Open Forum #42 Global Digital Cooperation: Ambition to Country-Level Action

Summary

This discussion focused on implementing the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and its impact at the country level. Panelists from various UN agencies, governments, and civil society organizations shared insights on priorities and challenges in digital cooperation.

Key themes included bridging digital divides, fostering partnerships, building local capacity, and aligning the GDC with existing frameworks like WSIS. Panelists emphasized the need for inclusive approaches that reach marginalized communities and rural areas. The importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration was highlighted, with calls to involve local organizations, academic networks, and the private sector in implementation efforts.

Several speakers noted the GDC builds on WSIS principles while addressing emerging issues like AI governance and misinformation. There were suggestions to better integrate GDC implementation with WSIS processes to avoid overburdening countries. The discussion touched on opportunities to leverage new technologies for expanding access to digital services and content in diverse languages.

Participants stressed the need to measure impact through concrete results aligned with GDC objectives. Ideas included tracking progress on connectivity, digital literacy, and economic development. The role of forums like the IGF in fostering dialogue on emerging issues was noted. Overall, the discussion underscored the importance of translating global frameworks into local action to achieve meaningful digital transformation that leaves no one behind.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– Implementing the Global Digital Compact (GDC) at the country and local level

– Connecting the GDC to existing processes like WSIS and the SDGs

– Addressing digital divides and ensuring inclusive digital transformation

– The importance of partnerships and multi-stakeholder approaches

– Building digital capacity and skills, especially in developing countries

The overall purpose of the discussion was to explore how to turn the high-level principles of the Global Digital Compact into concrete action and impact at the country level. Panelists and audience members discussed priorities, challenges, and opportunities for implementing the GDC.

The tone of the discussion was generally constructive and collaborative, with panelists highlighting ongoing efforts and opportunities for partnership. Towards the end, some audience members injected a sense of urgency and pushed for more concrete actions and integration of existing initiatives rather than creating new processes. Overall, there was a shared commitment to advancing digital cooperation but differing views on the best approaches.

Speakers

– Yu Ping Chan: Head of Partnerships and Engagement at UNDP

– Robert Opp: Chief Digital Officer of UNDP

– Margarita Gomez: Executive Director of Southern Voice

– Cynthia Lesufi: Minister-Counsel of the South African Mission to the United Nations in Geneva and other international organizations

– Olaf Kolkman: Principal of Internet Technology Policy and Advocacy from the Internet Society

– Deniz Susar: Representing Mr. Juwang Su, Director of Division for Public Institutions at DESA

– Gitanjali Sah: Strategy and Policy Coordinator of the International Telecommunications Union

Additional speakers:

– Anriette Esterhuysen: From the Alliance for Progressive Communications

– Isabel De Sola: From the Office of the Tech Envoy

– Alex Mora: Researcher from Cal State University working on research and education support

Revised Summary: Implementing the Global Digital Compact at the Country Level

This discussion focused on the implementation of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and its impact at the country level. Panelists from various UN agencies, governments, and civil society organizations shared insights on priorities and challenges in digital cooperation. The conversation covered several key themes and highlighted both areas of agreement and differing perspectives on implementation strategies.

Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. Aligning the GDC with Existing Processes

Robert Opp of UNDP noted that GDC objectives align with existing UN agency work. Cynthia Lesufi from the South African Mission to the UN emphasized that the GDC reinforces WSIS principles while addressing modern challenges like AI governance and misinformation. Anriette Esterhuysen from the Alliance for Progressive Communications argued for merging GDC implementation with existing WSIS processes to avoid overburdening countries.

Dennis Susar from DESA highlighted the importance of the WSIS Plus 20 review process and its connection to the GDC. He also mentioned the role of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in relation to the GDC, suggesting it could serve as a platform for ongoing discussions and implementation efforts.

2. Local Implementation and Multi-stakeholder Partnerships

Olaf Kolkman from the Internet Society emphasized the importance of local action, stating, “Think global with the GDC, but really the action has to be local.” This focus on grassroots implementation was echoed by several speakers, including Gitanjali Sah from the ITU, who stressed the role of community radio and highlighted the historical context of digital development work.

The discussion underscored the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships. Cynthia Lesufi emphasized the significance of public-private partnerships for digital initiatives. Olaf Kolkman explained that the Internet Society works through local chapters and partnerships. An audience member raised the need to involve local NGOs working at the grassroots level.

