Youth, Technology and Development Initiative launched

The 2008 Presidential Candidate for the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has challenged the youth of Ghana by encouraging and stimulating their interest, curiosity and enterprise to bring out the ideas they have in Technology for development.

Addressing a group of enthusiastic youth during the launch of the youth, technology and development initiative at Regency Hotel in Accra, Dr.Nduom said innovation needs encouragement and that the YTDI hopes to motivate the young men and women in Ghana to develop solutions based on technology that will help accelerate the development of the country.

Read the Press Statement

I wish to welcome my Facebook fans and members of the media to this youth-focused event. Those of you who have joined our movement know the quiet but exciting transformational communication going on through internet technology on Facebook. Today, the www.facebook/pknduom fan page is the most active and visited one of a political leader in Ghana. After only six weeks, we have achieved an active audience that is now more than 20,000 and increasing by the day. Most of our fans are young men and women under the age of 35 who reside in Ghana. I am proud that on my fan page, we are communicating in a disciplined, respectful way. Through it we hope to help transform politics in Ghana to become a serious activity that can make development happen and prosperity a reality through practical actions carried out with a sense of urgency.

What is important is not the number of people who are pknduom Facebook fans. It is what is happening on the fan page that is important. On 6th March, we launched our Independence Movement. This was to encourage the youth to grab hold of their future by working to transform our political independence into an economic one. At Cape Coast University I asked the students to support made-in-Ghana goods and services as a sure way to help create jobs. I also asked the students to become advocates by lobbying government to facilitate industrialization in Ghana. Soon, we will come out with some practical demonstration of our Economic Independence Movement. For the first time in Ghana’s history since independence, I am making a core commitment to assist Ghana’s youth in playing a central role in Ghana’s future. We need you to take a leading role in the development process. This is why we launched the movement for economic independence: http://bit.ly/pknindependence.

I am encouraged by the fact that through the fan page, we launched an Education Movement Volunteer initiative which today has spread to 25 communities in the country where on Saturdays from 10 am to 12 pm young men and women volunteer their time and teach primary school age children how to read, write and do a little arithmetic. It is our hope that we will reach 100 communities by the end of June this year.

Today, we are here to launch the Youth, Technology & Development Initiative. Since independence, we have known that Science and Technology will enable the accelerated development of Ghana. Today, there is unprecedented opportunity to use practical applications of Science and Technology to bridge the development and prosperity gap between Ghana and the developed countries in Europe, North America and Asia. There are amazing ideas for development at the fingertips of our youth as a result of technology. The question in Ghana is not “where will we get the ideas for development”. It is a matter of encouraging and stimulating the interest, curiosity and enterprise of our youth to bring out the ideas they have. Innovation needs encouragement. The Youth, Technology and Development Initiative (YTDI) is one solution. Through competition, the YTDI hopes to motivate the young men and women in Ghana to develop solutions based on technology that will help accelerate the development of the country.

Rules for the submission of technology and development “implementation plans” are:

1. We will accept submissions from people under the age of 35 under the topic headings of Education, Distributed Infrastructure, Health and Food and Banking and Finance.

2. Plans should emphasise the role of new or adapted technology to help achieve results with blazing speed. We want actionable proposals.

3. We will select the three best plans from each region in Ghana. We encourage teamwork.
Three representatives from each qualifying team will be invited to present their ideas at a conference to be held in Accra. At least one should be female. For those Ghanaians in the Diaspora, we will accept diaspora youth plans well.

4. Ideas chosen should focus on practical implementation. Preference will also be given to team members who have demonstrated selflessness through volunteerism. One great opportunity is through the volunteer program: http://on.fb.me/mvolunteer

5. Submissions should be no longer than 5,000 words.

6. All submissions must be provided via email to pknduom@gmail.com by June 1, 2011. Submissions received will be posted on www.facebook.com/pknduom.

7. We will encourage Facebook fans to vote for the submissions they consider to be the best.

8. Submissions which receive the most votes via comments will also be given preference. Priority will be given to the ones received by May 27, 2011. The qualifying proposals will be announced by June 15, 2011.

9. The top three implementation plans, as judged by an esteemed panel, will become official components of my campaign for Ghana’s Economic Independence. This would also mark the first time an aspiring African leader has “crowdsourced” key components of the development agenda. I have repeated many times that the work necessary for Ghana’s development must come from you, the youth. This is a chance to step up and grasp your future. I have made public and very clear that I believe in inclusiveness. This is not a partisan, political initiative. I want experts in the application of Science & Technology in Ghana and abroad to participate in this initiative. I am inviting professionals from tertiary institutions and industry to participate in the process as a purely Ghanaian idea as panel members.

10. The top ten submissions will be honoured and given an award at a Youth, Technology and Development Conference planned to take place on Saturday, July 2, 2011. The conference will address the real question for Ghana’s accelerated development: “how can we implement the best ideas to develop Ghana extremely quickly.”

Thank you for participating in this special fan page meetup. I hope many of you participate in this competition of ideas and solutions.

Note:
Suggestions under each heading are provided below. These are suggestions only. Key questions to be addressed:

-Funding Sources: Tax revenue? Private sponsors? Cost savings from other areas?
-State participation: Which government bodies, agencies and or parastatals will be necessary to implement your plan, if any?
-Timeline? Each proposal must plan to provide initial results within a 12 month period. Full completion should be scheduled by July 1, 2015.
-Job creation: Estimate how many sustainable jobs will your plan create.
-Inclusiveness – How will your plan promote positive development for all Ghanaians?
-The Ghanaian Market – How will your plan help build and sustain a local market for Ghanaian goods and services
-Responsible international partnership: How will you, if necessary, bring international financial and technical partners on board in a manner that puts Ghanaians first?

Education
Role of E-readers
Raising the status of Teachers
Continuous education for all Ghanaians
Real time monitoring and tracking of educational progress
Construction and Finance of Model Schools for all Ghanaians
Practical Education – Ensuring that Ghanaians students graduate with the skills required by Ghanaian businesses

Distributed Infrastructure & Renewable Energy
Small Nuclear Reactors
Waste to Energy
Local Water purification
Solar, Wind and Wave Power
Biofuels & Industrial Agriculture
Expanding and powering a 4G wireless Internet network

Health & Food
Tracking preventable infectious diseases with mobile technology
Efficient distribution of healthy food
Sustainable Fish Farming
Direct sourcing from farm to market
Technology and the NHIS
Revamping the school feeding programme
Telemedicine for Ghana and as an area for export growth

Banking and Finance
E Money
Efficient Collection of VAT and Income Tax
Broadening the Tax Net and Lowering the Tax Rate
E Banking via SMS
Strengthening local Ghanaian financial markets
Transparency
Expanding Microfinance and SME lending
Practical Credit Rating Solutions for Ghanaians
Increasing responsible loan recovery rates