‘Digital for Everyone’ national initiative launched towards enabling technology-based society

Wednesday, 23 June 2021 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ICTA Chief Digital Economy Officer Anura De Alwis

ICTA Director Capacity Building Sameera Jayawardena

ICTA Senior Manager Capacity Building Kasun Wickramasuriya

The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka announces the ‘Digital for Everyone (D4E)’ national initiative.

The initiative was launched to collaborate with all stakeholders to enhance digital literacy among citizens. In line with this, many initiatives are planned to take the message of digital technology and its benefits to all segments of society.

ICTA Chief Digital Economy Officer Anura De Alwis speaking at the session stated, “In line with the Digital Economy strategy, five key pillars are identified as drivers to achieve our vision of making Sri Lanka a digitally-inclusive nation. Namely; Technology Industry Development, Startup Ecosystem Development, Capacity Building, Technology Diffusion, and Regional Cluster Development. We believe that building capacity is a key factor that needs to be considered for technology adoption.”

Also speaking at the forum, ICTA Director Capacity Building Sameera Jayawardena explained, “It is essential that we take steps to increase technology adoption at grass root levels of Sri Lanka. We have identified key segments that need to be considered in our overall approach.”

He also spoke about the ICTA action plan for capacity building, plans to induce digital inclusion and digital literacy in the society under the D4E initiative.

The D4E App Endorsement initiative was also launched at the forum. ICTA Senior Manager Capacity Building Kasun Wickramasuriya stated, “The ICT Agency of Sri Lanka has identified that endorsing existing mobile applications would provide a timely boost in encouraging citizens to adopt digital technologies effectively in their day-to-day life. As an extension to this forum, there will be four parallel events taking place to obtain inputs from a wider spectrum of stakeholders, including youth, senior citizens, differently abled citizens, women, and marginalized communities.”

With over 180 representatives actively engaging in the session, it was well-commended by participants.

Many stakeholders representing the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Pre-Schools and Primary Education, School Infrastructure and Education Services, Sarvodaya Fusion, National Youth Services Council, FITIS, the Employer’s Federation of Sri Lanka, BCS, Facebook, SLASSCOM, Internet Society Sri Lanka Chapter, Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Computer Society of Sri Lanka, Northern Chamber of Information Technology (NCIT), LK Domain Registry, SMART Social Circles and Women in Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group of Uva Wellassa University and many other social activists and interest groups joined the session.