Networking Session #74 Digital Innovations Forum- Solutions for the Offline People

Summary

This discussion focused on efforts by various organizations to improve internet access and digital inclusion globally, particularly in developing regions. Representatives from donor organizations, government agencies, and foundations shared their initiatives and perspectives on challenges in this area.

Key themes included the need for affordable broadband access, digital skills development, and addressing widening digital divides. Many speakers emphasized the importance of coordinating efforts between donors and stakeholders to avoid duplication and maximize impact. Innovative approaches mentioned included using local NGOs and digital ambassadors to reach underserved communities, integrating digital literacy into formal education, and employing blended financing models.

Challenges highlighted included regulatory barriers, geopolitical issues limiting work in certain countries, and ensuring projects maintain market competitiveness. Several participants noted the difficulty in reaching the most vulnerable populations due to sanctions or security concerns. The need to address the digital gender divide was also raised as a priority.

Looking ahead, speakers suggested focusing on areas like AI governance, cloud transformation for countries, and completing partially implemented projects. There was broad agreement on the need for continued dialogue and knowledge sharing between funders and implementers. Suggestions included creating simplified grant processes, taking a whole-of-government approach to digital transformation, and finding ways to work within legal frameworks to support restricted areas.

Overall, the discussion underscored the complex, multifaceted nature of expanding meaningful internet access globally and the ongoing need for collaboration and innovation in this space.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– Challenges in improving internet access and digital inclusion, including affordability, digital literacy, and reaching underserved populations

– The need for better coordination and collaboration between donors and organizations working on digital development projects

– Innovative approaches to funding and implementing digital inclusion initiatives, such as working with local partners and simplifying grant processes

– The importance of addressing widening digital divides and emerging issues like AI governance

– Barriers to funding certain regions due to sanctions and geopolitical issues

The overall purpose of the discussion was to bring together representatives from donor organizations, regulators, and foundations to share their work on digital inclusion projects, discuss challenges, and explore opportunities for collaboration and improved coordination of efforts.

The tone of the discussion was collaborative and solution-oriented. Participants were open in sharing both successes and challenges in their work. There was a sense of urgency around addressing digital divides and a willingness to consider new approaches. The tone became more action-oriented towards the end as participants discussed concrete next steps and ways to continue the dialogue.

Speakers

– Amrita Choudhury: Moderator

– Franz von Weizsäcker: Representative from GIZ

– David Hevey: Representative from Australian Department of Foreign Affairs

– Zhang Xiao: Representative from CNNIC (China Network Information Center)

– Sarah Armstrong: Representative from ISOC Foundation

– Rajnesh Singh: CEO of APNIC Foundation

– Samia Melhem: Representative from World Bank

Additional speakers:

– Ekaterina (Katrina): Commissioner from Georgia

– Shadia (Sharir): Representative from Islamic Development Bank

Revised Summary of Digital Inclusion Discussion

This report summarizes a discussion on efforts to improve internet access and digital inclusion globally, with a focus on developing regions. Representatives from donor organizations, government agencies, and foundations shared their initiatives and perspectives on challenges in this area.

Key Themes and Speakers’ Contributions

1. David Hevey (Australian Government):

– Discussed infrastructure investments in Pacific Island countries

– Emphasized the importance of affordable broadband access

– Suggested developing cloud transformation roadmaps for countries like PNG and Vanuatu

– Stressed the need for regional coordination among donors to avoid overloading recipient countries

2. Franz von Weizsäcker (GIZ):

– Highlighted social insurance and digital skills programs in Southeast Asia

– Emphasized the importance of funding local organizations for better context understanding

– Advocated for a decentralized decision-making approach in project implementation

– Proposed simplifying grant processes to better support local innovation

3. Sarah Armstrong (Internet Society Foundation):

– Discussed digital literacy programs for women with disabilities

– Emphasized the need to address the digital gender divide

– Highlighted the foundation’s focus on innovative technologies, digital skills training, and internet economy

4. Zhang Xiao (formerly with ITU):

– Emphasized the importance of digital literacy programs for elderly populations

– Highlighted the need to address AI governance in the context of digital development

5. Rajnesh Singh (APNIC Foundation):

– Raised concerns about widening digital divides across multiple layers of society

– Mentioned an innovation fund for inclusion, knowledge, and infrastructure

– Highlighted challenges related to sanctions and geopolitical issues limiting aid to certain economies

– Emphasized the need for multi-modal approaches rather than relying on a single technology

6. Samia Melhem (World Bank):

– Discussed initiatives in digital public infrastructure and sectoral applications

– Emphasized the importance of local knowledge and capacity building

– Stressed the need to complete and perfect started projects rather than initiating new ones

7. Shadia (Islamic Development Bank):

– Highlighted the bank’s focus on digital transformation and innovation

– Discussed initiatives to support member countries in digital development

8. Ekaterina (Commissioner from Georgia):

– Shared information about a broadband development program in rural Georgia

– Discussed digital literacy initiatives implemented in the country

Challenges and Considerations

1. Affordability: Multiple speakers emphasized the need for affordable broadband access, particularly in developing regions.

2. Digital Literacy: Various digital literacy programs were discussed, targeting different demographics such as elderly populations, women with disabilities, and rural communities.

3. Widening Digital Divides: Concerns were raised about current approaches potentially exacerbating inequality rather than reducing it.

4. Cybersecurity: The need for robust security measures alongside increased access was highlighted.

5. Regulatory and Geopolitical Barriers: Sanctions and geopolitical issues often limit the ability to provide aid to certain economies, presenting a significant challenge to digital inclusion efforts.

6. Market Competitiveness: Balancing market competitiveness with funding rural access initiatives was identified as a challenge.

7. Donor Coordination: The need for better coordination among donor organizations to avoid duplication of efforts and ensure more effective use of resources was emphasized.

Future Focus Areas and Considerations

1. Implementing digital literacy in formal education

2. Addressing the digital gender divide more effectively

3. Supporting cloud transformation roadmaps for countries

4. Improving monitoring and evaluation of digital development projects

5. Addressing AI governance in digital development contexts

6. Facilitating partnerships between large organizations and NGOs for project funding and implementation

7. Ensuring follow-up projects to complete and perfect initiatives that have been started

8. Exploring ways to work within legal frameworks to support people in countries where direct funding is challenging due to sanctions or regulations

9. Simplifying grant application processes to make them more accessible to local organizations

The moderator suggested creating a mailing list for continued dialogue among donors, highlighting the ongoing need for collaboration and information sharing in this space.

In conclusion, the discussion underscored the complex, multifaceted nature of expanding meaningful internet access globally. While challenges remain, particularly in terms of coordination and reaching the most vulnerable populations, there was a clear commitment among participants to finding innovative solutions and improving the effectiveness of digital inclusion efforts.

