The Girls in ICT programme was introduced in 2012 by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider studies and careers in the growing field of Information and Communication Technologies (ITUs).
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, under the stewardship of Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister for Communications and Digitalisation (MP, Ablekuma West), since 2017, has adopted the initiative, as a platform to equip girls between the ages of 9 and 15 years (Upper Primary to Junior High School), with knowledge and skills in basic ICT and Coding.
The programme is implemented with support from Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) as the technical resource provider, with training by Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (KACE). The programme is also supported by MTN Ghana, National Communications Authority (NCA), American Towers Company (ATC) and others.
It involves a five-day training of selected girls from the participating region in basic ICT and coding, through which the girls explore the world of technology through the creation of websites, computer games and animation stories, using Scratch.
The program has the following components:
- Training of 100 selected Teachers from across the selected Region
- Training of 1,000 Girls in ICT from across all the Districts within the selected Region
- A Mentorship session whereby women currently working in the ICT Field share their personal and professional experiences with the Girls-in ICT, to encourage and guide them in their future careers and endeavours
- A Climax Event that involves the following:
- Presentation of awards for best-performing Girls in ICT
- Remarks by coaches and mentors
- A Speech by the Honourable Minister
- Presentation of certificates to all girls
- An Open Day experience where the best 100 girls from a number of Girls from the selected Region where the Programme had been held, are brought to Accra for a week to tour the Offices of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), select Tower Companies and Companies in the ICTs industry, select MoCD Agencies, and interact especially with women in the industry.
It is important to note the following achievements between 2017 and 2021:
- 4,000 Girls have been trained & mentored (Ashanti, Western, Central, Oti, Western North and North East).
- 400 Teachers trained to train more girls in ICT, beyond the programme
- 51 Cyber labs have been set up
- 1,134 laptops given to teachers and top-performing girls
This year, the Ministry targets 5000 girls and 500 teachers from 5 regions to benefit from the girls in ICT programme. Meanwhile, 300 girls and 300 teachers from 3 regions have already been trained from Bono East, Bono and Ahafo regions. 200 more girls from Northern Region and Savannah will be trained later this year. Also, 112 Girls in ICT labs are being set up this year alone, on top of the 51 labs previously set up.
In spite of these important achievements over the years, and the immense contributions to the MoCD in support of the Programme from GIFEC, KACE, NCA, MTN, ATC, etcetera, the enormity of the gender digital divide remains a challenge, hence the need to scale up the programme to cover even more girls across Ghana.
The Ministry expressed their gratitude to the sponsors their continued support to the programme, stating that, through their contribution, the programme has been expanded to five (5) more regions this year.
The Ministry has also introduced the Girls-in ICT at the tertiary level to encourage young girls’ interest to pursue careers in ICT. This is being done in partnership with Huawei Technologies, Ghana, Limited.
In September 2021, 50 (Fifty) female students from the University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) were taken through a Ten (10) day training programme in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and Cyber Security.
This was a residential training programme. The students were divided into groups and made to develop business-oriented ideas and solutions to modern problems, and the groups with the most outstanding solutions to critical national issues were rewarded with deserving prizes.
The Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Huawei Technologies – Ghana, also educated 60,000 female Senior High Students in the Ashanti, Central and Eastern Regions on Cyber Security as part of the Girls-in-ICT Programme in October 2021. This year, the Ministry will train 100,000 girls in Cyber security in the Senior High Schools. 15,000 girls have already benefited from this programme in the first phase of the year. Beneficiary regions include Bono East, Bono Region, Northern, Oti, Ashanti and Ahafo regions.
By: Naa Korkoi Essah/ Head, PR Ministry of Communications and Digitalization
