PAC’s commendation of GIFEC shows Ursula’s excellent leadership

Prior to her tenure, GIFEC, as part of its agship Rural Telephony Project (RTP), had established 120 Telephony Sites, between 2005 and 2016. Her strategic in uence led to the innovation of Ghana’s Rural Star UMTS 900, a solution developed by Huawei Technologies to signi cantly accelerate Ghana’s e orts at bridging the digital divide. This technology, which has since been replicated in other African countries, resulted in the deployment of 413 Rural Sites across the country, between 2017 and 2019, with MTN as the Network Provider, in partnership with GIFEC. Through her leadership, the Gov- ernment of Ghana (GoG), through a strategic agreement with Huawei and China National Technical Import & Export Corporation (CNTIC), secured funding from the China EXIM Bank to establish 2,016 Rural Telephony Sites in as many communities across the country, to provide mobile network coverage to an estimated 3.4 million more citizens. Since its commencement in 2020, though slightly delayed by COVID-19, 473 out of 1,008 built sites are active currently and delivering Voice and Data services to citizens.

E orts are in place to ensure that all 1,008 sites are activated. Equipment for the completion of all 2,016 Sites are actually in the country, awaiting funding for deployment, which is expected in the near-future. Her role in guiding the a airs of GIFEC has also resulted in astronomical increase in the number of citizens trained in ICT, with special focus on women and girls. Indeed, about 30,000 citizens have been trained in various ICT Programmes since 2017, 70% of whom are female, with an estimated 20,000 more Ghanaians to be trained by 2024.

GIFEC’s Cyberlabs Programme also, has since 2017, equipped 1,257 schools, communities and public institutions with high-speed desktop computers and accessories, to in crease access to ICT equipment. 30 additional Community ICT Centres (CIC), have been built in communities to champion the acquisition of knowledge in ICT. An additional 500 Cyberlabs are expected to be setup between 2023 and 2024.

The Fund, beginning in 2023 is also embarking on a more robust moni toring and evaluation, and other maintenance and sustainability mea sures to improve the impact of its in vestments across the country, among other strategic e orts, while main taining its vaunted prudence.