Amrita Choudhury: . . . . . . . Hi everyone and thank you for coming this afternoon. My name is Amrita and I would be the moderator of this session and I hope you can hear me. Okay. France has gone to get some water. Kind of setup but we have to make do with this. So this discussion is primarily to it’s an interactive open discussion which we are having today. And we have a few donor organizations and regulators here, you know, and what we want to do is have a discussion on, you know, the kind of projects they are doing, why they’re investing in these kind of projects, what challenges they see. And if there could be a way ahead in how there could be some synergies between the different entities. Oops, sorry. Sorry. There could be some exchange of information, or you know even gap analysis as to what could be done better. to explore collaborations, if possible. So with us today, and this is going to be open. We’ll have some questions. And I’ll throw to all the speakers here. And then you can ask questions or even give comments. You can raise your hand. And we have with us France from GIZ. And then we have David, who is from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. We have Xiaoxiao Sinig. We have Sarah Armstrong from the ISOC Foundation. We are supposed to have Samia, but I think she’s not here from the World Bank. We have E. Katrina, who is the commissioner from Georgia. Yes, that’s about it for now. We may have one or two more colleagues who may be joining for this discussion. So without much ado. Sorry, and I forgot the organizers, as in Raj Singh is here, who is the CEO of APNIC Foundation. And sorry, Raj, for this. So I don’t want to waste much time. 60 minutes, I think, five minutes have already gone. So my first question to all the panelists would be, are you supporting projects to improve internet access and inclusion? And if yes, what do you perceive, from your perspective, are the two main issues that need to be addressed? And since David is just next to me, David, you’re the first one.

David Hevey: Thank you very much for that. Actually, to be honest, I don’t need to say that. I would cut out. No, it’s just in. Sorry about that. Thank you for the question. I know it’s supposed to be an informal roundtable, but I’ve got some notes that I’ve been told to read off as well. So bear with me. Thank you. Is that there? Australia is working with the Indo-Pacific regional partners to achieve greater connectivity. and improve and achieve inclusive internet access. For example, our Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility, we’ve been partnering with Pacific Island countries on investments to support all Pacific Island countries, or PICs as we call it, having primary telecommunications cable connectivity by the end of 2025. So that’s been a really big focus of that facility. Since 2018, we’ve committed 350 million Australian dollars on that. Again, it keeps on cutting out, apologies. The facilities also made more investments for end connectivity to build out a secure and resilient, reliable digital ecosystem. So this is actually also in some investment in like terrestrial infrastructure, we’ve seen in PNG, and also in other Pacific Island countries as well. I’d say, so that’s the infrastructure aspect covered. But in terms of the work that we’re supporting for secure and inclusive internet access, we go also, we have our 2023 to 2030 cybersecurity in Australia. So across in line with that, we’ve actually got a Southeast Asia and Pacific Capacity Building Program across both Southeast Asia and the Pacific regions. We’ve been focused on cybersecurity, including and improving resilience in cybercrime and online scam response. So that’s what we’ve sort of been focused on there. And the program’s also supported Australia’s e-Safety Commission work. So, having been at the booth here today with the Australia booth, if you haven’t already, please go there. It’s a koala photo time soon. But we’ve also sort of focused on online safety work as well for digital inclusion. I think also another important thing, and I’m almost finished, please bear with me I’m sorry, but digital trade. Digital trade has also been a key part as well. We recognise that as an important inclusionary tool. So what we try and do is we’ve been advocating digital trade rules to achieve trust in the online environment, including online consumer protection, but also facilitating cooperation so that trading partners can actually make the most of digital trade. So I’ll leave it at that there, and thank you. Challenges. Challenges, okay. Well, I suppose the two main issues or challenges that we think need to be addressed, again, I kind of touched on it before, but it’s a cyber resilience piece. We talked about, again, as I said, the rapid response that we’ve got set up and deploying incident response. We set that up after Vanuatu and Tonga had cyber incidents, which Australia had deployed some assistance in late 2022, early 23. That’s all publicly out there and which we acknowledge. So we saw that there was a genuine need for working with our regional partners to assist with incident response. So that’s why we set up that facility under the last year’s federal budget a couple of years ago. What we’ve also done, I think, we’ve also sort of, again, on the cyber crime, and the reason why we focus on cyber crime in terms of the two priorities, and cyber crime and cyber-enabled crime, as many of us know, it’s increasing. And because it can impact individuals and small to medium enterprises, it can actually have much more profound impact as well. So that’s some of the challenges that we see there. For example, where we’re putting some rubber to hit the road there, so to speak. We’ve partnered with New Zealand and also Identity Care Australia for some trial funding over this year, where we’ve actually got a support service. service for them to work with impacted individuals and businesses in PNG and Fiji to respond to delivering tailored cybercrime and online scam response assistance. So that gives a measure in terms of what we’re trying to prioritise as a key challenge. And I suppose just covering off, I’m realising I’m running out of time, but the second main issue that we see that needs addressing is actually prioritising regional coordination. We have so many actors and donors out there as well, look at us all sitting up on the stage here, thank you for joining me, but I used to work on some capacity building assistance programs with DFAT in the Pacific and, for example, you’d have one person that might have three or four different roles that would also then have to go to four or five different trainings as well. So there’s always a challenge in terms of ensuring that we’re not overloading the people that we’re actually trying to help in country there as well. So that’s why Australia’s working with the partners of the Blue Pacific, so that’s Australia, New Zealand, UK, US, Canada, Japan, and Germany as well, and Korea. That’s why we set up through that partners of the Blue Pacific, the Pacific Cyber Capacity and Coordination Conference, so I’ll take a breath after that, apologies. And that’s one of the key outcomes of the initial and the intersessional meetings was around ensuring that people, better coordination. I’ll leave it at that. Thank you.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you so much. Raj, you will come last. I’m not going to give you to speak right now. So I’ll go to Franz. Franz, over to you. GIZ has been doing a lot of work, so is there some synergy? They’re working a lot on cybersecurity, and he also mentioned something like regional coordination between donors, et cetera, but overall to you.

Franz von Weizsäcker: Definitely, I mean, and I would be speaking for a very long time if I was going to go through all the project lists that we’re having, having over 1,000 projects of whom maybe 30% has some relevance in digital transformation. But maybe the focus on the region, Asia, you could look at the inclusion, digital inclusion, access to internet, access to affordable internet at different levels. I mean, we don’t obviously invest in telecommunications industry. That’s the private sector job. In some cases, we have advisory projects to regulatory bodies, also at the regional level, at the ASEAN level in Jakarta. But what we mainly focus on is a different level of inclusion. We have a very big program in Cambodia as well as in Indonesia on digital inclusion for social safety and security, and that forms a very basis of inclusivity also in the less explored parts of the, less developed parts of the country where the internet affordability is lower. Because generally we have in many parts of Asia pretty large coverage, a high percentage of the population is in principle reached, but affordability is a major issue. And maybe India is the best positive example in terms of having a very capable regulator and a very competitive telecommunications industry that allows the prices per gigabyte to drop as low as nobody else in the world. And then there are some negative examples where we have, I think, especially Central Africa has the highest price per gigabyte around the world. And the reason for that is it’s not a good investment environment. It’s not safe. There’s no good rule of law. There is no good regulatory environment, no good competition, and so on. So that’s the very basis of affordable and inclusive internet connectivity. But then in GIZ, we’re also addressing the more, like a few of the soft enablers that come on top of that. One is the general inclusivity of society. That’s why social insurance programs in Indonesia and Cambodia, and a lot of the other programs focus on the institutions for education that is both at the level of general education as well as vocational training, technical training institutes. And those focusing also on the on the digital skills in that area. So there’s a few regional projects that we also focus on in Asia. That is the GIZ focus and when we come to talk to challenges, well their challenges are at many different levels. But if we focus on the core of internet connectivity, the usual challenge is it’s a very political landscape, the regulations of telecommunications. This is a billion-dollar business and of course a lot of interest is involved in there. The form, how the regulation is shaped, influences whether companies can be profitable or not. So that is maybe the key challenge and in many cases we have seen that the rural access funds for other purposes and in some cases they’re not not resulting in actual that is in any public sector funding you always have as many silos as you have that’s a very typical situation and that’s why maybe we should look at the there was a big meta study done by I think USAID who looked into aid effectiveness and who noticed that aid is much much more effective when it’s funded it’s it’s channeled into local organizations and those projects are the most effective ones that have a large part of the budget being allocated to rather than having the big international implementers implementing all by themselves so that is maybe one one approach in terms of coordination is not only the big donors talking with each other but also the funding lines being dispersed to local organizations. Thank you.

