• Commit to building the capacity of the national machinery responsible for women and children, to encourage more participation of women and children in ICT initiatives and industry by addressing gender based inequalities and instituting gender-sensitive policies. This policy commitment shall in addition contribute to addressing some of the other identified developmental challenges facing Ghana, including: the challenges of the social and economic pressures of a youthful population; the challenges of turning the youthful population into an asset for development, the challenges of the poor performance of the economy as well as the challenges of the relatively high proportion of the population with no educational attainment, the high school drop-out rate and limited access to higher education by the vast majority of the population especially girls and women. Policy Objectives and Strategies The Objectives • To speed-up the process of the deployment and exploitation of ICTs within all communities • To promote equal and universal access to information and communications technologies services and resources to all communities, and within this context, policy directives shall be put in place to ensure and facilitate equal access for women, the disadvantaged, the disabled, and rural and under-served communities • To improve public access to information and services to facilitate business and administrative processes to increase productivity and facilitate economic growth. • To encourage and speed up the process of the diffusion of information and communication technologies within the society and economy • To diversify and improve the quality of information; increasing accessibility to ranges of information resources within and outside the country and creating a supportive environment for the development of the mass media and the private press through the deployment and exploitation of ICTs. • To assist in achieving the targets of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy The Strategies • Encourage and promote the widespread access to information and communications technologies services and applications within the economy and society • Speed up the process of the provision of e-government, e-health, e-learning, e-commerce services within the country • Promote initiatives targeted at facilitating the process diffusion of ICTs within the communities in the rural and under-served and under-resourced areas • Ensure and enhance the possible distributive effects of the developmental impacts of the deployment and exploitation of ICTs within the society. 58

Select target paragraph3