Enhancing digital inclusion in Ghana – an Introduction to Computer Basics for Visually Impaired people

Enhancing digital inclusion in Ghana – an Introduction to Computer Basics for Visually Impaired people

The ITU Digital Transformation Centres Initiative (DTCI) supports countries in strengthening the digital capacities of citizens, particularly in underserved communities.

Under the Initiative, the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau and the STMicroelectronics Foundation (ST Foundation) collaborated to deliver training in basic and intermediate digital skills for citizens in countries where the Centers and the ST Foundation have a presence. This collaboration will also explore expanding DTCI course offerings by incorporating ST Foundation’s training resources on digital skills for persons with disabilities.

One example of this partnership in action was the delivery of the “Introduction to Computer Basics for Visually Impaired (ICBVI)” course in Ghana.

The course brought the digital world closer to persons with visual impairment, using different training delivery approaches, scenarios, and modalities such as virtual, face-to-face, and offline. By leveraging new opportunities brought by low-cost assistive technologies for education, the ICBVI course helped develop the digital capacities of visually impaired persons.

The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), the DTC in Ghana, launched the first ICBVI train-the-trainers course in November 2023.

The training was held at the University of Ghana Computing Systems Assistive Technology Laboratory and brought together 20 trainers – 10 visually impaired and 10 sighted – to provide training to community ICT managers on how to ensure quality learning outcomes for persons with visual impairments and to strengthen the project’s engagement and service delivery.

The training employed a creative approach to ensure sighted trainers experienced the training as their visually impaired counterparts. This methodology inspires empathy and facilitates greater understanding of the experiences of the visually impaired persons attending training.

GIFEC will launch its first ICBVI training, targeting at least 150 visually impaired Ghanaian citizens and has planned another ICBVI train-the-trainers course this year, targeting 50 community ICT center managers, to expand the program outreach. The training will be held in partnership with Tech Era, a local Ghanaian not-for-profit that is skilled at providing digital skills to persons with disability.

This is an ITU Development #DigitalImpactUnlocked story

About the project

Project number: 7GLO20108
Project title: Boosting digital skills through Digital Transformation Centres (DTCs)
Description: This project supports the activities implemented under the DTC Initiative. In particular, it supports activities aimed at scaling the delivery of digital skills training – and hence digital literacy – in local communities and among marginalized groups. While a major focus of the project is to support the DTC activities in Ghana, it will also support the rolling out of the Initiative at large during its pilot phase (covering nine countries) and leading into the second phase (expanding the number of countries). At the end of the project, in the beneficiary countries there will be a substantial increase in the number of people trained on basic and intermediate digital skills equipping them with job-ready skills that help them progress in the professional life, as well as young entrepreneurs trained with digital and entrepreneurship skills.

Visit the project page for more details.