Ghana's Youth In Mobile Application Development: Over 100 Girls To Begin Training

To celebrate its tenth anniversary the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE) is engaging with different stakeholder groups around Ghana to deliver innovative IT training packages. Over 100 students of Yaa Asantewaa Girls Senior High School were introduced to the Youth in Mobile training which trains secondary school students to develop mobile applications known popularly as apps. This training takes young Ghanaians from being consumers of technology to becoming creators of technology solutions.

The introductory hands-on session was enthusiastically received by students who were so absorbed that they did not want to stop to eat. The young women will now continue their journey to becoming mobile apps developers by following the specially developed AITI-KACE Online Course on Youth Mobile App Development.

The Director-General of AITI-KACE, Dorothy Gordon praised the school leadership for their commitment to providing 21st century skills to the student body. She said, 'By demonstrating their commitment to mastering technology, Yaa Asantewaa Girls have proved themselves worthy of the Queen-mother of Ejisu after whom the school is named. Given her legendary warrior spirit and intelligence Yaa Asantewaa might have been an IT professional had she lived today. We want to see more young women taking up the opportunities that IT offers. '

Through its online distance education training programmes, the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT is ready to support schools which have the infrastructure to make this kind of training a reality for their students. The idea is to make quality IT training accessible to as many Ghanaians as possible and in particular to encourage women to be part of the business of IT as well as to develop apps that are designed to provide solutions for women.

Ghana has seen a rapid increase in the use of mobile technology in recent years with penetration crossing the 100% mark. There has also been the rise in the use of internet-enabled phones. These developments have led to an increased demand for mobile computing and application development skills by companies looking to leverage the opportunities mobile technologies offer. Many mobile applications are supporting health care, education and job creation. In this way Application developers deliver good to society.

The series of workshops and online courses are aimed at encouraging the next generation of ECOWAS leaders to exploit the opportunities that IT offers and to pursue careers in the fast growing Information Communication Technology sector.

Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre Of Excellence In ICT

The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, Ghana's first Advanced Information Technology Training Institute was established in 2003 as part of an overall strategy to support the growth of the ICT sector. AITI-KACE's mandate is to provide a dynamic environment for market-oriented training of ICT professionals.

The Centre facilitates the use of ICT through strategic collaboration for on-line learning, support to e-Government, research and technology innovation for socio-economic development within ECOWAS and beyond.

Contact: 0302 679542-6, [email protected]