UNDP launches Internet on wheels

Mobile Telecentre-To-Go (MTTG), a pilot project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was launched in Accra on Wednesday as part of an Internet initiative for Africa.

The project, dubbed "Internet on wheels," aims at assisting 10 or more sub-Saharan African countries to strengthen their Internet infrastructure and service in order to accelerate socio-economic development.

The implementation of the project in Ghana is to raise funds, create awareness, promote capacity building and take the Internet to the public.

Ms Eva Lokko, Regional Programme Co-ordinator, said the MTTG concept places no restriction on location, application or beneficiaries and eliminates equipment and access cost that prohibit many users from using the Internet.

MTTG will cover all spectrums of socio-economic activities, including agriculture, industry, education, health and trade. Other advantages of the MTTG include the provision of skills and services for distance learning, tele-medicine and other value added services on the Internet.

Ms Lokko said the project is cost-shared on a 50-50 basis with the UNDP taking half and the government taking the other half. The project, she said, aims to assist the African design, implement and manage poverty eradication programmes, support small and micro-enterprises and self employment.

It is also to achieve greater civil and society participation and ansparency in governance. She said in Ghana, the project would make use of audio messages in the local dialects so that those who cannot read or write can also have access.

Mr Alfred Salia Fawundu, UN Resident Director, said globalisation has escalated the urgency of bridging the digital divide. "This urgency is compounded further by the global demand for participatory governance, transparency and accountability," he said.

"Consequently, information and, therefore, access to the Internet becomes a human right." He said it has become imperative that the public and private sectors put in place the infrastructure and facilities for information delivery into every home.

Mr Fawundu said since "the building blocks of digital bridge" are so many, the UNDP has invariably been forced into concentrating on areas where the impact can be achieved.

He advised Ghanaians to move away from "the business as usual attitudes" to "business unusual" in order to partake of the fruits and collaborative approaches of sustainable partnership through the Internet.

"This will enable Ghanaians to achieve the drive towards building a sustainable bridge that can allow them to take part in globalisation on equal terms."

Mr Ben Eghan, Chief Director of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said the MTTG is a recent technology of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designed to serve the remote and under-served areas of the third world where the Internet is still regarded as a mystery.

He welcomed the initiative saying, "should all 110 districts of the country have the MTTG, district assemblies can do business directly with prospective investors at home and abroad."