STEPRI disseminates global impact study on public access to ICTs in 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.
Source: GNA