LOCAL CONSULTATIVE STAKEHOLDER MEETING
ICODE in partnership with Ghana Tech Lab and the Pathways to Sustainable Employment Program, Master Card Foundation, Ministry of Communications and The World Bank, held a local consultative stakeholders meeting on Friday 23rd April 2021.
The meeting was held with the purpose of focusing the role that digital media plays in transforming the local economy for job creation and economic development in the city of Takoradi, hence the theme for the meeting dubbed: THE ROLE OF DIGITAL MEDIA IN TRANSFORMING THE LOCAL ECONOMY FOR JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.
Mr. Prince Bonney (CEO of ICODE) started with the opening remarks and went on to give a presentation on a snapshot of the ecosystem based on the local ecosystem mapping. He gave an in-depth explanation on the activities conducted, the motive behind it and the outcome. He spoke about the need for both the ecosystem mapping and the consultative stakeholder meeting.
The western regional minster Hon. Kobby Okyere-Darko was in attendance of the stakeholder meeting, he gave a word of speech enlightening participants on the need to create sustainable solutions. He made mention of how technology affects the way individuals communicate, learn, and think. Stating how it helps society and determines how people interact with each other on a daily basis. Also talked about how technology plays an important role in society today, the positive and negative effects on the world and it impacts daily lives.
He stated that as computing power improves dramatically and more and more people around the world participate in the digital economy, we should think carefully about how to devise policies that will allow us to fully exploit the digital revolution’s benefits while minimizing job dislocation.
After that some stakeholders were given the turn to give a presentation on what identified as a key point in the forum session. There was a network session which allowed participants interacted with each other and exchanged contact to further develop ideas on the topic areas discussed.
Participants were divided into the six groups, each group representing the pillars that were used to mark the mapping that is Support Infrastructure and Hubs, Access to Finance, Human Capital; Education and Training, Media and Culture, Policy; Government and Regulatory bodies, Accessible Market, to discuss some of the challenges faced in society and to recommend ways that these challenges can be solved. Leaders of the groups in the breakout session presented their findings from their group discussions.
These are some of the key points the stakeholders talked about in their presentation:
- Digital Media: Potentials and opportunities
- Key challenges and problem facing the industry
- Skills required to satisfy the current digital media market needs in their communities.
- Creation of potential new markets by digital media
