The Postal Network: A Vehicle of Digital Inclusion | IGF 2023 Open Forum #160

Rodney Taylor

The analysis examines a series of discussions on various aspects of the postal sector and its collaboration with the digital realm. The speakers highlight several key points that shed light on the important role played by the postal sector in the digital age.

One of the main points discussed is the potential revenue opportunities that arise from the collaboration between the digital and postal sectors. The success of the Barbados Postal Service in earning significant revenue by embracing digital transformation exemplifies this point. By turning digital, the postal service was able to offer delivery services at a nominal cost, which proved to be more desirable for many people compared to the expenses of public transportation or driving.

Another significant aspect highlighted in the analysis is the importance of partnerships between postal services and governments, particularly the Ministries of Digital Transformation. This collaboration can contribute to national transformation initiatives, as demonstrated by the successful joint effort in Barbados between the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Home Affairs to deliver essential credentials such as passports and driver’s licenses.

The speakers also emphasize the role of the postal sector in promoting digital inclusion, particularly in underserved regions. Post offices serve as accessible points of interaction with government services for individuals who may lack digital skills. This highlights the crucial role played by the postal sector in bridging the digital divide and ensuring that all citizens have access to important online services.

Additionally, the analysis points out the significance of initiatives that focus on digitising indigenous artifacts and tracing ancestry. Countries in the Caribbean, such as Dominica, Trinidad, and Jamaica, house indigenous populations, and UNESCO has launched a program to digitally preserve their cultural heritage. This demonstrates the potential for leveraging the postal sector to protect and promote indigenous cultures.

The analysis also highlights the need for policymakers to better understand the connection between the digital and postal sectors. While some policymakers may not fully grasp the importance of combining online services with offline, it is essential for successful implementation and ensuring that all individuals benefit from technological advancements.

In conclusion, the analysis underscores the significant role of the postal sector in the digital era. It highlights the potential for revenue generation through collaboration with the digital sector, the importance of partnerships with governments, the role of the postal sector in promoting digital inclusion, and the preservation of cultural heritage. The analysis also underscores the need for policymakers to be fully aware of the importance of combining online and offline services to ensure comprehensive and inclusive digital advancements.

Audience

The Caribbean Network Operators group has expressed their admiration for Tracy’s initiatives and their desire to collaborate with her to support and accelerate the deployment of these initiatives at both the national and regional levels. This demonstrates a positive sentiment towards Tracy’s work and highlights the potential for collaboration between organizations to achieve common goals in the Caribbean region.

Conversely, Christine Mujimba’s perspective raises concerns about the challenges faced by postal services in leveraging opportunities offered by digitisation and competition. She highlights the hindrances that the postal services in Uganda face and emphasises the need to reposition the traditional postal service system to overcome these hurdles.

Mujimba’s viewpoint suggests a negative sentiment towards the current state of affairs in the postal services sector. She questions the readiness of national post operators to take advantage of digitisation and competition and stresses the importance of policy factors that enable postal networks to leverage these opportunities. This implies that strategic and regulatory changes are needed to ensure the future viability and success of the postal services industry in the face of evolving market dynamics.

Another important observation is the urgency emphasized in repositioning the traditional postal service system. Increased competition from courier companies and new players like Uber has disrupted the traditional business model of postal services. As a result, there has been a trend of post offices closing down, and sustainability has become a pressing issue. This further underscores the need for proactive measures to adapt to the changing landscape and strike a balance between universal postal service obligations and market competition.

Overall, this summary highlights the contrasting sentiments and perspectives presented in the discussions. While the Caribbean Network Operators group shows a positive sentiment and willingness to collaborate, Christine Mujimba’s concerns shed light on the challenges faced by the postal services sector and emphasize the need for policy changes and urgent action. These insights provide a deeper understanding of the issues at hand and the potential paths forward for the concerned parties involved.

Tracey Hackshaw

The discussions revolved around various topics such as the .post initiative, digital inclusion, and the role of post offices in facilitating digital transformation. Tracey Hackshaw, who is part of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), is responsible for the .post initiative. The .post initiative aims to provide a secure and trusted top-level domain for the postal sector.

A key point of emphasis was the need for secure and trusted top-level domains in the postal sector. This highlights the importance of maintaining a secure environment for delivering services in the digital age. The UPU cybersecurity policy framework was discussed as an example of such a secure environment. Complying with this framework allows services to be delivered securely on a basic level and ensures security at the DNS level, particularly securing email communications. The .post environment also includes a dashboard that offers compliance tracking.

Connectivity was identified as a critical factor for effectively using post offices as service bureaus. The discussions highlighted that for post offices to fulfill their potential in facilitating digital transformation, they must have sufficient connectivity, especially in rural and remote areas. It was noted that connectivity goes beyond having PCs or internet connections at home; it includes the broader framework of using existing facilities like post offices to strengthen digital connectivity.

Digital inclusion was also a significant focus during the discussions. Talan Sultanov emphasised the importance of increasing digital literacy and skills in rural areas. The aim is to train local entrepreneurs on how to market their products online and prioritize underserved communities, such as girls, rural areas, and those with limited resources. Addressing the digital divide and ensuring equal access to digital resources and opportunities were seen as crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The discussions also explored the potential of post offices in facilitating e-commerce and supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It was recognised that building capacity in e-commerce within the postal sector is challenging due to limitations on IT skillsets and resources. However, the .post registration platform was highlighted as a solution to offer secure services, including DNS, email, web hosting, and e-commerce. This platform enables posts to obtain services and deploy rapidly, connecting traditional payment services. The cooperation agreement between the UPU and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) was seen as instrumental in providing these capabilities to the Caribbean postal services.

Furthermore, the discussions highlighted the role of post offices in achieving digital inclusion and economic growth. The postal network was perceived as pivotal in providing digital inclusion and economic opportunities in various countries. Examples such as ZimbabweMall and Rwanda Mall demonstrated how post offices offer national marketplaces where SMEs can sell their products online. Additionally, the post office network was viewed as an important resource for providing digital inclusion in Barbados.

It was also emphasised that implementing the initiative of using public infrastructure for digital inclusion should be done securely. Hackshaw stressed the importance of implementing the initiative while ensuring the safety and security of public infrastructure. Assistance and advice on securely implementing the initiative were offered during the discussions.

A noteworthy observation from the discussions was Hackshaw expressing gratitude for receiving free chocolate, which symbolised appreciation and recognition. It was also highlighted that treats like chocolate should be distributed equally, reinforcing the importance of treating everyone with fairness and inclusivity.

In conclusion, the discussions centred around the .post initiative, digital inclusion, and the role of post offices in facilitating digital transformation. The need for secure and trusted top-level domains, connectivity, and digital literacy were emphasized. The potential of post offices in e-commerce and supporting SMEs was highlighted, as well as the role of post offices in achieving digital inclusion and economic growth. The secure implementation of using public infrastructure for digital inclusion was underscored, and the importance of treating everyone equally was emphasised.

Paul Donohoe

Upon analysis of the statements, several important points regarding the role of the postal sector in fostering digital inclusion and bridging the digital divide have been identified. Here is a more detailed summary:

1. An interactive session will explore the transformative potential of the postal sector in promoting digital inclusion, with a particular focus on underserved communities. Juan will monitor the chat to ensure participants can interact effectively. The panel will bring forth examples of solutions that have successfully assisted disadvantaged communities in becoming part of the digital economy, emphasizing the interactive nature of the session.

2. Despite nearly 20 years of discussions on the Information Society, a significant digital divide still exists in many communities. Paul Donohoe highlights this divide and emphasizes the need to bridge the gap to achieve reduced inequalities and promote industry, innovation, and infrastructure.

3. Paul Donohoe believes in the concept of meaningful connectivity, especially for underserved communities. Ongoing discussions within the Global Connect Initiative (GDC) and World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) revolve around the exploration of meaningful connectivity, underscoring Paul’s stance and positive sentiment on the matter.

4. The postal network is a pivotal asset for digital inclusion, with over 650,000 postal locations worldwide and millions of workers in daily contact with people. This extensive reach and connectivity make the postal network an essential tool in ensuring digital access for underserved communities. The positive sentiment surrounding this argument aligns with the fundamental role the postal network plays in providing digital inclusion.

5. The postal network holds a crucial position in the digital society and serves as a driving force for progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN Secretary-General’s message on World Post Day emphasizes the importance of the postal network in the digital world, and the new UPU connect.post initiative aims to connect every post office to the internet by 2030. These efforts signify the significant role the postal network plays in shaping a digital society and driving sustainable development.

