Ten journalists at the weekend participated in a post training review workshop to understand the telecommunication industry better and become anchors for regular and in-depth telecommunications reporting.

      The project which was an initiative of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in partnership with, MTN Ghana, a leading telecommunication company, was aimed at improving telecommunications reporting in Ghana.

      It also focussed on the enhancement of the media’s role in creating public awareness to foster greater public interest and contribute to issues relating to telecommunications operations in the country.

      Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director of MFWA called on journalists to identify their skill and specialised in areas to create more public awareness.

      He encouraged the participants to continue to read and write about the industry to enable them to become authority in the field.

      He commended MTN for supporting the initiative to build the capacity of journalists to better inform the citizenry on issues of telecommunication.

      Prof Karkari urged other telecom operators to join the initiative so that more journalists could be trained.

       Mrs Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Services Executive of MTN, said the company was involved in the initiative because it felt the need for the telecommunication stories to be told in a holistic manner.

      She expressed the hope that with the training participants would be able to write in-depth articles and stories.

      Mr Kwesi Gyan Apenteng, a Communication consultant, congratulated the participants for the commitment to specialise in telecommunication reporting.

Formulation of development strategies, a challenge for Ghana-Minister

     Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, says Ghana faces a number of challenges in the formulation and implementation of sustainable development strategies.

     She said some of the challenges included inadequate ownership, commitment, governance and participation.

     Ms Ayittey was addressing a workshop to deliberate on the draft National Assessment Report on the Achievement of Ghana on Sustainable Development for RIO+20 conferences in Accra.

     The workshop, which was organised by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), was also to secure a renewed political will, address new and emerging challenges and to focus on a green economy and institutional framework for sustainable development, well ahead of Rio+20 Conference of Heads of States scheduled to take place in Brazil on June 2012.

     She explained that there integration and coordination among the Ministries, Departments and Agencies were weak resulting in weak technical, institutional and financial capacity and the inability to monitor and evaluate the process of donors to meet their development assistance pledges.

     Ms Ayittey noted that the report being discussed included proposals to address the challenges required by the development and implementation of a long term development strategies.

     The Sector Minister said it was critical for effective grass root participation to include the private sector and the civil society organisations at the design and implementation stages.    

     “This calls for building human and institutional capacities for policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and for the enforcement of legislation,” she added.

     Ms Ayittey called for the transformation of the economy through the modernisation of agriculture and the addition of value to national resources to expand the manufacturing sector

Public awareness critical for modern agricultural biotechnology

   Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, on Thursday said African still lags behind in the exploitation of its potential, partly due to the lack of enabling environment for the development and use of agricultural biotechnology.

    “Discussion over agricultural biotechnology and its application are surrounded by misconceptions due to lack of or conflicting information,” she said at the 5^th anniversary celebration and planning meeting of the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB), in Accra.

     The biotechnology forum is a platform that brings together stakeholders in the field of biotechnology, including scientists, journalists, the civil society, industrialists, lawmakers and policy makers to discuss issues concerning the area.

    It also provides the opportunity for key stakeholders to network, share knowledge and experiences, and explores new avenues, to bring the benefits of biotechnology to African agricultural sector.

     Ms Ayittey noted that public awareness was critical in creating a favourable environment for the acquisition and application of modern agricultural biotechnology.

    She said this has a great potential to make a significant contribution to food security, poverty reduction and environmental conservation.

     The Minister said no one technology has the internal momentum to create food security for any nation, but it would depend on how best the technology would be understood and utilized to its fullest.

     Dr A. B. Salifu, Director General, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, explained that effective developmental usage of new technologies required an enabling environment to improve understanding and contribute to the formulation of relevant policies and laws.

     He said the forum would give stakeholders the opportunity to influence policy makers to mainstream science and technology into Africa’s development agenda.    

   Currently, OFAB has chapters in four African countries including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation support biotechnology in Africa

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday presented US$3 million grant to the Open Forum for Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) to expand its operations.

The grant also seeks to support the forum to create an enabling environment for agricultural biotechnology which would allow for the testing and delivery of innovative tools to help farmers enhance their food security and create wealth for their families and nations.

Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, announced the grant at the forum’s 5^th Anniversary commemoration workshop in Accra.

She described biotechnology as a vital tool used extensively in agriculture globally over the decades which had contributed immeasurably to food security in Africa.

She therefore called on African governments and stakeholders to address information gap create an enabling environment for the use of agricultural biotechnology.

