Female-led chiefdoms get ICT hubs

SANFROSSA MANYINDA writes @SunZambian THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will establish Information Communication Technology (ICT) hubs in in rural female-led chiefdoms across the country. UNDP Country representative, Lionel Laurens, said this in Ndola during the ‘Girls in ICT Indaba 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence. Mr Laurens said the hubs would be used as information centres and help in the provision of training and mentorship of girls in most rural areas. He said UNDP in collaboration with partners among them ZICTA and the governments of Sweden and Ireland was determined to ensuring that actions from the workshop were also rolled out to rural communities. “Rural communities ICT hubs will first be established in Chief Chamuka, Chieftainess Muweza and Chieftainess Nkomesha Mukamambo II’s chiefdoms before rolling out to other chiefdoms,” he said. He stated that UNDP appreciated the commitment Government had shown in the area of ICTs. He observed that empowering young people with latest means of communication and ensuring that as the country pushes ahead to attain national development was a commendable approach. Mr Laurens however stated that there was much more that could be done to ensure girls, specifically were not left behind. He said despite adequate policies and laws existing in the country to reduce the gender gaps in development spheres, women and girls continued to lag behind in the area of ICTs. Meanwhile, Transport and Communications Minister, Mutotwe Kafwaya, said Government was in the process of enacting three bills namely the data protection, electronic communication and transaction and cyber security and cybercrime bills. Mr Kafwaya said the bills would establish and enable a legal framework necessary for the growth of a sustainable and all-inclusive ICT sector while facilitating for the section, prevention and prosecution of GBV. Mr. Kafwaya said government recognised the important role ICT plays in the economic and social development of the country in bringing inclusiveness in the social and economic transformation agenda. “This has been exhibited through the ongoing massive construction of network towers in all parts of the country, not leaving behind rural areas. “This is the main reason the ministry recently launched ‘the child online protection’ whose aim is to mobilise stakeholders to cultivate a robust cybersecurity culture among children and young people at large,” Mr. Kafwaya said.