6. The COVID-19 pandemic showcased the vital role played by the postal network. It was instrumental in delivering government aid and medical supplies, supporting SMEs by enabling them to trade online, and providing digital government and financial services to communities. The positive sentiment towards the postal network’s contribution during the pandemic underscores its ability to adapt and assist in times of crisis.

7. The postal network’s criticality for digital inclusion can be seen in its provision of services in local languages, aiding digital literacy and connectivity. Additionally, governments across the globe have utilized the postal network as a means of promoting digital inclusion. Examples such as the community access centers provided by Zimpost in Zimbabwe highlight the postal service’s significance in fostering digital inclusion, particularly in underserved communities.

8. The transformation brought about by e-commerce necessitates a more digitally capable postal network. People’s expectations from delivery services have increased due to e-commerce, and the postal services are evolving to meet these demands. Global examples highlight how postal delivery is adapting to modern needs, further supporting the argument of a digitally capable postal network.

9. Investing in postal networks can contribute to the sustainability of local communities by enabling local businesses to engage in e-commerce and providing digital literacy. The positive sentiment surrounding this argument reflects the understanding that strong postal networks can play a vital role in community sustainability and economic growth.

10. Collaborating with policymakers and integrating the postal network into digital inclusion initiatives can result in greater access and affordability. Post offices operating as Wi-Fi hubs, delivering affordable mobile devices, and connecting SMEs to e-commerce platforms can facilitate online business and narrowing the digital divide.

Other noteworthy observations include the Universal Postal Union (UPU)’s cybersecurity policy framework, which ensures secure service delivery to the posts. This framework is being deployed to strengthen the postal sector’s security. Furthermore, the UPU’s plan to provide secure services on the .post registration platform reflects their commitment to providing secure digital platforms for postal services globally.

In conclusion, the analysis highlights the vital role played by the postal sector in achieving digital inclusion, bridging the digital divide, and supporting sustainable development goals. The postal network’s ability to adapt and provide essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic further emphasizes its significance. It is evident that the postal network’s extensive reach, connectivity, and evolving capabilities contribute significantly to promoting digital inclusion, connecting communities, and empowering underserved populations.

Talan Sultanov

The analysis of postal services and digital connectivity in Kyrgyzstan highlights several important points regarding the challenges and opportunities faced by the country. Firstly, it mentions that small landlocked and mountainous countries, like Kyrgyzstan, have unique challenges in terms of digital connectivity. Factors such as long distances, deserts, and mountains present obstacles to establishing efficient digital infrastructure.

The importance of digital literacy and skills is also emphasised in the analysis. It is stated that increased digital literacy and skills are vital for maximising the benefits of digitalisation. Digital skills training is specifically mentioned as a means to enable rural communities to effectively utilise e-government services, e-commerce, and FinTech services.

Reclaiming Central Asia’s status as an economic hub is another key argument put forward in the analysis. It is mentioned that Central Asia was once the centre of economic activity for many centuries due to the Silk Road and the efficient postal system. The analysis suggests that by embracing digitalisation and leveraging their unique geographical position, Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan, have the potential to reclaim their prominent economic status.

The potential benefits of digitalisation for postal services are also highlighted. It is argued that the digitalisation of postal services could greatly increase their efficiency. Proposals have been made to connect every postal office to the internet by 2030, which aligns with a similar initiative to connect every school to the internet.

The analysis also touches upon the need for more diverse internet content. It suggests that the current lack of representation of Central Asia and its history in digital platforms suggests a bias towards Western content. The argument is made that there is a need for greater diversity in internet content to reflect and value the cultural heritage and history of Central Asia.

Internet connectivity is seen as a significant factor in benefitting remote areas. The analysis cites positive examples from Kyrgyzstan, where internet connectivity has allowed postal officers in remote villages to check for mail without physically travelling to nearby towns. Improved internet connectivity has also aided in maintaining operations during harsh winter conditions.

Addressing the issue of foreign language content accessibility, the analysis mentions that providing internet to villages in Kyrgyzstan led to the challenge of foreign language content being inaccessible for locals. Efforts have been made to create digital content in the Kyrgyz language to bridge this gap and ensure that digital literacy can spur more information exchange.

However, the lack of resources in local languages is identified as a limiting factor that can restrict access to information. Despite efforts to bring internet to villages, the analysis notes that locals struggled to derive value from it due to the dominance of foreign language content. An initiative was launched to deliver books for children in the Kyrgyz language to address this issue.

The analysis also highlights opportunities for Kyrgyzstan’s postal services. It mentions that exploring opportunities with digitalisation, including e-commerce and providing banking services, could be beneficial. Examples from Japan are provided to support this argument, where the postal service plays a significant role in providing financial services.

Moreover, the critical role of postal services in facilitating government activities is discussed. The analysis states that postal services can play a crucial role in activities such as elections and data collection. The Kyrgyzstan Postal Service has been instrumental in collecting biometric data for elections, creating a trustworthy system that led to peaceful elections.

However, there are concerns about the security of biometric data collected through postal services. This aspect is mentioned as a negative sentiment and highlights the need to address data security issues in the collection and storage of such sensitive information.

The analysis identifies the potential for postal services to contribute significantly to the deployment of community networks. In Kyrgyzstan, postal offices actively participate in providing digital skills training. It is argued that postal officers can be at the forefront of providing these trainings and contribute to communal digital empowerment in their local communities.

Conclusively, the analysis underscores the challenges and opportunities faced by postal services and digital connectivity in Kyrgyzstan. It emphasises the importance of digital literacy and skills, reclaiming Central Asia’s economic prominence, the potential benefits of digitalisation for postal services, the need for diverse internet content, the positive impact of internet connectivity in remote areas, and the role of postal services in community networks and digital empowerment. The analysis also highlights concerns regarding foreign language content accessibility, the lack of resources in local languages, and data security. Overall, the observations and insights gained from the analysis shed light on potential strategies and areas of focus that could contribute to the development of postal services and digital connectivity in Kyrgyzstan.

Paul Donohoe:
on digital divides and digital inclusion. My name is Paul Donohoe, I’m from the Universal Postal Union from the UPU and I have the pleasure of introducing this discussion today. We are joined by a distinguished group of speakers from a variety of regions and backgrounds from around the world who will all share with us some valuable insights on this critical topic for digital inclusion and the digital divide. I’m also joined today in co-moderating this with my colleague Tracey Hackshaw, so Tracey introduce yourself please.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you Paul and welcome and good morning, good evening, good night wherever you are in the world. As Paul said, my name is Tracey Hackshaw, I’m also with the Universal Postal Union, the UPU and I’m responsible for the .post initiative which is a secure, trusted, top level domain for the postal sector and we are looking to give you some great information about what we do and what we plan to do and hear from you as well about what you’d like us to do for you, so welcome and let’s have some good discussion this morning, thank you.

Paul Donohoe:
Thanks Tracey and yes, together we aim to ensure that this session is interactive, engaging and informative for both our online and offline participants, the people in the room here today. We’re joined by a number of people online from around the world as well which is great to see. We also have an online moderator who’s joining us from Switzerland, he has got up early this morning, Juan Moroni who is a digital inclusion, digital transformation expert. from the UPU in Switzerland as well, so good morning, Juan.

Tracey Hackshaw:
I see Juan is chatting. Aha, okay. He’s in the chat, yes.

Paul Donohoe:
Super. Which is great because that is a good way to highlight the interactive nature of this session. Juan will be monitoring the online chat and ensuring that all participants have the opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts. And so Juan will be taking that focus and we will come back to you, Juan, during the session to see how the online discussion is going. So before we dive into the discussion today, I’d like to introduce our esteemed panel of speakers. Each of them brings a unique perspective to the table. First of all, on my right, Mr. Rodney Taylor, who is the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union. Rodney will be well known to many of you with his activities in the IGF. So welcome, Rodney. And we’re also joined by Mr. Talan Sultanov, the co-founder and board member of the Internet Society in the Kyrgyz chapter. So welcome, Talan. And we’re honoured to have your participation in the discussion today. What we really want to do is have this to be an interactive and informative session, as Tracey mentioned. So our discussion today revolves around the transformative potential of the postal sector in fostering digital inclusion, particularly looking at the digital divide that still exists in many communities and in the underserved communities where there are citizens and small businesses that are still disconnected, missing out on this fabulous opportunity that the digital economy is bringing. We have been almost 20 years since the initial discussions on the Information Society began in Tunis. And today, still, there is this significant divide, particularly in rural and remote communities, and underserved parts of the population are still missing out on these benefits that we all take for granted, particularly in major capital cities and in developed countries around the world. So, with our panellists today, we want to explore this topic, share experiences, understand some of the challenges and where there can be solutions and examples of solutions that have helped bring these disadvantaged and underserved communities into the digital economy. And particularly considering that there is this new ongoing discussion within the GDC and within the WSIS around meaningful connectivity and what does meaningful connectivity really mean in this area, particularly serving underserved communities. Then we hope to explore a number of different possibilities and a number of different examples in that area today. So, before we get into the first session, I’ll just give a bit of a highlight of the role that the postal sector plays in the digital economy. So, I’ll pull up some slides, if I can use the technology, Tracey.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Yes, and we can see it’s online.

