Interview with Mrs Shine Ofori

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Mrs Shine Ofori, a Guidance and Conselling Coordinator had these to say when asked about her opinion on the ICT and Youth Forum organised by GINKS.

The programme was very educative.We had a variety of Resource Persons coming in to give us various dimensions of ICT in Education, Policy, Youth work really opening our minds what there is. We got to know about how to use ICT in Counselling, Career Counselling.We got to know about the job opportunities that are there for our young people in ICT. It has been very Educative and was an opportunity for the students to meet one another and also we got to know some Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs) that are into ICT and how they can help, so from my point of view as a School Counseller, I think we will be making good use of these NGOs that are into Counselling and will be inviting them and will be linking up with them.

When you look at the discussion dimension that is to be set-up, when we can have a site/online space where students can go freely and ask questions, have people on the spot to give Information to them, answer their questions and when they have need for Counselling, they can establish rappour with individual Counsellers. I think much will be done so the programme was very helpful.

Interview with Adlaide Quarshie

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Adlaide is a final year student at the Accra Girls Secondary School, one of the participating Institutions at the ICT and Youth Forum organised by GINKS on the theme"ICT and Youth Employment in Ghana". She shared he lessons.

What lessons have you learnt from the ICT and Youth Forum

I have learnt that Information and Communication Technology(ICT) is a very vital tool for the Youth especially to aid in the Development of Ghana. I have also learnt that you don't need to be a savvy to use ICT.ICT knowledge makes once carrier easier faster more reliable and accurate.

Interview with Clement Nutakor

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Clement Nutakor is a student from the Accra Academy Secondary School who participated in the ICT and Youth Forum organised by GINKS.Clement Shared his views about some of the lessons he learnt from the Forum

I have learnt that, Parliament of Ghana has approved the ICT4AD Policy to regulate the ICT Sector in Ghana. I have also learnt that there are serious brains who are advocating for the training of young people on the use of ICT for development. I have also learnt that there is the Ghana Multimedia incubator Centre which tries to help young people with Innovative, creative ideas for the benefit of society and the best of all there is a counselling programme online where young people can get access to and talk freely to well developed databases

Interview with Dr. Osei Darkwa, President Ghana Telecom University College

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Dr. Darkwa shared his views on Telemedicine and it benefits to the Ghanaian community.He stressed on the future of Telemedicine and some of the best practices of Telemedicine to be replicated in Ghana.

Does Telemedicine have a future in Ghana?

Telemedicine has a great future in Ghana because the Ghanaian healthcare system is confronted with several challenges.Hospitals and Clinics are unevenly distributed, braindrain is also a challenge and health personnels are not there. Medical information is another issue.These are however key challenges that we can use Telemedicine to address.

Are there best practices on Telemedicine in Africa that could be replicated in Gnana?

One of the best practices is the satle life health initiatve what is called a healthnet programme. Healthnet cuts across several different Countries and i know they are in Ghana as well.There is one in Accra and another in Tamale and they use low orbitting satellite to provide medical education. They are involved in research.I think it is one of the best health practices around the Country.

Interview with Dapo Ladimeji,a member of FOSSFA, UK

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Ladimeji shared his views on how best open-source technology can benefit Ghanaians and the future of open-source in Ghana.

What is open-source all about?

Open-source is all about having software basically technology that you know how it is built, that you own, control and can develop.

What benefit does open-source have for the fututre of Ghana in particular and Africa in general?

Ghana has many many people with great talents.Open-source is one way of getting the children and the young people by talent to learn about the new technology, to build new things and get Ghana back to shake in the world with the talents and creativity of it people which i have enormous faith in.

Interview with Mr. A.D Koblavie, Deputy Director of Information Ministry of Information

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The focus of the interview was on his views about the Ghana.gov portal.

What in your opinion are the benefits of the Ghana.gov portal to the Ghanaian community?

Before the portal came into being, Ghana was not known on the web.Invariably there used to be no formal information about Ghana on the world wide web.With the establishment of the portal, Ghana is now on the web.The Ghana.gov portal is a one stop shop for information on Ghana.Since the advent of the portal, the world now can access information about Ghana especially on Government official information on set up, activities, speeches, press releases and programmes including financial statement of the year which is updated on daily basis. Various institutions are actually acknowledging the content of information on the portal.

Through the portal people have become aware of the potential of Ghana.Even tourists and researchers use the web master to gather lots more information about Ghana.The establishment of the portal has really enhanced information on Ghana for quick and easy access.

What are the challenges in generating and managing content for the portal?

It is a big job managing content for the national portal. In the initial stages, there were problems in getting vital and authentic information about Government or even about the set-up. It was very difficult getting people to provide responses to questionnaires in an attempt to get clearance for alot of things but in the long run, we have been able to work hard to establish links with the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies to get the consent of the Ministers and Chief Directors about the role of the portal in processing documents for the Ghanaian community. Through these linkages now have information from the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies on annual baisis for the portal. In addition we have collected the email contacts of various institutions to provide or feed the portal with on-line information. Eventhough we have passed through alot of stages, we are now getting used to the on-line business of communication.