Amrita Choudhury: For bringing in even the regulatory environment, the use of access funds rural access funds like India has good things but the rural access fund has not been used. The USOFPO is used everywhere but not giving success. Zhao, over to you.

Zhang Xiao: Well actually this year is a very particular year for China. In 1994 internet was introduced into China so exactly for 30 years we see from internet users amount is huge. Actually we as a dossier but we also do policy research and statistics for the internet coverage rate. The penetration rate is 78% but if we we include the children that mean under 10 years old if we exclude this this group according to the national more internationally the penetration rate will be over 91%. Actually it’s 1.1 billion it’s going to be 1.1 billion at the end of the month. So nearly the mobile penetration rate is 100% so everyone is just I just take my cell phone to go anywhere I don’t need to take a card I don’t need to my key I don’t need to take something else and I can just take a phone my smartphone so we see the It’s huge. So the internet penetration rate is huge. We actually, for .cn, we recorded some data. From data we can see that a lot of things going on. So from my view, I think there are two challenges for the inclusion of the internet. The first thing is the elderly people because the penetration rate is good and we have 1.1 billion already, a huge amount of people, but because we are entering an elderly society, normally it’s 18.7% of Chinese people, over 60 and above, and going to be 20%. And in the following, not more than 20 years, it’s going to be 35% of the total population is going to be 60 and above. And like my father, he couldn’t use a smartphone well and a lot of smart appliances he couldn’t use that well. So he has access, but he couldn’t use that well. So that’s a big problem for the elderly society. It’s not a problem just in China. I think in Europe, in Japan, and some other countries as well. And the second question I think for us is, while still there are some 2.6 billion people have no access to the internet. How could we help them? I think we have best practice. We have a lot of cases to share and we could call on investments, a lot of things to do to help them. Also in China, we still have 10% of them have no access. But really, if you look at the reason why they have no access, it’s not just investment in the telecom. It’s because they have no digital literacy. They don’t recognize the characters. They can’t read or write. And it’s another reason they have no awareness that it’s important. It’s of no importance. It has nothing to do with my life. So I think still we have a long way to go. Thank you. I have a follow-up question for you. What’s CENIC doing? Is CENIC playing a role? Yes, yes. Actually, we are for .CNN. We have an operate .CNN. And it’s huge. We have 20 million users actually. And we are, I don’t want to put it in technically, but also we have research policy for the usage retail of the internet. So with our data and our research, we support policymaking. And like, for example, how many women are using the internet? If you look at the gender, it’s quite balanced. China, 49% of users are women and 51% are men. And also we can see the age classification. So with these results, we can support policymaking. And what we should do next, I think the telecom and all the governments are very interested in it.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you so much, Sarah. ISOC Foundation is investing a lot in various projects. So what is it you are investing in the ICT projects? Primarily that’s where your focus is. And what do you see as the main challenges at this point?

Sarah Armstrong: Okay. So the Internet Society Foundation is a supporting organization for the Internet Society. And we are responsible for giving grants. And we do this throughout the world. In fact, we were started in the first operational year in 2020. And since that time up until now, our fifth operational year, we have distributed over $63 million in funding. We’ve issued more than a thousand grants and we are working or have worked in 121 countries. Specifically when it relates to the APAC region, we’ve done nearly $5 million right now at this current time. And we have 37 active grants in the APAC region. Now these are some overall statistics about the Internet Society Foundation, but I’d like to give you some specific examples to answer your question of some of the things that we are funding. So we are again, a funding organization. We work with organizations throughout the world and we are definitely interested in the issue of connectivity access. And then we also care a lot about how people can benefit from the Internet and how they can be up-skilled. in order to learn what the things are that they need to do to increase their economic opportunities and their education. So an example in Indonesia, we have a project called Kota Kita. It’s part of our skills program. We have 11 different programs. I won’t go into them all, but I will just say this is a skills program. It’s about building digital literacy. And they are working actually with women with disabilities to help them with social enterprises. So that is a growth opportunity there that’s focused on training that we think is really important. And we have many training programs, but that’s an example in the APAC region. We have another grantee, Digital Empowerment Fund that works in India. So this program right now is aiming to bring 50,000 people across 100 communities worldwide, and they are working with tea tribes throughout an area of India. They’re also doing a resiliency grant. This is a program where we help communities prepare for disasters that we know will come so that they’re better equipped to deal and be ready to get back up online and communicate. The small island states are certainly an area that we believe in targeting, and we will be doing more of that in 2025 going forward. We also are, excuse me, funding an organization called the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer, IEEE. This is a resiliency grant, again, another grant to help communities prepare for the inevitable disasters that will come and be ready. And this is working right now, aiming to impact directly 20,000 people. So the final project to share in the APAC region, it’s not the only, this is not the only set of the grants that we have, but I wanted to give you an idea to answer the question of what it is we are funding to help with this situation. And this is a beyond the net large grant where they’re providing literacy skill building and to allow citizens to participate in e-government services provided by the government of Kyrgyzstan. Very important, again, it’s not just getting access, it’s knowing what to do once you have that access. There’s also a research grant where they are creating an open and secure IOT infrastructure for monitoring and preventing emergencies in landlocked mountainous communities. So we’re doing a lot in APAC, we’re doing a lot throughout the world. We don’t do the work ourselves, we fund the work. So we are a funder. And I think to talk about the biggest issues, affordable, meaningful access and how we can do that, we find to be extremely important. And then the others, as I was saying, I’m sure that training is part of a lot of the programs that we do so that we can be sure people are benefiting to the fullest. So those are the areas that we know are challenged. And I guess the biggest challenge too, quite frankly, is that the need to connect and we have still 2.6 billion people who are not connected.

