Future of digitalization is women – Ursula tells Africa leaders

Ghana’s Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said, digitalization which has become the future prospect for growth and development cannot be achieved without the addition of women.

She argues that, women have a vital role to play in such prospect to make it a reality by achieving its purpose of reshaping the Africa economy, driving financial inclusion, closing information gaps, and changing the way of work, living, among others.

In addition, she said the addition of women into the digitalization agenda has the potential of driving away poverty alleviation and boosting shared prosperity in West and Central Africa.

She made this known when she spoke at the High Level Seminar on Accelerating Digital Transformation: Realizing Dakar’s Call to Action in Western and Central Africa which happened in Washington DC.

She further indicated that, despite the challenges to access and affordability, digitalization in West and Central Africa is a huge opportunity and the region is showing tremendous potential for it with the inclusion of women as the goal.

Digitalization, according to her holds the opportunity to help the Africa region address fragility, boost financial inclusion, and develop job opportunities beyond measures, adding that, public services are going online, entrepreneurs are building startups, and development partners and the private sector are increasingly financing the digitalization of services in many Africa countries.

This she said, should continue as an urgent agenda to help deepen reforms and attract the necessary investments for increased digitalization of services, which will be an essential condition for youth development, ending insecurity and instability.

“We believe that digital inclusion provides the surest way to empower our youth, especially the girl child to succeed in the 4th industrial revolution which is unfolding. If we give our young people the digital skills they need today, they can provide the Human Resources for the global world of work because of Africa’s demographic dividend and solve multiple problems including youth unemployment, insecurity and instability. The future is digital and the future is women!! It starts today and enables women to work flexibly and innovate freely” she said.

For Ghana to achieve such feet in the inclusion of the digitalization agenda, she said several initiatives are being implemented like the, Girls in ICT to demystify digital technology and encourage young girls from upper primary to Junior High schools, to study and develop interest in ICT and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and consider careers in the growing field of ICTs.

Also young girls in Senior High schools given cyber awareness training, the ladies-in ICT at the tertiary level, as well as working with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Norway in collaboration with Cisco and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to provide digital skills for underserved communities in the country, funding from the World Bank.

In addition is the setting up of the Innovation Hub and a mobile Applications Lab under the Innovation module of the eTransform Ghana Project, among others.