InfoDev (GHANA) Project

The Ghana National Committee on Internet Connectivity
(GNCIC)

The Ghana National Committee on Internet Connectivity (GNCIC) was formed in February, 1996 to implement the InfoDev Ghana Project with the support and sponsorship of UNESCO, ITU, UNDP and the World Bank's InfoDev Programme. The Project's objective is to promote the development of telematics in the areas of public concern in Ghana.

Mission Statement

"To promote the development of Telematics in Ghana and its application in national development"

Goals

• Policy formulation
• Help to empower user institutions in the public sector to consolidate their demand for access to national and international telematics services
• Define and develop appropriate applications and local access infrastructure
• Awareness Creation and Capacity Building
• Liaison with donor agencies, national counterpart organizations, government and the general public for coordination, collaboration, cooperation and education in effecting the above purpose.

Membership

The membership of the GNCIC is derived from the following academic, research and key public/ private sector institutions and organizations:

• The Universities of Ghana
• Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
• Association of African Universities
• Ministry of Communications
• Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning
• Ministry of Education/Ghana National Commission for UNESCO
• Ghana Telecom
• Network Computer Systems Ltd
• Volta River Authority

Current Activities

In pursuance of the above goals the GNCIC is carrying out the following activities:

• GNCIC Permanent Secretariat Set up a permanent secretariat for the committee
  
  
• User Survey

A survey of needs and opportunities for development oriented telematics activity and service in Ghana. This will involve an assessment of the present level of telematics usage and the potential telematics demand in identified organizations and services in these organization and determining how much capacity building will be required to satisfy actual and potential demands.

• Conference

A conference of national public/private sector users is being planned for December 1997 to consider common concerns and priorities.

The theme of the Conference is "The Internet and National Development". The target audience is Policy Maker in Government, the private sector, research, academic and second cycle education's institutions.

• Network Technology Training Centre and Programme

With funding from the UNDP the GNCIC has set up a national Network Technology Training Centre (NTTC) at the University of Ghana. This Centre, in collaboration with the Internet Society of Ghana (ISOG), plans to organize a series of workshops to train specialists in networking technology. The objective of the series of workshop is to train a critical mass of the technical staff in academic, research, public and private sector institutions to support and manage the network infrastructure to be put in place in the various institutions and organizations. The fist of the series of workshop was organized in February 1997 and attracted 40 participants from all sectors of the economy. Future workshops will be opened to participants from the sub-region. Below is a summary of the course descriptions

Track 1: Host-Based Internet working

Beneficiaries: Technical staff who will be setting up local Area Networks (LANS) to provide network services to local and or dial-up end users as well as the involved in the establishment and operation of an internet presence.

Objective: By the end of the training participants will be able to:

• Design, setup and operate a local TCP/IP network.
• Connect DOS/Mac based systems to institutional /campus networks.

Content: UNIX Internals, Networking fundamentals, Modem Technology.

Prerequisites: A good working knowledge of the UNIX operating system.

Track 2: Backbone Internet working

Beneficiaries: Technical staff who will soon be building or operating a Wide Area TCP/IP based network;

Objective: By the end of the training participants:

• Will be able to design, setup and operate a metropolitan, regional or national TCP/IP dedicated backbone network;
• Will have detailed knowledge of routing, network trouble shooting, domain name system, NIC name and address coordination.

Content: Routing protocols, DNS, security.

Track 3: Content Development and Access

Beneficiaries: Would be providers of networked information services.

Prerequisites: A good user level knowledge of the various internet services, email, ftp telnet, World Wide web, etc.

Objective: By the end of the training participants will be able to design and set up quality internet Informations Services.

Content: Web servers and clients, search services, legal and ethical issues, security issues, national infrastructure issues, setting up and maintaining quality information services, communication services and HTMAL authoring, Management of public internet network on a national scale.

• Establishment, in cooperation with the public sector backbone network.
• A one year pilot Internet service involving libraries of some key public sector institutions.

Donor/Supporting Agencies

• UNESCO
• ITU
• UNDP
• WORLD BANK

National Counterpart Agencies

The GNCIC has identified the following agencies as core members of the group of counterpart national agencies towards the implementation of the infodev Project in Ghana.

• Ministry of environment, Secience & Technology
• Ministry of Communications
• Ghana National Commission for UNESCO
• Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning
• CSIR
• The Universities of Ghana
• Association of African Universities
• Ghana Atomic Energy Commission

Secretariat:

Chairperson,GNCIC
C/o Dept of Library & Archival Studies
University of Ghana
P.O. Box 60,
Legon

Phone: (233) 21-500149

Email: infodev@aau.org; Dlas@ug.gn.apc.org; Ckisiedu@ug.gn.apc.org

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