WESTERN PROVINCE

RUBAVU — The Rwanda Development Board’s Information Technolgy department has reaffirmed its commitment to promote the use of ICT in rural areas through its eRwanda Project.

Jean Baptist Nsengiyunva from RDB, said this would boost the private sector which is expected to play a big role in the realisation of the Vision 2020. He was recently addressing members of cooperative societies who had completed a three-week ICT training in Rubavu District.

"Over 94 percent of the population lives in rural areas, the government therefore recognises that it is very important to spread ICT in rural areas in order to realise the country’s vision of creating an ICT driven economy,” said Nsengiyunva.

The training which was conducted at Kanama Sector, attracted 15 coordinators from all registered cooperative societies in the district. The training module. was aimed at equipping the attendees with basic ICT skills.

"We targeted cooperative union coordinators because they are also in most cases seen as opinion leaders in their respective areas. As you all know, the private sector is comprised of Small and Medium Enterprises, the majority of whom  are based in rural areas that lack access to business information,” he added.

He observed that the government is committed to transforming the economy from an agro-based to a knowledge-based one. The widespread  use of ICT is the starting point.

Nsengiyunva further added that community telecenters will be developed countrywide in order to promote computer literacy in rural areas.

Participants commended RDB for the training which they said will greatly help them improve the running of their day-today activities.

"We learnt various basic packages.The combination of these programmes will greatly help our cooperatives during preparation and presentation of our projects. We learnt how to use Power Point for instance in the presentation of a project to other members and donors,” said Isaac Mushawudi one of the participants.

Ends