DIGITAL LITERACY PROJECT

Globalization, the advent of information management and the growth of the use of the internet as well as global communication networks are making information technology a major change tool in our world today. Over the years, computers have become a household essential, especially among youth.

Computing is the predominant technology of this age. Computers are at the heart of modern organizations – banks, factories, communications companies, transportation systems, and the military – and transactions with computers are part of daily life. Decisions about how computers should – and should not – be used will be made increasingly by people who are graduates of an educational system that incorporates “computer literacy” as a fundamental component. The wisdom of these decisions will depend largely on the quality of that education.

Over the past few years, many nations in Africa have been trying to make remarkable achievements in socio-economic development through the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their respective national development policies. Ghana is no exception and is committed to ensuring countrywide ICT and Internet accessibility to all of its citizens, regardless of their disabilities.
Ghana is also transforming into an information-based society, where value is based on the ability to create, distribute and utilize information. Obviously, success in such a society requires education and computer literacy. It will be nearly impossible to complete an education, let alone find and maintain employment without Information Communication Technology (ICT) and computer skills.
Accordingly, Information and Communication Technology accessibility is vital and necessary to everyone.
Problem Statement
Despite the common use of computers, there still exists a gap between what is expected and what is required when it comes to proficiency in computer skills among students in Ghana. This can be attributed to a lack of facilities and practical capacity building in some of our schools.

Hence, necessitating a solid background in the basics of Computer literacy. This situation calls for the development of a program geared towards equipping the youth with elementary use of computers to enable them to acquire basic computer knowledge. It is against this background that the Internet Society Ghana is embarking on this Internet Literacy Project. This project is being proposed to develop a computer center in some identified schools to equip students with practical basic computer knowledge, as well as improve their computer competencies to enable them to adapt to the fast changing information society.

Project Objectives

Identify the school or community
Facilitate the implementation of the digital skills project
Provide students an opportunity to acquire basic computer skills with an understanding of fundamental concepts of the use of computers to enhance their problem-solving skills and enable them to cultivate positive attitudes towards the ever-changing trends in business and society.
Spearhead or own the deployment of the digital literacy project

Criteria For Selection & Community Entry

The community/ school should be classified primarily as a greenfield with no form of digital literacy infrastructure. A waiver can only be applied ONLY if the community/school has had a poor digital literacy facility for at least two years. The community/school should be classified and recognized as a permanent community by the local district office. It should have a governance structure in place e.g, Traditional headship, etc. The community/school should be willing to support the deployment process with local resources like manpower, etc Reliable supply of energy/ Alternative source of energy Community/school Implementing Partners The lead entity is the Ghana chapter of the global Internet Society (ISOC Global). The Internet Society is an organization that is committed among other things to facilitate the provision of connectivity in unconnected communities using emerging and unconventional strategies like Community Networks.

A Community Entry program should be carefully planned to herald the process of formally engaging the school. This should be an all-inclusive process involving all levels of stakeholders in the community. The objective is to build relationships and forge areas of agreement for the project. This step lays the foundation to develop more detailed plans about partners and financing. It is also important to identify Community Champions who will act as educators at the various for a within the community to highlight the benefits of access and use to the local economy.

Scoping/Questionnaire

The Technical Working Group will undertake a Scoping Mission to potential Schools that have been identified for possible support. The mission should seek to ascertain the school’s need, validate the key considerations underpinning the need, and identify the existing school resources which could be leveraged for support. The scoping team will identify the key stakeholders in the community and engage them using focus group discussions and other informal meetings to elicit information about the community Needs Assessment A thorough needs assessment should be commissioned to know the type of solution and potential capacity that the school needs. This will include surveying existing structures, students, teachers, and other potentials within the school. The output of this exercise should be a comprehensive Access Gap report that may be the basis for engagements with key stakeholders on the project.

Evaluation of Technical solutions & Implementation model

Project plan & Target beneficiaries-immediate and remotely

When all the steps as enumerated previously have been put in place, what is needed to get the project on the ground now is the Project Plan. The Plan should highlight the following issues:
A strong justification describing why the project is needed (i.e., that the school is not served with digital literacy and local institutions need internet access.)
Target beneficiaries-immediate and remotely
A description of how the project will provide services to the various categories of beneficiaries
A description of organizational and partner capabilities and roles.
This Plan should be done professionally by the Project Implementation team with the active involvement of the Internet Society Community and approved by the Executive Council. An additional key requirement is a separate Sustainability Plan which will state explicitly the measures that will be adopted to achieve project sustainability. Since technology evolves rapidly, the plan will have to be updated periodically to reflect the changing circumstances

Donate to Support this Project

This situation calls for the development of a program geared towards equipping the youth with elementary use of computers to enable them to acquire basic computer knowledge.

It is against this background that the Internet Society Ghana is embarking on this Internet Literacy Project. This project is being proposed to develop a computer center in some identified schools to equip students with practical basic computer knowledge, as well as improve their computer competencies to enable them to adapt to the fast changing information society.