Program
AFRIDEC-DDC Alliance
Digital Development Corporation
Committed to closing the digital divide in the community of Lawndale the Digital Development Corporation provides job training, life skills and workforce development services to at risk youth, and ex offenders in the community. The Digital Development Corporation is a grassroots collaboration of educators, business owners, community leaders, organizations, technology professionals and individuals. The DDC has its origins in deeply rooted social service and community development, stemming from the notable and dedicated efforts, and seasoned experience of its key organizers and supporters.
The organization was formed in August of 2001, in an effort to increase the City of Chicago’s, Westside community residents’ awareness of, and access to new technology. The partners pooled local resources in an effort to provide quality instruction in technology usage, maintenance and repair, in addition to applications of technology to organizational planning, management and operations. For almost 10 years, our organization has remained true to our core mission of technology training and workforce development and expanded services to address identified needs in the community such as adult literacy.
Current DDC Programs
The DDC currently serves the community in four main areas of focus: technology skill building, teaching entrepreneurial skills, job placement and getting more computers into the homes and businesses of the Lawndale community. Through our job training program we teach community residents with limited job skills; how to repair, refurbish and build computers, laptops and printers. This is an e-cycle program as well as a job training program. The refurbished computers are placed in classrooms across the states where they benefit children and help extend school budgets. Some of the computers are sold at a nominal cost to individuals, families and other non-profit organizations that would not be able to afford them at market rates. Recently the DDC added a series of NX level entrepreneurial training classes to its job training curriculum. The purpose of this course is to prepare participants to start their own businesses. The six week program covers elements of a business plan, financing, choosing a suitable location a d managing employees. Over the past three years we have graduated 210 students and successfully placed 117 in jobs.
The project has primary and complimentary benefits to the socioeconomic development of Ghana.
Primary Benefits
As already captured in the preamble of this proposal, the benefits of this project lie in the job skills delivery and ICT facility accessibility by the underprivileged in the Accra community. Moreover, the distribution of these computers to schools will go a long way to enhance teaching and learning in beneficiary schools in Accra. As an e-cycle programme, the project would have a positive impact on our environment. Hence this project will deliver the following primary benefits to the Accra community;
i. Economic benefit
ii. Social benefit
iii. Educational benefit
iv. Environmental benefit
Complementary Benefit
One major concern on the development agenda of the government of Ghana is the efficient delivery of teaching in our schools. In talking about efficient teaching facilities and learning aids the computer becomes a very significant and necessary tool to achieve the intended efficiency. It is in line with this that the government of Ghana, through its Ministry of Communication, is currently pursuing “the one laptop per school child program” to expedite the proliferation ICT literacy in Ghana.
The DDC-AFRIDEC corporation through this pilot project will complement the effort by the Ghana government to realize this noble objective.
4. Delivery Approach and Implementation
The approach for delivering on the outcomes or objectives of this project will be a consultative one between the tripartite organizations of DDC, AFRIDEC and The Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA).
The various roles of each organization is as follows; DDC serves as the lead party of the corporation, AFRIDEC serves as the implementation party and the AMA serves as the beneficiary party.