“At the country level, there is the need for national scientists and experts to provide policy makers and the general public with evidence-base information needed to harness such technologies,” she added.    

Professor Walter Sandow Alhassan, Coordinator for Africa Biosafety and Biotechnology Policy Platform, noted that despite the increasing global trends in the use of modern biotechnology for agriculture, the rate of its adoption in Africa was slow.

He noted that: "Biotechnology has delivered substantial benefits to farmers around the world but Africa still lags behind in exploiting its potential partly due to lack of an enabling environment for the development and use of  agricultural biotechnology.

“But inadequate awareness creation, lack of biotechnology related legislation, poor infrastructure and insufficient financial support for agricultural research has hindered the use of biotechnology”.

Prof. Alhassan identified some challenges faced by Africans in the area of biotechnology as poor risk management capability and lack of political will to implement biotechnology laws.

He therefore called on governments across Africa to provide enabling legislation and fast track mechanism for a science-led review of biosafety applications. 

According to him, only six out of the 15 countries in West Africa have some form of legislation framework for the implementation of biosafety acts.

   The Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) is a platform that provides an opportunity for biotechnology stakeholders to network, share knowledge and experiences, and explores new avenues of bringing the benefits of biotechnology to the African farmer and investor

Holy trinity SPA supports rehabilitated chronic alcoholic

    The Holy Trinity SPA, a subsidiary of the Holy Trinity Medical Centre at the weekend donated a fully equipped welding shop to Mr Edward Kwame Amevor, a rehabilitated chronic alcoholic at Sogakope.

   The rehabilitation process was done by the facility, using the holistic health service concept.

   Dr Felix Anyah, Executive Chairman of the medical Centre, said the holistic health service enables medical practitioners to apply all the three areas of medical practice such as orthodox medical, complementary and alternative medicines.

   He said the support was to climax the company’s seventh anniversary celebration on the theme: “Demystifying Drug Rehabilitation with holistic health service.”

   He said the structure of global health service was being challenged to adopt new strategies in personnel, facilities and operations to deal with this lifestyle induced aliment.

   “To address this issue, the current trend of holistic health service has been adopted by progressive health practitioners,” he added.

   Dr Anyah said the medical center adopted Mr Amevor, using the model emphasising the three core areas of alcoholic rehabilitation including alcoholic detox, counselling and aftercare.

   He said management would continue to support the beneficiary socially, financially, spiritually and emotionally for him to develop and improve on his living condition.

   He explained that a holistic model in rehabilitation also enjoined the treatment of other mental health issues at the same time as more than 44 per cent of alcoholics have other mental health cases.

   He said as part of strategies to improve on quality service, delivery management has sponsored a doctor and a nursing officer to undergo further studies in addiction, sleep disorder management, stress management and management of several psychological disorders.

   Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health, commended the medical centre for their efforts in rehabilitating the chronic alcoholic to impact on the society.

   He also congratulated the beneficiary for his determination and dedication to be transformed.

   He urged other addicts in the community to take an example from Mr Amevor and know that there was hope.

      Mr Amevor, the beneficiary, expressed gratitude to management of the medical centre for their efforts and interest in rehabilitating him.

Internet businesses thrives on trust - Expert

       Mr Herman Chinery–Hesse, Co-Founder SoftTribe and BSL Africa on Thursday said internet businesses depended on trust to survive in the telecommunication sector.

     He said relationship building was one of the important ingredients in the establishment of an online business.

     Mr Chinery-Hesse made this observation during a presentation titled “Managing An Online Business in Ghana: Challenges and Prospects" at the second edition of ONLINE 2012 conference in Accra.

     It was on the theme: “Connecting Business with Innovative Ideas”.

     The annual event is held to grow the business of technology to build a respected and strong platform for the technology industry in Ghana and Africa by bringing together all industry practitioners and stakeholders to guide and shape the future of the online industry in Africa.

     Mr Chinery-Hesse said dishonesty and disloyalty were bad elements that affected the growth and development of most businesses in the world especially Africa.

     He explained that one of the greatest challenge faced in business establishment was the discouragement syndrome from friends, relatives and the society, and therefore, called on Small and Medium Enterprises to venture into the online business.

     Mr Kwame Redeemer, Chief Executive Officer of Rack Africa, called on corporate institutions to build data backups in cases of unexpected of fire outbreaks adding that they should appreciate and value the importance of data backups, since information was essential in business growth.

     Other topics discussed at the conference included software development, internet connectivity: foundation for viable online industry, the future of Ghana’s telecommunication industry to national development.

