Huawei to implement part of e-ghana project

Huawei Technologies (GH) S.A. Limited has been selected for the implementation of the Ghanaian e-government project aiming to provide online services for citizens.

The project that will cost US$70 million will help in the automation of services such as e-Health, e-Cabinet, e-Justice, e-ID, e-Transport and e-Tourism.

The National Information Agency (NITA) which is under the Ministry of Communications will oversee the implementation process.

Huawei has already completed the first phase of the project, costing around $30 million, which featured a wide area network (WAN) covering 10 regional capitals, reported the Daily Graphic.

Edward Omane-Boamah, Minister of Communications, said: “It is the government’s objective to ensure that the improved network connectivity provides better access to healthcare and health information, opportunities for education and training, transportation, protection of environment and management of natural resources, and also create transparency in government.”

Huawei will upgrade the WiMAX network, a wireless communication standard which will carry huge amounts of data. The company will also oversee the installation of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.

It will install up 8,000 Local Area Network infrastructures throughout the country and will also host a secondary data center to integrate with the existing primary data centre.

“Huawei’s focus is not just on business. Our vision is to enrich life through communication and this is reflected in both our commercial and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives,” Huawei states.

Culled from the Daily Graphic.

Let’s get cranking with OPEN DATA

The words “Open Data” is being bundled around lately. It simply means data being made available however, emphasis is on governments and public institutions opening up their data.  Such as financial and contract information, geographical information, statistics, weather data, projects, and the list goes on. With public access to such data; it will improve socio-economic development, businesses will build on the findings of public-funded research, provision of value added services to the original public service data provided by a government. (Innovation) and providing insight.

Ghana Open Data Initiative is organizing Ghana Open Data Day 2013; an Open Data Hackathon where participants will be exposed to new ways of solving and analyzing problems using open public data. They will be asked to discover, define and propose new ideas to develop applications on topics relevant to overcome societal challenges. They will be inspired to seize every opportunity to connect, share ideas and create life changing applications in the areas of Health, Education, Telecommunication, Energy, Agriculture, Sanitation, Real Estates, Crime reduction, Road traffic management and many more.

Schedule

• 9:00 – 10:00: Registration of participants
• 10:10 – 10:20: Opening Remarks and Introduction of teams for presentation
• 10:20 – 11:00: Coffee Break
• 11:00 – 12:00: Presentation of data Boot-camp projects and Status of the project
• 12:05- 12:15: Q and A
• 12:15 – 13:00: Brainstorming session: open data ideas and projects
• 13:00- 13:15: Pitching & Voting on App Ideas
• 13:15 – 14:00: Lunch Time
• 14:00 – 14:15: Scraping Tutorials
• 14:15 – 14:30: Visualization Tutorials
• 14:30 – 15:30: Breaking into groups & Hacking
• 15:30 – 15:35: Coffee Break
• 15:35 – 16:30: Show & Tell
• 16:30 – 17:00: Q and A, Closing remarks

Venue: Kofi Annan ICT Centre

Date: 23^rd February, 2013 -  9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

The Ghana Open Data Initiative (www.data.gov.gh) is an initiative by the Ministry of Communications which is being spearheaded by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), the IT implementing agency of Government.

The objective of the GODI includes making public government data available in reusable formats to create business opportunities, drive innovation and promote transparency in government transactions

Microsoft aims to spark skills drive in Africa

Unemployment remains rife on the African continent. With almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 in Africa today, the youth community represents more than 60 per cent of the continent's total population and accounts for 45 per cent of its growing labour force.  Winners celebrate during the finals of the Imagine Cup (image: Microsoft)

However, the imbalance between the demands of the labour market and the supply of appropriately skilled workers in Africa is reaching its breaking point.

In light of this, Microsoft Corp. has announced its ongoing commitment to driving opportunities for African youth through its YouthSpark initiative.

Microsoft YouthSpark is a global initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years.

This companywide initiative includes Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and other company programs - both new and enhanced - empowering youth to imagine and realise their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.

"It is a sad reality that while young Africans are more literate than their parents, more of them remain unemployed," says Djam Bakhshandegi, CSI Program Manager at Microsoft in Africa. "At the core of our YouthSpark and other CSI activities is our belief that relevant innovation holds the key to unlocking the answers to our most pressing challenges in the region.

Through YouthSpark, in sub-Saharan Africa alone, we have already reached over half a million young people and made $1.1 million worth of software donations to non-Government-organisations.  In addition we have trained almost 30, 000 teachers through our Partners In Learning tools as well as equipping hundreds of small & medium businesses with relevant start up skills.

As part of its broader strategy, Microsoft views Africa as a critical investment market. Its flagship African investment and growth drive, 4Afrika,  which YouthSpark falls under on the African continent, was launched in February 2013.

Through 4Afrika, Microsoft will actively engage in Africa's economic development to improve its global competitiveness. By 2016, the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative plans to help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth, bring 1 million African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) online, up-skill 100,000 members of Africa's existing workforce, and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop skills for employability, 75 percent of which Microsoft will help place in jobs.

"YouthSpark forms part of this 4Afrika vision and through YouthSpark, we are paying specific attention to the next generation of our ecosystem through our work with schools, students, start-ups and the developer community to drive skills and ICT integration which will in turn trigger growth," says Bakhshandegi. "Through our partnerships with governments, non-profit organizations and businesses, Microsoft YouthSpark aims to empower youth to imagine and realize their full potential."

