIM card to the Ghana card (National ID) is who they say they are.