3. Addressing Digital Divides

A major point of agreement was the critical importance of closing digital divides. Yu Ping Chan from UNDP emphasized the need to address all aspects of digital divides, including infrastructure and capacity. An audience member named Nenna expanded the conversation by pointing out the multifaceted nature of digital divides, including policy, gender, rural-urban, and age divides.

Several speakers noted the importance of reaching marginalized communities. An audience member specifically mentioned the need to connect pastoralist communities, while Alex Mora, a researcher from Cal State University, suggested leveraging research and education networks to connect schools in underserved areas.

4. Capacity Building and Skills Development

Capacity building and skills development emerged as a key priority. Robert Opp noted that this was a primary request from countries, with a particular focus on building AI ecosystems and capacity. Deniz Susar, representing DESA, mentioned that the GDC commits to prioritizing digital competencies for public officials.

5. Specific Digital Initiatives and Challenges

The discussion included mentions of specific digital initiatives, such as UNDP’s work in Kenya and Bangladesh. Isabel De Sola from the Office of the Tech Envoy raised the importance of data governance and content diversity, suggesting potential partnerships focused on translation and diverse content creation.

6. Technical Difficulties and Audience Participation

The session experienced recurring technical difficulties, which impacted the flow of the discussion. Despite these challenges, there was active audience participation through the Slido platform. Questions from the audience covered topics such as strategies for reaching marginalized communities, the role of research and education networks, and methods for ensuring meaningful participation in digital transformation efforts.

Areas of Agreement and Unresolved Issues

There was strong agreement on the importance of closing digital divides, the need for capacity building, and the value of multi-stakeholder partnerships. Speakers also generally agreed on the importance of building on existing processes and focusing on marginalized communities.

Unresolved issues included how to effectively merge GDC implementation with existing WSIS processes without creating additional bureaucratic burdens, specific strategies for addressing intersectional digital divides beyond infrastructure, and methods for ensuring meaningful participation of marginalized communities in digital transformation efforts.

Key Takeaways and Action Items

1. The GDC aligns with and builds upon existing WSIS processes and UN agency work.

2. Implementation needs to focus on local and grassroots efforts, involving multi-stakeholder partnerships.

3. Addressing digital divides requires a holistic and intersectional approach.

4. Capacity building and skills development, especially in emerging technologies like AI, are crucial for digital transformation.

5. There is a need to leverage existing networks and initiatives, particularly in research and education, to advance digital cooperation.

Suggested action items included integrating GDC follow-up with the WSIS Plus 20 review process, developing KPIs to measure success in GDC implementation at the country level, increasing efforts to involve local NGOs in digital initiatives, expanding digital readiness assessments to local and rural areas, and strengthening collaboration between UN agencies on digital cooperation efforts.

Conclusion

The discussion highlighted the complex challenge of implementing a global framework like the GDC at the local level. While there was broad agreement on the importance of digital cooperation and development, the conversation revealed the need for careful consideration of local contexts, existing processes, and the multifaceted nature of digital divides. Moving forward, balancing global objectives with local needs and leveraging existing networks and partnerships will be crucial for successful implementation of the Global Digital Compact.