Paul Donohoe:
Yes, perfect. Thank you. So, yeah, the title of this session today is the Postal Network as a Vehicle for Digital Inclusion. And as I mentioned, the postal network is a network that exists in over 650,000 locations around the world. And most communities in the world have access to postal, post office and postal services. There are millions of employees within the postal network as well that have daily contact with people. And I think that this is an important element about ensuring digital inclusion. It’s not just about the technology. It’s not just about the connectivity. It’s also about the human touch, particularly in underserved communities and in the underprivileged parts of society. And this week, actually, on Monday of this week, was World Post Day. And we celebrated that around the world. And the UN Secretary General’s message on World Post Day, I think is very telling and very relevant for our discussions this week, where he says that the postal system has long served as a cornerstone of connectivity across the globe. And that has been for thousands of years. And in today’s digital world, that fundamental role remains key. The postal network is immense and extends to many of the remotest communities. And we can maximise its reach to help boost digital inclusion and drive progress on the sustainable development goals, particularly. The theme of this year’s World Post Day, Together for Trust, calls on governments, the private sector and development partners to do exactly that. And we were very honoured to have the UN Secretary General also recognise the UPU for its leadership in. the new connect.post initiative, which aims to ensure that every post office has sufficient access to the internet by 2030. The concept of this project is connect a post, connect a community, and connect the people in that community and connect the businesses in that community to benefit from the digital society. Now this comes from all the way back, as I mentioned, in WSIS. The WSIS outcome documents, the Declaration of Principles, the Geneva Plan of Action, the Tunis Agenda, recognise that the postal network has an important role to play and is an important infrastructure for the information economy. And there was a number of references in those outcome documents to encourage governments and other stakeholders to establish sustainable community access centres in post offices, to design specific training programs in the use of ICTs, to educate the postal workers and help postal workers educate the communities that they serve in ICTs. And then also to affirm the commitment to build ICT capacities to improve access and use of postal networks and services. So these are all extract references from the WSIS Declaration, Plan of Action, and the Tunis Agenda. So this discussion has been a long discussion over the last 20 years, but still today we see that of the 650,000 post offices that are located in communities around the world, there are still a significant number of post offices that are not connected. And so that’s a strong message that we want to bring out of this panel session, is the call to action to governments to continue to integrate the post into their digital plans and consider the important role that the post plays in facilitating the connection between the people and businesses. and the digital economy, and so we hope in this session today to explore a number of ideas and options around that, and to see where this can go for the coming decade of action towards 2030. Before I hand over to our panel, I also just want to reflect on some strong learnings that we’ve had in the last few years due to the pandemic. The pandemic has really accelerated a number of initiatives, and no more than also in the postal network. The postal network was binding societies during the pandemic. It was servicing the citizens and the small businesses. It was one of the public infrastructures that was strengthened during the pandemic to deliver a variety of services to the people who were locked away or isolated due to the restrictions of the pandemic. Post offices were delivering government aid to communities through financial aid. There was also a postal network was used to deliver physical medical supplies to communities so that they could be protected against this terrible pandemic. Postal workers continued to service the communities during the pandemic as they do during war and conflict areas as well, and so this was reinforced during the pandemic as the post was delivering services and distributing government aid, and taking part in digital transformation initiatives, including working with other government agencies to deliver government services, digital government services, digital financial services to the communities. And again, we’re talking about really the reach out into the underserved communities as well, which is where the real value of these services can exist. And also supporting small and medium enterprises, who were very much affected by the pandemic in terms of their ability to trade. People were locked down, so they weren’t having access through traditional physical markets. And so many SMEs transitioned to digital companies. And the Post was there to facilitate that transition to digital companies, and acted as a hub for exchange of goods and financial services for SMEs so that they could continue to trade online. And I think we’ll hear about some of those opportunities in today’s panel as well. So I will now hand over to Tracey, my co-moderator, who can help facilitate the discussion during the panel as we go through the variety of experts that we have. Thanks Tracey.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you, Paul. And thanks for that wonderful introduction and that historical background that gives us good context for today’s session. So as we move through the open forum, and as Paul indicated, we’d like to address stakeholders directly on the opportunities that are available through the postal sector. But by giving practical examples and some case studies, which is why we have assembled this particular group of experts. So I’d like to start with SG Rodney Taylor, who, as we indicated, is the Caribbean Telecoms Union leader. He’s had a lot of experience doing work in the Caribbean, and in particular in his home country in Barbados, especially with the Post. So that’s very helpful for our discussion. So I’d like to ask Rodney. What do you think, based on your experience, could be a great opportunity for the postal sector, especially in countries like the Caribbean, the Pacific, other underserved regions, for digital inclusion? And have you seen opportunities there? Have you experienced any particular references that we could use? And maybe give us an idea of what we can do to, based on those experiences, probably improve on or advise others moving forward in that regard. Rodney, probably over to you.

Rodney Taylor:
Thank you very much, Tracy. Good day, everyone. Happy to be a part of this discussion this morning and to share my experience from a small state in Barbados, but also from where I sit at the regional level within CARICOM, the Caribbean community. So the internet was supposed to be the death of postal services, right? Nobody was sending mail anymore. Everything was electronic mail, and therefore, post offices would be banished from the face of the earth. It is far from what has happened. There’s been, of course, the growth of e-commerce, the need to get goods into people’s hands, and that is only, I mean, Paul laid the good groundwork in terms of the pandemic and what happened and how posts were able to facilitate the continuation of public service delivery. In Barbados, in particular, there was an initiative where the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology worked with the Ministry of Home Affairs. I think post falls under Home Affairs, but with the Barbados Postal Service to deliver credentials, in particular, the driver’s license, where you could apply to have your driver’s license renewed, and then, within 24 hours, that’s delivered to your. home or your office. That was one of the big success stories because that, you compare that with having to take time off from work to go to a government office to spend an hour or two in the line, pay cash and then return another day to collect that license or wait, or wait, in some cases they, you had to wait. So all of that, the productivity gains from simply that simple implementation and collaboration with the Postal Service and then that was expanded to the delivery of the passport as well, all right, and of course that has now cascaded into other services. But for me it’s a no-brainer, but that specific aspect of partnering with government to, especially the Ministries of Digital Transformation, to support the initiatives, the National Transformation Initiatives at the national level and to make life easier for citizens. I remember once an Estonian told me, you know, we don’t know where the government offices are, we just, we don’t go. So I can’t tell you where to find the Ministry of, you know, the Licensing Authority, I don’t know. So, and that’s what we want, we want to keep people out of government offices. It is simply inefficient, it is a waste of time. I’ve seen where, you know, there have been lines even before the government office opens, you know, at 5 in the morning people just want to be first in the queue so they can get their license or whatever and head to work. This is really not how we do things in a digital economy. With respect to the service bureaus, and again this is something, a discussion that goes back maybe 25 years or more, where we talked about service bureaus, a one-stop shop for government. This is an opportunity to, because the post offices are in communities, that I should be able to put on my short pants, walk down the street and interact if, you know, if I don’t have the necessary, the skills, the digital skills. to interact that I can go to my friendly neighborhood post office and have someone help me. In Barbados already the post office helps persons with the application for U.S. Visas, those persons who don’t have a computer, don’t have a credit card or who simply don’t have the skills to do it. And if you’ve ever had to apply for a U.S. Visa online, you know, it requires a degree in itself. It requires you to submit so much information. It takes at least an hour, maybe more, two hours sometimes. And so you can understand it may be daunting for some people. So if you can have that hand holding for those citizens that need that help, and that goes across the board. And ultimately you want also that citizens don’t have to, like I said, find this department and then find that other department and find a third department to simply access government services. If they can go to one convenient location and interact, then it makes all the sense in the world. So for me it’s a no-brainer. And the thing is to be able to get that message across and build awareness at the level of the policymakers so they understand that these are not two separate and distinct discussions that we’re having. We’re talking about how can we work together to support the implementation of the national digital transformation, and working along with POST to make life easier for our citizens. Thank you.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you very much, Ashley Taylor. And what you’ve said I think brings to the fore the possibilities that we can look at utilizing the facilities that the POST offices already have, the people that are already there so we can tap into resources that are there, to think bigger in terms of how we see the POST office in our own jurisdictions, our own countries. There are opportunities there, I believe, for new ways of doing things, doing business, new ways of connecting people. and new ways of actually ensuring that those who are not currently in the digital economy can get that first touch, that first feel by having a PC at home or connectivity at home. Maybe there’s an opportunity to use something like the post office to do that. I touched on connectivity, which is my segue now into my other colleague to my left, talent from the Kyrgyz chapter of the, Internet Society. Talent has a lot of experience in community networks, actually. And this is something that I believe is another aspect of the connectivity challenge we need to look at. Connectivity meaning the broader perspective of connectivity. So when you look at the post offices, especially in rural, far-flung areas, there could be challenges in terms of connectivity, in terms of infrastructure as a whole, electricity, et cetera. So we talk about using these post offices as a vehicle, but if they’re not connected, then this argument falls flat on its face. So talent is here to help us understand what’s actually possible, given the limited resources that many countries have to extend connectivity and what can be done given his experience in doing such a thing in a small state, in a landlocked state, but in a state that I think has done it successfully. And Talan, over to you.

