In 2019, Mobile Web Ghana organized and played a role in many activities that are in line with our core values and vision. We have always set out to build the capacity of young tech-enthusiasts and also create opportunities for them to grow. Hence, in previous years we have organized events and training programs that have been impactful in the lives of participants – especially to those who live in Accra. This year, we reached out to some demographics that we haven’t had access to in the years of our existence. We did so by either organizing or playing a key role in various training programs, tech events, hackathons, conferences etc.
Through one of our open data projects, Visuals for Gender, we have done some advocacy work this year. We simply educated young ladies, gender activists, school girls etc. on gender-based violence using open data.
Below is a summary of the various activities and events we have been involved in the first half of 2019.
Data Publishing and Management training for the revamped Ghana Open Data Portal
The first training program we were involved in in the year was the “Data Publishing and Management” training program. It was a series of training sessions actually in the first 3 months of the year for different professionals in government institutions. The training falls under the Revamping of the Ghana Open Data Portal project. This project was undertaken by SBC4D, Mobile Web Ghana and the National Information Technology Agency of the Ministry of Communication. The purpose of the training we were involved in is the building of the capacity of members of staff of government institutions in data publication and management on the newly revamped Ghana Open Data Portal. The training had in attendance members of staff of the following agencies and ministries, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Lands Commission, Ghana Post, Energy Commission, and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, National Development Planning Commission etc. Participants were taught how to write Meta data and given time to break into groups to write Metadata for the data they had brought. They were also taught how to upload data unto the Ghana Open Data Portal, data wrangling etc. Read more here.
Pilot of GIZ’s Data Reporting for SDGs
Mobile Web Ghana in partnership with GIZ organized a training session in Ho, the capital city of the Volta Region. The training was targeted at professionals who work for Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Media houses. It was aimed at building their capacity in data analysis and visualization to enable the participants report accurately on the SDGs. The team of facilitators from Code for Ghana (Mobile Web Ghana open data project) took participants through sessions on SDGs, data analysis with Microsoft Excel, infographic designing with Microsoft PowerPoint and Canva etc.
Visuals for Gender school outreach (Jewels of the Millennium School)
On Friday, 22nd February 2019, the Visuals for Gender team had an insightful session with the pupils of Jewels of the Millennium School in Agbogba, North Legon. The theme for the event was, You, Your sexuality and the Law. The team went along with two resource persons: one of them a law student and the other, a gender activist. The goal was to educate the pupils on laws concerning gender-based violence and also their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Read more here.
Domestic Violence Workshop
The US Embassy in collaboration with Mobile Web Ghana organised a two-day training session for Civil Society Organizations and gender activists. The event was held at Mobile Web Ghana, from the 12th -13th of March, 2019. The workshop was aimed at equipping participants with the requisite skills and knowledge to combat domestic and sexual violence. The two-day workshop was dubbed “Train the trainer- engaging with young women about sexual and domestic violence. Read more here.
Visuals for Gender Outreach to Luom Presby Basic School
On Tuesday, 19th March, 2019, Visuals for Gender paid a visit to Luom Presby Basic School, in the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was ‘balance for better’, hence the purpose of the visit was to empower girls to excel in all areas of life including their lives. This initiative was in partnership with Citizens for Better Africa (CBA, USA). Read more here.
Open Cities Accra Final Product Workshop
Mobile Web Ghana, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and OSM Ghana are the three organizations that worked on the Open Cities Accra project in the latter half of 2018. The team worked together with volunteer mappers to collect and curate accurate and up-to-date geospatial data in 4 communities in Accra. These communities were Alajo, Akweteyman, Alogboshie and Nima. All 4 communities are located along the Odaw river basin – a flood prone area in Accra. At the end of the project, the team developed a web application that helps users explore the data and also we printed maps of the areas. This is why this event was organized. We invited a number of government institutions over so we can showcase the software to them and also distribute the maps we have printed to them. Some of the participants came from Ministry of Inner Cities and Zongo Development (MICZD), Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA), Ayawaso East Municipal Assembly of the AMA etc.
Data Upload Challenge and Hackathon
As part of the revamping process of the Ghana Open Data Portal, the Ministry of Communication through its implementing agency the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Mobile Web Ghana and SBC4D is organized a Data Upload Challenge and Hackathon. This took place over a 4-day period from 2nd April to 5th April 2019 at the Ghana – India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT. The event The event was well attended by people from the software developers community in Accra, University students, data scientists and entrepreneurs etc. The government institutions which were represented throughout the event were Ghana Investment Promotion Commission (GIPC), Energy Commission, National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Registrar General’s Department, Lands Commission, Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC), National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Zongo and Inner Cities Development. In total the event recorded 132 different people in attendance on all the 4 days. Read more here.
Koffee with Kirusa Event
Kirusa has been a front-runner in voice-based innovations for the past 17 years, focusing on African markets. The company held a 60-minute event at Mobile Web Ghana on 10th April, 2019 to introduce developers to their platform. Also, to make it easy for the developers in attendance to run mobile campaigns with voice and messaging APIs. Other features of the platform include OTP SMS, Flash Calling for Lead-generation registration, IVR for Customer Care and Robocalls for reminders.