Yu Ping Chan: All right, we’re trying this one more time, and this is your last chance to vote on the first question. Which GDC objective is most important for your work on global digital cooperation? You scan the QR code and you vote right now. And right now, it looks like we have basically a two-way tie between objective one, which is close all digital divides, and number six, which is everything in the GDC. Okay. And then all answers are locked. Let’s go to the next question. In one, two words, what is the most important action that must be taken in the first year of the global digital compact to ensure meaningful action at the country level? And I know everybody likes to give long UN paragraphs, but here we’re really asking for one, two words so we can show them on the screen. Scan the QR code and give us one, two words. Participants, panelists as well, I think you’re required to take part. I especially like the stop talking suggestion. I think that has to be followed by stop talking and take action. I confess, that was me. Nice. All right. A couple more moments for anybody else. Shows online as well. And that’s interesting. So we see a number of suggestions on the screen. Benefit sharing, ensure alignments, strategies, strong partnerships. But capacity building seems to be the number one response, as you can tell by the boldness of the text. Cooperation, stakeholders, infrastructure, participation, more actions, project. So keeping these in mind, I’ll ask the panelists to just turn around very quickly, have a look at what the audience has responded as the most important actions, and then to bear that in mind as they’re answering the questions so that we can, as suggested by one of the panelists, not just talk, but actually take some actual action at the country level. Oh, and ensure alignment. There was a last-minute contender up there. Okay. So having had that reflection from our participants, we’re going to turn to our panelists now and really have their views on how you turn global digital cooperation, the objectives of the GDC, into what we really need, which is implementation at the country level. And from the perspective of the United Nations Development Program, where I come from as the head of partnerships and engagement, that’s particularly important because we’re present in 170 countries and territories around the world, and we really want to see where global discussions land in impact, particularly at the country level. And so that’s what we’re really hoping today’s conversation with all of you and with our distinguished panelists will bring some insights and highlights and prioritization to these types of efforts. So with that, I’m going to turn to our distinguished panelists. I’m going to introduce them all first, and then I’m going to ask them questions all in turn, one after another. So today we have with us Ms. Cynthia Lasufi, Minister-Counsel of the South African Mission to the United Nations in Geneva and other international organizations. We have Ms. Gitanjali Shah, Strategy and Policy Coordinator of the International Telecommunications Union. We have Mr. Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer of the UNDP. We have Mr. Olaf Kochman, Principal of Internet Technology Policy and Advocacy from the Internet Society, as well as Mr. Dennis Souza from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, sitting for Mr. Zhuang Zhu, who was unable to make it at the very last minute. So our distinguished panelists will answer first round of questions, after which we’ll open up to conversation with the audience. And I really encourage participants both online as well as in the room to ask our panel any questions that they might have really about having this conversation that we so urgently need about turning global digital contact into real concrete action. So we’re going to start with the first round of questions. And the first question actually goes to Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer of the UNDP. Rob, UNDP supports digital programming in more than 120 countries around the world, as I mentioned. What are some of the key challenges and needs that countries face in their digital transformation? How does the GDC speak to some of these needs and opportunities? And how does it connect with other ongoing processes, for instance, the WSIS plus 20 review?

Robert Opp: Well, that’s three questions in one.

Yu Ping Chan: But… A chance to ask as many things as possible.

Robert Opp: Okay. Well, it’s great to be here. And thanks to those of you who have come to this discussion. In terms of answering the question, UNDP, as Yu-Ping just said, has a footprint across 170 countries, and we have digital programs in most of those countries. And the kinds of things that we hear in terms of requests for support fall into a few big categories. One of the ones is… One of the categories is around requests for support in strategy building, policies, roadmaps, in terms of how to roll out digital transformation at a societal level. So, we have been responding to those requests by engaging in dialogues around digital readiness assessment and things like that, to understand where countries are and where they want to be. Second big category is around sort of what are the kinds of technologies I should put in place to improve different digital public services and really connect people, close the digital divide in terms of both the connectivity side, but as well as the kind of services available. Third category is around capacity building. So, that’s interesting that it came up on the screen. Very frequently, everyone is asking for more capacity across the board, whether that be in government or in society at large around innovation ecosystems as well. Everyone’s looking for more digital capacity. And then, fourthly, the more recent requests that we have, which is part of the kind of wave of discussion around AI, is how do I build my AI ecosystem? And so, it involves all of those other three things I mentioned, but there’s a very specific request line around artificial intelligence and how I can make it work for me and my country. So, those are the kinds of things that we hear. Your second question was on how does it relate to the GDC. And the good news is that the Global Digital Compact actually covers all of those themes in one way or another. In the technology space, the first time an intergovernmental agreement has mentioned digital public infrastructure, and that’s something as an approach that we work a lot with in countries. There’s also quite a few mentions in the Global Digital Compact on capacity building and, of course, artificial intelligence as well, including the need for capacity for AI. So, the GDC, I think, as an overarching umbrella, is a good step forward in terms of acknowledging some of the things that are facing us and facing countries around the world today. And then in terms of the WSIS Plus 20, I think it’s an important thing to have a signal from the GDC to where WSIS needs to go. So looking forward, we need to, in WSIS Plus 20, update the action lines, update the basis on which we’re going to work for the next period that we decide on, and take those signals that are coming out of the GDC, and as I mentioned, out of the countries, and ensure that they are embedded in WSIS Plus 20. So I’ll leave it there, Yuping.

Yu Ping Chan: Much Rob, and may I also apologize, because I failed to see that another of our panelists has actually joined us online, Margarita, are you there? Could I also ask that she be upgraded to panelist as well, for the technicians in the room? Margarita Gomez is the executive director of Southern Voice, one of the co-organizers of this event. I’m just checking to see whether she’s been upgraded online. While we are waiting for that to happen, perhaps I can turn the next question to Cynthia. Cynthia, the question that I have for you is, what opportunities does the GDC offer for supporting inclusive digital transformations, particularly at the country level?