Poor families need incentives to school their children -ILO Advisor

         Mr Stephen McClelland, Chief Technical Advisor, International Labour Organisation (ILO), has advocated for incentives for poor families in cocoa growing communities to enroll their children in school to curb child labour.

Mr McClelland made these observations at the National Stakeholders Validation workshop on ‘Needs Assessment of Community Schools" in Accra.

   It was to adapt a training manual from the Ghana Education Service (GES) for School Management Committees (SMC) in 40 Targetted Cocoa Growing Communities.

   The report was to map out the ‘real’ educational needs with focus on target schools and SMCs including needs of teachers in four districts and 40 cocoa growing communities.

   Mr McClelland said Ghana was late tackling the elimination of child labour looking at the targets set by the country and added that education was the bases for the elimination of child labour.

   He expressed that hope that the two documents would contribute to the child labour elimination process.

   Mr Osman Mensah, a Research Consultant, noted that some of the findings indicated that school children in targeted communities walked to their schools with an average travel distance of two kilometres. 

   He said the textbook supply was inadequate in targeted schools while core textbooks to pupil ratio had significantly decreased.

   Mr Mensah called on the Ministry of Education and the GES to replenish textbooks, teaching and learning materials requested by the deprived communities to facilitate quality teaching and learning.

   “Review the present four-year textbook supply policy to ensure regular distribution of textbook to schools,” he added.

   Mr Mensah explained that the training manual for SMCs was to promote basic understanding of child labour and to equip them with skills to perform their role and responsibilities effectively.
 He said government and other stakeholders in the educational sector should make the educational system attractive to children to make their retention in school a possibility rather than engaging in child labour activities.

Use ICT in your market places - Armah

 

                              Market women at the end of a three-day capacity building seminar on the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) have been asked to associate trade at the market place with the use of the technology for improvement.  

Mr Ernest Attuquaye Armah, Deputy Minister of Communication urged the women not to leave the knowledge and skills gained from the seminar unpracticed but rather should let their children to support them in the learning process.

Mr Armah made the called at the end of the seminar where more than 100 participants were drawn from the Greater Accra, Eastern, Central and Western Regions.

The event, which was an initiative of the National Communication Authority, was partnered by the Kofi Annan ICT Centre, ESOKO and Google Ghana.

The programme was also to serve as a platform for awareness creation among market women on the opportunities that prevail in the use of ICTs and how it empowers them to achieve their rightful place in the world of technology.

He said the ICT uptake could now be found in its integration into the educational system and the gradual modernization of the institutions through infrastructure development to improve efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

He called on the organisers to initiate more of such training for women in the country to promote the element of sustainable development in today’s competitive global economy.

“Utilize the available skills you have acquired today to exploit the emerging ICT opportunities effectively to enhance service delivery,” he added.

The Minister expressed the hope that the seminar would open opportunities for the participants to contribute to the accelerated development of the country

Advance Vision International School gets modern computer centre

    Techcom Visions Limited, an Information technology firm, has inaugurated an ultra modern computer training centre for the Advance Vision International School at Agbogba a suburb of Accra.

  Mr Tsonam Cleanse Akpeloo, Chief Executive Officer of Techcom Visions Limited, said the centre comes with brand new computers, LCD projectors, webcam, and headsets with internet access as part of the Eduboost platform provided by the firm.

  Mr Akpeloo said this at the inauguration of the centre in Accra on Monday to make Information Communication Technology (ICT) access to the students.

  He said under the Eduboost, management has provided comprehensive school management software, school website, and e-learning software and ICT refresher courses for teachers.

  The school management software ensures efficient control, monitoring and evaluation of performance of teachers and students.

  Ms Fauziatu Salifu Sidi, ICT Coordinator of the Ministry of Education said ICT enhances quality of education by making teaching and learning more practical, meaningful and exciting.

  She therefore entreated the students to make maximum use of the facility.

  Mr Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Information, commended the management of the company for its contribution to complement government’s efforts to bring ICT to the doorstep of all school children.

  He said ICT was the way forward to bridge the socio-economic divide between Ghana and the developed world.

  Mr Ablakwa noted that there could not be any meaningful education without the use of ICT and urged the beneficiary students to use the facility positively to develop and empower themselves.

  “Avoid 419 and pornographic sites,” he cautioned them.   

45% of world’s internet users below 25 years – ITU

Forty-five per cent of the world’s Internet users are below 25 years, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Information Communication Technology (ICT) facts and figures report for 2011.