Amrita Choudhury: Some places have been giving the grants, like in India, you can’t give for many people. People also is a challenge. But Ekaterina, I will come to you, but I will first talk to the donors and we have some here. Thank you for joining and Shadia came in. If you could share, World Bank is in a lot of things, but what ICT project… And it’s so good to be here with all our partners and friends from the UN system.

Samia Melhem: The World Bank has been doing a lot on digital and we are scaling up our products and services. We, as you know, the World Bank provides financing support either through loans or grants and for the low and really low income countries, most of the assistance is through what we call AIDA grants. So we’re seeing an unprecedented increase in AIDA grants. We have around 100 billion mobilized for that round. And unlike the last 10 years, digital has become a big priority at the World Bank. We’ve been reorganized and digital became one big vice presidential unit at par with human capital, sustainable development and infrastructure. So it’s really big for us in terms of both the attention, the mandate and the resources that are being made available to support digital acceleration. For one reason, we are worried about that big digital divide. We are seeing the impact it’s causing on attaining the SDGs. You know very well that countries that are adopting digital are much more likely, 45% more likely, in fact, to achieve the SDGs on time. We are also seeing the big gap in the job markets, how all the jobs are kind of almost monopolized in countries where you have high end, high value jobs, pretty much because you have strong capacity in STEM and digital skills. And these never happen without a strong digital public infrastructure. If these kids grow up with no connection and by the time they’re connected, they’re 50, they would have missed out on a lot of job opportunities. So we’re seeing that. We’re seeing that more now with AI, AI which needs really a lot of data, a lot of good data if we want it to be useful, if we want it to be ethical, but it also needs data in all the spoken languages we are talking about, specifically as we mentioned here, Asia in general or South Asia. So really a lot to do and we are pushing to accelerate. Our focus is, as all my colleagues said affordable broadband for all. The second one is financing with government and private sector not only telecom but also the digital public infrastructure, the government networks, the digital ID, the shared services, the authentication and security, and then the sectoral applications for health, education, transport, security, so on so forth. The last one you brought it so well digital skills. What is this use if we’re putting millions and billions if people cannot use it or if they depend on the north or the west or whatever we call it to provide that. So really and and here everybody what everybody said is really music to my ear and I completely agree with all the focus on digital skills, building local capacity, investing in NGOs. Look as you transfer capacity to a local entity whether it’s a government or a private sector are they going to be as great in the beginning than the top consulting firms? No, but they know the local context, they know who does what, they have the local intel that many times these big firms don’t have and they fail just because of that. They have the know-how they don’t know the context. So I think I outlined the challenges. If I can just focus on one thing which is very dear to me which is what you all mentioned really cooperation at a country level, at a regional level making sure that we put all that good know-how and financing in coherent pieces so that one day we’ll be sitting here and the 2.6 billion people would have been connected with meaningful access. Thank you.

Amrita Choudhury: So well said. Raj, I’ll come to you and then Sharya. You know APNIC Foundation, what you’re doing and what do you see as challenges?

Rajnesh Singh: Thank you Amrita and it’s nice to have all of you join this session. So thank you for making time for it. In terms of what the APNIC Foundation does, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that no one knows the Asia-Pacific better than we do. We’ve been around for over 30 years. We’ve built most of the internet infrastructure in the region in some way or form. We’ve helped with training, with capacity building, and so on. The foundation itself, of course, is the development arm of APNIC, which is the Regional Internet Registry. We have the longest running innovation fund in the region that’s been running for over 16 years now, the Information Society Innovation Fund. We have funded programs across inclusion, knowledge, and infrastructure, which are the three pillars of the program. And whether it’s senior citizens or upskilling women or improving gender diversity in the workforce, we do all of that. We’re a small organization, but we do a lot of work. So one of the things we like to say is that we are more about action rather than words. So action, not words. I’ll get to some of the issues and challenges I see. One is, and this has concerned me for quite a while, and if you’ve had me speak before, I keep on repeating the same thing, because hopefully someone’s going to listen. And Samir, you mentioned some of this, actually. It’s the widening digital divides we’re creating. So it’s not just the digital divides. It’s the widening digital divides we’re creating. And that’s got to do with infrastructure. It’s got to do with the devices people use. It’s got to do with digital literacy. We can go down through the layers and define where those divides are widening. It also goes down to a simple thing, very technical, whether an economy or a country or an organization is using IPv6 or is it still using IPv4. So there’s just so many layers of these widening digital divides, because depending on what they have access to and what they can leverage, that will determine what they can do with that connectivity they have. You know, we talk about how wireless, for example, Leosets are changing the landscape. Yes, they are, but there’s still challenges with that as well. but there’s legislative issues or regulatory issues at play with that. There’s also an affordability angle to that. So we shouldn’t just look at one form of technology as the solution to fix everything. It has to be multi-modal in nature. The second problem, in fact, I’m gonna mention three problems here. The second problem is just the level of prioritization that exists between governments, within governments, within regions. And unfortunately, even within the government, very few have a whole of government approach to digital transformation. Time and time and again, this keeps coming up. You’ve got an IT ministry, someone set up a digital ministry, then there’s the finance ministry, then there’s home affairs or foreign affairs who also want to, not having a shot at you, but the thing is that if you don’t have a whole of government approach, you’re going to be working in silos, as Fran said. And then, of course, the third thing is just the coordination between donors. There’s just so much duplication of work. And it distresses me when I see multiple organizations giving funding to do the same thing that someone else has already done. And yes, you’ve got to tick off some KPIs or tick some boxes on your delivery or whatever it is that you need to do. But if you want to bring about holistic transformative change, you have to consider what’s already out there and where do I go and plug the gaps? That’s what the APNIC Foundation does. We’re more interested in plugging the gaps. So if any of you want to come help and support us and plug gaps with us, please talk to us. Thanks, Sumit.

Amrita Choudhury: Thanks so much, Raj. Coordination is something which I’m hearing everywhere, most of the things. And Shari, over to you.