Cynthia Lesufi: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me to join this important panel, for sitting as a country, for sitting with the UN agencies to talk about this important topic, and I also want to thank all of you for joining this session. It’s quite an honor for South Africa to join this. Yuping, in terms of the question, let me start first by stating that actually, the Global Digital Compact, in its form, it offers a variety of opportunities to support digital transformation in countries from where we are sitting. It also structures in such a way that it empowers countries by focusing on key priorities that drive inclusive digital transformation. For instance, the Global Digital Compact, it promotes adopting inclusive digital policies for universal and affordable internet access, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Coming from South Africa and from the region where the issue of connectivity is a problem, we believe the GDC, it is structured in such a way that it starts to address this. The other thing that it focuses on for countries, what it does is that it fosters global partnerships to provide affordable devices and services and reduce the barriers for low-income population. Again, this talks to the region that I come from, which is Africa. But the other important thing which Rob spoke to is the issue of skills capacity building. Where we are sitting, we actually want to emphasize the fact that the GDC, in its current form, it does touches on issues of skills capacity building issues. Again, we’re looking at this in a way that our view is that it enabled marginalized groups to use the digital tools effectively. But also, it also allows countries to access, to train their workforces in emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, and also it promotes inclusive digital economies. The other thing that we have also noted as South Africa is that the GDC, in its current form, it also encouraged the public-private partnership, which from where we are sitting, it strengthened the collaboration among government, the private sector, NGOs, and international organizations on inclusive digital initiatives. We also believe that through this, then what it does, it also helps countries to leverage resources and expertise for infrastructure development and digital transformation project. But also, the other thing that we have also identified that we believe GDC is talking to is to mandate that countries assess their progress by identifying the gaps, and as far as digital transformation is concerned, and that where we are sitting, it assists countries to take decisive action to enhance their digital transformation journeys. The other thing that is also important is that the GDC also, from where we are sitting, urge countries to learn from global success stories and adopt proven strategies to accelerate digital inclusion initiatives. I think I should stop at that. Thank you.

Yu Ping Chan: I think we could have listened to Cynthia for a lot longer because I think her answer was extremely comprehensive and really touched on a lot of these elements that already were reflected by the participants and you, the audience, as to the important parts of the GDC that we really need to pick up on. So Cynthia, thank you so much for really a great answer to that. I think it’s also particularly important given that South Africa is actually taking on the presidency of the G20 next year. And so that perspective of leading from the South and the global majority is particularly important. So the next question we have is for Olaf. So the question for you is that the Internet Society works to ensure that the Internet is open, globally connected, secure and trustworthy. How does the GDC contribute to your mission and what do you think the role of stakeholders, particularly the technical community, should be in realizing the ambition of the GDC?

Olaf Kolkman: Yeah, good question. The question is essentially what can the GDC do for you, but I’d like to turn that around. What can we do for the GDC? I see the GDC as a joint vision, where we are asked to work towards a common goal. But I’m also a strong believer in the bottom-up fashion and the bottom-up nature of partnerships, of developing solutions that locally work, that are locally tailored, that bring together the people for their local needs. And while the GDC points something on the radar, I strongly believe that you need to develop these partnerships in a bottom-up nature. And, of course, when you do that, you need to have local stakeholders at the table, the people who understand the technology, that can bridge that to the people who understand, say, the rights in a locality, that understand the needs in a locality, and that can also find the funding in that locality. So, we do that in practice as the Internet Society, for instance, when we are connecting communities. And when we are connecting communities, generally we are part of the funding structures for those, but not always. And we seek a technologist that can build the technologies. We tie them to the local communities to make sure that we know what the requirements are, but we also talk, say, to the municipalities to get right of way to a tower that might be somewhere on which an antenna can be mounted. And those are the tiny examples of places where people get together and do stuff. So I think that once we have those experiences locally at municipal level, we can share them at national level to exchange experiences. And I believe that is the model of the IGF where we have all the regional and national IGFs where people come together and share their experiences in their fora on how did you come to a solution. And that type of norm entrepreneurship, the norm and technical entrepreneurship, I believe creates solutions that are more sustainable than anything that we can invest and invent top-down. And to me, that is where the IGF, of course, plays a humongous role. And I’m happy to see that that role is recognized in the GDC concept. And the GDC defines a number of objectives that keep the eye on the ball, of course. One of them is, of course, the connectivity of all humans to the internet. We still have 2.8 million to go, mostly in the Global South, as you heard the Saudi minister say during the plenary. That’s a high effort, and that’s where we, as internet society, are, of course, focused in our work. So I would say the GDC helps us think globally, but the action needs to be local. Thank you.

