•The Ministry hosted Sierra Leone’s first international tech summit, bringing together global tech giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, and Visa. Sierra Leonean innovators showcased their work, and the Agriculture Innovation Challenge awarded $60,000, with the top prize presented by His Excellency President Bio.
•During the summit, @President Bio launched three major projects: Felei Tech City in Tikonko, Bo, the National Digital Transformation Project backed by the World Bank to expand connectivity and digital government services, and Starlink, making Sierra Leone the 9th African country to do so.
•The National Fiber Backbone 2 project now extends fiber optic coverage to 14 out of 16 districts, with efforts underway to reach all districts.
•Nine rural telephony sites were launched through the Universal Access Development Fund (UADF), prioritizing large farming communities to support the Feed Salone flagship project.
•To enhance government efficiency, the Ministry launched emergency bandwidth in 50 government institutions, emphasizing the importance of internet access in public sector reforms.
•With ECOWAS support, the Ministry will build a data exchange layer to address the challenge of disconnected systems. A pilot project with National Civil Registration Authority-NCRA will kick off implementation.
•The Ministry concluded nationwide ICT skills training on cybersecurity and digital marketing, supported by Huawei Mobile, Orange, and UNICEF Sierra Leone. This first phase trained 50 university students, who then trained 3,200 more students and 500 digital marketers.
•To guide digital growth, the Ministry launched the National Broadband Strategy, promoting collaboration between the government, private sector, and partners to increase internet penetration.
•The launch of the National Government Enterprise Architecture sets standards for digital transformation, ensuring solutions meet international best practices.
•To address bandwidth wastage, the Ministry introduced an ICT User Guide policy to monitor and control internet use, emails, and devices in government institutions.
•The Ministry established a Standards and Compliance Unit to monitor the implementation of policies, ensuring adherence and enforcing compliance.
