The Institute of Information and Communication Technology Professionals Ghana (IIPGH) has celebrated its 5-year milestone in a ceremony in Accra.
With the mission to mobilise all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professionals under one professional body to positively influence the development, standardisation and delivery of ICT across the country, the IIPGH pledges to further develop a vibrant ICT ecosystem.
In a remark at the event, Executive Director, David Gowu – who described the five-year journey as a phenomenon, said his outfit is hoping to continuously impact lives, especially of young people, through their training sessions.
“It has been great. An idea that started as a WhatsApp conversation has now been transformed into a full organisation with about 2,000 members. The change to what we had done so far was the decision to start training programmes, especially in coding for kids, teenagers, young graduates and professionals – and this has opened us up to the public.
“With partners, we were able to train over 1,500 young people through our digital design and creative coding hub. We also moved our van and computers to communities in Kasoa, Ho, Tarkoradi, Koforidua and Accra to introduce young people to ICT using practical methods. Now, we have a fully online training programme with over 200 students learning every day,” he said.
Mr. Gowu noted that the IIPGH intends to mobilise about 10,000 professionals to come up with ideas, create new products and services, and impact society. He said the move is also to create innovations and employment opportunities.
“In the next five years, we will be mobilising over ten thousand professionals. Our main focus is not just to mobilise but also use the professionals to impact our society. So, in doing that we will come up with a lot of ideas, a lot of activities – one of them is to be able to create new products and services, predominantly using the training we are giving to these people.
“So, it is a process. We train, and through the training people get ideas and use those ideas to create innovation. Those innovations become businesses, and when they scale up they become businesses that can provide employment,” he said.
He added that in the long-term IIPGH wants to become the go-to organization, whereby it can advise government, civil society organisations, educational institutions and other institutions in ICT-related matters.
As part of the celebration, IIPGH also launched an anniversary magazine covering major initiatives of the institute and its partners to mark their strides.
The Girl-child education in ICT
For his part, the Board Chair of IIPGH – who doubles as the President of Academic City, Professor Fred McBagonluri, noted that increasing ICT education for the girl-child is crucial; adding that parents must equally make their female wards available for training.
“I think education has to be holistic, which means both parents will have to be involved, and they have to be able to contribute. So, I think getting the mothers educated to participate effectively will be very useful in bringing their girl-child on board.
“Today, children across this nation are benefitting from coding, 3D-printing and digital leadership. IIPGH continues to develop strategic partnerships across the world, and continues to engage policymakers and change-makers. The role of IIPGH in national ICT discourse, now and in the future, has been established.
“As we celebrate our 5th anniversary, we are determined to fulfil our mission of creating standards for ICT practice, enhance certification processes and revolutionise the practice of ICT in Ghana,” he said.