Talan Sultanov:
Thanks so much, Tracy, for the very good segue into the presentation. I’ll try to share my screen. And I prepared a couple of slides. But I don’t see.

Tracey Hackshaw:
You have to just, you see the share screen?

Talan Sultanov:
I don’t see it. Maybe I’m not my host, yeah?

Tracey Hackshaw:
The green one, the green one.

Talan Sultanov:
Ah, yes, yes. Yes, yes. See, although I work in the IT, I still struggle every time. Yeah, the PowerPoint or the PDF.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Any video?

Talan Sultanov:
No, no video. Can we see it? Aha, excellent. And Paul mentioned that this is going to be an interactive session, so I try to do it interactive as well. This is just a picture that shows what is Kyrgyzstan. We just heard the perspective of a small island developing nations, and in this presentation, I would like to show you the small landlocked mountainous countries. I think we have probably similar challenges, and also other kinds of challenges that we deal, and I’m very glad. I’ve always wanted to meet colleagues in small developing island nations to learn how to promote our countries and maybe work together to demonstrate the situation. And when I talk about the interactivity, I prepared just a very small quiz, and soon there will be Christmas. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, the new year, like in Kyrgyzstan, and this is a question I would like to ask you, and if you respond correctly, I have chocolate from Central Asia. And if somebody responds from online, we will send it by post, and we will see how long it will take the chocolate to get. So any guesses? I’ll give you a hint if you’d like. North Pole? North Pole? One option? Any other ideas? Lapland? Good. So one hint. Because I come from Central Asia, it’s related to Central Asia. I think we are all correct that Santa should be living in every part of the world to be able to deliver. And actually there were scientists in I think Norway or in Sweden where Lapland is close. So it’s not us saying that and they calculated that for Santa to be able to deliver all this mail to all the children around the world, he should be living in Kyrgyzstan. Can you imagine? And that would allow him to get everywhere at the same time. And it’s actually kind of also in reality, the next slide also shows that Central Asia, and this is a map of Eurasia, was actually the center of economic gravity in the world for many centuries. And of course then with the Industrial Revolution, the Information Revolution, it shifted towards Europe to the West. And now the economists are predicting maybe it will shift back. And I was thinking why Central Asia was able to become the center of economic gravity in the world. And probably because we had the Silk Road, the ancient Silk Road. And along the Silk Road there was a very effective postal system running, the ancient pony express. So you could get from Mongolia to Europe in a very, very short time. And this pony express was considered to be one of the fastest and the most extensive postal networks in the world. in the world at the time, and I think it inspired the modern postal services, too. So when I was looking Wikipedia today, Pony Express, it doesn’t talk about the ancient Pony Express, it talks about Pony Express in the US. So very little mention of the ancient one, so I think it also shows how Internet is still geared towards more Western content, and we need to work on that as well to bring more kind of information there. And there is a book, if you have a chance, maybe you would read it, by Dr. Fred Starr, he lives in Washington, DC, big Central Asia scholar, and he titled his book The Lost Enlightenment. He says, so Central Asia was the center of cultural, scientific, postal, you know, experience, but at some point it all went away, and what happened? And can we bring it back? And that’s one of my, I guess, small goals, is to make Central Asia again part of the global economy, and I think, as Rodney mentioned, with the Internet, e-commerce, all this becomes possible thanks to the new technologies, but of course in Central Asia we have major challenges. We are landlocked. One of the experts who is actually in the IGF today, he also coined the sanctions locked, and I added we are also brain drained. So this makes it really very difficult to bring Internet connectivity and to improve the postal connectivity too, because as you can see in this map, very long distances, deserts, mountains, so I wouldn’t envy the people who work in the postal service to be delivering goods to and from our region, and I think that digitalization could actually make lives easier. And the goal of our session and of this initiative is to connect every postal office to the Internet by 2030. And this resonated very much with the activity that’s already happening at the moment, is to connect every school in the world to the Internet by 2030. It’s an initiative by ITU and UNICEF called GIGA. And I think here we could actually join forces because the schools and post offices are the hubs in many of the villages. So whatever happens in the village, people gather either in the schools, like if it’s elections or provision of the government services or in the postal office. So we need to together work to connect all these villages to the Internet. And that’s what we’ve been doing. And of course the realities on the ground are very difficult. So sometimes you have to go through very difficult mountainous terrain, or there is no electricity if you want to bring Internet to the village, or cables break and you have to put some local inventions like plastic bottle of a broken cable so it doesn’t break again. Or there is no transport so you still use horses to deliver goods back and forth. So we’ve been working a lot on connecting villages to the Internet. And what we realized later, and speakers earlier mentioned that, and Paul said that it’s not only about infrastructure, it’s about actually people’s human kind of aspects and skills. And we’ve been working a lot on increasing digital literacy and skills of communities in rural areas, so they would be able to take advantage of opportunities that digitalization brings. So training them how to use e-government services. actually training their government officials in local areas on e-government services, so that then they can become trainers for the local communities. E-commerce, so we have entrepreneurs in villages who produce local goods, but they don’t know how to market them on the Internet, and they don’t know how to use the existing systems, the logistics supply chains to deliver their products, and FinTech services too. So this was kind of just a brief introduction to what we do and how we could collaborate together, and probably during the discussion I could share more of the information. Thank you. Back to you.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you very much, Talan. This slide that you’re on, don’t move it. I like that. That’s a really interesting way to end this. Girls first, rural first, mobile first, local language first, and green first. And I think that’s really important for our discussion so that we recognize here that there are quite a slew of underserved communities in this space that we need to serve. And again, this is something about inclusion. Digital inclusion is about including those who are not included. Simple as that. And to a large extent, the list you have here summarizes that quite nicely. We could add to this, of course, persons with disabilities. We could add to this any number of groups. Let’s not target any one group or the other. So one of the questions we need to get to now, I think, and I think Paul is going to jump in here, how do we really drive this forward? Now that we’ve talked about some of these cases, how do you think we can drive this forward? What can countries do specifically to ensure that we improve connectivity in these communities? What can the post do? How can we utilize the post to enable this? You mentioned that the schools are doing it. There’s a project that I think I’m going to toss to Paul now that’s called Connect.post, Paul mentioned earlier, that looks at this. There’s some work going on right now, I believe, in the Caribbean regarding these areas, and I’ll be spreading to other regions soon. So maybe Paul, perhaps you could give us some insights on what the UPU is doing to make this happen.

