Winneba (C/R), Aug 25, GNA - Information Communication Technology (ICT) should be used to harness potentials and reduce poverty. Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba made the call at the closing of a five-day International workshop on ICT at Winneba for over 20 participants from Cote D'Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, The Gambia, Sierra Leon, Kenya, Mauritius and Ghana.

It was organised by the Winneba Open Digital Village Project with sponsorship from the Commonwealth of Learning and United Nation Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with the support of the University. Prof Anamuah-Mensah said the university had been operating the Winneba open Digital Village (WODIV) project to train teachers in sustainable development for the past 12 months. He stressed the hope that the project, the first to be established in Africa would provide low cost ICT tools such as wireless connectivity, Linux and Web portals to enable teachers and other personalities to benefit.

The Vice Chancellor said the facility would assist the Winneba Community Health Nursing Training School and other nursing training colleges to educate nurses in the use of computers and spreadsheets. He stated that WODIV would promote the exploration of Geographic Information System (GIS) to show variations in soils, ecology, weather patterns, human development and national resources to ensure long-term productivity. Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah later launched the WODIV owned by the University and other partners. Mr Kafui Prebbie, WODIV Project Coordinator of the University, said small-scale industries within the vicinity would be placed on the Internet to promote business.

He noted that it would also afford the opportunity to prepare graduates and other school leavers for the job market on the Internet. Professor Asabere-Ameyaw, Pro Vice Chancellor of the University, urged the participants to make use of the knowledge acquired at the workshop for the benefit of their people. He observed that in Africa, training workshops were organized on daily basis yet the continent remained under developed with hunger, war, diseases and poverty. Prof Ameyaw noted that most of the resources of the continent had not been tapped due to lack of implementation of policies and programmes, adding that, the materials and reports of such workshops are allowed to remain in the shelves. 25 Aug 07