I come from a small town in Uganda, a community where digital illiteracy is not unheard of. Many people over the years have tried to bridge the digital divide in Uganda but most do not consider the fact that most Ugandans cannot operate something considered basic, like a smartphone. I want to address this by starting up a program to provide computing skills, especially to the youth. As the world becomes more and more technologically inclined, people need computing skills to run business and open up more opportunities, for instance, employers prefer workers with at least basic computing skills and it is a good way of fighting poverty.
While digital literacy alone cannot overcome poverty, it provides people with opportunities to fight it, for example, digital literacy can provide essential skills like financial literacy training, consideration of computer-based careers and many university courses like computer science, software engineering and others where instructors spend more time teaching basic computing skills instead of the named specialisations. The word 'basic' might sound minor but a lot of Ugandans miss out on opportunities because they cannot use the Microsoft Office suite. What use is an internet connection to me if I do not know how to use a computer?
I want to start this program because providing basic computing skills is only the first step towards bridging the digital divide.
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