GHANA INVESTMENT FUND FOR

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

GIFEC - Making electronic communications accessible to the nation

 GIFEC BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications is governed by a board of trustees
comprising the following ministries/organisations, with the Minister of Communications as
Chairman:

Minister of Communications, Chairman

Ministry of Communications, Member
Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, Member
National Communications Authority (NCA), Member
Scancom Ltd, (MTN) Member
Vodafone, Member
Airtel Ghana Ltd, (TiGo) Member
Millicom Ghana Ltd.,
Expresso Telecom, Member
GLOBACOM, (Glo) Co-opted Member
GISPA, Co-opted Member
The Administrator/CEO of GIFEC -- Member

GIFEC SECRETARIAT
The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication is managed by a Secretariat headed
By an Administrator/Chief Executive Officer
To attain the vision of promoting a multi-accelerated national development as outlined in the
Ghana ICT4AD Document, the Ministry of Communication (MoC) is committed to facilitating
the management of the convergence of Information, Communication and Technologies as tools
to promote integrated and accelerated national development within a global setting.

The commitment of Government to ensure the multi-sectoral application of ICT informs the
formulation of the ICT Policy Statement of the Ministry of Communications, which has the
mandate to promote, co-ordinate and monitor the effective development and deployment of ICTs
in the public and private sectors.

It is in the light of these that the Government of Ghana in November 2004 set up the Ghana

Investment Fund for Electronic communication, (then Ghana Investment Fund for

Telecommunications) Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications, (GIFEC) the

legislative instrument that strengthened the agency was promulgated in 2008 as the Electronic

Communications ACT 775. The ACT aims at providing for electronic communications,

broadcasting, and the use of the electro-magnetic spectrum and related facilities in Ghana.

The main objective of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) as

provided for in the Act is to provide financial resources for the establishment of universal service

and ensure access to ICT and basic telephony, for rural communities in Ghana. This includes

facilitating and providing internet, multimedia, broadband and broadcasting services to unserved

and underserved rural communities in Ghana this includes facilitating and providing internet,

multimedia, broadband and broadcasting services to unserved and underserved communities

GIFEC remains focused on its mandate, and considers the provision of access to electronic
communication service by the underserved and unserved communities as very important and
critical success factors in the nation’s ICT development agenda; to offer a sustainable Universal
Access to Electronic Communications that would promote social and economic development of
the people, through best practice.

The Fund is also determined to ensure that its policies, transactions and services are conducted in
a very transparent manner and that all clients are treated equally, irrespective of race, gender,
religion or nationality.

FUNDING

GIFEC’s sources of funding are as follows:

 Contributions from licensed telecommunications operators

 Monies provided by Parliament

 Monies that may accrue to the Fund from investment made by the Trustees of the Fund

 Donations, grants and gifts, and

 Any other mony that may become lawfully payable to the Fund

UNIVERSAL ACCCESS TO ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME

Currently GIFEC is engaged on a number of projects under the Universal Access to Electronic
Communications Programme. The strategic objective of this programme is to bridge the digital-
gap between the unserved/underserved and the served communities in the electronic
communications sector, by providing funding for projects which would provide /ICT access and
service to the unserved and underserved areas of the country.

The Projects

In order to achieve the objectives of this programme, GIFEC is currently implementing the
following eleven (11) projects. Included are three new projects introduced under the Universal
Access to Electronic Communications Programme (UAEP), this year. The projects are:
  The Common Telecommunications Facilities Project
 The Last Mile Initiative Project
 The Community Information Centers Project
 The School Connectivity Project
 Pay Phone Project
 Easy Business Center Project
 The Library Connectivity Project
 The Prisons Connectivity Project
 The Post Office Connectivity Project
 The Disability Connectivity Project
 The Security Services Connectivity Project
 E-Health Project
 E-Learning Project

a) THE COMMON TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES PROJECT

These are telephone mast/towers which are provided by GIFEC at underserved and unserved
communities for the provision of telecommunications access. The sites are also available for co-
location by telecommunications companies and other interested organisations.
 A common telecommunications facility built by GIFEC

The scope of the project includes the award of subsidies for provision of the under-listed
facilities at under-served and un-served communities.

