Young At Heart Ghana Continues To Take Steps To Bridge The Rural-Urban Digital Divide

The 2015 co-winner of the Tigo Digital Change-makers’ competition and Founder of Young at Heart Ghana, Josephine Marie Godwyll, wants to see more young Ghanaians at the forefront of digital innovations.

Ms. Godwyll who is also a 2016 Mandela Washington fellow was speaking at the climax of a four-week ‘Digital Literacy Class’ organised for Junior and Senior Secondary students over the Christmas and New Year holidays in Koforidua, the Eastern region.

Her team took the students through problem identification, design cycle, and programming in HTML. She believes digital literacy fosters inclusion particularly greater community and global participation and this would open young people to several opportunities around the world.

“Digital literacy essentially is about finding, evaluating and creating content using ICT. It facilitates our ability to stream media, communicate with friends and family and also enhances our work and leisure. It is important to teach these young people so they can meaningfully participate and contribute to the fast changing technology. Together we can help build platforms that can facilitate easy conversations and simplify various work processes”, she explained.

She called on all stakeholders to help empower children so they can understand and appreciate the benefits and dangers of digital literacy.

Josephine Marie Goodwyll runs Young at Heart, an NGO that is committed to improving Digital Literacy among children in rural Ghana. Since 2013, she has been working to improve ICT illiteracy through the formation of Digital Fan Clubs in basic schools and providing hands on ICT training through an e-learning platform called Ananse, a popular character in Ghanaian folktale. Her Hackathorn sessions are particularly popular among children in the Akyem Mponua district of the Eastern region.

In 2017 she plans on introducing other modules including Implementers’ Week; Geek Week; and Makers Week.