Brahima sanou biography of michael

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

byWayne Campbell

“Empowering girls to choose a career in ICTs is not just good for girls and their families, it can be a major accelerator of socio-economic development at the national level.” – Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau.

Historically, girls and young women were not encouraged to enter the career paths associated with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) approximately 1 billion girls and women lack skills to succeed in today’s digital world.

These statistics are even more troubling when one considers that in some countries such as Afghanistan girls are forcibly discouraged from accessing an education by the Taliban-led government.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 5 addresses gender equality. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

There has been progress over the last decades: More girls are going to school, fewer girls are forced into early marriage, more women are serving in parliament and
positions of leadership and laws are being reformed to advance gender equality.

Despite these gains, many challenges remain: discriminatory laws and social norms remain pervasive, women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political leadership, and one in five women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 report experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month period.

A UNESCO report states that only 35 per cent of STEM students in higher education globally are women and differences are observed within STEM disciplines. For example, only three per cent of female students in higher education choose

What's New November 2018

Barbados country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) ".bb" is DNSSEC Ready.

What is DNSSEC 

Domain name system security extensions (DNSSEC) are a set of protocols that add a layer of security to the domain name system (DNS) lookup and exchange processes, which have become integral in accessing websites through the Internet. With DNSSEC it is no longer possible to manipulate traffic to websites with so called cache poisoning or man in the middle attacks.

To prevent these attacks from happening, DNSSEC couples the response of a DNS-query with a digital signature. Because of this it becomes possible to verify if the records that are sent by a DNS-server are valid. In order to establish this the DNS-servers are equipped with a system for asymmetric cryptography, or better known as 'public-key cryptography'. This results in the DNS-information being signed with a private key. By making use of a public key users can check if the received information is valid.

Read more about DNSSEC 

Updated: 15 November 2018

What's New November 2018

New Amateur Radio Regulations will be Ready for Implementation before 1 January 2019.

Amateur Radio enthusiasts who were clamoring for the removal of the requirement to pass a Morse Code Test will be pleased to learn that the changes in the Regulations to achieve such are almost completed. The changes would allow for persons to be granted differing classes of Amateur Radio Licences.

“We are closer to implementation of the new Regulations. The Minister signed the Regulations on 12 of November, Parliament meets on November 14, 2018 and we expect the laying of these Regulation

There are almost as many mobile phone subscriptions in the world as people, a United Nations telecom agency has said.

A report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said there were about six billion subscriptions at the end of 2011.

There are nearly seven billion people on Earth.

Almost one billion subscriptions were in China, the study found.

The report, called Measuring the Information Society 2012, external, looked at 155 countries, assessing their access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT).

The head of the agency's data division, Susan Teltscher, said: "We count Sim cards, not the number of devices or people, so if one person has two Sim cards in one device, it counts as two subscriptions; and we count monthly subscriptions as well."

Sim cards used in a tablet or to access the internet on a laptop computer had not been taken into account, she added.

The Geneva-based agency also said almost two billion people - about one-third of the world's population - had been internet users by the end of 2011.

In developed countries, 70% of the population was online, compared with 24% in developing regions, it said.

There were almost twice as many mobile broadband subscriptions globally as fixed broadband ones, said the agency.

The director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, Brahima Sanou, said: "The surge in numbers of mobile-broadband subscriptions in developing countries has brought the internet to a multitude of new users.

"But despite the downward trend, prices remain relatively high in many low-income countries.

"For mobile broadband to replicate the mobile-cellular miracle and bring more people from developing countries online, 3G network coverage has to be extended and prices have to go down even further."

On 14 October, leading names in the ICT industry will gather at ITU Telecom World 2012 - a

County Governments fail to make it to OLX SOMA Awards 2015….Twitter eyes higher revenue with ads service for Kenya… Kenneth Oyolla, former Microsoft exec, now Kisumu County roving ambassador….. Netherlands Trust Fund phase III beneficiary company wins WVEF Tech Challenge 2015…and much more.

Twitter eyes higher revenue with ads service for Kenya

US social media website Twitter has set its eyes on Kenya’s businesses in a bid to boost its revenue by opening a platform for sponsored tweets. The self-service ads platform are now open to Kenyan businesses and over 200 other markets globally.

Kenneth Oyolla, former Microsoft exec, now Kisumu County roving ambassador

Kenneth Oyolla, who was until February this year the Global Head of Marketing Activation at Microsoft (formerly Nokia), has been appointed a roving Ambassador of Kisumu County by Gov Jack Ranguma. The announcement was made recently Gov Ranguma when he unveiled the economic blueprint that is set to transform Kisumu from a poor urban setting to a world class city beginning from the Financial Year 2015/2016.The ceremony was held at the MV Uhuru Pier and attended by investors and guests from within and outside the county.

Netherlands Trust Fund phase III beneficiary company wins WVEF Tech Challenge 2015

Greenbell Communications Ltd, a Kenyan Digital Marketing Agency which provides creative website solutions from creative website design, Intranets, to online marketing strategies and lead generation has won in this year’s joint ITC, Google, and CI&T WVEF Tech Challenge in addition to other web developers from Brazil, Costa Rica and Thailand. The announcement was made during the closing ceremony at the Women Vendors Exhibition and Forum (WEVF), held in São Paulo, Brazil, in partnership with Apex-Brasil.

Africa’s largest Solar Carport to open at Garden City mall in a week’s time

Africa’s largest solar carport is set to be opened at Garden City mall, a year down the line since its construction started. Ac