Freedom Camp International, last Saturday officially launched the National ICT Club Network Project (NIC - Net), at a ceremony held at the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) Chambers.

Freedom Camp International aims to encourage ICT integration in schools and provide training and support, create a central forum for exchange of ideas in the field of ICT in schools in The Gambia and develop and update the National ICT Club Network website. Launching the project, Lamin Camara, principal officer, Department of State for Communication, Information and Information Technology said, providing ICT education and skills development especially at the grassroots and through gender mainstreaming could go a long way in contributing to the socio-economic development and advancement.

According to Camara, ICT enables accessibility to information readily for users, provide easy access to services and facilitate trade through e-commerce and e-agriculture. "With the widespread number of businesses in The Gambia, ICT can be of immense help to their productivity and growth. The utilisation of ICT to improve production processes and business practices can increase their efficiency and productivity," he noted.
He further said that  his department of state wants to see students being able to access learning materials online for study, learning and research purposes.

For his part, Modou NS Njie, IT manager, Reliance Financial Services and the chief patron of the ceremony said that from corporate or business to home computing, people have come to rely on the computer for their daily survival. According to Njie, the launching of such a noble initiative could not have come at a better time as The Gambia continues to embark on Vision 2020, in an effort to transform the country. "The main focus of this project should be to lay emphasis on how we can import the knowledge acquired to the development of The Gambia's ICT," he noted.

He then added that computing power is increasing, wireless and satellite technology have improved cost-efficiency and increased possibilities to narrow the digital divide and reach all groups of society.

Njie further announced his willingness to serve as a volunteer for the organisation and also promised to personally sponsor the hosting of the ICT club website for the next 5 years as a token of his unflinching support towards the organisation's goals and objectives.

Modou Gomez, chairman of Freedom Camp International said his organisation is a registered charitable- based organisation providing ICT and media education, skills and employment to potential youths. He added that  in order for the project to take off smoothly, a training of trainers was conducted earlier in which sixteen staff  were intensively trained to run the project.