ITU, Norway To Support Ghana’s Digital Transformation Centre Initiative
As part of efforts to push the government’s digitalization agenda, the Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has signed a three-year partnership agreement with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Norwegian Government to support the Digital Transformation Centre (DTC) Initiative in Ghana.
The new partnership creates a collaboration between Cisco and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to provide over 13,000 Ghanaians with job-ready digital skills through 200 centres across the country.
Speaking at a virtual signing ceremony, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said that these centres would soon be expanded into the agricultural sector to train over a million farmers and other stakeholders.
“We’re doing 14,700 with a potential to scale up to reach all interested groups and stakeholders within the country and the World Food Program is partnering us to reach over a million farmers in the course of the coming three years utilizing these centres as well. So once this infrastructure is in place, the uses to which it can be put are endless, and we encourage everyone who is interested to partner with us to see how we can scale up.”
She added, “Students will be able to utilize these centres as remote learning virtual classrooms when they are away from home. In health, it can be utilized to provide e-health services to those who might need it. And so the uses to which it can be put are varied, and we are very grateful that we are equipping all community ICT centres across the country to be able to be used to facilitate the acquisition of digital skills in all spheres of endeavour in our country.”
The Secretary-General of the ITU, Houlin Zhao, elated about the partnership, urged everyone to come on board in driving the digital transformation agenda.
He noted, “I hope others will follow the example of Ghana and Norway. Let us build an inclusive digital society where no one is left behind and where everyone can fulfil his or her potential.”
The International Telecommunication Union launched the Digital initiative last year in partnership with Cisco. Since then, centres in nine developing countries have started operations and are delivering digital skills training to citizens in marginalized communities.