Microsoft Ghana, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Global Alliance of Mayors and Leaders from Africa and African Descent have signed an agreement to make the city of Accra Africa\u2019s first \u2018Centre of Excellence,\u2019 through the use of Microsoft\u2019s CityNext applications.<\/p>\n
This will see the city become healthier, safer and more modern.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”qiGDyJmizCTVrZBjsTZxmdeZAHWF0sQr”]Presided over by the Hon. Alfred Vanderpuije,\u00a0Lord Mayor of Accra, the agreement comes days before the Fourth World Summit of Mayors and Leaders from Africa and African Descent and serves to motivate the 300 mayors attending to follow in Accra\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n
Private sector partnerships will be a significant dimension of the Summit, exemplified by the agreement with Microsoft, one of the world\u2019s leading technology companies.<\/p>\n
The Summit will also encourage Mayors to sign the UNAIDS Paris Declaration to put their cities on the fast-track to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 through focused action for prevention, treatment, and support.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur collaboration is an excellent example of how private partnerships can help shape Africa\u2019s development and we believe that Accra\u2019s example will motivate cities all over Africa and the world to emulate our example\u201d says Hon. Alfred Vanderpuije.<\/p>\n
Microsoft CityNext applications utilise the power of Microsoft\u2019s Cloud, Big Data, mobile and social technologies to put a city\u2019s people first – harnessing their ideas, energy, and expertise to create a healthier, safer and more sustainable place to live.<\/p>\n
Cloud computing provides cross-departmental collaboration and resource sharing and its scalability and cost-effectiveness means that cities can reduce costs without cutting essential services.<\/p>\n
With Big Data and analytics, city leaders can gain real-time insights from multiple data sources\u2014such as traffic cameras, social media and other public channels\u2014to make more accurate decisions.<\/p>\n
Microsoft\u2019s CityNext applications streamline judicial and municipal processes, while enabling civic leaders to provide citizen-centric services that enable people to directly engage and interact with their city governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cCities and their people are the hearts and souls of our nations. Ghana\u2019s urbanisation rate matches that of the world\u2019s with over 50 percent of the population living in urban areas.<\/p>\n
This presents opportunities for modernising aging infrastructure and meeting the demands for natural resources, from leveraging massive amounts of data from devices to improving the health and safety of citizens,\u201d says Derek Appiah, Microsoft Ghana Country Manager.<\/p>\n
Under the partnership, Microsoft will be providing an enabling cloud computing platform for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and a number of groundbreaking applications for the City of Accra.<\/p>\n
These include a full evaluation of TeleHealth for the City of Accra to seek ways in which technology can play the most impactful role in the remote provision of clinical services.<\/p>\n
Additionally, a comprehensive e-Skills and Digital Literacy Program will be delivered to facilitate digital readiness skills.<\/p>\n
Technical guidance will also be provided to help Accra accelerate its cloud computing solutions as part of its e-citizen initiative, and in support of its e-health programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal of the partnership is to drive both the adoption and success of this Centre of Excellence in the city of Accra, and then to use it as a case study to foster the development of other Centre\u2019s in the region and across the Global Alliance of Mayors,\u201d says Djibril Diallo, Chairman and CEO, African Renaissance & Diaspora Network; and Senior Adviser to the Executive Director Joint UN Programme on HIV\/AIDS representing the Global Alliance.<\/p>\n
The Fourth World Summit of Mayors and Leaders from Africa and of African Descent is scheduled to be held on 1 to 3 June 2015 in Accra, under the patronage of H.E. John Mahama the President of Ghana.<\/p>\n
The summit will be led by Hon. Mr. Alfred Vanderpuije, Lord Mayor of Accra, Ghana, and President of the Global Alliance of Mayors and Leaders from Africa and of African Descent.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Credit: Microsoft Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Microsoft Ghana, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Global Alliance of Mayors and Leaders from Africa and African Descent have signed an agreement to make the city of Accra Africa\u2019s first \u2018Centre of Excellence,\u2019 through the use of Microsoft\u2019s CityNext applications. This will see the city become healthier, safer and more modern. [contextly_sidebar id=”qiGDyJmizCTVrZBjsTZxmdeZAHWF0sQr”]Presided over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":119529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-119527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-wassa-akropong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/119529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=119527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=119527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}