Executive Summary
• The rapidly advancing ICT sector helps in addressing social and economic problems caused by the rapid growth of youth populations in developing countries. ICTs offer better opportunities to young people for learning, skill development and employment. But there is a big gap in deprived communities as in the case of Northern Ghana. Many young men and women in the North East region (Nalerigu) lacks access to these basic ICT technologies and services. The reason being that there is no ICT center in the community which would have given them first access to these technologies. Nalerigu also happens to be the regional capital of the North east region. The absence of this basic ICT Hub compels these young men and women to travel to other regions to access basic ICT services such as ICT training programs, internet services etc. This is quite a disturbing issue for a regional capital with a population of over twenty thousand people to lack access to a basic ICT center to serve as a training hub for young men and women in the town and its neighboring communities and also serve as a center for rendering basic ICT services for the community.
• It is for this reason that I am seeking for funding for the setting up of an ICT hub for the Nalerigu community and its environs so they can also have access to basic ICT services without having to travel far to other regions to access these basic services.
Statement of Need
• Nalerigu is a fast growing community that has the potential of competing with other regions in terms of access and use of technology. But as it stands now the community lacks access to basic ICT services due to the unavailability of an ICT training/information center in the community. It is just a few people in the community who have access to these ICT services and probably some own a computer at home. These young women and men in Nalerigu and its environs after graduating from high school are in the process of transitioning from school to work. But for the continuous decrease in the employment rate in the country has made many of these young people facing these options; getting jobs in the informal economy with insecurity and poor wages and working conditions, getting jobs in the low-tier service industries, or developing their vocational skills to benefit from new opportunities in the professional and advanced technical sectors. Moreover, a large portion of these young people are not even lucky enough to choose among any of these options facing as a consequence, long-term unemployment, which makes them highly vulnerable and will end up indulging in various social vices.
• Therefore their opportunities for education are shuttered and people's prospects for improving the standard of their lives can seem almost totally absent.
Need for the project
In recent times, people in the town are lagging behind technology, despite the country being the one that evolved in the use of technology. There is little interaction in town due to the lack easy accessibility to internet services and computers. Students in the surrounding environs also find it difficult to research their academic works because of the lack of ICT centers and are forced to travel long distances for such basic services. The idea of Setting-up an ICT Hub is to ensure students of the town and its environs have access to the computers and internet and to serve as a training center to expose them to technologies that will help them build their careers in IT and also assist young people to interact socially and embrace emerging technologies such as blockchain and its opportunities for the African continent.
*IMPACT****
•Efficient utilization of cardano blockchain technology and its opportunities for the African continent.
• List of young men and women trained in ICT and business management skills
• Enhanced cardano blockchain knowledge and participation among these deprived students through project catalyst.
• Increased business development and management skills among young men and women trained.
• Enhanced computer and internet literacy and the use of e-business in business-computer literacy skills imparted.
• Better understanding of the entrepreneurial activities conducted by young men and women trained.
FEASIBILITY
Reference and Success stories:
• Over the past months, the WADA team in Ghana has completed several successful Youth and tertiary outreach meetup events in Northern Ghana, significantly increasing our visibility and thereby creating an avenue where we can further engage our audience by providing them with basic ICT services such as access to computers and internet to place them on an equal scale or level with their colleagues in other parts of the country and the world at large who already have access to these basic services.
• <https://mobile.twitter.com/Jerrybnj/status/1459834123485384704>
• 8 unique African countries and diaspora with expanding teams
• A membership platform in development for onboarding and virtual & in person training sessions
• Mentors and experts willing to support both the goals of WADA and Cardano
Geographical Area Served
In the regional capital of North east region of Ghana (Nalerigu).
I do not foresee any risk that may hinder the success of this project when funded. This is a great opportunity that the entire community will love to embrace. This is therefore a win win situation for the community and cardano when this proposal is funded.