Gender digital gap unacceptable – GDIP Executive Director

The Executive Director of Global Digital Inclusion Project (GDIP), Ms Onica N Makwakwa, has described the gender digital gap as unacceptable.

She, however, commended Ghana for its effort in promoting digital inclusion, saying “Ghana has truly been in the leadership of digital development for our continent for quite some time now.”

She added that Ghana was the first country to endorse the affordability standard of not spending more than two per cent of one’s income on one gig of data.

Ms Makwakwa made these remarks on Tuesday in Accra when she addressed an exclusive private information session organized by the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation and GDIP on the Women in Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF) project.

She said WiDEF was looking for solutions that have proven to be capable of closing the gender digital divide by bringing women into the digital economy.

Ms Makwakwa said WiDEF is a 60-million-dollar investment, which has now grown to 80 million dollars because more funders have partnered.

She said 50% of another round of grants that is about to be opened is earmarked for sub-Saharan Africa, explaining that WiDEF expects the majority of the applications for this round to come from the sub-region.

She encouraged groups and organisations working in areas as access and affordability, safety and security, digital products and tools, as well as digital skills, data and insights to apply for funding.