Panelist: Thank you. Thank you very much. I think my job has been easier by Raj and by Samia and ISOC. So we do a combination of what has been said, but comparing ourself, Islamic Development Bank as… can be seen as a smaller version of what the World Bank does. So we do financing of digital development. Our main objective, of course, we are more on the digital inclusion side and we have digital inclusion strategy that was launched last year for four years where we have four key areas that we focus on. So first focus is basically on smart policy and that we build this. So without private sector intervention, there could not be either bridging the digital divide or we talk about widening the digital divide. And now we are hearing in this conference that we are having the AI divide pretty soon that we will be able to monitor and capture and see. The other aspect that we cover is, of course, the capacity building, which is digital literacy of not only policy makers, but end users as well. So that once they have the internet connectivity provided, the use of these services. Then, of course, we have one of the aspect that we have is traditional. Well, what we have been doing is financing of enabling digital infrastructure so that the country has the capacity so that we do work on the upstream side, financing submarine cables, fiber optic backbone. We have done several of them in Southeast Asia, East Africa, West Africa. And last but not least, what we have really focusing very recently is mainstreaming of technology into developed sectors like smart education, how we can use technology and education, telemedicine and health services, e-agriculture, smart cities. So that the idea is we make our development operations more. effective, more impactful, and last but not least, more sustainable. Because of low resources, this is a challenge that we face. We don’t have the luxury of the lot of grants that the World Bank has, so we have very limited amount of grants. We have limited amount of financing. And of course, our member countries, which are the Global South, so they also have challenges in borrowing. So we have to come up with innovative financing instruments of blended finance so that it is affordable for the country to absorb this financing. And then of course, make – so that’s why we insist on developing a business case so that it’s even commercially viable, so that it is self-sustainable. And then basically, once we have an exit policy, once we finish the funding, what is the model that will sustain the whole operation of this intervention that we do? I’ll share – sorry for taking a bit longer – is that we recently came up with – just three weeks ago, we did a policy digital – for Africa region partnership with ITU. And we – actually, this program was never done before. We co-designed it because what we are trying to promote is we are promoting a concept of government ownership. So we encourage policymakers to come up with innovative programs that an international financing institution could finance to help bridge the digital divide. So otherwise, these innovative solutions we expect normally from the private sector, from SMEs, but what we are trying to promote is government ownership that we encourage policymakers that we help you, we will help you to have the right capacity so that you think out of the box and come up with programs that will help us bridge the digital divide correctly. We are doing a similar program with UNDP. We call it digital stewardship community. We are coming up with a community of policymakers who have the digital capacity. So they basically not only do capacity-building programs, we do programs for them, and then they encourage their other – other policy makers within their ministries to come up with projects to help them to brush up and then ultimately when we do the MCPS, which is member country partnership strategy, country engagement framework, then those policy makers are invited to share their experiences what they have learned. So what we are doing is we are not only doing capacity building programs, but we are hand holding them to come up with larger projects and then we ultimately either us or help our partners to come and finance those interventions. We are working with the Ministry of Villages. We are financing their AI tool that would basically help develop them to have the capacity to do their infrastructure service delivery planning. So in Indonesia, if you’re aware that the village have their community engagement to set up a yearly plan. So initially it was manual, but now they converted into a service innovation platform. And now we are financing the AI embedded tool of that platform that would utilize information available so that every participatory stakeholder is involved so that they can give their input and we can come up with a better infrastructure services, be it water, be it road, be it energy supply in the villages. So these are a couple of examples that I wanted to share that we are working on and we are happy to collaborate with others because we will be replicating in other countries and in the country scale it within the country as well. Thank you.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you so much, Sharir. I’ll go to Katrina. You’ve been hearing the donor community speaking a lot. From a government perspective, where is it that, what do you see are the gaps which you find when there are projects being held in a country? What from your perspective, the other side are the gaps?

Panelist: Thank you so much. I think that this is the perfect momentum for me because after, I will give you another perspective from the implementation side, how it evolved and also take you to other parts of the world, which is South Caucasus, but still working closely with World Bank and other donor organizations like ISOC, GIZ, also European Investment Bank. So let me mention the major state program, which was supported by World Bank, which is the State Broadband Development Program, which was bringing the high-speed broadband to villages of Georgia. but mountainous country and we still have the rural-urban gap. We all agree that today’s economy and sustainable economic development is absolutely unthinkable without having your citizens to have access to affordable, high-speed, high-quality internet. So we were supported to bring the middle-middle connectivity. It’s 5,000 kilometers of the broadband and up to 1,000 villages will be covered. And it’s very important when we speak about the challenges, the challenge for the regulator and state is that the funded project should also still maintain competitiveness of the market. So the players might tell you that if you have enough funds to just give the funded internet to all the villages, we might step back and leave the market. So this is one of the challenges, to ensure, to be very precise where are those white spots where you definitely need this funding and this will not breach the competitiveness overall for the country and it will evolve to more competitive digital ecosystem for the country and not to scare investors, for example, for the innovative technologies. But most important for the state is to make your citizens protected and give them access and affordable access to high-speed internet. So this was the first step. The second important step where the role of ComCom, the regulator, was also broader is another second component of the project. First was the infrastructure build-up and second was that supporting the component that will… support the literacy component which is bringing awareness how to use the internet which is another challenge because you need to really come to the each small village and find community and make people confident that it’s really interesting to listen how you can use internet for economic to grow up your business or your household and for economic benefits also to reach out to people from the different ethnical groups so we are small country but we have different ethnical groups and they might say so it was a Comcom’s role to find proper communities in the regions in the villages to reach out and start this media literacy trainings and Comcom has been given the national nationwide role of developing media literacy in the country so this with this broader state-defined role we were empowered we are we were supported by Ministry of Education to work with schools with universities and also to also reach out to the people with disabilities for whom it is most important to have access to the digital technologies nowadays it is a bigger enabler I would say for the people with disabilities to be reached out and to learn how to turn this access into the benefit for their lives for improving their next day or improving or it’s very popular in Georgia for for example micro businesses small businesses to really understand how that they can digitize their services and how they can use this high-speed broadband for their day-to-day activities. So I think there are very similar challenges around the world and let’s keep doing, let’s keep going with this strategy. Thank you so much.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you so much. A question which all the speakers out here need to think but we’ll take some questions from the ground also. I’m coming to you. One question which I would like you to respond later is two areas where you would be focusing on from 2025 and beyond. But we have some questions. We’ll take two or three together and then you could respond.

Audience: Sorry, this is more of a comment than question. It’s okay. I’m from the Internet Society Foundation and I just wanted to say, going back to your point, your comments about not being able to fund India and Raja’s point about the need for cooperation and peer dialogue among funders. One thing working at the foundation that I think is another challenge is not being able to fund a lot of people you want to fund and this is something that we recently experienced with Georgia. So I would just ask or put out if there are ways as funders or and organizations to think of ways to work within legal frameworks but also just find ways to support people in countries where they might not be able to receive funding legally from other sources. Just being able to share ideas or maybe partners that you work with that you know are good in the region.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you so much. So it’s again coordination, better coordination how you can use. Yes, please.

Jordanka Tomkova: Hi, Jordanka Tomkova from Innova Bridge Foundation, Switzerland. I’m curious about the innovation in the sort of interventions that you have made and the funding that you’re providing. If you have any good examples of innovative approaches, whether centralized or decentralized because that is the title of today’s talk. So not what has been done and what is sort of standardly done but what is innovative about it. Thank you.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you so much. Any other questions from the room? If not, I will. Any of the speakers wants to speak innovatively using approaches of funding and can there be more exchange between community as in since you’re here I would say the community here to share best practices of how you can reach out to more communities who need fund where you currently because of regulatory challenges are not able to reach. Anyone wants to take a step?

Samia Melhem: I’ll be very quick because yes a very good question innovation. I think the first innovation is in the approach on how do you really get to those that are not accessed because there’s no way to reach them if you can call them many don’t even have an ID. So the idea of using local NGOs community we have digital ambassadors in most of our projects and these are hand-picked thousands of them that we kind of empower, train, compensate in different ways and they are from the areas that are newly connected. We have that in Congo, in Zambia, we have that in Bangladesh, in Pakistan. So really using the youth on the ground which we didn’t in the past. The other element is to really have more participation crowd sourcing in the design of projects. These projects are getting bigger and they really need to have participation of the stakeholder. So more design thinking as we plan these particular projects. Last but not least and it’s not an innovation but really working more amongst one another and the private sector to understand where the jobs are and help universities, academic institutes, learning institutions reform their the supply of programs to really align with the job market.

