THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Summary of the Basic Elements and Provisions of the Ghana Integrated ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy Preamble Nations worldwide have recognized the developmental opportunities and the challenges of the emerging information age characterized by information and communication technologies (ICTs). These technologies are driving national development efforts worldwide and a number of countries in both the developed and developing world are exploring ways of facilitating their development process through the development, deployment and the exploitation of ICTs within their economies and societies. The Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy represents the Vision for Ghana in the information age. It is based on the Policy Framework Document: “A An Integrated ICTled Socio-economic Development Policy and Plan Development Framework for Ghana” released in March 2003. The development of this policy framework document was based on a nation-wide consultative process involving all key stakeholders in the public sector, private sector and civil society. The Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy Statement fully takes into account the aspirations and the provisions of key socio-economic development framework documents including: the Vision 2020 –The First Steps; the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) (2002 -2004) and the Co-ordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development of Ghana (20032012) The Policy Statement sets out the road map for the development of Ghana’s information society and economy and provides a basis for facilitating the socio-economic development of the country in the emerging information, knowledge and technological age to be dominated by information and knowledge-based economies. The Policy is aimed at addressing a number of developmental challenges facing the country as a basis for achieving a number of policy goals and objectives. The key elements of the Policy Statement are summarized as follows: The Policy Challenges The Ghana ICT4AD Policy is designed to aid Ghana’s development process by contributing to addressing the nation’s key developmental challenges. These include: • The social and economic pressures of a youthful population and the challenges of turning the youthful population into an asset for development • The poor performance of the economy --- coupled with rapid population growth and declining per capita income 6