 A Tower /Mast of not less than 80m high

 A fenced area of not less than 30ft x 30 ft

b) THE LAST MILE INITIATIVE PROJECT

The Last Mile Initiative (LMI) is global programme to extend the access of the rural poor to
electronic communications to spur increases in productivity and transform the development
prospects of farmers, businesses and other organisations in the rural areas, presently underserved
by communications networks.

As part of its efforts to increase Ghana’s agriculture export competitiveness on the global
market, TIPCEE in collaboration with USAID/Ghana presented a proposal to the Last Mile
Initiative committee of the USAID Africa Bureau for support to implement the LMI/Ghana
project.
The LMI/Ghana project has three components;

 Telecommunications Enabled Pack House-to-Field Application

 Electronic Exchange to Bar Coded Logistics Transaction
 Enhanced Capabilities of GIFEC; Private Sector, Civil Society Advocacy role.
Under this project, pineapple and citrus producing areas are targeted and provided with access to
telecommunications /ICT services.
A telecommunication mast built by GIFEC

Between 2010 and 2012, GIFEC plans to expand the scope of the project to include other
agricultural producing belts like cotton, mango, and rice in the country. GIFEC is also looking at
a possible collaboration of the UNDP on this project.

c) THE COMMUNITY INFORMATION CENTER PROJECT

This is a project which GIFEC has been implementing on behalf of the Ministry of
Communications with funding from the HIPC Initiative. The project objective is to bridge the
digital divide between the served and the underserved and unserved communities of the country
to support economic growth.
 Front view of Saboba Community Information Centre in the Northern Region

The Community Information Centre (CIC) is a hybrid for-profit tele-center and nonprofit

community resource center. The vision of the Community Information Centres is to ensure

universal access to ICT applications for accelerated growth and development through effective

and timely availability of information. The purpose of the CIC is to provide business services

and community development information to remote communities. The CIC helps to make people

ready for the technological era.

The implementation strategy of the project is to extend ICT infrastructure and communication

access accompanied by the requisite human resource capacity building in all the CICs to achieve,

amongst others, the following objectives, among others:

  To bridge the digital divide between rural and urban areas.

 Provide internet point of presence in the unserved and underserved communities of

Ghana.

 To support economic activities in the rural areas by providing ready information on

marketing, production practices, extension services, credit facilities, etc.

 To provide ICT avenues for the dissemination of development information particularly

on health, agriculture, environment and local government & rural communities.

 To provide the opportunity for ICT formal and informal training in rural and deprived

communities.

 To fulfill community information needs and enhance national integration.

 To create ICT awareness in rural communities.

 To provide medium for grass-root education on national issues.

 To support the teaching and learning of schools in the rural communities.

 To provide public communication and education support for community based

development organizations.

The services that are rendered by an operational CIC to achieve the above-mentioned objectives

are access to Internet-enabled computers, software based on local information needs (i.e. local

content), facsimile (fax) facilities, photocopying, telephone, radio and television, library

facilities, training in basic computer skills, entrepreneurship and business services for small and

medium enterprises

Targeted Beneficiaries of the CICs are the general community members, school children, youth

out of school, women and women’s groups, private businesses, non-governmental organisations

and local government authorities.

 A community information centre in rural Ghana

Community Services

The CIC’s community services involve the provision of accurate crop prices in nearby markets to

assist farmers in marketing their products, the provision of weather information to guide farmers

and fishermen, promotion of basic extension services for women’s groups engaged in micro

credit ventures, radio and television broadcasting, HIV/AIDS communications, public health

management, local government information, and Internet navigation for beginners.

Social Services

These include low cost computer training, computer access to rural students, tele-library for

teachers, access to online text-scores, and student loan/scholarship information.

Business Services

The business services are intended to be promoted to increase efficiency and save time for rural

dwellers include Internet browsing, Internet communication – e-mail, instant messaging, desktop

publishing and printing, CD sales and writing, scanning, faxing and copying and telephone and

local and long distance access

As part of the project, GIFEC is to link all CICs to the government portal at the Information

Service Department (ISP) of the Ministry of Information to facilitate government-to-citizen

(G2C) interaction.