Rajnesh Singh: Yeah thanks Amrita. So Samia covered some of the approaches they take which I think some of us take as well. One thing I do want to bring up and and it’s just pointing out the elephant in the room, a lot of the reasons we can’t deploy funds in certain economies is due to a thing called sanctions and due to another thing called geopolitics. So that I think has to be taken into account because what we find is where the greatest intervention required, where we could have the most impact are those economies and peoples in those economies who are suffering, not because of their doing, it may be the political system or whatever else that exists in that economy. So how do you try and ensure that we can help the people who need the most help? And that I think has been one of the challenges we’ve had to face. So what we’ve done, our approach has been to find partners who can actually go and work in those economies. Sometimes we can ourselves, and sometimes we are limited by government sanctions and or legislation that we can’t, but there are ways that that can be addressed as well. However, what sort of concerns me is that we don’t seem to talk about that as enough because we wanna do things here and there and everywhere else, but the people who can have the most benefit from digital technologies and all the benefits that the internet can provide, sometimes we just don’t go there because we can’t even send money there or we can’t send people because there’s a security issue, for example. So, I think there is some scope to work together to find some innovative approaches on how we can address that issue. And I’m happy to discuss it further given the fact that we are out of time.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you. I know Sarah is going to go next. For example, Raj would not say it, I’ll say it, Afghanistan is one place where putting in money for most people is difficult, but they need it the most, women, et cetera. Sarah, you and then Shadia.

Sarah Armstrong: Yes, just briefly. Some of the examples that I mentioned here, we feel are really putting forth real innovative solutions. This organization that I mentioned earlier that is doing the IOT to help with the detection of emergencies in the climate area, that’s our CURSIC-SAN chapter. I think that’s a really good. example of what’s going on in being innovative, and we have also the IEEE that’s working in India, and they are working with unintended solutions, and we’re seeing elements of that. And we also would say that in order to continue to find innovative solutions, we are encouraging our grantees to learn from one another and to experience what others are doing and how they’re doing it and how it can be more innovative and responsive to the cultures in which they’re working. So that’s a very important part of the type of foundation that we are and we’d like to continue to be.

Panelist: Yeah, maybe just on one thing that I wanted to share. So, the new method that we came up with very recently, traditionally the bank has been operating in a way that we receive a request from our member country and then we address the needs. So when we were developing our digital inclusion strategy, which was launched here in Riyadh last year, we actually went through a very detailed consultative process of over one and a half year which involved policymakers from 14 countries, 14 member countries and 10 international organizations. I can see Mr. Sharif sitting here and he was part of that discussion. So, we had called something called ISDB, Digital Inclusion Technical Working Group, and we reached out to different policymakers from countries for in-person and hybrid workshops in different parts of our member country constituency. Out of that, fast forward one year, when we came up with the strategy, we said, okay, we have a strategy, but what would be a catalyst to embark on certain immediate programs? that would kick-start some ground. So we came up with this Digital Inclusion Strategic Partnership Program, where we encouraged all those partners that were with us throughout the journey in terms of developing the strategy to come up with pilot programs that would have some sort of scalability criteria and or appetite for that, that would encourage more people or more international organizations, even in private sector to come in and finance the scalability part. So we are now financing for pilot programs in Pakistan, in Smart Village. We are doing a pilot program in Indonesia, in Maldives, and working with different partners on digital ID so that we de-risk for the government so that if we can have some sort of immediate results, we know a certain amount that we are looking at in terms of financing some immediate results that would encourage potential financiers or investors to come in and fill in these gaps. So these are some of the innovative mechanisms other than the one that I already mentioned is blended finance. So we come up with a grant portion with some sort of a soft lending, especially for low-income countries that otherwise would not be able to afford the financing for the immediate needs that they would like to have some sort of impact in the country. So this is what I wanted to share. Thank you.

Amrita Choudhury: I do have one question, and I see an alert of five minutes. So, you know, there is one question. I have to give it to her. She’s from Myanmar. But I would take back the last question. I would think, what can we do next? One minute for each, or even half a minute, feel quick.

Audience: Yeah, I just wanted to agree with Raj, and thank you for raising about the Vanuatu community that we are suffering a loss of the internet issue. And that is also another challenge of the community like Myanmar, Afghanistan, to resist the funding to build the capacity in our community. I really think, and I would like to think, like to request to all of the grantors and funders to think about some time to break through to see the community, not seeing the sanction or geopolitical situation. Thank you very much.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you. Very relevant point. So my question to all of you would be, what do we do next? We’ve discussed it. We say coordination is important. But what should be our next steps if we really want to take this discussion ahead? Anyone wants to take a jab first? I have the mic.

Panelist: So what we have done, in addition to what I’ve just mentioned, is what we are now coming up is that we have already a whole list of 72 programs in our pipeline that has the potential to have over $1 billion worth of digital development projects. And of course, we ourself cannot finance all of it. So what we are doing is we are encouraging partners to come in and chip with the development of these programs. So the idea is that over the next three years, we will help not only do the capacity building for the policymakers and the countries itself, but we will help them come up with basically from a concept note to a bankable project that would ultimately be available for financing for either the private sector, any MDB. So there are a certain number of programs that we need to do the seed funding for. And we look forward to those kind of interventions and happy to collaborate and work together towards achieving collective goals. Thank you. Sorry. OK, thank you so much. I’ll try to be very, very quick. So I want to mention one step that will be still ongoing is implementing media digital literacy into formal education. This is one of the components that is crucial for the country. And I think this will somehow make the circle of the success. story of the whole broadband development with the component of literacy and with the component of safe use of internet, so we will make it even broader in schools and universities. And a second topic that is on our agenda as far as the digital is a cross-cutting stream, so make, involve more sectors into this. When you bring the broadband infrastructure and literacy, you need to bring also other economic stakeholders to make a real success story out of your investment. Thank you.

Franz von Weizsäcker: All right, so on what to do next for GIZ as a big organization, our answer is we take our decisions very decentrally, probably 90% of our budgets are being decided by people who live and reside in the country where it’s being implemented, and that is one of the answers towards innovation, because when you want to source good and applicable innovations, that needs to happen locally. And so that’s where also most of the coordination shall happen going forward, and another recommendation for all the granting mechanisms and calls for proposals, I mean, one big important feedback that we got and what the grantees very much appreciated is keeping all these processes very simple, have the pitch done on one sheet of paper and then have a subsequent pitching session and do not overburden grantees with bureaucracy, that’s the best way to become effective and good value for money and sourcing the real innovations and not just those organizations that are very good at checking all the boxes of all the donors. So don’t put too many strings attached, but rather make it simple and make it fit for purpose.

Rajnesh Singh: So I’ll just repeat what I said before, don’t duplicate, if you want to do something in the Asia-Pacific, come and talk to us, come and talk to me for you. Thank you. G’day.

