Last week, the Francistown City Council (FCC) engaged members of council in a three-day computer awareness programme as a way of empowering them with the basic computer skills required in the modern world.
Addressing the members of council during the closing session of the programme at Aerodrome Primary School in Francistown on Friday, the Francistown City Clerk, Kesentseng Kebabonye, highlighted that it was very critical and a requirement for each member of council to be computer literate as this would help them perform better with regard to council duties.
She further pointed out that the motions that the members of Council bring to the council would be done in a much efficient, time saving and easy manner as the members would be able to do their documents on their own.
The City Clerk highlighted that she felt it was of utmost importance for members of council to participate in the programme because, as council members, they are part of the human resource in her organization, therefore there was need for them to be recognized and it was vital that they are empowered with the skills for a lifetime.
“A lot of us are aware that some of the council members would not be in the next council as we know that elections are impending, therefore, they would leave the city council with skills that can benefit them in a lifetime,” she said
However, Kesentseng went on to highlight that following the mutual agreement for the City of Francistown and the City of Genk in Belgium to work collaboratively in the development of the two cities, Genk city has established a computer centre for the city council; it is located in the Areal L location of Francistown.
She revealed to Sunday Standard in an interview that the computer center currently has three computers and there are eleven computers that are on the way from the City of Genk, Belgium.
I would love to encourage members of council to make full use of this facility, as this would help the council to make flexible schedules in order to make full use of the opportunity. She reinforced that this training programme was an eye opening initiative for the members of council.
Speaking to Sunday Standard, one of the participants and councilor, Moses Nkhwanana for Donga location in Francistown, referred to the programme as a milestone in enlightening him with computer skills.
“Now I can operate a computer with ease and I can type my own documents,” said the councilor.
Nkhwanana highlighted that the only disappointing thing about the project was the time allocated for the programme, which was short, and they had to struggle to learn many things in a short period.
“The programme is very crucial because now I am able to collect data in the computer through the use of the internet,” said one councilor.
According to the Public Relations Officer for the Francistown City Council, Priscilla Gulubane, the project is the first of its kind. She pointed out that the programme was an in-house thing, therefore it was sponsored by the city council, as they provided their own Information and Technology Officer as a tutor.
