Three Ghanaian ICT students at Arizona State University in the United States have expressed their desire in bridging the ICT gap between urban and rural children in Ghana.
The students, Golda Afoakwa, Richard Sewor, and Douglas Amoo-Sargon who are founders of Sua IT, a venture which seeks to improve computer literacy among rural Ghanaian youth.
Sua IT won the Resolution Social Venture Challenge in 2018, a competition that rewards compelling leadership and promising social ventures.
These young leaders earned a fellowship that includes seed funding, mentorship, and access to a network of young global change-makers to pursue impactful projects in their communities.
A collaboration between the MasterCard Foundation and The Resolution Project, the Resolution Social Venture Challenge provides a pathway to action for socially responsible young leaders who want to create change that matters in their communities.
Sua IT will promote ICT education in rural communities, benefiting between 1,000 and 1,500 children every year and targeting at most four schools in one year. The team is also looking for partners to acquire enough computers for each student during the training. With such skills, the team believes that it is creating a community of thinkers who can harness the power of technology to become change-makers in society.
“Most children in rural communities in Ghana do not get practical knowledge in ICT. The urgency for which these children must gain such knowledge has been clearly stated in the government’s ICT syllabus as an important and basic tool needed by every child in Ghana. However, we see most children not having such privilege,” said Golda Afoakwa.
She added that “We want every rural Ghanaian teenager to comfortably use technological products. We also want them to benefit from the internet by exposing those students to global and societal issues, as well as encouraging them to develop solutions to the challenges they’ve observed in their community”.
