The purpose of this assignment was to assess the digital skills needs of the rural communities and the Community Information Centres’ (CIC) staff as well as to give recommendations to the CICs’ business and operational models. 

The project had four components: 

Component 1 – Researched existing digital skills framework, where our team assessed different digital skills frameworks considering relevant criteria and made recommendations. The team conducted comprehensive research of all existing digital skills frameworks such as DigComp Framework 2.1 (EU), SFIA Digital Skills Framework, ITU Digital Toolkit, Digital Intelligence Framework (UNESCO). A comparative analysis was elaborated based on relevant criteria like proficiency level, user accessibility, relevance to the different target groups of the project, etc. Based on the comparative analysis, the expert team gave recommendations for a full-fledged digital skills framework that served as a foundation for the rest of the project’s activities. 

Component 2 – Conducted digital skills needs assessment for different target groups. After identifying nine target groups, the expert team presented three different methodologies to carry out the needs assessment for the target groups. The needs assessment approach included i) identifying stakeholders like CICs, rural communities, GIFEC, MoC, etc., ii) creating a field workplan and a visits schedule of the stakeholders and target groups, iii) defining the community like farmers, artisans, unemployed youth, etc. iv) data collection and analysis, v) prioritising digital skills needs for rural communities and CICs and finally vi) implementing trainings and interventions to CICs managers. For the data collection, the expert team developed tailored surveys. The questions presented in the surveys were in line with the proficiency levels and the digital skills needed. The target groups were accompanied by the experts during the completion of the surveys. 

Component 3 – Conducted needs assessment for staff of CICs. The Team further identified current technical and infrastructure gaps of selected CICs. The needs assessment for CICs staff followed a similar approach as Component 2. 

• Research of all existing digital skills frameworks including comparative analysis and provision of recommendations 
• Carry out a needs assessment of nine target groups across five different regions in Ghana, Ashanti Region, Bono, Bono East, Upper West, Northern and North East
• Carry out a needs assessment of CICs across the five regions using the KoboCollect Tool and Focus group discussions
• Analysis of more than 700 respondents’ surveys 
• Analysis of the surveys’ results, finalising a needs assessment report and highlighting the shortfall and recommendations.