Paul Donohoe:
Yeah, thanks, Tracey. And I want to pick up on some of the points that have just been made by both Rodney and Talant, because I think they’re very relevant for the discussion around digital inclusion, and just thinking about the asset that exists in the postal network and how it has been used in a number of countries. We have seen, particularly the issue of local language that you mentioned, Talant, is a critical issue in these communities where we have this predominance of English on the internet in a way that that excludes a lot of the people in the underserved communities. And this is where governments have seen the benefit of the postal network. As I mentioned, there’s 650,000 post offices, they are staffed by people. Those people are in contact with the local population and the local citizens and the local businesses every day in their local language. And we have examples in all regions where the postal service has been a critical human hand to these communities. In the area of e-commerce that you mentioned, e-commerce is almost like the new Santa Claus. Yeah, e-commerce is the 21st century Santa Claus, because when people are online, they expect to have things delivered to them. And they expect those things to be delivered relatively quickly. We have a lot of great examples in postal delivery where a postcard or a letter arrives one year later addressed to Paul in Bern, Switzerland. You know, there’s these great stories around how the post has been able to deliver mail in that way. But now in this world of e-commerce, that’s not enough. There needs to be a much more intelligent, digitally capable network that can support e-commerce deliveries as people expect them. Just like the children expect Santa Claus to deliver off their Christmas list, we now expect to have those e-commerce deliveries come to us. And also businesses would like to participate from these communities, they are producing local artefacts, for example, which can be very popular and can generate a lot of income which will bring sustainability to these communities. We talk about meaningful connectivity, we need to also bring sustainability into the meaningful connectivity discussion. Sustainability of the resource which is providing the connectivity and how that brings sustainability of communities. And post offices have developed solutions in this area. Community access centres in Zimbabwe are a good example where Zimpost, the Zimbabwe Postal Service, is providing community access centres. They are providing digital connectivity, they are providing digital literacy services to these communities so people can come to the post office and other partners of the post who provide digital literacy training, who provide digital capability training are using the post office facility as a location for training the local community. So, this complements the delivery of the connectivity to bring capacity building to these communities. Posts are obviously delivery partners, so they can deliver the mobile phones to these communities. They can work with governments to deliver affordable mobile phones, which is a critical policy issue in a number of countries, where we heard yesterday in the main hall the issue of affordability of mobile devices or of devices to connect to the internet. Again, the integration of post into policy makers’ discussions and into policies for digital inclusion can bring affordable delivery of these devices to those communities. It can also bring affordable delivery of connection points. Post offices can be Wi-Fi hubs, connectivity hubs in these communities. And again, in the case of Zimbabwe, we have examples there of Zimpost as a community access centre providing local network connectivity in that area. And also for SMEs, SMEs who want to be able to sell online, as Talant mentioned. This digital world provides them with that opportunity, but they lack the understanding, they lack the skills on how to sell online. So, we have seen examples in Asia, where the post has partnered with eBay, for example. And the post office has provided eBay training to local entrepreneurs who are making these artefacts and making these goods that are interesting to sell online. So, on a Thursday afternoon at four o’clock, eBay comes to the post office. They organise a community education and train local entrepreneurs on how to be able to sell online. The post office is the hub for this information access, but it is also the gateway. to exchange the goods and also a lot of financial services. Financial services in the post is a strong line of business and that’s obviously important for e-commerce as well. So, I think some of these issues of access and local language services from the post are an important part of helping the digital inclusion through the postal network.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you very much, Paul. I just want to remind everyone this is an open forum. So, once you are able to gather your thoughts and perhaps pose any comments, feedback or questions, feel free to step to the mic, both online and on site in this room and we will recognize you and take your feedback in. So, I’m going to wait while we wait for any of that to come in. I’m going to now continue with our chat. So, one of the things that, Paul, you just ended on this issue with local language. In terms of indigenous groups and so, I’m going to see if that works with both of you. There has been a discussion around inclusion regarding their heritage, e-heritage is something called e-heritage, digital heritage. There has been discussion in the past about whether or not these access centers, these tele-centers can play a role there. Because in many cases, they are separate villages, separate communes in some cases, depending on how the state deals with the indigenous peoples. Some cases, they’re integrated. But there are very few case studies of where that has been able to be placed online, curated by the communities themselves. And sustained over a period of time. There seems to be an opportunity here to utilize. the GDC as one of these vehicles for this, the posts coming in and saying let’s play a role, some additional connectivity, let’s look at this as one of those potential inclusion topics. So I’m gonna ask perhaps Talant first, and then maybe Rodney, given his knowledge of the Caribbean and the indigenous people’s issues, but what do you think about that and how that can work? So Talan, perhaps you can go first.

Talan Sultanov:
Thanks so much, Tracy. Actually, this reminds me of two interesting stories I wanted to share, one following up Paul’s intervention. When we connected the first community network in Kyrgyzstan, it’s a village in a mountainous area of Susamur, the very first beneficiary of the internet was a local post office officer. Because before the internet connectivity, what he had to do is every week, at least once a week, he had to go to a nearby town, which was over the mountains, to check if there was mail for the villagers. He didn’t have, there is no mobile connectivity, no internet, so he didn’t know if there was any letters or packages or not, maybe passports for the local villagers. But in the winter, the road would be so treacherous that it would take him maybe like, one day just to get to the town, and then he would spend the night, and the next day he would come back. And once the internet appeared, he could at least find out, is there anything for me in the town that makes me, that I have to go and pick up? And actually, this is similar to the interesting cartoon that we watched when we were all locked down during COVID with kids about Santa Claus, and there is this young post officer who gets sent to Laplandia, very far away, and he has to go cross the seas and mountains and forests just to find out if there is any message for him to deliver. And another aspect of what he engaged in is. to get more letters to run through the post office, so that he can keep his job, he helped increase digital literacy of people in the village. So if we increase the e-commerce literacy of people, if we provide the digital content in local languages, that would mean that there will be much more information exchange happening. What we found out when we brought internet to the villages, the local community would say, thank you, but there is nothing for me in there, because I speak my language, and all the content in there is foreign. So that’s why we started as a second big effort was to create digital content, online content in Kyrgyz language. Plus, we found out that in these villages, there were no books for kids in Kyrgyz language. So one of the activities that we just recently did is to collect 1,000 books for kids, and we wanted to deliver them to many of the villages, but we couldn’t do it physically. And of course, we turned to the post office to help us deliver these Christmas gifts, almost. Thank you.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you.

Rodney Taylor:
Yeah, thank you. There are indigenous populations in the Caribbean. I can think of Dominica, Trinidad, Jamaica, and so on. And I believe it’s UNESCO that has an initiative for digitizing some of these indigenous artifacts. There is a market globally for this kind of information, in particular, these businesses that offer the tracing of your heritage, right? I think Ancestry.com and others like it. And I saw there’s a move where, especially when you look at the historical, say for example, the transatlantic slave trade, where there’s still a lot of information. And where there’s a diaspora in the United States and in the UK, people want to be able to trace their lineage. And I think, so that’s an opportunity, I think, where it’s an opportunity for developing countries, those that have a rich history, those that have indigenous populations, to monetize that content. Now, I would say that not enough is being done, and we run the risk of providing connectivity to people who are not connected now, and then there isn’t the content that is relevant to them, or there isn’t the values that are also relevant to them. There are a few initiatives in Barbados that don’t come to mind right now, but I’m happy to share them at another time, where, again, the focus is on tracing ancestry and so on, and documenting, say, the transatlantic slave trade and other, you know, the history of colonialism and so on, so that people are aware of the cultural heritage and those sorts of historical artifacts that are of relevance today. Thanks.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thanks. And as I go to Paul, I want to add something to Paul’s response to that question. So Paul, we spoke about government services and allowing the post offices to be, you know, a one-stop shop in some way. What in your experience have you seen at the UPU with the post becoming that vehicle for including – that’s another version of inclusion now – including citizens who have been, you know, not reached by the government service footprint, in terms of trying to get them to help them, not just with delivering the service itself, so delivering a passport and so on, but maybe even helping them actually apply for a service? Because again, as services go online, some people just don’t know how. don’t have a device, as we spoke about. Maybe there’s an opportunity there for that to happen as well. So, if you have any response to the first part about indigenous, but we’re now gonna switch that as well to the assistive aspect of inclusion. Paul?