It is expected that each of the CICs will function as a district information hub, providing

connectivity to ministries, departments and agencies, private businesses, and educational

institutions in the beneficiary communities.

d) ICT CAPACITY BUILDING

GIFEC, by the 2008 Electronic Communications Act 775, is mandated to train individuals in
Information Communication and Technology (ICT), so they become computer literate.

Objectives

GIFEC is funding the provision of basic ICT Training to people in the underserved and unserved
communities using the CIC facility. The objective of this programme is to promote digital
inclusion at the community level and also help bridge the digital divide nationwide.
 A training programme for CIC managers at Nkwantakesie in the Ashanti Region

e) THE SCHOOL CONNECTIVITY PROJECT

Under the School Connectivity Project, GIFEC is supporting the Ministries of Education and

Local Government by deploying ICT and internet connectivity to facilitate teaching and learning

of ICT in schools.

Objectives of the project are:

 To assist in bridging the digital divide between rural and urban areas.
 To improve access to ICT in basic and senior schools
 To provide school need and enhance national integration.
 To create ICT awareness in the rural areas.
 To provide ICT skills and knowledge to students that will make them function in the
emerging information society and knowledge economy.
  To provide teachers of these institutions with ICT skills to enable them use ICT tools to
enhance teaching and learning.
 To provide school managers with ICT skills so as to facilitate the efficient management
and administration in the schools function efficiently.
 To provide a platform that would promote distance learning.
 To disseminate information to the rural communities especially in areas of education
 To provide opportunity for ICT training in the schools
 Improve access and quality of education in the rural areas

A
Junior Secondary School ICT Class

The scope of the project has been expanded to include other training and vocational institutions

such as NVTI, youth leadership training institutes, technical schools, colleges of education and

others.

f) RURAL PAY PHONE PROJECT (EQUATEL)

The Rural Communications Project is a partnership between GIFEC and licensed
telecommunications operators to provide telephone services to provide communities with low or
no access to telecommunication service, communities with low disposable incomes, communities
with low or weak mobile signals and communities that lack amenities like electricity, potable
water, etc.

The concept is a payphone based on established GSM technology; where the SIM payphone

enables GSM cellular Smart cards to be used. The phone’s management system enables one to

monitor, control and update his or her phone network with ease.

The objective of this project is to enhance network quality in low/weak signal areas, to offer

telecommunication services to underserved and unserved communities (bottom of the pyramid)

and to support government’s initiative of providing rural access to telecommunications/ICT.

g) EASY BUSINESS CENTERS PROJECT

This project is being implemented by GIFEC in collaboration with the Kumasi Institute of

Technology and Renewable Energy (KITE).

The broad objective of the project is to ensure that the rural poor benefit from increased access to

optimally priced ICT services for national development in the rural areas, using appropriate cost

effective infrastructure to provide a wider reach for the community information centers. The

expected outcome of the E- business venture is to enhance availability of seed financing on

flexible and reasonable terms for entrepreneurs seeking to operate e-powered e-business centres

with accelerated extension of telephone and internet services, and a variety of value added

products and services.

 Vie

ws inside and outside of an Easy Business Centre

h) THE LIBRARY CONNECTIVITY PROJECT

As part of the Universal Access to Electronic Communications Programme (UAEP), GIFEC is

collaborating with the Ghana Library Board to provide ICT connectivity and equipment to
regional and mobile libraries across the country.

Scope

Form of assistance

Expected delivery
A GIFEC official touring the Ashanti Regional Library, Kumasi

i) THE PRISONS CONNECTIVITY PROJECT

This is a GIFEC/Ghana Prison Service collaboration, under which, GIFEC is providing ICT
equipment, internet connectivity to five (5) prisons and training to staff of the Prisons Training
School over a three (3) year period (i.e. 2010 to 2012). Most important among the areas to be
tackled initially are the Prisons Training School, the Prisons Headquarters and the Female Prison
at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons

j) POST OFFICE CONNECTIVITY PROJECT

GIFEC is collaborating with the Ghana Post to provide ICT connectivity, equipment and
training at selected rural post offices across the country, as part of the Universal Access to
Electronic Communications Programme.
Scope

Form of Assistance

Expected outcome

These post offices will serve as satellite hubs for extending the rural connectivity of the
Community Information Centre project.

GIFEC will provide this form of support to eighty (80) rural post offices over a three (3) year
period (i.e. 2010-2012).