13- year-old Paula Abena Yayra Quao was named the winner of the Greater Accra Girls In ICT programme
She took home a cash prize of 3000 Ghana cedis, a certificate of participation, a laptop, a plaque and a trip to the United States of America sponsored by the African Diaspora Forum.
She expressed excitement about her victory and encouraged all girls to take ICT seriously.
She is a pupil of St. Syllabus R/C Basic School in the Ga West district.
Delma Rawiyyah Saeed from the Accra College of Education Demonstration, JHS 2 (Ayawaso West district) was second. She took away a cash prize of 2000 Ghana Cedis, a laptop, a certificate of participation and a plaque while Nicole Addy from Services Basic School, JHS 2 from the Kpone Katamanso district came third. She also took home a laptop, a cash price of 1000 Ghana Cedis, a certificate of participation, and a plaque.
About to Girls-In-ICT Initiative
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) launched the Girls-In-ICT project in 2012 to foster a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to pursue education and jobs in the rapidly increasing field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
Since 2017, the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, led by Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister (MP, Ablekuma West constituency), has used the initiative as a platform to provide girls aged 9 to 15 (Upper Primary to Junior High School) with knowledge and skills in basic ICT and coding.
The initiative is executed with assistance from the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) as the technical resource provider, and training is provided by the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (KACE). The program is additionally supported by MTN Ghana, National Communications Authority (NCA), American Towers Company (ATC), Ministry of Education, GIZ, and various other entities.
Selected girls from the participating region receive five days of training in basic ICT skills and coding. During this time, they create websites, computer games, and animated stories using Scratch to further their exploration of technology.
