Ghana Information and Knowledge Sharing Network (GINKS) - Ghana

The network is open to all who share GINKS' vision, mission, values, and goals. GINKS hopes to enable these members to enhance their development efforts and engage in meaningful planning and implementation of programmes and activities through acquiring, organising, sharing and facilitating the exchange of information. The emphasis is on networking as a strategy which aims to enable the membership to achieve the following objectives:

• Acquire new ideas, designs and perspectives through effective horizontal and vertical interaction and making use of new ways of relating with each other such as email, the internet, and other new electronic communication innovations
• Promote linkage building between members, as well as among other civil society actors. (GINKS aims to ensure that like-minded groups and institutions around a shared development agenda are brought together and provided with the tools to engage in more systematic communication, sharing of information, experiences and ideas - towards the common goal of poverty alleviation.)
• Influence public policy through setting up shared platforms for policy analysis and advocacy on issues affecting the information “have nots”.

In order to foster effective networking around the intersections of ICT with various issues such as health, education, the environment, gender, and youth, GINKS undertakes the following activities:

• Organises interactions with rural communities to identify development partners who will work with GINKS to address the information needs of local communities
• Co-organises (with BusyInternet) monthly seminars on ICT4D issues called the "Cyberseries"
• Creates an online space for networking through the GINKS mailing list and GINKS portal
• Co-organises information exchange events with development partners for members of the network, with other stakeholder participation
• Works with organisations such as ITAfrica.org to generate and disseminate local ICT4D content
• Commissions research on ICTs and development
• Publishes an online and off-line quarterly newsletter.

Technology, Health, Education, Environment, Gender, Youth.

According to organisers, the ICT landscape in Ghana is characterised by a large number of projects, initiatives, and programmes, which are mostly working in isolation from each other. In this context, they claim, Ghana is not maximising its efforts to use ICTs as a tool for sustainable development and growth.

In December, 2002, a group of consultants met in Akosombo, Ghana to begin thinking about the formation of GINKS. Meeting participants were drawn from core projects of the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) in Ghana, and included associates of not-for-profit organisations, government, business, and academia. The group agreed that the main goals of GINKS should include creating an online/offline networking space, strengthening strategic alliances, encouraging and rewarding excellence, and acting as the conduit for capacity building and skills development. These goals were designed to fit with the group's mission, which includes creating, identifying, synthesising, and disseminating information and knowledge on ICT4D.