Yu Ping Chan: That is a great tagline. Think global with the GDC, but really the action has to be local. And I think that’s something that’s been emphasized in quite a lot of the comments as well. And I think that’s a really good way to segue into the question to Margarita. Margarita, Southern Voice is a network of currently 70 think tanks in the Global South working to accelerate SDG progress. So really reflecting on this connection to what Olaf has just said about acting local, what are you hearing across your members about priorities for implementing the Global Digital Compact? And where is that the most opportunity at the country level, the local level?

Margarita Gomez: Thank you. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here and thank you everybody that is joining online and in person there. So as you mentioned, so we are a network of 70 think tanks in 35 countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. And we work to close the gap between evidence and action. We also connect researchers, practitioners and decision makers to work together and to enhance South-South cooperation, South-North collaborations, to rebalance knowledge and symmetry in global debates and sustainable development. So always we are having this conversation. How can we connect? Yes. Can you hear me better?

Yu Ping Chan: Interrupt you, but it seems like there’s some difficulty with her sound. Can you just hold on a minute?

Margarita Gomez: Yeah, can you hear me better now? Hello, can you hear me better?

Yu Ping Chan: Because I hear a lot of buzzing in her sound quality and we’re not really hearing the message clearly. So maybe could we have a little bit more of a clearer fix on the sound? Yeah. Online panelists? Okay, they’re saying that it has, they can’t really control it and it’s coming from something else.

Margarita Gomez: I think that online is-

Yu Ping Chan: Marita, I think if you could just continue and we apologize for that. We can read the transcription here so we can actually follow along with your important points. So Marita, can I ask you to continue?

Margarita Gomez: Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Sorry about that. I think that, yeah. I hope that you can hear me better now. So I’m going to continue. And yeah, I think that-

Yu Ping Chan: You’re heard now.

Margarita Gomez: Thank you. Thank you so much. I think that’s-

Yu Ping Chan: Okay, go ahead, Marita.

Margarita Gomez: Thank you. Yeah, and the questions and having this panel focusing on what can we do at the local level- to connect with the global debate. I think that is very relevant for the conversation that we always have with our members. And before to prepare for this panel, we were discussing what are the key priorities? And there is this temptation to say, there are many priorities. We need to focus on the infrastructure, we need to focus on access, but we were really trying to identify the top priorities and one of the top priorities for our members, for the Global South that we hear very often is how can we bridging the digital divides? We think that this is one of the important areas that we need to focus our efforts in order to really have progress in health, education, security, financial inclusion, that is one of the important issues for gender, also inclusion, governance. And that’s one of the priorities that we hear often that is important for our members and for the countries where they are based. The second priority that we have identified if the inclusion of women and girls, what we see is that the gap is getting bigger in terms of having more women and having more girls connecting and being part of the digital transformation. When we talk about the Global Digital Compact, we see that there is an important effort to connect these priorities that are coming from the Global South with this global framework. Now, we have seen that they have put in the center some of these digital divides that exist in the different topics and priorities of the GDC. Just maybe to think a little more about what we can do at the local level. that is where countries and not municipalities, as Olaf was saying, but also states and national governments can have more advantage and can work more on that. So the first one, in terms of closing and tackling the digital divides, are reducing the barriers of meaningful use of digital use. Then digital literacy. So we know that in many countries in the Global South, there is a gap already of literacy. And when we talk about digital literacy, this is becoming even bigger. So we think that this is something that governments at the national level can do better because they know the context. They have also the partners, the right partners to do this. The inclusion of women and girls. That’s another issue that we’ve seen that local governments can have more advantage. And then also the participation and inclusion of marginalized groups in the design of the technology to be part of this revolution that is happening. And maybe just my final point is that these are things that local governments can do better, but there are other things that are needed also to happen at the global level in order to make these changes happen. And I just want to mention two of them that we think that is important. One is having a little more support of the global entities in terms of infrastructure, in terms of really sharing good practices, and also having more regulation and more inclusive governance. We think that this is important. something that is needed to happen at the global level. And in order to really move the needle in this topic, we need to collaborate in both levels. One that is the local level, and then the actions that we need to take at the global level. Thank you so much. And I hope that the sounds wasn’t too terrible.

