PYTHON AFRICAN TOUR COMES TO GHANA

Python African Tour (PAT) is an exciting African open source technology initiative aimed at promoting agile programming languages, mainly Python, among Africa's tech communities. The Tour, which has successfully been executed in Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco is run by a group of nomadic volunteer Python developers and evangelists, backed by the generous contributions of various organisations and individuals. With the support of Ashesi University College, Ghana Google Technology User Group (Ghana GTUG), local developers, entrepreneurs, bloggers and open source fans, the PAT train will make a stop in Accra Ghana from 18th to 22nd January, 2010 at the Ashesi University College Campus.

The tour was highly successful in the three countries where it has been held so far, and this has greatly increased interest in Python as a programming language to be reckoned with. The overall goal is to boost development in Africa through Python and allied technologies; this will be achieved by empowering young Ghanaian students, developers and entrepreneurs with quality skills to tackle local problems. It is also the objective of the Tour to inspire and build conversations among local developers, creating an ecosystem of cooperation, idea-sharing, collaboration and creativity.

Python African Tour takes a different approach from other tech-related conferences that have been held in Ghana due to its focus on hands-on Python training and skills transfer, an opportunity local developers have been yearning for. The training format adopted is particularly suited for people who have already started Python programming or at least know how to program in another language. The tentative agenda is as follows:

Day 1: Introduction to Python

Day 2: Introduction to Django Web Framework

Day 3: Python for scientists (based on demand)

Day 4: Python Sprint/Hackathon

Day 5: Python Sprint/Hackathon

Such a well-orchestrated training regimen is focused on developing a problem-solving approach to programming among attendees. The experience and expertise of the international team of trainers drawn from the PAT, Ghana GTUG and Hutspace will guide the participants to come out more quality and useful apps, some of which would have business potential.

Ashesi University College, Python Software Foundation and Hutspace are proud sponsors of the tour. There are sponsorship opportunites available for workshop sponsorship, hackathon sponsorship and individual sponsorship. Contact the PAT team and get your organisation to be part of this exciting initiative.

To participate in the Python African Tour (PAT) Ghana workshop, please fill out the registration form at the PAT website now. If you are interested in sponsoring, supporting the training team or helping out in any way, please send an email to patghana@gmail.com.

See you there!

Barcamp Ghana 2010

BarCamp Ghana 2010, an ad-hoc gathering where attendees meet for discussions, demos and networking, will take place on December 18 2010 at the Ashesi University campus in Accra. The theme is “Create dreams, work smart and shape the future”. Following the successes of BarCamp Ghana '08 and BarCamp Ghana '09, regional BarCamp events were organized in Kumasi, Accra and Takoradi and Barcamp Ghana 2010 will crown the year as the national event.

BarCamps all over the world have brought together individuals and organizations to collaborate on various projects and businesses. BarCamp Ghana’10 is a FREE event for anyone who is interested in using their skills, talent, and resources to benefit Ghana and Africa as a whole. This year, the focus is on telling stories and discussing ways of how entrepreneurs and businessmen can create wealth in a burgeoning Accra metropolis faced with a myriad of challenges.

Unusually, the pivot of this year’s event revolves around breakout sessions instead of the usual mix of discussions and expert panelist presentations - regardless, experts will be seated in each breakout discussion to facilitate the coherence of relevant facts and knowledge on all respective items for deliberation. This strategy was inspired by the desired outcome of this year’s gathering which is to stimulate an engaging conference between industry stakeholders, consumers and prospective entrepreneurs on the workings and current realities of industries and services in Ghana.

Impressive yet poignant is our bill of facilitating experts, all of which effect the changes and growing definition of their industries worth and direction in this era. Our confirmed list includes

• Bernard Avle of CITI 07.3 FM,
• Leila Djansi of Turning Point Pictures,
• Oluniyi Ajao of Web4Africa,
• Solomon Adu-Atefoe of Agric Development Bank,
• Golda Addo of Energy Solutions Foundation,
• Mohamed Amin Adam of Publish What You Pay,
• Philip Gamey of Web & Software,
• DK Osseo-Asare of Anamcity,
• Paul Tenejou of ROI-MOB-Lang,
• Ronke Ampiah of Smiles for Christmas

Register or RSVP your participation today at the BarCamp Ghana Eventbrite website. You may also contact the BarCamp Ghana team through the Eventbrite website for sponsorship opportunities. Also, If you are interested in proposing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs.

BarCamp Ghana 2010 is proudly sponsored by the Ashesi University, Vodafone Ghana, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) , GhanaThink Foundation,Google, Web Foundation, Fie.nipa, NandiMobile. Our media partners are CITI FM, Radio Univers,ModernGhana, GhanaBlogging, Sunlight Radio America, The New Ghanaian, and Skyy Digital. The customer support hotline is 020-1500033. You can send questions, comments, and feedback by SMS and get responses.

See you there!

http://barcampghana10.eventbrite.com/
http://barcampghana.org/

Education: A view from Ghana - the Ashesi and MEST example

This era requires nothing less than hands-on education and tuition. Anything short of that will obviously make the beneficiaries of such a system not only unemployed, but also unemployable. In Ghana, the main public Universities produce many graduates every year. According to the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, a big fraction out of this number are unemployable. My objective in this post is to evaluate the underlying factors that cause this dilemma and whether a solution can be found anytime soon.

Our public Universities are under-resourced and yet over populated. Lecturer to student ratios are amazingly unbelievable, yet at the end of the day, the graduates are expected to compete with their counterparts globally. I personally believe it is about time, the private sector came to the government's rescue.

Two main organisations that come to mind are the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and Ashesi University. These schools have devoted their resources to train the Ghanaian population, one at a time. Ashesi University was founded by Patrick Awuah, former Microsoft executive. Every year the University produces talents in the liberal arts, sciences and engineering.

MEST on the other hand, was a dream conceived by Jorn Lyseggen, the CEO of the Meltwater Group, to train and prepare Ghanaian graduates in the technology and software fields. The trainees after graduation are supported by the Meltwater Foundation to start their own businesses to compete with similar Internet companies on the global market. The talents and skills exhibited by these trainees will undoubtedly go a long way to create wealth and employment for Ghana.

I believe, more of such strategies have to be considered if Ghana would want to compete with other advanced nations.