BASSEERRE, St. Kitts – THE Caribbean Information and Communication Technology Roadshow is currently in the twin-island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and citizens are expected to benefit greatly from this initiative.
The purpose of the Roadshow is to promote the advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) as well as educate the citizens on how to capitalize on the opportunities available through this technology.
The Roadshow, under the theme “Harnessing the power of Innovation: the engine for ICT-enabled development”, provides a week of free technology training and educational activities as well as expert workshops.
It kicks off on June 10 with an ICT Village – an exposition of ICT products, services and educational fora - at the Independence Square, Basseterre and runs through June 17 with a number of activities, including community outreach programmes throughout the Federation, an Internet Governance Workshop where a wide range of schools, private and public sectors as well as civil society groups are expected to participate.
The Roadshow is coordinated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), in cooperation with the European Union-funded ICT for Education, Diversification and Competitiveness (ICT4EDC) programme and supported by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.
At a media launch held this morning (May 23) at the Marriott Hotel, CTU Secretary General Bernadette Lewis explained the reason for the implementation of the initiative.
“The main reason for developing the initiative was the recognition by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union that there was a fundamental lack of awareness and understanding of the transformative power of ICTs; their potential to impact every sphere of endeavour and the need for innovative approaches when employing ICT tools and resources to the challenges that we face. A significant element of the programme, therefore, was to promote innovation in the application in order to realise their full potential.
“We are, as a region, investing in technology, but are far from realising their full potential because we have not taken the time to make our citizens aware and to educate them and ourselves on how the power of the technology can be unleashed,” he said.
The activities and workshops are opened to the general public and all are encouraged to capitalise on the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of information and communication technology.
The CTU is a regional inter-governmental organisation based in Trinidad and Tobago. It has designed the Caribbean ICT Roadshow specifically to educate, raise public awareness and establish strategic programmes to foster innovative and beneficial use of information and communication technology to Caribbean citizens.
