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| Accra, Ghana |
The
Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) on Wednesday held a
dissemination workshop for its global impact study on public access to
Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) in Ghana.
The study funded
by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was managed by the Canadian
International Development Research Centre and implemented by the Technology and
Social Change Group of the Information School, University of Washington,
Seattle USA.
Ghana, Chile,
Bangladesh, Brazil and the Philippines will collaborate with the implementing
bodies.
The study seeks
to address issues of socio-economic and political impacts of ICTs, the
magnitude of these impacts and the relationship between costs and benefits of
providing and using public access to ICTs.
Ms
Sherry Ayittey, Caretaker Minister, Ministry of Environment, Science and
Technology, noted that ICTs “…has produced visible and effective outcomes,
which have enhanced activities such as trade, transport, governance, research,
agriculture and banking among others.”
She said it was
unfortunate that Ghana was still lagging behind in harnessing the potential and
benefits of ICT, as computer and internet penetration at the household level,
public access facilities such as internet cafes, community information centres
and business still remained inadequate and a growing challenge.
She said the
study was timely, giving that it was consistent with Government’s development
objective of building a knowledge economy and an information rich society.
However,
increasing access to ICT services in the country requires the provision on
facilities especially for unserved and underserved areas of the country.
The Minister
called for support for the work of the private sector and the Ghana Investment
Fund for Electronic Communication, for efforts in providing public access
venues for the majority of Ghanaians to participate in the digital revolution.
Ms Ayittey said
the Ministry would continue to pursue and sustain policies such as the laptop
project for students to enhance ICT usage for academic excellence.
Dr
Godfred Frempong, Principal Research Scientist, STEPRI, stated that the Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIRs)-STEPRI, which represented
Ghana in the global study project, was therefore engaging Public Access Venue
operators, researchers, NGOs and the media to discuss the report, offer their
expertise and also make inputs to its emerging conclusions.
Dr Frempong said
the dialogue was also intended to help forge strong collaboration between all
stakeholders to ensure the promotion and effective usage of ICT in Ghana.
He explained that
the study covered areas in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western regions,
which were considered as the most commercial regions in the country and
therefore could provide credible information on Public Access Venues (PAV),
which include public libraries and internet cafes.
He mentioned how
the promotion of ICT as a tool would bridge the digital divide between the
rural and urban areas of the country, thereby, reducing the rural-urban drift.
Dr Frempong
explained that it was critical that PAVs were expanded, especially in the
under-served and un-served areas of the country to provide equitable access to
a wide range of government information and services for those without
effective, private access to the internet.
He noted that
PAVs, especially those in the rural areas, provided developmental services to
communities and in this way reduce the imbalances that already exist between
rural and urban areas.
He said in view
of these advantages, governments, international development agencies,
foundations and corporations in the past decade had made significant
investments to increase public access to ICT, particularly in developing
countries.
“As
these investments continue to grow, questions are being raised about their
impact, particularly the social, economic and political impacts; the magnitude
of these impacts and the relationship between costs and benefits of providing
and using public access to ICTs,” he said.
The study
involves the conduct of three surveys on Public Access Venue Operators, Public
Access Venue Users and Public Access Venue Non-users.
The Operator
survey was designed to gather information on the operational characteristics,
design, services and cost of providing public access to ICTs, while for the
user it was to gather information on users’ characteristics, usage patterns and
perceived impacts of using public access ICTs.
In the case of
the non-user, it was to gather information on the characteristics on non-users
and reasons for not using public access ICTs.
Ghana
News Agency (GNA)