ITU is the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs that allocate global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develop the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies to interconnect seamlessly.
It also strives to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.

The report said over the last five years, developing countries have increased their share of the world’s total number of Internet users from 44 per cent in 2006, to 62 per cent in 2011.
Today, Internet users in China represent almost 25 per cent of the world’s total Internet users and 37 per cent of the developing countries’ Internet users.

The facts and figures indicated that younger people tend to be more online than older people, in both developed and developing countries.

In developing countries, 30 per cent of those under the age of 25 use the Internet, compared to 23 per cent of those around 25 years and above.

“At the same time, 70 per cent of the under 25-year olds total 1.9 billion are not online yet, a huge potential if developing countries can connect schools and increase school enrolment rates,” the report noted.

Mr Eric Akumiah, Secretary of the Internet Society, Ghana Chapter, who made reference to the report, said the increased share of the world’s total number of internet users by developing countries was due to improved internet infrastructure.

Statistic indicated that as at December 2011, the Ghanaian internet users were 2,085,501 representing 8.4 per cent.

Africa’s internet and broadband grows due to infrastructure- Report

     Growth in Africa’s Internet and Broadband sector has accelerated in recent years, due to improvements in infrastructure, the arrival of wireless access technologies and lower tariffs, according to Internet World Stats report 2011.

Internet World Stats is an International website that features up to date world Internet Usage, Population Statistics, Travel Stats and Internet Market Research Data, for more than 233 individual countries and world regions.

It said Broadband was rapidly replacing dial-up networking as the preferred access method.

“This process is already virtually completed in Africa’s more developed markets.

The report provided 126 statistical tables showing trends and developments in the telecommunications markets of the 38 most significant African countries in terms of telecommunications.

The countries included Ghana, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and Gabon among others.

While being the world’s most rapidly growing market for mobile telephony, Africa was also home to some of the fastest growing fixed-line markets in the world.

Africa still has some of the world’s lowest penetration rates in both market sectors.

However, as lower income groups are being targeted, a price-sensitive market for lower-cost fixed or limited-mobility services are emerging.

Africa’s mobile broadband reaches four per cent

 

    Africa’s mobile-broadband penetration has reached four per cent, compared with less than one per cent for fixed-broadband penetration.

   A  2011 report released by the International Telecommunication Union indicated that a number of developing countries have been able to leverage mobile-broadband technologies to overcome infrastructure barriers and provide high-speed Internet services to previously unconnected areas.

Mobile-broadband subscriptions have grown 45 per cent annually over the last four years and today there were twice as many mobile-broadband as fixed broadband subscriptions.

The report says the world’s top broadband economies were from Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

With 5.9 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions, global penetration has reached 87 per cent and 79 per cent in the developing world.

Out of about 1.8 billion households worldwide, one third had Internet access and compared to only one fifth five years ago.

In developing countries, 25 per cent of homes have a computer and 20 per cent have Internet access, compared to 20 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, 3 years ago.

The growth in Africa’s Internet and Broadband sector has accelerated in recent years due to improvements in infrastructure, the arrival of wireless access technologies and lower tariffs.

Only 4.6 per cent Ghanaians are on facebook

     The facebook subscription for Ghana as at 31 March 2012 was 1,146,560, representing 4.6 per cent penetration rate, according to the December 2011 Internet World Statistic Report 2011.


Statistic indicated that as at December 2011, the Ghanaian internet users were 2,085,501 representing 8.4 per cent of the population.


Africa came fifth in the facebook subscription growth rating between 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2012 with a total population of 40,205,580 representing 3.9 penetration rates.


For the subscriber growth of the various continents, Europe came first with 232, 855,740, followed by Asia 195,034,380, North America 173,284,940, South America 112,531,100, Central America 41,332,940 and Middle East 20,247,900.


Facebook subscriptions of some of the African countries were as follows: Equatorial Guinea subscription is 18,180 representing 2.7 penetration rates, Nigeria, 4,369,740 representing 2.8 per cent and South Africa, 4,822,820 representing 9.8 per cent penetration rates.


The rest are Egypt,391,580 representing 11.4 per cent of the penetration rate and Ethiopia, 472,460 representing 0.5 per cent penetration rates.


Gabon facebook users are 91,200 representing 5.8 per cent penetration rate, The Gambia 4,840 of 4.2 per cent penetration rate and Kenya 1,298,560 representing 3.2 per cent of the penetration rate.


Facebook is a social networking service and website was launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook Incorporated.