6.5.2 STRATEGIES 1. Conduct an equity gap audit to provide a baseline assessment of the state of access and use of the internet by disadvantaged groups, especially women and girls in Somalia. 2. Invest in household survey research that will help inform how Somali citizens access and use the internet. Disaggregated data would be gathered that assists with analyzing how access and use of the Internet varies by gender, income level, education level, age and other identified demographic factors 3. Improve the availability of data on access and use of ICT that is disaggregated by gender, age, and other relevant criteria. 4. Allocate resources to promote and support disadvantaged entrepreneurs, digital literacy training, and targeted public access and other projects to support access and use 5. Ensure that skills building and training programs are developed considering the needs of disadvantaged groups across all educational levels 6. Establish a scholarship programme to improve access to training by disadvantaged groups 7. Ensure the online safety mechanisms are in place to support youth use of ICTs 8. Ensure that e-government services and public access facilities are accessible to all - websites will follow standards for accessibility and be available in Somali 9. Train ICT staff within government to make the government’s ICTs facilities and services more accessible to disadvantaged groups 10. Adopt the use of assistive ICTs and services in universal access strategies that are affordable for disabled persons 11. Make available public communications from the Government available in accessible formats for disadvantaged persons 6.6 HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT Building a population and workforce that is familiar with the use of ICTs and able to take full advantage of their benefits is a key priority for all countries, including Somalia. Concerted action will be taken on a variety of fronts to ensure this takes place. As with many other countries around the world, Somalia suffers from insufficient numbers of skilled and experienced experts in ICTs and in related other professions that use ICTs extensively. To address this Somalia needs to build the ICTs skills and capabilities of its population by exploiting the potential of ICTs for training and ‘just in time’ learning, while aligning educational and vocational training programs with educational priorities which meet the needs of labor markets, and by ensuring any imported skills are also imparted to local citizens. This will be supported by the National Telecom Training Institute (NTI), run by MPTT, which provides short courses. 31