EXPLORING INNOVATIVE APPROACHES FOR USING ICT FOR RURAL WOMEN'S ADULT EDUCATION IN GHANA

Abstract

This paper examines opportunities in emerging technologies and their potentials for improving the lot of rural women in Ghana through adult education. Through a web-based (internet) and literature search, this paper reviewed the potentials of some of these innovative approaches for empowering rural women in Ghana. Though rural populations in Ghana generate 56% of the total national household income (CLSS 4, 2000), poor infrastructural development in their communities and limited access to resources affect their productivity and development. Meanwhile due to new technological developments, there have been innovative approaches for reaching the unreached with state of the art information resources. From the search, it became clear that Ghana already has an extensive telecommunications network that reaches every region in the country; and a considerable experience in rural adult education programs, which when effectively explored could help reduce the learning curve to a significant degree. In addition, there are currently available on the market several technologies that avoid many of the technical constraints, especially electrical energy that prevent the use of technologies for community education. Harnessing the potentials of these innovative technologies for rural adult education will help bridge the rural-urban and especially the gender divide.