The Administrator (CEO) of GIFEC, Mr. Prince Ofosu Sefah, has engaged some trainees of the 4^th cohort DTC project, as part of a monitoring exercise, in the Central Region.

Specifically, he visited the training centre at Awutu Breku in the Awutu Senya District of the Region, where training was ongoing for 30 participants, which included senior high school graduates, women entrepreneurs, youth and school teachers in basic ICT skills, cyber security and entrepreneurship.

In his remarks, Mr. Sefah touched on the mandate of GIFEC and the various programmes being implemented as part of the goal of bridging the Digital Divide between served and underserved communities.

He highlighted the ICT Capacity Building Programme, of which the DTC is a part, adding that the project is being implemented in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and Cisco, and with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

The administrator expressed his appreciation to the trainer and trainees for their efforts, and advised the trainees to maximise the use of the skills acquired through the training.

He added that the extent of availability of knowledge and tools to the youth in the current world, if used properly, presents them with the opportunity to be more efficient, effective and smarter in their endeavours.

Mr. Hisham Idrissu, the centre trainer, intimated that the purpose of the training is to impart ICT knowledge to participants to create their own businesses or to enhance their existing businesses. He hoped that trainees will take advantage of the knowledge and skills gained, to better their lives.

On behalf of trainees, Mr. Frank Osei, a teacher, expressed his appreciation for being included in the programme, as lessons in ICT and cyber security has exposed him to the vulnerabilities of using the internet and pledged to impart the knowledge to his students.

Mr. Sefah, who was accompanied by some support staff, also visited the newly-constructed ICT centre in Senya Breku and briefly engaged the heads of the Senya DA Basic A & B schools on the impending operationalisation of the centre and to admonish them to maintain the centre very well.

The DTC is in its final year of execution and is targeted at training 14,000 citizens, including women entrepreneurs, school dropouts, school leavers, head porters, teachers, students, youth and persons with disability in courses such as get connected, entrepreneurship, introduction to cyber security and introduction to internet of things (IOT).

In this current cohort, 4,335 beneficiaries are being trained in 155 community ICT centres across the country.