GHANA’s PRESENTATION AT THE SOUTH-SOUTH LEARNING EXCHANGE VISIT TO INDIA PRESENTATION BY

1. GHANA’s PRESENTATION AT THE SOUTH-SOUTH LEARNING EXCHANGE VISIT TO INDIA PRESENTATION BY NANA OSEI BONSU,MOC

2. STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION • Team members • Vision • Mission • ICT Policy Objective • ICT4AD Policy pillars • Current IT/ITES activities • Existing partnerships with India • Success stories, challenges and issues • HR & Skill development • Way Forward

3. Team Members Issa Yahaya-Director,Director-PPME,Moc Dan Baffour- Awuah-Executive Director-Cotvet-Ministry of Education Herman Chinery-Hesse-CEO,Softtribe-rep.GASSCOM Amr Hari Deep-CEO,IPMC-rep.GASSCOM Nana Osei Bonsu –ITES HR & Skill Dev

4. VISION To manage the convergence of Communication and Technologies to promote a viable integrated national development process

5. MISSION To facilitate the development of reliable and cost-effective world-class communications infrastructure and services, driven by appropriate technological innovations and accessible by all citizens to enhance the promotion of economic competitiveness in a knowledge-based environment

6. ICT Policy objective To engineer an ICT-led socio-economic development process to transform Ghana into a middle income, information-rich knowledge-based and technology driven economy

7. ICT4AD POLICY PILLARS Accelerated Human Resource Development Facilitating the Development of the Private Sector Developing a globally Competitive value added services sector Promoting Local and Foreign Direct Investment Drive in ICT Legal, Regulatory and Investment Framework Divisions R & D capacity Development

8. Current IT/ ITES ACTIVITIES • Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre (GMIC) established in 2005 to train people for the BPO industry and to develop incubators • People trained in call centre operations, data entry and medical transcription services

9. Current IT/ ITES ACTIVITIES GMIC also collaborated with the Ghana Telecom University college to trained people in call centre operations and data entry . Other public and private training institutions and the universities are training people in IT/ITES but there is no national standardization or uniform certification process in place

10. Current IT/ ITES ACTIVITIES ITES Division of the MOC established in March 2007 to facilitate the Development of the Private Sector. Three main components of ITES Human Resource Development/Capacity Building Support to Industry Investment Promotion of ITES/BPO business

11. Current IT/ ITES ACTIVITIES • Reputable private training institutions such as IPMC in Ghana is currently the Gold certified Partner for Microsoft and Novell, and WDP partner for Oracle University, Tally Academy for Tally Solutions • IPMC also has a renowned partnership with the Industry vendors such as Dell,HP IPMC,NetApp,CISCO,Tally etc

12. Certification programs MCSE(Microsoft certified systems Engineer)-Microsoft CCNA/CCNP(CISCO certified Network Associate/Cisco certified Network professional)-CISCO OCA/OCP(Oracle certified Associate/Oracle certified Professional)-Oracle Hardware & Networking-COMPTIA ICDL(International Computer Driving License)-ICDL Africa Tally certified Professional-Tally Solutions

13. Existing Partnerships with India • Tally Academy-Tally Solutions Indian • Government of India supported the setting up of a modern ICT institute in a Ghana the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Advanced International Technology Institute and center of Excellence for ICT which is in the fore front of imparting ICT skills to Ghanaians and other African Countries

14. Success stories, challenges and issues National Communications Backbone Project The Ministry of Communications has facilitated the construction of a National Communications Backbone Infrastructure to provide open access broadband connectivity nationwide. The first phase of the project covering most of the major economic towns and cities has been completed with a concessionary loan facility of $30 million by the Chinese Government.

15. Success stories, challenges and issues IT Parks • A 50 acre piece of land has been acquire for the development of an ICT Park featuring units for large scale business process outsourcing in the field of ICT,call centers, conference center and other facilities to stimulate the growth of the technology industry.

16. Success stories, challenges and issues Provision of Universal Access: • Extension of ICT infrastructure and services to all rural communities and underserved areas of the country

17. Success stories, challenges and issues Common Telecom Facilities • Establishment of Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GIFTEL) • Construction of common telecom facilities in rural areas which would enable Telecom Operators to extend their services to rural communities. • Communications penetration to rural areas to reach 50% within a period of 4 years

18. Success stories, challenges and issues Community Information Centres Creation of community Information Centres concept with internet connectivity and equipment to promote community-based ICT applications that will promote operational efficiencies delivered through effective and timely availability of information.

19. HR & SKILL DEVELOPMENT Formation of National Governing Council of ITES Vocational Training Expert Group to oversee IT/ITES training ,skill development and certification since May 2007 Identified priority skill development areas within the BPO/ITES industry in Ghana Adopted Global Skills Set Standards for the BPO/ITES functions and services in Ghana including a comprehensive skills set dictionary and a database of job profiles

20. HR & SKILL DEVELOPMENT Developed a streamlined BPO/ITES training curriculum aligned with the skill requirements of the BPO/ITES industry in Ghana Developed a flexible and modular BPO/ITES Curriculum map that enables training institutes in Ghana to tailor training programs to meet the business needs of the industry Developed a set of well defined criteria for eligible private and public players in the training industry in the form of curriculum guidelines

21. HR & SKILL DEVELOPMENT Designed 14 tracks (courses) considering the priority skills sets and along specific timelines to address the short-term, medium-term ,and long term requirements of the BPO/ITES industry in Ghana Developed a trained-trainer-process for BPO/ITES trainers

22. HR & SKILL DEVELOPMENT Designed and developed an accreditation mechanism for the BPO/ITES training industry with specific guidelines for a qualitative system of review, evaluation, accreditation and monitoring of BPO-ITES training programs Finalized a training matching grants program with key guidelines to be used by a Fund manager for disbursing BPO/ITES Funds

23. Way Forward Select an independent training consultant(s) to create training content aligned to the BPO/ITES training curriculum map Produce ready –to- use training standardized and track-specific training kits with instructor guides, instructor notes, teaching techniques, students guide, power point slide deck, pre and post assessment

24. Way Forward Train 30 trainers and 3000 agents/professionals in 2009 with first training taking place within the next three months that is by May 2009 Launch a training matching grant program with initial amount of US$3,000,000 World Bank Assistance Needed More funds for training in IT/ITES Support for high cost of real estate Support for high cost of bandwidth Dedicated funds to support IT/ITES businesses

25. Two questions for answers Can we have training content for the curriculum guidelines already developed Are India businesses with big outsourcing business contracts willing to enter into joint venture ships with Ghanaian firms? Is India willing to offer scholarships to train ITES trainers either in India or send trainers to train trainers in Ghana ?

26. THANK YOU