Paul Donohoe:
Yeah, Tracey, I think you bring up an important new point around people’s access to the digital world, because a lot of people still find it difficult to complete government forms online, to be able to complete procedures for importing and exporting. And this is where the post office has provided services. So, we know in Lebanon, for example, Lebanon, the government has utilized the post in Lebanon to support completion of online documents with offline verification. So, you initiate the government transaction online through a portal, which is hosted by Liban Post, which is the Lebanese postal service. And then once you get to the submission of the document, you need to provide some physical proof of who you are and the validity of the information provided. So, you then come to the post office. You can schedule an appointment online so that you don’t have to waste your time queuing for or traveling for a long period of time and then having to queue. So, you can schedule an appointment. You can come and visit the post office, verify the online information that you have provided, and then that completes the transaction. And so, that’s also available for people who are not digitally literate. They can basically just initiate an appointment at the post office to say, I want to complete this government process. And then the postman, a woman in the post office will actually assist in completing that process. And that’s a very important part. That’s not just in Lebanon with Liban Post. In Kenya, with the Huduma project, which is a delivery of government services project throughout the country, then Huduma centres are established in post offices again. There are, in Kenya, there are 55 government services that you can have access to through the post office in a variety of hybrid or online services, and again, that supports the local language, the local communities, and the digital literacy issues in there. When we talk about going online, Tracey, I might actually give a bit of a segue into you introducing some ideas into the conversation. Then we talk about how the post can be a facilitator of businesses getting online. But to do that, we need to also empower the post with this capability, and this is something at the UPU that we are working very strongly on. Within the Connect.post project, we are advocating with policymakers for them to be included into the digital plans. We’re advocating for the connectivity of these post offices, but as Rodney just mentioned, connectivity is not enough. There needs to be also this capability within the post office. Also, when businesses go online, there needs to be this assurance of security. When you’re on the digital world, then there’s a whole new set of skills that you need to make sure that you can survive in this digital world as well. So, in the UPU, we are developing programs to support post offices in this capability build, and this is maybe something, Tracey, that you can talk to in terms of the dot post initiative and its context within Connect.post.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you for that segue, Paul. I will share my screen, just as you have allowed me to. to do so, and I’ll show the audience what’s exactly what you’re talking about in terms of the cybersecurity framework that the UPU has looked to build out. Let me just find a way to do this full screen and get this done. Hang on a sec.

Paul Donohoe:
I guess we don’t need to instruct you, so it’s just a matter of finding the right button.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Right. There we are. So I’m hoping you’re seeing my screen now. No? Because it’s sharing. It’s loading. It’s loading. It’s loading slowly. Is it loading? All right. Well, what you should be seeing is a slide that refers to the cybersecurity framework. Let me just try again. Let me try again. Oh, that’s okay. Maybe I’ll leave it there just to avoid any challenges and try and give you a view. What are you seeing? The screen? All right. Great. Okay. Great. So I think I could use this. Let’s get a little bigger maybe. It’s fine? Okay. Let’s use this. So to a large extent, this screen attempts to show the overall UPU cybersecurity policy framework, which is based around what Paul mentioned as the dot post environment. We have a platform, which I’m currently in charge of, that looks to roll out for the posts a secure, trusted environment where you can deliver services utilizing a secure top level domain, the dot post TLD, but also a series of accompanying policy frameworks, services and wrappers around that. So we start with a security framework, as you can see here. I don’t want to get too technical, but rest assured, complying to this framework allows posts and anyone actually, for that matter, to deliver services. that are reasonably secure in terms of getting it at a basic level. We’re not securing it at a network level, we’re doing it at the DNS level here, and looking to secure email as well. So we’re utilizing standards that are well known to the IT folks in the organization, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and also .POST’s DNSSEC compliance, we secure it at the root. And not only that, we have a framework where we can allow you to track your compliance using something called Cybertrack .POST. So once you are part of the .POST environment, you are able to track your compliance on a dashboard that we are able to offer to you. You’ll get alerts, you’ll be able to ensure that on a rolling basis, daily, otherwise, whether you’re compliant with all of our policy frameworks and how we approach that. And as we move forward in terms of what we’re going to do next, we have a learning platform where you can build capacity, as we talked about that earlier, one of the aspects of this inclusion is building capacity around cybersecurity, digital, e-commerce, and so on. So we have built out a learning platform for that to happen. And we are also about to launch a secure .POST portal. What that is going to do is allow the .POST to come in and access partner material from a series of international partners, provides material already. You can put it in one location so that the postal network can get in and access material that is already available in terms of training, infographics, best practices, policies, and so on. And that’s coming soon. We should have that up and running in Q4 of 2023, and that will be available, it will be open to all, but really designed for the postal sector. Not only that, at the UPU we’ve built out a cert for the postal sector that is currently being deployed, and that cert will allow us to respond to incidents within the postal sector that can be then shared as a best practice, depending on what’s happening there, with other members of the sector, and that will eventually lead to something called an ISAC, which we are currently implementing, an information sharing and analysis centre for the entire global postal sector, the regulated sector. So that’s coming soon from .post, and not only that, just to share with you what’s really coming, and you visit our booth in the IGF to learn more, we are going to be offering secure services on our new platform, our .post registration platform. On this platform, you’ll be able to get secure DNS services, secure websites, secure hosting. This is important, because as we mentioned earlier, posts are looking to move forward with e-commerce, marketplaces, and so on. But the skill sets and the capacities that they have within the post are very limited. I’ve been to a few posts, and I’ve seen that sometimes there’s one IT person working there, covering everything, from the PCs on the desk of the workers, to the network, to trying to get just stuff done on a day-to-day basis. So having something as esoteric as an e-commerce platform, and building it out, and doing all the work required, is very challenging. So we plan to offer, at the very least, the infrastructure to allow it to happen at a reasonable price, utilizing our secure platform, so that they can obtain these services. and deploy them very rapidly, so very quick to deploy. And to do that, we are going to offer them, as you said, secure DNS certificates, secure email, secure web hosting. And eventually, once they get all of that right, secure e-commerce, payment platforms and connections to tools like Stripe and the traditional payment services that you may have in your country, whether it be wallets or otherwise. So, Paul, I think that’s a… Thank you for that segue and allowing me to do this. Sorry if I’m not able to do full screen, but certainly you can contact us afterwards to get a demonstration of what we can offer, or you can visit us at our booth in the IGA Village today. Thanks, Paul.

Paul Donohoe:
Yeah, well done, Tracey. And these important new services are really going to help empower the postal network to deliver the types of services that we’ve been discussing. But just to reinforce that actually these services are actually being used already in a number of countries, so in Zimbabwe, I think Tracey, ZimbabweMall.post is a national marketplace that Zimbabwe Post is hosting for the SMEs in Zimbabwe. There are, I believe, over 300 SMEs that have registered on ZimbabweMall, and they are selling their goods online using the platform that Zimbabwe Post, or Zimpost as they’re called, are providing. And this is an example of how posts are supporting the SMEs inclusion in the digital economy with e-commerce support services. They are also providing payment support services. So, this is one of the critical issues in e-commerce, the availability of payment support in many countries for e-commerce is a challenge. Credit cards are not readily available. So, from a financial inclusion perspective. The Post is an important partner in helping businesses to get online and get access to sustainable services. This is a sustainability issue, utilising this public infrastructure to support sustainability of digital inclusion. We also have another example in Rwanda with Rwanda Mall. Rwanda Mall is a national marketplace. Again, there are over 500 SMEs that are registered in Rwanda Mall as a national marketplace to be able to sell online. But the government found that the majority of those SMEs are located in the capital city that are registered. And so there is a push now through the postal network to reach out to the rural areas where many SMEs do exist and to encourage those SMEs to come online with the support of the post office network. And this national marketplace is a very important concept for the policy makers because it encourages exports. It encourages economic development in these communities. The Post is the support service with excellent technical solutions that Tracey is talking about. It gives the security and trust for these marketplaces to exist in the national environment and to encourage SMEs to be able to participate online and also provide them with the necessary training and support. I know with Rodney, we’re working closely between the UPU and the CTU on bringing this capability to the small island developing states in the Caribbean. We’ve recently signed a cooperation agreement. So we’re very proud to be working with the CTU and bringing this capability to the Caribbean postal services and also collaborating with the integration of this within government policy. across the Caribbean, and I think this is going to be very important for the development of the economies in the Caribbean, Rodney.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Yeah, certainly. So I think, Rodney, what we could segue into there is using the MOU that we signed with the CTU as a jumping-off point. And having seen what the first – we’ve actually done one project under that in Barbados already. Having seen what’s happened there, what do you think are the real opportunities that exist now for POST to really offer this digital inclusion vehicle? Digital services as an opportunity for maybe collective action, working together as a region, revenue opportunities, new revenue opportunities in this area, as well as potentially, from where you sit, trying to truly bring the postal network into national digital policy and ensure that they can almost provide the digital inclusion solution, if not all of it, part of it. What are your thoughts on that?

