Plan Ghana trains youth in ICT skills

Lassia-Tuolu, Sept. 4, GNA - Plan Ghana International, a child centered NGO, has empowered 28 selected youths from the Upper West Region with social media skills using Information Communication Technology (ICT).

Twenty of the youths were selected from the Saint Ignatius of Loyola Senior High School (SHS), while the remaining eight were chosen from Lassia-Tuolu community in the Wa West District. The US$6,000- project dubbed: 93Youth Empowerment Through Art and Media (YETAM)" was sponsored by Plan-USA.

The aim was to expose the youths to the modern social media technology and skills available for problem solving. Briefing the Ghana News Agency in Wa at the weekend, Madam Joyce Odame, Plan Ghana Child Rights Advisor, said participants were trained on how to identify social problems such as teenage pregnancy, poor sanitation and high birth rate among others in their various communities.

In addition they were trained on how to organise sensitization workshops, take video coverage, edit it on the computer and upload it unto the internet for the use of the outside world, especially their partners.

Tools available to the beneficiaries included computers, flip cameras, voice recorders as well as digital recorders. Mr John Muiphy, Plan-USA Social Media Strategist and Mr. Allain Some, Regional Child Media Coordinator for West Africa Regional Office (WARO) were the resource persons.

Mr. Kofi Debrah, Plan Ghana Northern Sector Manager, who presented certificates to the participants at the end of the four-day training at Lassia-Tuolu Senior High School, challenged them to use the knowledge they had acquired for the benefit of society. He said the success of the programme would not be measured based on the number of people, who participated but rather the number of people who were able to use the knowledge acquired to bring about a change in their communities.

Mr. Debrah, therefore, encouraged them to learn more in order to turn the ultra modern ICT centre at the Saint Ignatius of Loyola SHS into a centre of excellence in order to attract more people. 4 Sept. 11