Ghana Districts - A repository of all districts in the republic of Ghana

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) as the Enabler for Socio-Economic Transformation: The Twifo-Praso Experience

ICT is a key and critical enable in the journey to cross the digital divide to create wealth, eradicate poverty and improve on the quality of life of rural communities. Given the contention for limited and scarce resources and the level of economic development in the country as a whole and in rural communities in particular, the journey is highly challenging.

It demands vision, leadership and innovative initiatives as well as the support and commitment of the Government. The Executives of the District with these remarkable attributes have clearly demonstrated that with strong focus and zeal, the transformation process is not only feasible but indeed achievable.

Using wireless technology, the District has deployed a highly effective Internet Learning Centre and Agriculture Information center (AIC). Educational programs with local content are delivered to farmers and agriculture experts. The result has been a phenomenal increase of over 800% in crop yield. With significant increase in revenue for farmers and the District. Commercial activities have also been invigorated.

A live demonstration of Telemdicine Application between Twifo Praso Health Centre and Howard University Telehealth Sciences and Advanced Technology Center in Washington, DC, clearly demonstrated how ICT could be deployed to make quality medical care accessible and affordable to rural communities.

The Internet Learning Centre in the District is used for distance learning and training. This has been highly effective in capacity building in the health and agriculture sectors. The District plans to use the Internet facility and Community Kiosks to deliver Government’s services to its constituents and citizens.

The services include birth and death registration, land title registration, and statistical surveys. In addition to these planned initiatives, the District is using ICT to manage the District Administration very effectively.

With planned expansion in communication network infrastructure in the District, business investment is expected to increase as more investments are attracted to the District and existing businesses are able to operate more effectively through the Commerce applications.
The benefits from these strategic ICT initiatives are very compelling. They include:

Job creation
Increase in revenue for citizens and the District
Increase in wealth
Improved health service delivery (affordable and accessible)
Creation of the right environment for investment in ICT
Improved quality of education boosting a quality human resource pool

The Twifo Praso “Experience” serves as a model for rural development through the use of ICT

Kwaku Nsiah
Technical Advisor
Ministry of Communications
Kwaku.nsiah@moc.gov.gh

XKey Even at ICT for Government Conference: Live Telemedicine Application Demonstration: Twifo-Praso Health Centre and Howard University Telehelath Sciences and Advanced Technology Center in Washington, DC.

ICT for Government 2004, Conference and Exhibition was a 3-day international event focusing on harnessing ICT for the improvement of public services delivery and national development.

The Guest of Honor at the Opening Ceremony of the conference was Mr. J. H Mensah, Senior Minister, representing the President of the Republic of Ghana. Also present were Communications ministers from Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia, Togo and Benin. There were also other Ghanaian Ministers of State, members of the Diplomatic Corps, heads of Government Institutions and Departments and Chief Executives of major private enterprises

The highlight of the Opening Ceremony was a live demonstration of Telemedicine application by the Howard University Telehelath Sciences and Advanced Technology Center in Washington, DC and Twifo Praso Health Center. The live link was unique in that it linked up three points, Twifo Praso Health Center in the Central Region, the Accra International Conference Centre, the venue of the opening ceremony and conference. The World Bank coordinated the demonstration

The demonstration was successful in terms of impact and the subsequent positive developments emanating from the event. It clearly demonstrated how the District of Twifo Praso has prepared and positioned itself as an ICT enabled community for socio-economic development.

This is primarily attributed to the vision, leadership, and innovative initiatives of the District Executives. ICT is being used in Education, Health and Agriculture in the District. The impact on Agriculture, for instance has been very impressive with significant increase in crop yield (over 800%) and improvement in the quality of life of citizens.