Yu Ping Chan: No, it was much better towards the end Margarita, and thank you so much again for your patience on that. And so with Margarita’s comment that we should also look to the global level, we’re turning the conversation back here in the room to reflections from DESA as well as ITU, two of the global UN entities working on the global stage. And so the next question goes to Dennis from DESA. How does the GDC help accelerate SDG progress? And that’s something that DESA has really been looking at, tracking and measuring the progress that’s been made on the SDGs. And what has DESA seen in terms of the biggest needs and opportunities in this space?

Deniz Susar: Thank you, Yuping. And thank you also for inviting DESA to this panel. I am representing Mr. Juwang Su, Director of Division for Public Institutions, as you mentioned. The GDC highlights several areas critical for country level implementation, many of which align with our work at DESA. Due to time constraints, I will focus on our contribution related to WSIS and the WSIS Plus 2 in overall review. So as many of you know, Paragraph 68 of the GDC emphasizes building on WSIS processes and forums, such as the IGF and its national and regional initiatives and the WSIS Forum to advance the GDC implementation. And it also looks forward to WSIS Plus 2 in review in 2025, where UNDESA will serve as the secretariat. UNDESA is responsible for three WSIS action lines, C1, promoting ICT for development. C7 e-Government, and C11 International and Regional Cooperation. Related to this action line C1, GDC makes many references to the role of ICTs for SDGs, such as importance of data governance, AI. At UNDESA, with our regular program for technical cooperation, we support capacity building initiatives to advance sustainable development in developing countries. This program provides technical assistance, policy advice, and knowledge sharing platforms to enhance governance, digital transformation, and institutional capacities. One of the key focuses is promoting ICTs as enablers of sustainable development by improving digital governance, fostering inclusivity, and building institutional readiness to leverage digital tools and technologies. We have many projects, same like UNDP, in many countries. Related to this action line C7 e-Government, paragraph 13E of the GDC commits to prioritizing digital competencies for public officials and institutions, enabling the development and implementation of inclusive, secure, and user-centered digital services. The United Nations e-Government Survey, which looks at e-Government development of 193 countries, and starting from 2018, we also went local. We started looking at the most populous cities in each country. However, we have received many questions about why we cannot expand to several cities in a single country. So, we are also creating partnerships with entities, either government or non-government, to advance this work into several cities in a single country. So, we share our e-Government survey methodology, and we look at it at the local level. So, this work is also growing extensively in the recent years. There are many countries that we are going to local, and I agree with Olaf’s comments on that. The last section on C11 is the partnerships. to GDC, acknowledge the IGF as the primary stakeholder platform for internet governance. And by paragraph 29, we commit to supporting the IGF by increasing diverse participation from developing countries. As you see here, we are also working on that already. We’re in the IGF, this region, for the first time. UNDESA is the institutional home to the IGF. And also, we’re bringing global, and national, and local, and youth IGFs. So with that, we already also work on the GDC principles. So I just want to conclude saying that our work aligns closely with the GDC principles. And we will continue to integrate its commitments into our efforts.

Yu Ping Chan: Thank you so much, Dennis. And actually, on that particular note, that the UN agencies are really looking to see how we can drive forward implementation of the GDC to our existing work. And these ongoing programs that are really reaching country level, local level, as Dennis has explained, that’s a good way to actually go to our last panelist, Ms. Kitanjali Shah, who also, many of you would actually know, is known affectionately in some places as MISPASISTS, because of her very strong role and leadership in the process itself. And really, reflecting again on that, the role of the IGF, the role of the WSIS in implementation of the GDC, Kitanjali, can you speak to what ITU sees as the priorities in delivering the GDC vision at the country level, and the opportunity that the WSIS Plus 20 review that will be happening next year in the General Assembly has to drive progress towards these key goals?

