Specialists expressed the opinion that digital inclusion could have a positive impact on the employability and income of national citizens, according to what was seen in the “Digital Rights Forum”, co-organized by the NGO Mwana Pwo, Associação Mãos Livres and Internews (Zambia), this week at the Union of Angolan Writers, in the country's capital.
For the information technology engineer, Alfredo Capitomolo, who at the event spoke about “Angolan context on digital literacy and Internet democratization”, being familiar with information technologies generates “more and better”employment opportunities, since knowledge expands the range of vacancies, not to mention that it facilitates access to registrations for existing or future jobs.
In the expert's opinion, access to citizenship can also be enhanced with digital inclusion. Online services such as issuing personal documents, surveying rights or official information from entities or the government, and bank transactions make life easier for those who currently have this advantage.
Alfredo Capitomolo also informs that technologies can be a catalyst for citizenship, as well as improving the ways people interact and how they access fundamental services.
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When it comes to human development, the Engineer says that knowledge has never been so available and accessible to people, with access to information at all times and with the advantage of promoting “the knowledge window” that technologies make available.
"Opening the windows of knowledge is the first benefit of digital inclusion. Access to different cultures, knowledge, places from the most remote corners of the planet and all kinds of information that you want at a click needs to be possible for many more people”, he said in his speech.
On the other hand, for Guilherme Neves, jurist from Associação Mãos Livres and who also spoke at the forum, he stressed that Angola has seen a significant advance in legislation on digital rights, all this to regularize the use of information technologies.
He also added that our country is one of the countries in Africa with more access and use of technologies and social networks, consubstantially and without restrictions.
Guilherme Neves concluded that “Internet access costs are too high for most citizens”, adding that, if on the one hand there is the state policy to ensure that people through the digital right have the right to information, to share information, on the other hand there is the right to lack of access to the digital right, which is more concentrated in the cities, but access does not exist in rural areas.
It should be noted that the forum was a meeting for debates on digital rights in Angola, with the presence of specialists in various areas.