Microsoft YouthSpark goes beyond philanthropy and brings together a range of global programs that empower young people with access to technology and a better education and inspire young people to imagine the opportunities they have to realise their potential, including Office 365 for education, free technology tools for all teachers and students to power learning and collaboration, and Skype in the classroom, a free global community for teachers to connect their students with others around the world. Other YouthSpark initiatives include:

·         Partners in Learning Network. An online professional development platform for government officials, school leaders and educators to help them with new approaches to teaching and learning, using technology to help students develop 21st century skills.

·         Microsoft IT Academy. A career-ready education program available to all accredited academic institutions, providing students with 21st century technology.

·         DreamSpark. Free access to Microsoft designer and developer tools for students and educators, helping advance key technical skills during the high school and college years, a critical time in a student's development.

·         Imagine Cup. The world's premier youth technology competition, which challenges students to apply their knowledge and passion to develop technical solutions for social impact, to develop engaging games, and to demonstrate innovation that can benefit others, local communities and the world.

·         Students to Business. A program that matches university students with jobs or internships in the technology industry.

·         BizSpark. A software startup program, providing young entrepreneurs with access to Microsoft software development tools and connections with key industry players, including investors, to help them start a new business.

·         Employability Portals. An all-inclusive platform that links users - who wish to plan their career, get career advisory, acquire training, build their capacity, apply for jobs and internships - with customized resources, counselors, mentors and jobs.

Another example is Microsoft's Build Your Business programme, a comprehensive and inter-active training course designed to support aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs. David Arkless, Manpower Group's President of Corporate and Government Affairs, says, "Start-ups and small businesses are the backbone of Africa's economy, and this learning course will encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to take the leap to set up a business venture. We are committed to helping new small businesses get off the ground and provide them with the skills to deal with the rigors of competition and day-to-day business tasks."

"We are committed to using our technology, talent, time and money to help create sustainable growth across the African continent," says Bakhshandegi. "Microsoft YouthSpark is not just about enhancing young people's digital skills. Rather it is about helping young people having a more balanced set of skills that is required in today's very competitive work environment."

from itnewsafrica.com

United States’s Support of Technological Advancement in Ghana

Technology is increasingly becoming the single most important catalyst to socio-economic development in Ghana. There are innovative technologies that are being introduced to improve and ensure the sustainable use of technology to enable poor people and marginalized communities to use the potential of information technology to transform their lives. With progress in mobile telephony, where the gap between rich and poor is narrowing rapidly, informational technology can have greatest developmental impact, such as in high-speed Internet access and broadband connectivity, the development of local information technology industries, and of applications.
The US State Department (Embassy) has been leveraging on its resources to harness this potential that will narrow existing inequalities. Last year , the State Dept sponsored Apps4Africa, Computer Mania and Robotics Inspired Science Education.

Apps4Africa challenges application developers to find innovative technological solutions to everyday problems on issues ranging from transparency and governance to health and education. Four Ghanaian innovators are finalist this year vying for $10,000USD and advisory support.

Computer Mania brought together school children  and teachers a hands-on activities related to mobile application development, water purification, food engineering, and energy in three cities; Accra, Tamale, and Kumasi.

Robotics Inspired Science Education, connects science theory with hands-on learning, students and teachers explore best practices to strategize, design, build, program and test robots to solve defined real world problems. Students gain valuable team-building, presentation and communications skills, and have a whole lot of fun while pursuing serious science. These workshops introduced robotics kits, guidebooks and additional training suggestions in order to inspire Ghanaian youth to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers.

Finally , in the area of Cybersecurity, Cybercrime & Internet Freedom , the US organized the West African Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Workshop earlier this week to provide the tools and information to evaluate and improve regional capacity to address cyber security challenges as mobile security, computer forensics, strengthening national laws, building emergency response teams and ensuring that comprehensive national cyber security plans promote internet freedom and respect for civil rights/civil liberties.

 As well as supporting/promoting internet freedom through the support for BlogCamp 2013 which seeks to encourage social media enthusiasts to create content that can give a voice to every Ghanaian regardless of religion, gender, political affiliation, etc.

With the help of all these projects Ghanaians are being encouraged to take up the study of science and the creation of applications that fits into our industry and solves societal issues.

Chairperson of BloggingGhana Launches Social Media Awards as part of BlogCamp13

Social Media has added new dimensions to content creation and changed the pattern.It has allowed everyone and anyone to become a content creator. There is a need to train more people on becoming good creators and magnify the ones producing quality content. 2: 33 pm on twitter is usually characterized by Ghanaians tweeting #233Moments. However at the same time today, 08/01/2013, the social media world in Ghana and beyond received the awesome news of yet another BlogCamp in Ghana. The Chair of BloggingGhana, the defacto Association of Bloggers in Ghana, launched BlogCamp Ghana 2013 and Ghana's first social media awards. The awards was announced at last years event and it  will be the first time "content creators" = bloggers will awarded for their commitment to creating and sharing content from and about Ghana to the world.Chair Kajsa Hallberg Adu also mandated the BlogCamp team to find Ghana's best blogger in a tweet:

Kajsa Hallberg Adu@kajsaha

With this tweet, I mandate the #Blogcamp13 team to go find the Best Blogger in 2012! blogcampghana.comMay the best win! #233moments

8 Jan 13

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BlogCamp 2013 is themed "Content is King" celebrates the relevance of quality content in branding individuals, organisations and nations on the web. 
In 2012, BloggingGhana organised the first BlogCamp Ghana under the theme "Voice of a New Generation". According to feedback gathered on social media, the event was a huge success. BlogCamp 2013 aims to take the experience a notch higher with Social Media Awards as a key part of the event.We entreat everyone to go on the website and nominate as well as lock down this date - 23rd March, 2013- on their calenders and endeavour to attend BlogCamp2013. See you in March...Cheers!