Some 89,000 residents in approximately 170 communities will benefit from continued Information Communication Technology (ICT) training this year.
This exercise will be facilitated under the US$17 million project under the Guyana/Norway Agreement by the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF), and it will be managed by the United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP).
Public Telecommunications Minister, Cathy Hughes said the programme will be facilitated by the Ministry’s Industry and Innovation Unit. During an interview, the Minister said training will be made available to persons who never had the opportunity to learn to use a computer.
Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes
“We recognise that in Guyana many people just didn’t have the opportunity. Traditionally, if you grew up on the coast and you were fortunate to go to one of the top schools or your parents had money, then you were exposed and so we have a very important section in our population that we intend to target and reach out to and so we are providing training on a series of different levels,” Hughes is quoted by the Department of Public Information as saying.
The Public Telecommunications Minister outlined some of the area’s residents will be trained in, including “… being comfortable with a computer, Internet access, how you create an email address, how you would communicate by email, maintain an email account and then we have branched off depending on the community and the level into social media because we see that as a key way for entrepreneurs to market their products internationally and locally.”
It was also disclosed that in 2018, the Ministry will be collaborating with the Private Sector to develop short-term community-based training programmes to equip citizens with particular skills in office productivity, and entry skills on programming, coding, and software development.
The Ministry has already begun their citizen outreach and awareness activities as part of an overall goal to develop the ICT sector. This involves building an internal media platform to disseminate information and encourage feedback and collaboration.
