Monthly Archives: August 2026

afiDE Ghana Celebrates National ICT Week by Championing Sustainable Digital Education

Every August, Ghana pauses to take stock of its digital journey. National ICT Week, organized by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), brings together government, industry, academia, and innovators to ask a simple but urgent question: how do we turn technology into opportunity for every Ghanaian? This year’s theme, “Innovation at Scale: Creating Opportunities Across Ghana’s Digital Ecosystem,” is a fitting moment for afiDE Ghana to celebrate what sustainable digital education really looks like in practice.

Because innovation at scale doesn’t start in a conference hall. It starts in a classroom, often one that has never had a working computer.

The Problem With Donated Technology

Across Ghana, thousands of schools want to give their students a real shot at twenty first century skills. Coding, digital literacy, research, and design are no longer extras. They are the baseline for participating in the digital economy that NITA, the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, and the wider National ICT Week community are working so hard to build.

But owning computers is not the same as running a computer lab. Hardware breaks. Networks fail. Software needs updating. Teachers need training. For many schools, the cost and complexity of keeping a lab alive year after year is simply out of reach. Donated computers too often end up gathering dust within a year or two, not for lack of good intentions, but for lack of a sustainable model behind them.

Our Answer: Digital Education as a Service (DEaS)

This is the gap afiDE Ghana was built to close. We are the Ghana chapter of the African Digital Education network, a social enterprise set up by 1A Computerlabs, and our model puts sustainability at the center of everything we do.

Instead of asking schools to buy, maintain, and eventually replace computers on their own, afiDE Ghana installs fully licensed, internet connected computer labs and takes on the ongoing responsibilities that most schools simply cannot carry alone:

– Lifetime maintenance and repairs, managed remotely so problems get fixed before they interrupt a lesson
– Reliable connectivity, so digital literacy doesn’t stop at turning the computer on
– Teacher training, so the lab is used with confidence, not left idle
– A small, sustainable token fee from students, rather than grant dependency, so the model keeps running long after the launch day is over

We call this a carefree computer lab solution for a reason. Schools get to focus on what they do best, teaching, while we handle the infrastructure, the connectivity, and the ongoing upkeep that keeps technology genuinely useful year after year.

Proof That Sustainable Digital Education Works

We don’t ask schools to take our word for it. Earlier this year, our model was piloted at Business Senior High School (BISCO) in Tamale, where sixty three computers were installed as a demonstration of what a properly maintained lab can do for a school community in the Northern Region, one of the areas of Ghana where the digital divide is felt most acutely.

That pilot became the foundation for something bigger. In November 2025, afiDE Ghana signed a landmark partnership with PAMEPI Women in Tech Ghana at the National Digital Education Conference, held at the University of Ghana, Legon. Together, we committed to rolling out sustainable, high quality computer labs in underserved communities across the country, starting in the North and expanding from there. As our founder, Hanc de Bokx, and General Manager Pim de Bokx have put it, our aim is to offer schools a truly zero worry digital solution, one where the school can focus on making learning exciting while afiDE Ghana handles the maintenance, connectivity, and hardware, for a lifetime.

Why Sustainability Is the Real Story of This Celebration

National ICT Week exists to spark conversations that turn into policy, and policy that turns into real digital opportunity for Ghanaians. But conversations alone don’t keep a computer lab running for ten years. Sustainability does.

afiDE Ghana’s network of member schools is proof that sustainable digital education isn’t just a conference hall ambition. It is already happening in classrooms from Accra to Tamale, built on leadership, collaboration, and local ownership, the same principles NITA has championed as it pushes Ghana toward becoming Africa’s digital trade hub. Our network was initiated with 1A Computerlabs as a founding CSR partner, and we continue to grow it through partnerships with organizations, schools, and impact investors who share our belief that every Ghanaian child, regardless of location, deserves access to technology that will still be working next year, and the year after that.

Join the Celebration

Ghana’s digital ambitions, from the One Million Coders Programme to the push for Ghana to become Africa’s AI hub, all depend on the same foundation: students who have real, reliable, hands on access to technology that lasts. That foundation has to be built school by school, lab by lab, and it has to be built to last.

