Chief Executive Officer of Implementers, a project management organization in charge of the Annual Round Table Discussion, AIRTAD Kafui Prebbie has expressed excitement about the impact of the Yamoransa Model Labs Program across the country.
Yamoransa Model ICT Labs project involves building ICT labs to promote effective STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education in the local communities in Ghana with Funding support from the Helping Africa Foundation.
AIRTAD ’24, themed “The Yamoransa Model Labs Program – Investing in the Future,” serves as a testament to the dedication of the YM Labs Program, the Helping Africa Foundation, and the IMPLEMENTERS in fostering sustainable development in Ghana.
Speaking to MX24 TV on the sidelines of AIRTAD 2024, Kafui noted the relevance of the annual gathering as an opportunity to assess the impact of the project and also grant the beneficiaries of the projects the opportunity to showcase their creativity and innovations.
According to him, the project, over the years has seen remarkable progress which makes them excited about the inclusion impact on young adults and young girls in deprived communities across the country.
we’re very excited about the progress because we look at children who in any case would not have had this opportunity to use technology in the 21st Century but here are these kids who are being creative who are learning how to do programming and so and so forth. The biggest addition to this package is the inclusion of the specially challenged kids or young adults that we have made provision for them also to be a part of this whole process,” he said.
Kafui continued that “a big portion of that also it’s female inclusion in this battle of the process many people know that we don’t see a lot of girls in the Sciences and therefore we’re back maybe deliberate efforts at including the girls also so inclusion of girls inclusion of the physical each challenge it’s one of the key things and we are seeing them do amazing things with technology in today’s age”
Deputy Executive Director for Helping Africa Foundation, Jonathan Weisner also speaking to journalists noted that the organization saw the funding of the project as a way of presenting an educational opportunity to children in underserved communities.
“This is an opportunity to provide educational educational opportunities to children in underserved communities the technology that was developed over a decade and implemented by implementers has helped us bring internet to areas where there’s no internet. So the ASANKA devices essentially programmed with the Ghanaian curriculum and students have access to technology that they would not otherwise have,” he said.
President of the Association of Ghana Industries Dr Humphrey Ayim-Darke who is a promoter of Lab Six in Peki in the Volta Region said that he took interest in the project due to its potential to create a mass of engineers that can transform communities.
He however cared for collaboration between the implementers of the project and institutions to expose the students to industries and sectors where their innovations will be relevant.
“So, the next step is collaboration and therefore I urge the parties to make sure we collaborate with the various institutions, AGI is one of them that we see collaboration with such partners and once this exhibition grows we will expose them to industry sectors that their innovation will be relevant to. CSIR is one of our big research units in the country, I collaboration with them and I did say that we need a bit of guiding innovation for Society information on how to make it integrated and therefore the country can lead from the community and then the promoters and dad of the uh inventors who have an opportunity take advantage and commercialize it,” he noted.
The program, aside from panel discussions also saw an exhibition by the students from the 13 centres where the labs have been implemented. Their innovations were aimed at finding solutions to societal problems with the use of technology which could also contribute to the attainment of the sustainable development goals.
