Tigo bolsters rural literacy and protection of children online

Hundreds of children in both rural and urban communities will benefit from a grant totalling GHS92, 000 to Street Library Ghana (SLG) and J Initiative (JI).

The support comes from Millicom Foundation, a charity founded by Millicom, the parent company of telecom operator, Tigo.

J Initiative is a grass root youth and family focused NGO committed to protecting children online through policy advocacy and public campaigns while Street Library Ghana, on the other hand, supports child literacy in rural Ghana by providing reading materials and ICT training.

Each organisation received GHS46, 000.

Presenting the cheque, the CEO for Tigo Ghana, Roshi Motman, said: “As we did in the past, we believe that this amount will cushion the innovative ideas of both organisations to improve the lives of children.”

“Our Corporate Social Responsibility agenda is focused on education, digital inclusion and entrepreneurship and this is important to us because we want to make meaningful contribution to improving living standards and the sustainability of our business,” she remarked.

While highlighting the company’s contribution to the education sector, which encompasses infrastructure development and the provision of ICT training, Ms. Motman, pledged Tigo’s commitment to work particularly in rural and support social investments and partnerships that will create real impact.

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility over the years, Tigo has supported several entrepreneurs in Ghana through its Digital Change-makers programme. Hayford Siaw who owns Street Library Ghana was the 2012 winner. Beyond the seed capital to start his business, Tigo also invested in a Mobile Digital Library van fitted with computers, tablets and other devices to help him scale up and support digital inclusion and literacy for children in rural Ghana.

In December 2015, Tigo supported J Initiative to bring together various stakeholders to share ideas and best practices on how to protect children online.

"The kind gesture from Millicom Foundation, the parent company of Tigo Ghana will enable JI expand the scope of our coverage with the Digital Literacy knowledge and also continue to conscientize people on Child Online Protection issues," Awo Aidam Amenyah, Executive Director of J Initiative said.

"For now we do our broadcast via social media mainly but with the support from Millicom Foundation we going to be available even offline targeting people who are not using the Internet through a PC but through other devices like their phone, those who could not read and better understand are also going to have information to keep themselves safe. So Millicom Foundation’s donation is going to help us step up the campaign into other areas which we couldn’t even in the local language."