Rodney Taylor:
Yes, there are definitely opportunities for revenue. The examples I mentioned before brought significant revenues to the Barbados Postal Service. So each delivery was the cost. The nominal cost, mind you, it was like $10, which is $5 US for delivery. But compare that to, like I said, the cost of getting public transportation or even driving your car to time off from work and that kind of thing. And so the majority of persons opted to choose that delivery service. There’s still some awareness that has to happen at the level of policymakers who aren’t really yet of that mindset, who don’t fully understand the nexus between digital and postal. So there’s still the notion that everything can be done online. But the reality is that online has to connect at some point with the offline and therefore that collaboration is critical. So there’s need for awareness. The collaboration we have, I mean, Paul is participating in our upcoming ICT week and has an opportunity to present this at the regional level so that we’re on the same page. But the regional, notwithstanding, we will work, as it were, from door to door. So we will work with the Coalition of the Willing. We’ve had expressions of interest from the likes of Belize, even though it’s not an island, but it is classified as one of our CARICOM states. And I think actually you enlisted as a SIDS for some reason, but Belize, the dynamic in Belize is very different. Belize is the same population as Barbados, but it’s spread through a much, much bigger land mass. And therefore, this is something that they’re very, very keen on. Imagine, you know, I talk about taking time off from Barbados, but the truth is you can get from one end of Barbados to the next in about half an hour, 45 minutes, depends how fast you’re driving. But with Belize, you can travel for four hours, you know, from one town to the next. So therefore, it becomes even more important when you have that sort of geographic spread of towns and villages to be able to connect with the post. So there’s some awareness that has to be done. I’ve seen where there are revenue opportunities for the post. I’ve seen where the postal workers themselves get excited about being included in this new digital transformation. And the citizens who interact with them, because again, they’re friendly faces, they’re pleased to see the people that they know helping and in terms of delivering those public service. So I don’t remember the figure, but there was significant revenue that was earned by the post, I think. But I would say that we talked about fulfillment centers and so on and so on. From an infrastructure point of view, there’s a need to ensure that they have positioned themselves. In other words, that whatever renovations they need to do, that the facility is there. If they have to go to the post, there’s a space for it. And Jamaica has done this successfully. Jamaica, one of the largest post offices in the heart of Kingston, has been transformed. It’s been fully modernized. And it’s actually the place where you go to apply. If you don’t apply online, you can go there and apply for your digital identity and have it delivered there to you. I know Jamaica has had some challenges with it. But the fact is they’re working with the post office on that particular initiative. And they have completely renovated the post office and have made it sort of e-commerce ready. And it’s a fulfillment center. Thanks.

Tracey Hackshaw:
And Talan. Thanks, Rodney. The nexus now between the business side of the post. And let’s get perhaps what your thoughts are on whether or not inclusion at a community level from the business side can also extend into the community side. When I say that, when you are talking about content generation, we broached that topic earlier. And having that as a potential revenue opportunity. So there’s very little content from the Central Asian region online. And having your stakeholders learn, consume, and perhaps even earn revenue, write books, sell books online, sell research articles, do research. Do you see that as being something that can happen with the post? And if so, how can community networks assist in that regard? And getting community networks as a… to be a catalyst to make something like that happen.

Talan Sultanov:
Thanks so much, Tracy, for a very good question. Actually, I’m learning a lot from today’s discussion. And certainly, when I’m back home, I’ll share with my colleagues in the postal service. And at the same time, I know that Kyrgyz Postal Service has been looking into different opportunities that digitalization is bringing, including in terms of e-commerce. It also reminded me that in Kyrgyzstan, we are still, postal service is still looking into providing banking services. And I think, if I’m not mistaken, Japan is one of the successful cases here where postal service provides or one of the biggest financial services institutions. And there is one, maybe, story that for Paul’s collection of stories about Kyrgyzstan, how postal service was instrumental in involving people providing government services. So Kyrgyzstan is considered one of the more democratic countries in the region of Central Asia. And our previous president decided that we should have elections based on e-biometrical data and using electronic polling machines. But of course, not everybody had biometric data in the system and not everybody had digital IDs. And the postal offices became the hubs to help people get all that data. And it had to be done within just, I think, maybe a couple of months. Everybody, if you wanted to participate in the elections, you needed to register through the system. And grandmas, grandparents, young people, everybody would go to the post office and get services in local languages or step-by-step guidance in doing this. As a result, in Kyrgyzstan we had elections which were unprecedented. I mean, for the past 20 years, every election we would have protests the following day. Because there were so many opposition parties contesting. When we did this new approach, the following day it was so quiet. For Kyrgyzstan it’s unusual to have a quiet day after the election. Because everybody trusted the system. And maybe not everybody knew about the cyber security threats. So this is coming back to your presentation. And those who are more into digitalization, they were concerned. Now I’ve submitted my biometric data to the government through the postal service. But is it safe? We don’t know. I hope it’s safe. But for sure we need to follow up on your presentation to ensure and double ensure that all the data is actually secure and safe.

Paul Donohoe:
Maybe if I can just follow up on that, Talent. Those issues are faced in many countries. And even in the advanced countries where we think that everything is well established, even the role of the post in supporting advanced countries in this area is still evident. I’m thinking of Switzerland. So this year Switzerland will hold electronic voting. And Swiss Post is actually one of the providing agencies to support the electronic voting system in Switzerland for elections. So in Switzerland they’ve taken that one step further as actually the post is supporting the e-voting system itself within the country. But Talent, I think I want to take another angle with you as well in terms of the ISOC’s activities. And I know that you’re active in community networks and the deployment of community networks. And I wonder if you see, out of this discussion today, if you see a role that the post could play in the deployment of community networks, even maybe to the extent of co-location of infrastructure in postal facilities, the logistics to get equipment distributed into community centers. I wonder if you’ve got some ideas or some feedback on that sort of concept.

Talan Sultanov:
Thanks so much. For sure, there are already several thoughts that I have that could be done together with the post office, starting with the physical infrastructure and network of postal services across the country. And Rodney mentioned about the fulfillment centers. I think the postal offices in Kyrgyzstan are already trying to become kind of, if not leaders, but active participants of this system, providing digital skills trainings. For example, when we go to remote locations, oftentimes there are no official or government buildings or kind of suitable offices where you can have a training. And if you have a place, oftentimes you don’t have workers who could provide these kind of trainings, because villagers are usually, you know, they’re tending their animals or are in the fields, and usually postal workers and municipal workers are the kind of front lines of people who local communities actually expect. When nationally there is a new service, they would come and ask the postal service officers and municipal service officers, like, teach us what’s going on in the center. And I think the postal officers could be, like, in the avant-garde in terms of providing these trainings. And for us, when we work on these kinds of activities, We feel very short-handed because we don’t have the network of facilities and network of people like the Postal Service does, so I think there could be a lot of collaboration in that.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thanks, Talan.. I think we have some intervention’s from the floor.

Audience:
Beville Wadding is, in this case, will be representing the Caribbean Network Operators group, a volunteer-based group of computer and network engineers who have been looking at ways to offer and support digital solutions throughout the Caribbean. I’m listening to the presentation that Tracy gave, and I’m very impressed with the initiatives that are coming out, and just wondered if there was a way for us to support that within the context of the Caribbean. We have been working very closely with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union. We have everything from digital training and literacy type programs that I think would do very well if they were aligned to initiatives like this, which will help with postal improvement, which is tied to the digital economy. So is there opportunity for collaboration, support, working alongside, where those volunteers that we have will be very keen to help support at the national and regional level, would be able to join something like this and help accelerate the deployment?

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you, Beville. So I’ll address that question after I see that’s another. Do you have a question, ma’am? Yes. Maybe take this one as well.

Audience:
Thank you very much for the presentations, which are very exciting and enlightening. I’m Christine Mujimba. I work with the regulator in Uganda, who also oversees the postal sector. And so hearing all this, I was actually pleasantly surprised of the opportunities in comparison to what is happening on ground in terms of the readiness of our national post operator to actually leverage these opportunities. So my question is, from your experience, what are the key critical success factors, especially from a policy perspective, to position the postal network to actually take on those opportunities? Because the current status is more on some post offices closing, issues of sustainability, the balance between the obligations for universal service vis-a-vis also competition from other courier companies that have come in and gone into the logistic market. So we have, for example, how you’d have Uber here going into deliveries and things like that. So I’m interested in knowing the experience of, especially from a policy perspective, what can be done to reposition what is seemingly like dying, to the point of that gentleman from Caribbean, like something that got stuck in, couldn’t compete with email, and has been overtaken. And yet there’s so much opportunity from what I’m hearing. Thank you.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you so much for your question, as well. So I think we’ll start with answering the Revel Woodings question. So we’ll toss to Rodney, and maybe, Paul, you could take the, it’s above my pay grade, so you can take the other one.

