14,000 people to benefit from Ghana-Norway partnership

Ghana and Norway have entered into a partnership to roll out a project to develop digital skills in rural communities utilising the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFECs) network of Community ICT Centres.

Over 14,000 beneficiaries, including women entrepreneurs, teachers, students, persons living with disability, head porters, school dropouts, etc., will be trained in 3 years.

This came to light after the Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana, Gunnar Holm, paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD), Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Digital Transformation Centre (DTC) Initiative being implemented by the MoCD in partnership with the ITU and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

Mr Holm congratulated the minister on her appointment and pledged his government’s commitment to assist Ghana in the quest to utilise technology to improve service delivery at all levels.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful thanked Mr Holm for his visit. She reiterated the government’s resolve to accelerate the use of digital technology, applications and services at all levels, protect digital infrastructure and enhance capacity building and digital skills acquisition for our youth.

She expressed her appreciation for Norway’s support for the DTC project and looked forward to enhanced cooperation between the 2 countries in this area.

Present at the meeting were Mr Kofi Asante, Administrator of GIFEC; Mrs Madeleine Appenteng, Chief Director of MoCD; and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and MoCD.