District Information Officers Urged To Make Use Of ICT

The Information Communication Technology (ICT) capacity building programme for 20 District Information Officers (DIO) on Friday ended in Accra with a call on participants to prioritize the use of ICT to enhance development at the district levels. Mr. Frank Agyekum, Deputy Minister of Information and National Orientation (MINO), addressing the closing ceremony reminded the participants that ICT was now a must-know in the world and there was no better way for them to do their work than making use of ICT. He said government had established Community Information Centres (CICs) in the various districts where people could access information pertaining to the development agenda of the country and stressed that DIOs should share the knowledge gained from the training to make the CICs effective. “Participants who benefit from these programmes are also called upon to be creative, innovative and self-motivated to make their presence felt wherever they may be posted to,” Mr Agyekum said. He called for collaboration between the Metropolitan, Municipal, District Assemblies and the DIOs and urged the local government officers at the districts to give possible assistance to the information officers at their district to enable them to discharge their duties effectively for the benefit of the people in their communities. Mr. Fredrick Ampiah, Partnership Adviser at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), pledged his organization’s commitment to support government to develop Ghana into an information society He stressed the need for the DIOs to work closely with the CICs to make the project a successful one where information on the governmental portal would have an important content that would enhance development. Mr Ampiah said the UNDP would provide participants with computers and other multimedia related equipment that would be used for effective gathering, packaging and dissemination of information. “We would also equip the Information Ministry with cutting edge Local Area Network and other network services for effective and efficient transfer of information and making relevant information available and readily accessible at all levels of development.” Mr. Ampiah said the UNDP would also support follow-up programmes to make sure that the programme achieves its long-term objectives. Mrs. Patricia Dovi-Sampson, Acting Director at MINO who represented the Chief Director of the Ministry urged participants to download the ministry’s policy on national orientation and make use of it in their educational programmes. Mr. Seth Ofori, a participant who is the DIO for Adansi North said they were taken through basic concepts on ICT including the use of computer, Managing files, Microsoft Word, Excel, Power-Point, messaging and collaboration. Participants were taught how to create and update blogs for their various districts.