This year’s celebration which is on the theme: “Expand horizons, change attitudes,” brought together 10 successful career women working within the digital space and drawn from all works of life, to mentor and empower and interact with about 100 girls present at the ceremony.

Mr Vincent Sowah Odotei, Deputy Minister of Communications (MoC), conveyed government's commitment and assurance of support for the empowerment of girls In ICT in order to pursue careers in this information age.

“ICT now permeates every sector of our economy today. It is applied and deployed in education, health, business, energy, aviation, telecommunications, transport, water, environmental monitoring and construction."

"I am confident that with this awareness creation opportunity, more of our young maidens will gain the requisite exposure to take a stake in the technology world”, he said.

He said that apart from the launch of the celebrations, the MoC, as part of the annual rotation of the girls-in-ICT day celebration, had drawn up a comprehensive year-long programme to climax in the Brong- Ahafo Region in May.

Mr Odotei said girls from the first and second cycle institutions in the Region would be given training on basic ICT models in the course of the year to enable them gain practical experience in ICT tools.

He said the target group would also be mentored and monitored continuously to ensure that the skills training were updated regularly with information on job opportunities shared with them.

“This move to the Brong Ahafo Region follows successful events held previously in the Northern, Volta, Eastern, and Greater Accra Regions.

"It is also in line with the ministry’s goals of giving girls in the region the opportunity to learn about computers and the opportunities that exist in the world of ICT,” he added.

Mr Odotei said this year’s celebration would involve a “Girls in Coding and Networking” initiative for girls in basic and second cycle schools from six to 18 years, and a “Digital Entrepreneurship Programme” for female entrepreneurs from 18-35 years with basic advertising skills will be launched in Accra and replicated in other regions.

He said: “As we take steps to encourage our young sisters to adopt ICT, it is critical that we are also mindful of the threats that have become evident online and pose danger to the youth and most especially girls.”

He added, that Government is commencing the implementation of the Child Online Protection Policy and straightening the Ghana Computer Emergency Response Team under the National Information Technology Agency to enable the tracking of computer incidences and bring culprits to book.