ITU Elected USF’s “ICT for Girls Programme” For WSIS Prizes Contest 2019

The Universal Service Fund (USF)’s “ICT for Girls programme” received international recognition by being announced as one of the 90 Champions of the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes contest by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

ITU has announced the top 90 ICT-related projects recognized for implementing the WSIS Action Lines, competing for the prestigious WSIS Prizes 2019. ITU announced 90 Champions of the prestigious WSIS Prizes contest while the 18 Winners, out of these 90 Champions, will be recognized at a ceremony at Geneva International Conference Centre on the 9th of April, as part of the annual WSIS Forum 2019 (8-12 April).

ITU Announces USF’s “ICT for Girls Programme” as top ICT-Related Projects

With participants emerging from across the globe, 72 champions will be honored and 18 winners will be awarded for each of the 18 categories on April 9th at the WSIS Prizes 2019 Ceremony, to be held during the WSIS Forum 2019 in Geneva.

Since 2012, WSIS Prizes has been recognizing remarkable efforts made by entities and organizations from around the globe that focus on accelerating the socio-economic progress of the whole world as a community.

The submission phase, which began on 2 July 2018 to 5 December 2018, received a record number of 1,140 submissions, out of which 1,062 exceptional projects were nominated for WSIS Prizes 2019. This is a 216% increase since WSIS Prizes 2018, where we had 492 nominated projects.

From 21 December 2018 to 10 February 2019, over 2 million votes were cast for these projects, and following a comprehensive review by the Expert Group, 90 extraordinary ICT-related projects and initiatives were selected for the eighth edition of the WSIS Prizes contest.

18 Winners will be Announced on April 9th at the WSIS Prizes 2019 Ceremony

Project submission this year was distributed by region as follows: 16.9% from Africa, 29% from Asia and the Pacific, 6.5% from Eastern Europe, 19.4% from Latin America and the Caribbean, 27.7% from Western Europe, and 0.5% are international projects.

Through the ICT for Girls programme, the capacity of the master trainers has been built in using technologies in education and teaching methodologies. This program has provided employment to over 200 women and has transformed them into ICT ambassadors in their area. They have also motivated other girls to acquire ICT education.

This project will enhance the learning capabilities of the students and other stakeholders like school staff. ICT for Girls program has initiated a ripple effect with far-reaching positive impact. The impact of the project led to an expansion of the project to the rest of the country and was transformed into a regular program “ICT for Girls”.

All the key stakeholders then committed to substantially enhance the scope of the project and make it a success. So far, USF has established 370 states of the art ICT facilities with 6,372 computer terminals, high-speed broadband internet, and other necessary ICT equipment. USF plans to create 500 ICT facilities across the country with high-speed internet and necessary ICT equipment.

The project was initiated in early 2016 with 50 computer labs. The impact of the project led to expansion of the project to the rest of the country and was transformed to a regular program “ICT for Girls”. All the key stakeholders then committed to substantially enhance the scope of the project and make it a success.