Gitanjali Sah: Thank you, Yoping. It’s a pleasure to be here. And thanks for organizing this very multi-stakeholder panel where we heard different voices. And to complement what Dennis and Rob said, that through the WSIS Action Lines, the WSIS Action Lines provide a very sound framework and capture the whole gamut of digital technologies, right from cybersecurity to ICT infrastructure. And they have a whole range of technologies. So it’s a beautiful framework. And it’s really a win-win action, because if different UN agencies based on their respective mandates are implementing different action lines. So WHO has e-health, UNEP does e-environment, ITU and UNDP do cyber capacity building. So it’s really a one UN, UN in action framework. And as you can see, we are all here at the IDF. So the IDF and the WSIS Forum are perhaps the best examples of how multi-stakeholders are bringing stories from the ground to the global level, and sharing knowledge and sharing information on how digital cooperation really happens with different stakeholders. So ITU as the UN agency for digital technologies, our existing mandates and actions are directly aligned with the objectives, principles, and commitments of the GDC. ITU is already actively supporting member states and sector members in implementing the GDC. During our ITU governing body meetings, including the council, council working group on WSIS and SDGs that Cynthia is the chair of, we have actually identified the key actions that ITU should be taking, an ITU action plan, and mapping it with the existing WSIS frameworks and the 2030 agenda. Of course, we must not forget the global development goals as such a key role in achieving sustainable development goals. So at the ITU internally, have an internal ITU GDC implementation plan, and we are working with GDC based UN agencies to also come up with an action plan, a GD action plan. This would, we are calling it the Geneva Digital Kitchen, and we meet very often to kind of brainstorm and to explore what we can contribute to New York and to the implementation of the GDC as the UN in Geneva as well. So recently, many of you attended the WTSA, the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, where of course, ITU member states and membership prioritize AI, AI standards, AI governance, responsive, inclusive, impactful AI for sustainable development. Now at the country level as well, ITU has several country offices, A3 offices, regional offices, where we are working with important partners like the UNGDP on capacity building programs, on policy guidance, and AIDB to address the digital divide by ensuring universal connectivity. That’s the main thing that ITU strives to achieve, especially for marginalized and underserved communities. Initiatives like the GIGA, where we are connecting schools with UNICEF, Partner to Connect, the DPI initiative, again with the UNDP, partnership across the digital divide. These are all important initiatives that are already contributing to several aspects of the GDC. At the same time, cybersecurity is a really crucial issue for the ITU, fostering an open, safe, secure digital environment is of course a priority. It’s covered under Action 9C5, those of you who follow the framework, but it’s always an impact. This opportunity obviously provides us with an opportunity to ensure that all of this is strengthened, especially at the grassroots level. Of course, ITU’s ongoing efforts with the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, OHCHR, and other stakeholders are advancing these objectives to developing relevant standards and guidelines to protect privacy, security, and freedom of expression. So just to conclude that WSIS Plus 20 provides us with this opportunity to ensure that this milestone that GDC has provided during the WSIS Plus 20 process is taken into consideration and we build on this to provide a future of WSIS beyond 2025. Back to you.

Yu Ping Chan: Thank you so much, Gitanjali. And then so before I go to our external stakeholders, I’m going to ask Robert to round up the UN family considerations and sort of reflections as to the work that the UN agency is doing in this area and ask you how UNDP is addressing some of the opportunities that we have spoken about that have been reflected from our audience participation and that you’ve heard from some of the other panelists. So what are the insights that you have heard from the various countries that UNDP works in and what do you see as, again, the most urgent priorities in this space?

Robert Opp: Yeah, so I think, well, so all the panelists have mentioned different aspects of it. You know, there’s, I mentioned before that we are getting signals from countries in these sort of different areas, policy. and strategies technology space and capacity building as well as AI. So in the policy and strategy space we have done digital readiness assessments in 53 countries. That is a multi-stakeholder process itself where it is a combination of government, private sector, civil society and other actors feed into the sort of perceptions around what is the strengths and weaknesses of particular contexts or particular digital ecosystems. We’ve also started doing AI readiness assessments which respond to that signal that we’re getting from countries on how can we embrace AI and embrace the benefits and that is something that we do jointly with UNESCO as well. On the technology side of the digital public infrastructure work you just mentioned at Gitanjali we’re working in about 25 countries with digital public infrastructure and trying to understand how to put people at the center of that and to that end we have just recently also launched together with the UN technology envoy’s office a set of DPI safeguards. That is a set of best practices that accompany the implementation of digital public infrastructure in a way that puts people and their rights at the center and so that was launched recently at the UN General Assembly this year and is now something that is available and we’re working to implement across countries around the world. And then the capacity-building space is a kind of a tapestry at the moment. We do work with ITU on a number of capacity building efforts. There’s also I think a fairly strong role for private sector and civil society when it comes to capacity building and so for example in Kenya we are starting a collaboration with the government of Kenya, Microsoft and Huawei on digital capacity building for civil servants. So there’s a lot of work going on out there across all of these areas. Your second question was on insights and I would say you know one of the bigger insights and I hear it coming out of the panel here these cannot just be top-down things. These have to be also bottom-up and you have to take into account signals from people, you have to involve people, you have to be on the ground, you have to be local. You really need to I think in order to get a set of actions that work for everybody and are inclusive you really need to have those voices included. I think that’s probably the biggest thing and in our work with because UNDP works with community level and city level and national governments sometimes it is our role to remind those government authorities that we need to have those voices in the room as well. So I’ll leave it there.

