About 200 residents from across the Volta Region have been transformed into Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professionals under Emmanuel Bedzra's Ho West Tech Fest initiative.

The week's intensive training programme saw the participants, who had no or very little in ICT, equipped with skills in website development, 3D modeling and printing, virtual reality technology, drone piloting and mapping, and entrepreneurship, among others.

They presented various projects such as landscape maps produced with the use of drones, apps to help manage educational facilities and market tourist sites, among others, after completing the training.

A member of the drone piloting and mapping group, Nora, said that she was enlightened beyond the belief that drones are only used for pictures and videos.

She illustrated how the training provided her with the skills to use drones to survey lands and produce a well-detailed map adding that “as a farmer, I can also use the drone to monitor my farm and increase my yields.”

Mr. Emmanuel Bedzrah acknowledged the facilitators for the yeoman’s job in shaping the lives of the beneficiaries and promised a bigger fest in the coming years.

He said that he aims to lead a constituency where all youth have a skill in the technological space to reduce unemployment, create wealth, and ultimately "to promote the development of Ho West".

The Volta Regional Director of Education, Francis Agbemadi, was enthused with the initiative and urged teachers who benefited from it to transfer the knowledge to their learners.

He indicated that the young ones who are already exposed to technology needed guidance to deploy it to profitable use.

Mr. Agbemadi lamented the lack of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) schools in the region, advocating for 3 to be established in the northern, middle, and southern belts.

The Member of Parliament for Ketu North, Edem Agbana, appreciated the efforts by Mr. Bedzrah to produce a technologically inclined human resource across the region, indicating “it is something that I will in the future emulate.”

He explained that the initiative was laudable as the world is fast evolving into a technological era, adding that it would help in developing solutions to solve local problems.

“If all of us can do this across the 18 constituencies in the Volta Region, I am sure in the next 5,10 years, we will see the Volta Region become a hub for creativity and innovation. Innovation that is tailored towards solving the local challenges”, he said.

He was elated with participants acquiring drone technology, especially in land mapping, which he believes would help improve property rate collecting and consequently increase internally generated funds.

Mr. Agbana praised the efforts of the participants in creating apps to showcase tourism sites in Ho West alone, believing data would help in promoting tourism in the region.

He used the opportunity to encourage the youth to take advantage of the government's 1 Million Coders Programme and other ICT-inclined initiatives to equip themselves to fit into the global village.

The Member of Parliament for Ho Central, Edem Kofi Kpotosu, highly praised the concept of training the youth in ICT skills to create jobs and amass wealth.

“We need more such programmes to equip our younger generation. This is their time and we have to equip them to use the AI tools for our development and to also generate more income for our district”, he said.

Mr. Kpotosu expressed excitement at the level of knowledge exhibited by a participant he presented for the training and hinted at pooling resources to undertake a similar initiative for his constituents “so that they can spread the education to other people.”