Rodney Taylor:
Yeah, I just wanted to, just while we have an example, and yes, we do work with CaribNog, but just to draw the example of the support we provided to the Caribbean Postal Union, where the website was down, is a very resource-constrained organization. And we, noticing that the website was down, reached out to them and helped them register a post domain, using Richard from my office. Just that basic level of support. And I suspect, as they struggle, a lot of the other territories will struggle. You mentioned there’s one IT guy who’s doing everything. So even by way of, first of all, bringing together the technical community to work with Tracy to understand what the dot post initiative is all about, what are the technical requirements, and then supporting, you know, there are a lot of young people in Carib Nog as well and maybe we can leverage them. We wouldn’t be able to afford, say, someone of Niall’s caliber, you know, he’s an international resource. But you can use some of the young people to help, just sort of basic support, help the post offices get off the ground. And so if you go to cpu.post, you’ll see how we were able to support the postal union. I see the need for that kind of support going forward. But of course, I think it would be useful for the next Carib Nog to have a presentation from you and work with the engineers, if it hasn’t been done yet, to get a better understanding of what is required.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you very much, Mr. Taylor. So I think that’s a very good, that’s sold. Let’s make that happen. To answer the question from the Uganda regulator, Paul, maybe you could take that. As I said, I think it’s above my pay grade. So maybe you could.

Paul Donohoe:
Yeah, happy. Excuse me. Happy to, Tracy. But also, I’d just like to respond to Neville’s question as well, because I think that the post is there to support the national skills that are available in a variety of different sectors. And so if there can also be this partnership with the post office, it can help support technical expertise that’s available in the young, also with universities. with local associations, these resources are there to work with the post office. So, the post office would love to reach out into these communities, gain access to these skills and use those to share with, first of all, postal employees. As I mentioned at the beginning of this, one of the things that has to happen is actually education of postal employees around the digital capability, what is possible and how it is possible, which is the second most important thing. So, working with these local associations, I think, is an excellent idea and is something that we have seen being done in other parts of the world. So, I would very much support that within the Caribbean and we can continue that discussion, Rodney, under our collaboration. Let me come to the second question from Christine. Thank you very much for what is a very interesting question and the key challenges that we see in this are to do with awareness and to do with, Rodney mentioned this before, about the change in mindset about what this public infrastructure is possibly able to deliver in terms of the government’s goals. And that’s where we are working very closely together. The UPU has this program, Connect.Post, which is discussing the new use of the postal network as a means for governments to achieve sustainable development goals, economic development and digital development. And so, our role is to advocate for this change to happen. And as Rodney mentioned, policy makers in some ways are not aware. They’re thinking of, as you mentioned, Christine, the old role of the post in delivering letters. And letters are not a significant part of the economy, particularly in your region, for example. E-commerce is where the activity is and the competition that you mentioned is happening. And so, as a regulator, you are seeing the development of the e-commerce logistics space in effectively in competition with the post office, but the post office is really about universal service for letters. Now, there needs to be a change in mindset about what is universal service. What does the community need in this new age of e-commerce? The community needs quality, reliable logistics delivery services, coming back to the Santa Claus analogy at the beginning of this from talent. People expect now quality delivery. And many of these competitors that you refer to in your market are mainly focused on the urban areas because that’s where the issue is. So, universal access to e-commerce is a point across the whole of Uganda. So, the rural communities in Uganda should have the same right to e-commerce access as the people who are living in the urban areas. And so, this is a new dialogue that we are encouraging. Now, it’s a two-way dialogue. The governments are not really aware of this new value that the public network, the public postal network can bring, but also it’s a responsibility of the post to advocate for this new role with the policy makers as well. So, it’s a two-way discussion. We’ve seen very good examples. I’ve mentioned Zimbabwe. It’s been a discussion between the government and the postal operator with the regulator involved as well about how the public postal infrastructure can deliver on government’s goals and be an implementation arm for government policy, particularly e-commerce strategy, digital transformation strategy. We’ve seen in Ghana where Ghana has been recognised in the new digital strategy for Ghana. the post office in Ghana has been recognised as an implementation partner to bring the inclusion elements that we’ve discussed on this panel today. It requires a new thought process. And we see with now the next generation coming into the policymaking environment, the next generation coming into the leadership of the post, then they are educated in the possibilities of the digital economy. And they are as more excited than we are about the opportunities for true inclusion across the whole country. And this is the really important issue that the Public Postal Network provides. It is an inclusion vehicle for social inclusion, for digital inclusion, for financial inclusion. And Talat mentioned the example of Japan Post, the Japan Postal Savings Bank was one of the largest banks in the world, in fact. And that’s a traditional role for postal savings. That’s a traditional role as children, you were given access to a postal savings account and it was your pocket money that you were saving in a postal savings bank account. And that’s a traditional role in many, many countries. But there have been posts that have recently entered the banking services. And it’s a trend that we see in a number of posts. India Post has 155,000 post offices across every community in India. And they are banking the unbanked. They are providing postal savings banks, they are providing financial services to all in India, in all 155,000 post offices. The Indian government has seen the benefit of connecting these post offices. So they have connected, all of the Indian post offices are connected with available connectivity to support banking services, postal services, e-commerce services. So, yeah, the critical success factors, you asked, from a policy perspective are, first of all, to be aware of the new role that this public infrastructure can play in achieving government goals. We advocate for it to be integrated, the postal network, to be integrated into digital strategies, into e-commerce strategies, so we’re working with UNCTAD, for example, as part of the E-Trade for All initiative, where we are doing assessments across the world with the government, with the ministry, on e-commerce development, and we’re integrating the post in e-commerce strategies and e-commerce policies, and action plans for the development of e-commerce. We’re working with the CTU in the Caribbean, along the same lines as well, of integrating the post into digital capability development with policy makers and regulators. The sustainability of this public infrastructure is a critical issue for the policy makers. As you mentioned, the letters revenue is dying, so diversification of services to help the sustainability of this public infrastructure is a vital thing, and the diversification of services is not about exclusivity. It’s about partnering with banks. It’s about partnering with e-commerce companies. It’s about a public-private partnership between this public infrastructure and the private sector services capability, and to use the postal network as a vehicle to reach all of the population. The private sector has the solutions, but they don’t have access to the market. The post office has access to the market, but doesn’t have solutions, so the partnership between the public sector and the private sector is an important policy issue that post offices, regulators and policy makers should be considering in terms of sustainability and economic development. and diversification, so it was a very long answer, I’m sorry, but hopefully it addresses the points that you asked, Christine.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Yeah, thanks, I think it’s a very comprehensive answer. It’s also your last word, because we have just less than two minutes left, so I’m gonna ask my colleagues on the panel to wrap up in about a minute. So here’s the wrap-up. This also helps with our reporting. Give me one key takeaway and one call to action that you would like to make in regards to the Postal Network being a vehicle for digital inclusion, given your experiences.

Rodney Taylor:
So I would say the call to action at the level of policymakers is to push for greater awareness across CARICOM, so we are working with one or two, and we should continue to push so that we have proof of concept, but we should also embark on a very heavily on an awareness campaign so that we have more collective action within the Caribbean.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you very much. Talent, one takeaway, one call to action.

Talan Sultanov:
Well, I think clearly there are so many opportunities that postal services, especially in Kyrgyzstan, could take advantage of, and of course it will depend a lot on learning from the global experience and being agile and nimble on the national level.

Tracey Hackshaw:
All right, and since you’re so short and brief, I could ask Paul maybe to give us one takeaway and one call to action.

Paul Donohoe:
Yeah, thanks, Tracy. So I think the key takeaway that I bring is that there is an interest in exploring the use of this public infrastructure for digital inclusion. That’s clear from our discussions today. There is a call to action to the governments to reflect on their commitments that they made 20 years ago at WSIS about ensuring that post offices, libraries, and schools, as you mentioned before, were key implementation agents for connectivity and digital inclusion. That’s still as relevant today as it was 20 years ago. And the call to action is for governments and policymakers to make their commitments that were made 20 years ago.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Thank you very much. And I would like to give my own final call to action. Do it, but do it safely and do it securely. Come to us for advice on that and we can help you with that. With that, I’d like to end this discussion. Thank you so much for your participation, for your engagement, for the great knowledge shared. This recording will be available online on the Internet Governance Forum YouTube channel. So if you missed anything, feel free to review it. Thank you once again. Do enjoy the rest of your day. Enjoy the rest of the IGF. Enjoy Kyoto. Konnichiwa. And before leaving, arigato.

Talan Sultanov:
Taste the chocolate, please. Everybody deserved a little bit of it.

Tracey Hackshaw:
Chocolate for free. Thank you all.