Sarah Armstrong: Oh, again. No, again, please. Pleasant to meet you. Thanks. Okay. Just to add on, absolutely, we are continually looking for ways to improve the foundation and the way in which it works. It’s five years old and we are just launching our next five-year strategy, so we are full of new ideas, more simplicity with our grantees we know is extremely important, so we’re finding ways to do that, we think that’s important. Looking, too, for more gender focus, we think that the digital gender divide is an important thing for us to be addressing, so that’s another area that we’ll be focusing on going into the future in terms of that. And then also continuing to find innovative ways, because some of the environments in which we’re working are very difficult, as we’ve talked about, and seeing if we can identify grantees that are able to come up with solutions where they can address some of the problems that we’ve encountered. We are going to move forward with a lot of enthusiasm and possibly a fair amount of changes.

David Hevey: Thank you. Beyond what I already said around focusing on the capacity… building on cybersecurity and cybercrime. I think also what we’re, as an honorable mention in, with the data, my colleague from World Bank said before, with the data and the data being critical in a number of things, one thing that we are looking forward to is actually supporting cloud transformation roadmaps for countries, particularly in PNG and Vanuatu. So that’s one thing that we actually also focus on there too. But also taking stock of things, that’s really important. The monitoring and evaluation piece is actually, is really important. It’s all well and good that we have these approaches which have worked and we’re continuing to innovate, but ensuring that what we’re doing actually is hitting the mark and is doing what we need it to do. And also having been Foreign Affairs and working with the APNIC Foundation, I support Raj’s plug to partner with APNIC Foundation. There we are.

Zhang Xiao: Yeah. Personally, I would like to focus on AI governance because digitalization is a process. Internet is the foundation. But AI is going to change each field, more or less. So I want this talk to continue, dialogue to continue, because as a group of people, we are going to make a sense. Thank you.

Samia Melhem: Thank you. Yes, you’ve said it all. And if I can complement with two actions, the first one is for big organization, perfect. The Saudi government wants to fund a lot of these projects. How to make sure it is done, it is approved, and it’s not too complicated. NGOs, et cetera. So make partnership much easier. And second, with the client side, with the government, we oftentimes start big projects, but they’re not completed. We do an ID system, and 10% of the people of that country are in it. What about the other 90%? Make it easy to have follow-up projects to complete what we started and keep perfecting it. Thank you.

Amrita Choudhury: Thank you so much. We would be ending, but I think this dialogue, as Xiao mentioned, needs to continue. And may I, as a moderator, suggest that perhaps if there could be a mailing list kind of a thing where like-minded donors could actually share, like World Bank, et cetera, has tremendous knowledge, like what you shared, that projects are not completed, or make it easier for hosts, et cetera. Then the bank has some ideas, governments have some ideas. Could there be some kind of a mailing list where you can share the experiences, like Franz was saying, someone was saying, let’s not duplicate projects, I think. France said, and let’s see how this knowledge which is there can use. For example, if GIZ is making a simpler form, could others look at it as an inspiration? I’m not saying copy-paste it, but so perhaps if someone can think of having a mailing list, et cetera. I don’t know, Raj, would APNIC Foundation would want to have a mailing list if others want, and it could be informal way where you all exchange so that what discussion happens, you can continue, other people can also join it or not join it. That’s just a suggestion, you can take it or leave it. And we would like to have a group photo, first of the speakers. Thank you so much, it was really good. We would love to have a 90 minute session actually, but we ran out of time. If we would get just three minutes to take a photograph of the speakers and then of the group, right? Thank you. Thank you.

Agreement Points

Importance of digital literacy and skills development

speakers

Franz von Weizsäcker

Sarah Armstrong

Zhang Xiao

Samia Melhem

arguments

Social insurance and digital skills programs in Southeast Asia

Digital literacy programs for women with disabilities

Digital literacy for elderly populations

Digital public infrastructure and sectoral applications

summary

Multiple speakers emphasized the importance of digital literacy and skills development programs, targeting various groups including women with disabilities, elderly populations, and general workforce development.

Need for better coordination among donors

speakers

David Hevey

Rajnesh Singh

Franz von Weizsäcker

arguments

Need for regional coordination among donors

Duplication of work among donor organizations

Importance of funding local organizations

summary

Several speakers highlighted the need for better coordination among donors to avoid duplication of efforts, overloading recipient countries, and to ensure more effective use of resources.

Challenges in funding certain countries due to regulations

speakers

Rajnesh Singh

Audience

arguments

Sanctions and geopolitics limiting aid to certain economies

Challenges in funding certain countries due to regulations

summary

Both Rajnesh Singh and an audience member raised concerns about regulatory challenges and sanctions limiting the ability to fund digital development projects in certain countries.

Similar Viewpoints

These speakers all emphasized the importance of affordable and accessible internet infrastructure, particularly in developing regions.

speakers

David Hevey

Franz von Weizsäcker

Sarah Armstrong

arguments

Infrastructure investments in Pacific Island countries

Affordability of internet access

Affordable and meaningful access

Both speakers highlighted concerns about digital divides, particularly focusing on how certain populations (such as the elderly) may be left behind in digital adoption.

speakers

Rajnesh Singh

Zhang Xiao

arguments

Widening digital divides across multiple layers

Digital literacy for elderly populations

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of local context and organizations in project implementation

speakers

Franz von Weizsäcker

Rajnesh Singh

Samia Melhem

arguments

Importance of funding local organizations

Lack of whole-of-government approach to digital transformation

Completing and perfecting started projects

explanation

There was an unexpected consensus on the importance of understanding and working within local contexts, involving local organizations, and ensuring projects are completed and effective within specific country environments. This highlights a shift from top-down approaches to more locally-driven development strategies.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement included the importance of digital literacy and skills development, the need for better donor coordination, addressing affordability and accessibility of internet infrastructure, and recognizing the challenges posed by regulations and sanctions in certain countries.

Consensus level

There was a moderate to high level of consensus among the speakers on these key issues. This consensus suggests a growing recognition of the complex, multifaceted nature of digital development challenges and the need for collaborative, locally-sensitive approaches. The implications of this consensus could lead to more coordinated efforts among donors, increased focus on digital literacy alongside infrastructure development, and potentially new strategies for overcoming regulatory barriers in challenging environments.

Different Viewpoints

Approach to funding and implementation

speakers

Franz von Weizsäcker

Rajnesh Singh

arguments

Franz emphasizes the importance of channeling aid through local organizations for greater effectiveness. He suggests that local organizations have better understanding of the context and local intelligence.

Rajnesh Singh expresses concern about the duplication of work among donor organizations. He argues that this leads to inefficient use of resources and limits the overall impact of interventions.

summary

While Franz advocates for channeling aid through local organizations, Rajnesh expresses concern about duplication of work among donor organizations. This suggests a difference in approach to funding and implementation of projects.