This National ICT Week, we invite school leaders, organizations, and anyone who believes in sustainable digital education to join the afiDE Ghana network.

Get in touch:
Location: GD 216 2792, 8 Okudzan Avenue, Adjiringanor, Accra
Phone: 053 511 1599
Email: info@afide.network
Website: afide.network

afiDE Ghana. Sustainable digital education, carefree computer labs, and a growing network of schools building Ghana’s digital future.

The Leadership Academy has closed its first cohort with a colourful ceremony held at Nyansa Square in East Legon on Saturday,15 August 2026.

Twenty school leaders were part of the cohort, which spent eight weeks in training under a programme delivered in partnership by afiDE Ghana and GSET. The closing ceremony, which ran from 8am to 5pm, brought together facilitators, mentors and partners from both organisations to mark the end of the journey.

Emmanuel Sefadzi, the Digital Education Trainer for afiDE Ghana, who served as master of ceremonies, opened the programme with welcome remarks and introduced the guests present. He then took participants through a recap of the eight-week journey, reminding them of how far they had come since the programme began. Nicole Odudu who is the Digital Education Manager for afiDE Ghana, during the opening of the program, used the opportunity to introduce the school leaders to afiDE Ghana’s new General Manager, Mr. Eric Kwesi Oppong.

Professor George Kweku Toku Oduro, a prominent Ghanaian Educational Leader, former Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), the Technical Advisor to Ghana’s Minister of Education and the Patron of the Leadership Academy, delivered an address in which he commended the team behind the programme for their work. He said he was proud of what had been achieved and expressed hope to advise the Minister of Education on rolling out the programme on a full, national scale.

He noted that The Leadership Academy occupies a unique space in the education sector, pointing out that most programmes target students or teachers, while this one is designed specifically for school leaders. He added that the public should expect registration for Cohort Two to open in due course, and that afiDE Ghana remains ready to welcome any school into its community that wishes to embrace sustainable digital education. He rounded off his remarks with a pledge of his continued support to afiDE Ghana and GSET.

Joshua Kwesi Tetteh, who represented the facilitators from GSET, joined the ceremony online to deliver his remarks. He thanked afiDE Ghana, GSET, mentors and the participants for coming together to empower teachers across the country.

Four mentors attached to The Leadership Academy were also present at the ceremony, and Mr Selasie Tettey, a mentor on the programme and Proprietor of Acropolis Maranatha Academy, spoke on behalf of all four. He thanked the participants, afiDE Ghana, GSET and his fellow mentors for what he described as an impactful training aimed at school leaders in Ghana.

With the recap complete, attention turned to the main business of the day: the participants’ presentations. Some of the school leaders took turns to present their Digital School Strategy before an assessment panel, with each presenter given 15 minutes to make their case. Emmanuel Sefadzi managed a visible timer system throughout, signalling presenters at the 12-minute mark and enforcing a firm stop at 15 minutes.

Tina Coppson, Dean of Coordinators, delivered the closing address. She shared her own story from early in her career, recalling how she was posted to a village as a young, new teacher and had to find her way. She went on to speak of how that same determination helped her win awards and rise to the top of her field, using her journey to encourage the school leaders never to give up on their own goals.

Emmanuel Sefadzi returned to bring the programme to a close, outlining what comes next for the school leaders. He raised the possibility of an advanced programme in the future and shared ways for the leaders to remain connected to the network going forward.

Participants were then called up individually to receive their Certificate of Participation, in what turned out to be the centerpiece of the day’s proceedings.

The ceremony wound down with networking, photographs and refreshments for all who attended.

Schools, businesses, NGOs and other organisations interested in joining afiDE Ghana’s community of sustainable digital education can get in touch: Phone: 053 511 1599 Email: info@afide.network Address: GD 216 2792, Adjiringanor, Accra Website: https://afide.network/contact/ In all, the event lasted about eight hours, from registration through to the final send-off.