GIFEC calls for local assemblies collaboration in ICT expansion to rural areas

Authorities at Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) are counting on Municipal and District Assemblies collaboration in achieving targets of Community Information Centre (CIC) project.

The CIC initiative under GIFEC has the mandate to equip under privileged communities with the necessary ICT knowledge to help alleviate poverty in the country.

Increased knowledge in ICT would move the country’s weak and subsistence agricultural based economy toward information and knowledge based economy.

Interests of people in the rural communities have been aroused by this project but more is expected from the CICs.

Administrator for GIFEC, Kwabena Owusu Acheampong, believes the establishments can help bridge gap between rural and urban centers in ICT with support from Municipal and District Assemblies.

“Where there is no direct benefit is because the managers and Assemblies have not taken specific interest what is happening, if Assemblies should support the CICs we will benefit more,” he said.

The CICs by its accessibility to pupils after school hours and weekends will also complement the efforts of schools in the training of pupils in ICT.

He believes technology literacy can only be achieved if trained people in the field are employed to impart such knowledge in pupils.

“The student’s first introduction to ICT comes from the school so if you don’t have properly trained teachers for this, it becomes a problem. Physics, chemistry and teachers for the sciences are being used to teach but ICT is not only about the sciences but having a proper knowledge in the IT field”, he added.

Mr. Acheampong spoke to Luv News when GIFEC held a training program for Managers of CICs across the country.

However, he challenged managers of CICs to find new ways of sustaining interest of communities in the program.

“Some CICs are now offering printing services so people come there print and go beyond that, so if you are also able to innovate things like these the numbers you get daily will increase,” he noted.

He says sustainability would also be achieved if managers are able to maintain faulty equipment with internally generated funds and early report of those that exceed budgets.

Meanwhile, participants at the training are encouraged to work more at their communities to help bridge the technological gap between urban and rural areas.

They believe the training offered by GIFEC has improved their entrepreneurial knowledge in the field and also called for more as technology continue to improve.