Celebrating IIPGH@7 on March 7 – promoting ICT professional body membership

By Kafui AMANFU

The Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH) is excited to announce the celebration of its 7th anniversary on the 7th of March 2024. Over the past seven years, our organization has been dedicated to mobilizing professionals, businesses, and students within the field of ICT, serving as a key player in fostering growth and collaboration in the industry. This year, we are proud to commemorate IIPGH Day, themed “Tech Professionals’ Day: promoting ICT professional body membership.”

As a recognized capacity-building organization with License Number PB-94, IIPGH stands as a hub for ICT professionals from various sectors including educational institutions, corporate entities, start-ups, government bodies (Ministries, Departments and Agencies), and civil society organizations, fostering a dynamic and vibrant ICT ecosystem.

Why become a member of IIPGH?

By becoming a member of IIPGH, individuals not only demonstrate their dedication to the industry through certifications but also gain access to a myriad of benefits ranging from networking opportunities and mentorship programmes, professional development resources, and advocacy platforms.

As a member-driven organization, IIPGH encourages active participation and volunteerism, providing a platform for members to showcase their skills, make meaningful connections, and contribute to the growth of the ICT ecosystem. We encourage all members and prospective members to actively engage by volunteering and taking on roles within the organization to foster enduring relationships and open doors to potential business collaborations.

What we Offer

1. Membership
2. Consultancy Services
3. Foundation

• Academy
• Public Awareness

The institute’s commitment to nurturing talent is evident through its Academy, which provides coding education for children, teens, and adults in a fun and engaging manner. Professionals and graduates actively volunteer their time to teach at the academy, adding value to the educational experience with their expertise and dedication.

In addition to its educational initiatives, IIPGH’s consultancy division offers services such as ICT consultancy for businesses and curriculum reviews for educational institutions, further solidifying its position as a comprehensive resource hub for all ICT-related matters.

Through public awareness campaigns, workshops, symposiums, and training sessions, IIPGH continues to educate society on the latest advancements in ICT. The institute’s engagement through media columns, radio, and television programmes, as well as events like the Tech Job Fair and Tech Entrepreneurs Forum, underscores its commitment to fostering a tech-savvy community.

With all the above activities and services, members can volunteer time to serve for a purpose. Joining an association like the IIPGH not only shows interested stakeholders or employers that you are dedicated to your industry but also provides many benefits for you including new job prospects, networking opportunities, mentorship and internship programmes, industry standards, professional development, advocacy, volunteer opportunities, recognition, and a lot more.

Background of IIPGH

The Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana was founded on 7th March 2017 as a professional association for ICT practitioners in Ghana, by a group of professionals who came together to register the organization.

At the time of incorporation, the vision of IIPGH was “to become the most reliable partner in ICT development in Ghana and beyond” and its mission was “to mobilize all ICT professionals under one professional body to positively influence the development, standardization, and delivery of information and communication technology (ICT) across Ghana.” In the last 7 years, there has been little doubt that IIPGH meant business when it took upon itself these lofty ideals.

The Institute per its constitution is governed by an 11-member Executive Council (Board of Directors) and Management team that runs its secretariat.

Fostering strategic partnerships and more

In recent times, the institute has been working hard at establishing both local and international partnerships to achieve its vision and mission.

AFOS Foundation has identified the Institute in the past years as its implementation partner on a capacity building and skill development project that birthed innovative programmes for employability and entrepreneurship within the ICT space in Ghana, namely, the Industry Academia Tech Dialogue (INDAC-TED), and the Junior Consultants project of the digiCAP.gh programme.

This partnership also enhanced and projected the Tech Entrepreneurs Forum and Tech Job Fair amongst other initiatives of IIPGH. This IIPGH-AFOS partnership created more collaborations and brought to the table the right conversations around decent and just jobs.

The Institute collaborated with the University of Cape Coast, Accra Technical University, Ho Technical University, Academic City University College, and the Business School of the University of Ghana, to organize a 9 series of INDAC-TED, and several Tech Entrepreneurs Forums (2022/2023), with varied topics of interest, from Agriculture and food production to Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Creative Arts, Business Process Outsourcing, Jobs and Employability Skills, and more.

In 2022, the Institute partnered with other African ICT associations to form the Technology Information Confederation (TICON) Africa. TICON Africa serves as a unifying platform for ICT professionals across Africa. It aims to promote excellence in the ?eld of technology through education, networking, and collaboration among its members to bring together a community of like-minded professionals who share a passion for advancing technology and driving innovation in Africa.

Its founding members are the ICT Association of Zimbabwe (ICTAZ), Information and Communications Technology Association of Zambia (ICTAZ), Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana (IIPGH), ICT Association of Uganda (ICTAU), South African ICT Association (SAICTA), with its first elected president from Ghana (David Gowu, IIPGH). Its new additions are the Botswana Information Technology Society (BITS), the ICT Association of Malawi, and the ICT Association of Kenya (ICTAK).

Digital skills are one of the leading skills required for one to excel in the professional landscape now and in the future. In 2018, the Institute initiated a coding programme for children dubbed “Coding for Kids” with the concept of introducing children to coding/programmeming at an early age.

This later in 2021 resulted in the establishment of “The Coding Caravan” initiative which caught the interest and attention of many organizations including IT Consortium, Code For Afrika, Code It!, TinkerToys (Germany), and the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications. Since 2022, the Chamber has collaborated with the Institute to deliver this programme in regions and is poised this year to embark on the “Accra to Paga” Coding Caravan.

The Institute has further collaborated with many private schools and organizations like Vodafone and MTN to impart ICT knowledge to kids in this regard. Aside from organizing career workshops in Secondary Schools, Vodafone Ghana (now Telecel) collaborated with IIPGH to train one thousand (1000) girls in coding, dubbed the “Vodafone CodeLikeAGirl” programme.

This programme and other initiatives have demonstrated the importance of promoting diversity and inclusion, not just for ethical reasons but also for economic and social reasons. The CodeLikeAGirl programme is promoting females to take learning and opportunities in digital skills and emerging technologies, challenging the stereotypes and biases that have historically kept females and other underrepresented groups such as the rural communities out of the tech space.

The institute also engages key government agencies like the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, to influence policies. It has been instrumental in pushing for a safe digital environment with its collaboration with institutions like the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) of Ghana. The parties each year have been involved in relevant programmes, especially during National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), which is commemorated annually in October to educate and sensitize the public on Cybersecurity issues through seminars and webinars.

The partnership with the Business and Financial Times (B&FT) newspaper and online portal, with its nationwide coverage and readership, has served the Institute well by projecting the activities of the Institute through ICT public education, in its dedicated column; the ICT Insight with Institute of ICT Professionals, and has published over 300 articles every Monday since November 2017 and has further projected the B&FT in the Tech space.

What do you benefit as a member of a professional body like IIPGH?

Being a member of IIPGH offers you capacity building, learning, professional development, professional recognition, exchange programmes and scholarships, jobs, internships, and volunteering opportunities.

For more information on how to join IIPGH and be a part of this dynamic community, please visit our website or contact us directly.

Visit www.iipgh.org or https://membership.iipgh.org/register to join IIPGH.

IIPGH_March 2024 Edition

>>>the writer is Director of Operations and Membership, IIPGH at [email protected] or 233244357006

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