The Director General of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Madam Audrey Azoulay has paid her first ever working visit to the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE) in Accra.
She was received by the Director General of the AITI-KACE, Mr. Kwasi Adu-Gyan at an official ceremony to interact with management and staff of the centre and members of the Girls Can Code project.
In a welcoming speech, Mr. Kwasi Adu-Gyan described as a great privilege for the members of the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT to receive the UNESCO Director General to the centre and for that matter Ghana.
According to him, the centre places emphasis on innovation, research and development in the area of ICT and electronics, and is contributing immensely to the human and technological development of the nation.
“Madam Azoulay, our centre has been at the forefront in championing the agenda of mainstreaming gender in the digital space of Ghana, especially by developing and nurturing the capacity of girls in the field of ICTâ€.
Mr. Adu-Gyan indicated that the AITI-KACE has since its establishment in 2003 implemented a number of initiatives and interventions such as the Girls Can Code project, Girls in ICT project, Robotics for JHS Girls and UNESCO Youth Mobile among others.
He revealed that the Government of India through the Ministry of External Affairs has selected the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT as a Regional Hub for elTEC programmes in Big Data Analytics and High Performance Computing in the ECOWAS region.
He expressed the desire of AITI-KACE to partner UNESCO in areas that would aid in bridging the digital divide, create jobs and contribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Mr. Adu-Gyan indicated that “the centre has positioned itself to share in the dream of Global Education Agenda 2030 with particular emphasis on the education sector vision of ensuring an inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for allâ€.
He was optimistic that Madam Zoulay would use her good office to facilitate the process for AITI-KACE to become a UNESCO Category 2 partner institution for ICT in education in the ECOWAS region.
Meanwhile, the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT is reactivating centres of excellence in Sunyani and Bolgatanga to serve the Northern and middle belts of Ghana. The centres would have Enterprise Development Hubs to nurture and grow small and medium scale enterprises.
Madam Andrey Zoulay after interacting with members of the Girls Can Code project, also watched short video presentations and exhibition of their products.
, December 15, 2019