ABOUT PATRIENSA

Patriensa is one of the 26 villages/towns within the Asante Akim district.  The district itself measures approximately 100,000 square Kilometers, with about 140,000 The village has an agrarian economy with about 74% of the population working in the agricultural sector. The incomes of the people are very limited since most of the crops grown are for local consumption. The illiteracy rate is high, and unemployment rate is very high. Access to health services is very limited at the village.  Currently, there is no health facility at the village.  View Videos

On August 4, 2001, the village launched the first solar-powered telecentre, the Asante Akim Multipurpose Community Telecentre (AAMCT), in Ghana. With the launch of a business partnership and the opening of the AAMCT, this Ashanti village has now been transformed into a 21st century community in the midst of Africa.  In conjunction with The Greenstar Corporation, who funded the solar installation, the people of the village have also begun the digitization of the village's art, music and other cultural assets in a novel investment in Ghana's future.

 This, we believe,  is a giant leap into modernity  and the best way to address the digital divide in a serious, coordinated way. The project will bring the benefits of the information revolution to the people of Patriensa and the country, Ghana.

 As it has done already in Palestine, Jamaica and India, Greenstar invested in the Asante Akim Multipurpose Community Telecentre with a set of solar panels, a laptop computer and a satellite telephone to link to the Internet. The community intends to use these facilities for education, especially in information technology, improved health services, agricultural information, business and more, as well as engage in Greenstar's "digital culture" business model.

 The Ghana Computer Literacy & Distance Education, Incorporated (GhaCLAD), Greenstar, and the Asante Akim Multipurpose Community Telecentre Committee have been developing a relationship for more than a year prior to this launch. When Greenstar's founders learned of Patriensa's vision for an IT-based future for the small village, they realized this community had the desire and energy to be a great partner. After extensive research, Greenstar had already decided Ghana was the best place to begin its Africa expansions.

GHACLAD is committed to the inclusion of Ghana and the rest of Africa in the mushrooming information technology movement and the empowerment of disadvantaged groups in rural and urban Ghana in gaining access to indigenous and emerging information communications technologies. The organization is committed to utilizing information for capacity building as a way to accelerate socio-economic development in rural and urban Ghana.

Greenstar has been making similar investments to this one worldwide for the last three years and will develop a total of 300 village partnerships globally over the next five years. Dr. Darkwa has recently become a Greenstar "ambassador" because of his work with the Patriensa project.

ASANTE AKIM MULTIPURPOSE COMMUNITY TELECENTRE

Asante Akim Multipurpose Community Telecentre
P. O. Box 502
Konongo, A/R
Ghana

E-mail:patmct@idngh.com

Http://www.patriensa.com

Phone: 0531-24626

President & CEO:  Dr. Osei Darkwa

Center Manager: Mr. Prempeh-Brenya

MISSION OF THE AAMCT

The primary mission of the Asante Akim Multipurpose Community Telecentre, a registered non-governmental organization in Ghana, is to bring the benefits of the information revolution to disadvantaged groups in rural areas who lack access to any form of electronic networks. It aims to utilize information for capacity building as a way of accelerating socio-economic development.  Specifically, the AAMCT seeks:

bulletTo bring the benefits of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs), in particular the Internet and electronic communication networks (ECNs), to rural communities in Ghana.
bulletTo gauge the likely level of community interest in ICTs by testing the perceptions of organizations working closely with small farmers, and to explore the potential for developing pilot rural Internet projects. 
bulletTo empower rural Ghanaians with the ability to apply information and communication technologies to their own social and economic development.

        To create, produce, sponsor, and distribute training technologies and media, including materials and programs of an artistic, civic, cultural, informational, instructional, or scientific nature.

bulletTo initiate a long-term effort to promote electronic networking for social, economic, cultural and educational development in rural Ghana.
bulletTo strengthen the capacity of grassroots organizations and low income communities to initiate, choose, plan and manage their own self-help projects through computer technology and information communication systems in rural areas.

To gather and disseminate local knowledge systems (oral histories, knowledge about plant medicine, indigenous apprenticeship systems, etc.).