3 Ways Access to the Internet Makes Lives Better in Ghana

Despite encouraging progress in closing the digital divide in Ghana, there is still a significant gap in internet access in the country. It’s happening not only among those living in rural and semi-urban areas, where some regions lack the necessary infrastructure to prevent coverage gaps, but also for women and girls.

According to a 2023 GSMA report, women in Ghana are 26% less likely than men to use mobile internet, limiting their ability to take advantage of the opportunities that digital technology provides for education, civic participation, employment, entrepreneurship, and more.

The USAID/Microsoft Airband Initiative is closing the gender digital divide by bringing internet access to more women around the world, expanding women’s economic opportunities, and enabling digital development services.

Through the Meaningful Access Project, the initiative partnered with Bluetown, an internet service provider in Ghana, to bring connectivity to rural and semi-urban parts of the country and encourage more women and girls to access the internet to improve their social and economic well-being. 

Here are three ways that USAID and Bluetown are harnessing the power of the internet to transform communities across Ghana.

1. Improving healthcare
   Built by The Hunger Project (THP), EpiCenters are sustainable, community-based centers that include a health clinic and a community bank, among other facilities. In partnership with THP, Bluetown added information and communications technologies (ICT) labs to the EpiCenter buildings, bringing internet connectivity to three rural areas — Adonkwanta, Akode, and Supreso — and two semi-urban areas, Kyebi and Koforidua, of Ghana.

   As a result, health clinic staff at the EpiCenters are now better equipped to research more complicated medical cases and understand how to treat patients.

   For example, Harriet, a physician assistant based in the Supreso EpiCenter, was able to use the internet to research her patient’s symptoms and more accurately diagnose a cord prolapse. Armed with this information, she then connected with doctors in the capital of Accra via a WhatsApp group to get a second opinion and figure out the next steps for treatment.

   Access to the internet is also making records management easier and more accessible. Before Bluetown, Harriet and other staff members at the Supreso EpiCenter had to walk or bike long distances on uneven roads to get the connectivity needed to input health insurance data into the Ghana’s Ministry of Health record systems. Now, Harriet and her colleagues are able to capture and enter that data directly to the records systems from the clinic, allowing them to dedicate more time to helping patients.

2. Training youth on digital skills and safety
   To empower girls to safely explore the digital world, Bluetown teamed up with the Girls Excellence Movement (GEM) to train girls ages 12 to 22 on topics including STEM, cybersecurity, and confidence building. By highlighting the resources that are available on Bluetown’s Local Cloud — which provides free and easy access to digital content and services — GEM’s team of volunteer mentors are helping young girls learn how to use the internet to reach their personal goals, while also making sure that they know how to protect themselves online.

   Through a partnership with THP, Bluetown has also connected students in rural areas of Ghana to the internet via digital skills training. These trainings were also provided in semi-urban areas of the country, including Koforidua and Kyebi, in partnership with Circumspecte and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC).

   In addition to providing schools in rural and semi-urban areas with computers, GIFEC offers a number of training sessions for young women in Kyebi and Koforidua, including recent college graduates. Basic ICT training covers topics like how to send an email or receive mobile money payments, while more advanced training offers tips on the use of e-commerce tools for business owners.

   Bluetown has also partnered with a local organization JidiTrust to provide financial literacy training in semi-urban communities for women entrepreneurs, especially traders, and Developers in Vogue, to offer classes on digital marketing.

   Bluetown’s Local Cloud is a data-free platform that provides relevant and life-changing content on education, health, entertainment, agriculture, and more for users in poorly connected areas.

3. Boosting income for small business owners
   Through Bluetown’s Local Cloud, community members can access educational content on a variety of topics without having to go through the internet or incur data charges. Daniel, a cacao farmer in Supreso, accessed the cloud platform to learn how to increase his crop yield. Through his searches, Daniel learned that planting his trees in a straight line would greatly improve his cacao output.

   In Addonkwanta, Shiella, a hairdresser, has used Bluetown’s internet to learn how to recreate hairstyles requested by her clients. Eunice, a seamstress, has Googled new fashion trends and learned new sewing techniques to make dresses, hats, and purses. David, a mechanic, has watched YouTube videos to help solve more complicated car issues. Between internet connectivity and Local Cloud content, Bluetown is enabling entrepreneurs across Ghana to grow their businesses and improve their earning potential.

Looking Ahead

It is possible to achieve a future in which women and girls have equal access to digital resources and skills that can improve their livelihoods. However, this can only be accomplished through collaborative efforts and commitments to close the digital divide by expanding access to the internet.

To date, the Meaningful Access Project has empowered upwards of 7,000 women and girls across Ghana.

While the project itself has come to an end, the impact of increased connectivity on communities across the country will only continue to grow as Bluetown’s internet and Local Cloud content remains available for those who want to use it.