Islamabad, 23 February 2023 (GNP): Huawei has launched the world’s first smart village in Gokina, Pakistan, in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Service Fund (USF).
This effort, which is part of the Smart Villages of Pakistan programme, intends to transform distant and rural communities by providing them with access to digital services and Internet connectivity in order to improve their quality of life.
During the project’s formal opening ceremony, Syed AminUl Haque, the Federal Minister for IT & Telecommunication (MoITT), lauded Pakistan for being the first country in the Asia Pacific area to construct a smart village.
He also noted the project’s ability to solve significant problems faced by rural inhabitants, such as restricted access to digital, financial, educational, healthcare, and job opportunities, gender inequalities in digital literacy, the rural-urban divide, and unequal technology adoption.
The Gokina Smart Village initiative, which is 21 kilometres from Islamabad, selected three priority areas through a needs assessment research. They include business, education, health, and digital skills.
In order to bridge the gap in science education for high school females, the initiative has picked Tele-Taleem as an online education provider. Sehat Kahani is an online health company that provides essential medical services.
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In order to encourage the growth of digital skills and entrepreneurship, community members will be offered a hybrid model of digital and non-digital tools in the fields of fashion, stitching, handicrafts, contemporary agriculture skills, culinary skills, and product marketing.
The launch of the NADRA Motorbike Services, which will allow individuals to access all NADRA services in their area, including family registration certificates, child registration certificates, and other services, was also announced by Tariq Malik, Chairman of NADRA.
This is accessible in addition to the Mobile NADRA vehicle, which has already proved helpful in servicing the community.
USF CEO Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary has lauded the Gokina Smart Village initiative as a great example of digital inclusiveness in Pakistan.
He emphasised the value of steady expansion in the digital sector for promoting individual socioeconomic security and boosting rural development.
According to ITU Regional Director Atsuko Okuda, the Smart Village Pakistan programme promotes a whole-of-government approach to bringing the benefits of digital transformation to rural and distant communities in sectors like health, education, and agriculture, leaving no one behind and offline.
While Huawei Technologies Pakistan’s Deputy CEO Ahmed Bilal Masud emphasised the company’s commitment to developing in Pakistan as a market leader with USF initiatives in rural regions through its operators.
He acknowledged the challenges brought on by digitalization, but he thinks Pakistan has an even better opportunity.
Digitalization is essential for competitiveness and motivates Pakistan to improve its capacity to make major contributions to the global community.
A nationwide initiative named “Smart Villages of Pakistan” will shortly begin in all of the provinces of the country.
By using the Gokina Smart Village project as a prototype, the Smart Village in Pakistan programme intends to change more remote and rural areas in Pakistan and promote sustainable digital growth and development.