ICT Forum 29th June 2010



Whilst out exploring on our third day in Walewale in October 2009, Mike and I had stumbled across the Community Information Centre. Inside we met Mahama Ramzie Mashood and there began a fabulous partnership which was to see Walewale wake up to ICT. Mashood shared with us how underused the facility was, particularly by local schools. We agreed there and then to come up with some ideas to improve the situation. The first ICT club started by the end of that month.
Over the next nine months we ran numerous clubs for students and training for local teachers and Education Office staff.

The ICT Forum was sponsored by a local NGO. The aim was to raise community awareness of what ICT has to offer and to explore some ways to tackle some of the inevitable challenges of teaching this subject in schools with no electricity.  It was a real team effort.  Anna and Lou had prepared for the discussion groups.



Mr Daniel , a local teacher, was the MC for the event and was excited that Ghana were now through to the quarter finals of the World Cup.

Mr Mark Akansighe, Manager of the CIC had made the banner to advertise the event. Members of the ICT Club had swept the ground and helped to erect the tents.

The children from the local primary school decided to join in.

Here the 33 original "ICT trainers" come together to perform the song composed for their certificate presentation ceremony in December 2009.



The ICT Club members had saved up to buy  Walewale ICT Club T shirts. The strong group identity had been reinforced by the excurison together last December. The students still have a really strong commitment to the club and to sharing their ICT skills.



After some initial speeches and introductions, the attendees split into groups to discuss the prepared questions.

Why is ICT important for you?

What are the main problems in delivering ICT in your school?

How might these problems be addressed?

Anna , Louisa with Mashood, one of the ICT trainers at the Community Information Centre in Walewale.

Alhaji Mohammed Haroon, the District Director of Education got involved in the group work.

The groups comprised  some local dignitaries, Education Office staff and Circuit Supervisors as well as Head teachers, teachers and students from  local Junior High Schools.

Some of the teachers were really good at using the group time to draw out ideas from the students. Group work is still quite unfamiliar to ghanaians.

As usual, the local children were fascinated by Anna and Louisa.

An ICT Club member from each of the six groups helped us to compile a list of answers from across the forum.  There must have been about 130 attendees in total. Anna and Louisa then displayed them while the Director gave his concluding thoughts.

At the end, Jacob, a Peace Corps volunteer shared the importance of commitment from the local community to the ICT initiative. We have applied for funding for more computers as the current six that are available severly limit what can be achieved. Let's hope that ICT in Walewale goes from strength to stength.
Check out http://www.cic-walewale.blogspot.com/ for the latest information.