Unexpected Differences

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement appear to be around the approach to funding and implementation of projects, with some speakers advocating for local involvement and others focusing on coordination among larger donor organizations.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers appears to be relatively low. Most speakers seem to agree on the major challenges and goals, with differences mainly in the specific approaches or areas of focus. This suggests that there is potential for collaboration and coordination among the various organizations represented, which could lead to more effective interventions in improving internet access and inclusion.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need for better coordination among donors, but they approach it from different angles. David focuses on avoiding overloading recipient countries, while Rajnesh emphasizes avoiding duplication of work.

speakers

David Hevey

Rajnesh Singh

arguments

David Hevey emphasizes the importance of coordination among donors to avoid overloading recipient countries. He points out the challenge of multiple organizations providing similar trainings or assistance.

Rajnesh Singh expresses concern about the duplication of work among donor organizations. He argues that this leads to inefficient use of resources and limits the overall impact of interventions.

Similar Viewpoints

These speakers all emphasized the importance of affordable and accessible internet infrastructure, particularly in developing regions.

speakers

David Hevey

Franz von Weizsäcker

Sarah Armstrong

arguments

Infrastructure investments in Pacific Island countries

Affordability of internet access

Affordable and meaningful access

Both speakers highlighted concerns about digital divides, particularly focusing on how certain populations (such as the elderly) may be left behind in digital adoption.

speakers

Rajnesh Singh

Zhang Xiao

arguments

Widening digital divides across multiple layers

Digital literacy for elderly populations

Key Takeaways

There are significant challenges in improving internet access and inclusion, including cybersecurity issues, affordability, digital literacy gaps, and widening digital divides.

Donor organizations are implementing various projects to address these challenges, focusing on infrastructure development, digital skills training, and sector-specific applications.

Better coordination and collaboration among donors is needed to avoid duplication of efforts and maximize impact.

Future focus areas should include AI governance, addressing the digital gender divide, implementing digital literacy in formal education, and simplifying grant processes.

Resolutions and Action Items

Explore ways to improve coordination and information sharing among donor organizations

Consider creating a mailing list for donors to share experiences and best practices

Focus on completing and perfecting started projects rather than initiating new ones

Simplify grant processes and funding mechanisms to make them more accessible

Unresolved Issues

How to effectively provide aid to countries affected by sanctions or geopolitical issues

Balancing government-funded projects with maintaining market competitiveness

Addressing the challenges of funding certain countries due to regulatory restrictions

Finding innovative ways to reach and support underserved communities in difficult environments

Suggested Compromises

Using local NGOs and community-based organizations to reach areas where direct funding is challenging

Implementing blended finance approaches to make projects more affordable for low-income countries

Balancing centralized decision-making with decentralized implementation to foster local innovation

Partnering with local organizations and existing regional experts (like APNIC Foundation) to leverage local knowledge and networks

We shouldn’t just look at one form of technology as the solution to fix everything. It has to be multi-modal in nature.

speaker

Rajnesh Singh

reason

This comment challenges the tendency to view new technologies like LEO satellites as a panacea, highlighting the need for diverse, context-appropriate solutions.

impact

It broadened the discussion beyond specific technologies to consider more holistic approaches to digital inclusion.

The widening digital divides we’re creating. So it’s not just the digital divides. It’s the widening digital divides we’re creating.

speaker

Rajnesh Singh

reason

This insight highlights how current approaches may be exacerbating inequality rather than reducing it, forcing a critical examination of existing strategies.

impact

It shifted the conversation to focus more on the unintended consequences of digital development efforts and the need to address root causes of inequality.

Look as you transfer capacity to a local entity whether it’s a government or a private sector are they going to be as great in the beginning than the top consulting firms? No, but they know the local context, they know who does what, they have the local intel that many times these big firms don’t have and they fail just because of that.

speaker

Samia Melhem

reason

This comment challenges the conventional wisdom of relying on external expertise, emphasizing the value of local knowledge and capacity building.

impact

It prompted discussion on more sustainable, locally-driven approaches to digital development and capacity building.

A lot of the reasons we can’t deploy funds in certain economies is due to a thing called sanctions and due to another thing called geopolitics.

speaker

Rajnesh Singh

reason

This comment brings attention to often-overlooked political barriers to digital inclusion efforts, highlighting systemic challenges beyond technological or financial constraints.

impact

It broadened the scope of the discussion to include geopolitical factors and prompted consideration of how to work within or around these constraints.

Don’t put too many strings attached, but rather make it simple and make it fit for purpose.

speaker

Franz von Weizsäcker

reason

This insight challenges conventional grant-making processes, suggesting that overly complex requirements may hinder innovation and effectiveness.

impact

It sparked discussion on how to streamline funding processes to better support local innovation and implementation.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by challenging conventional approaches to digital inclusion and development. They broadened the conversation beyond technological solutions to consider geopolitical factors, local capacity building, and the unintended consequences of current strategies. The discussion shifted towards more nuanced, context-specific approaches that prioritize local knowledge and simplify implementation processes. This led to a more critical and holistic examination of digital inclusion efforts and their impacts.

How can donors work within legal frameworks to support people in countries where they might not be able to receive funding legally from other sources?

speaker

Audience member from Internet Society Foundation

explanation

This is important to find ways to support communities in need despite regulatory challenges or sanctions.

What are some examples of innovative approaches in interventions and funding, whether centralized or decentralized?

speaker

Jordanka Tomkova from Innova Bridge Foundation

explanation

Understanding innovative approaches can help improve the effectiveness and reach of development projects.

How can we address the challenge of deploying funds in economies affected by sanctions or geopolitical issues?

speaker

Rajnesh Singh

explanation

This is crucial for helping people who need the most assistance but are limited by political circumstances beyond their control.

How can we improve coordination and information sharing among donors and implementers?

speaker

Multiple speakers (Rajnesh Singh, Samia Melhem, Franz von Weizsäcker)

explanation

Better coordination can reduce duplication of efforts and improve overall effectiveness of development projects.

How can we simplify grant application processes to make them more accessible to local organizations?

speaker

Franz von Weizsäcker

explanation

Simpler processes can help source real innovations and support organizations that may not have extensive resources for complex applications.

How can we address the digital gender divide?

speaker

Sarah Armstrong

explanation

Focusing on gender-specific issues in digital inclusion is important for ensuring equitable access and opportunities.

How can we support cloud transformation roadmaps for countries, particularly in PNG and Vanuatu?

speaker

David Hevey

explanation

This is important for helping countries modernize their digital infrastructure and services.

How can we improve monitoring and evaluation of digital development projects?

speaker

David Hevey

explanation

Effective monitoring and evaluation is crucial for ensuring that projects are achieving their intended outcomes and for continuous improvement.

How can we address AI governance in the context of digital development?

speaker

Zhang Xiao

explanation

As AI becomes more prevalent, understanding and managing its impacts on various fields is crucial for sustainable and ethical development.

How can we make partnerships easier between large organizations and NGOs for project funding and implementation?

speaker

Samia Melhem

explanation

Streamlining partnerships can help leverage resources and expertise more effectively for development projects.

How can we ensure follow-up projects to complete and perfect initiatives that have been started?

speaker

Samia Melhem

explanation

This is important for ensuring that projects achieve their full potential and reach all intended beneficiaries.