Yu Ping Chan: back to Margarita from Southern Voice to really reflect on that question of voices in the room and Margarita my question for you is where do you see the opportunities, catalytic opportunities for GDC implementation? Have you really seen this for instance from your research work with the Global South and how does Southern Voice plan to continue working with its network and wider partners in this?

Margarita Gomez: Thank you so much and a great conversation, great points that my colleagues has already shared too. I’m going to highlight three catalytics or opportunities that we that we see in the global south and the first one has already been highlighted by some of my colleagues there that is the potential of partnerships and what we see is like at the national level there is the potential of bringing to the conversation other partners and to have more synergies and collaborations so we need the government we need private sector also engaging in these conversations and there is one part that we see from the global south when we talk about partners is this how can we learn from what others countries in the global south are doing in terms of using technology, giving access, innovation that can be adapted and that can be also an inspiration for other countries in the global south so that will be one the potential of these partners is bringing others to the conversation. The second one and this is something that we were discussing too if we needed to do one thing as a government and different actors collaborating in this is maybe as to put in the center the inclusion and also the reduction of these digital divides that exist is maybe guaranteeing or trying to assure that we can have access in public spaces, we can give access in public spaces to as many as many citizens that is possible in these countries and this is an effort again a collective effort that needs to happen to give access in schools public service and we have already some examples that happen in this term so we have the GIGA initiative that has been trying to connect schools, hospitals and different public areas in order to guarantee this access, mainly to the ones that have less access and that we might be leaving behind. And that’s the second opportunity that we see. And the third one is also what’s already mentioned, that is how can we enhance local innovations and also engage local communities to the design development of these technologies that we are using. Even there are already some efforts that we have seen of people designing artificial intelligence, logarithms, bringing communities and local knowledge that is also very important. And in terms of what we are doing, so one of our core work is to connect the local agendas and the local efforts that is happening in different countries to the global agenda. And that is something that we are working with our members to identify these local needs in order to connect also with the global debates. And as a southern voice, we are engaging in different spaces in this agenda to bring and to put it at the center the needs, the priorities and the agenda that is important in these topics from the global south in order to connect with these global debates. Thank you so much.

Yu Ping Chan: Thank you so much, Margarita. Actually, the key words that you highlighted, partnership, inclusion, local innovation and knowledge, but you speak to what you actually had mentioned in the previous intervention. And we will ask them now to elaborate a little bit more on how this types of society intend to continue to work with these types of partnerships.

Olaf Kolkman: Certainly. We do this in many ways. We have a network of chapters throughout the world. We talk about the interaction on a local level between policy makers and perhaps society people. We find those people back in our local chapters. There are 141 million members globally. And in addition to the specialists themselves, we have a lot of good specialists. We have partnerships through our grant making program that provides characters, but also individuals that want to deploy initiatives about to the education skills. But we can do it. If we can do it then should be successful. Even in big ways. If we can do it then some chance can shine. If we can do it then we must make sure there is the openариng for our sustainable way of life. I don’t know if I can distribute the truth back. At the same time I think we drive the truth wrong. I think we drive the truth wrong. We got to judge the truth. Thatǵs okay give you a little more time. Or do you want to say something,ored something else? may I… Just… just going to say a few words. After youÕve speakled about the complete human thing, it has been explaining that for a lot of people because machine learning exists. It allows the electricity bill that generally is probably less than my age. Interesting infrastructure built here, open ceilings, so that we can get everything around the place.

Yu Ping Chan: Sorry to interrupt, but we really canÕt hear anything online. IÕm wondering if the technicians in the room can work on the cameras. The technicians in the room can work on the connection. IÕm wondering if the technicians in the room can work on the cameras. I’m dancing with this. Online participants here love singing, which is very, very entrancing, I have to say. Testing, one, two, three. That’s a bit better, it’s still a little run through. We’re back. Oh, we’re back. Are we back, online people?

Olaf Kolkman: I can stop singing now. You missed something online.

Yu Ping Chan: That’s much better. Okay, back to you, Ola.

Olaf Kolkman: Yeah, I don’t know where I was, but your partnerships are key to everything. It has been said before, alone a youth runs fast, with an elder slow, but together they go far. It has been said before, and that’s partnership for you. And partnership is not only knowledge, or not only money, it’s knowledge as well. And as I was saying, the Internet Society tries to make those connections on the knowledge level, but also through our foundation at the funding level. We ourselves work together with the Giga project of UNICEF, connecting schools, but in Jacksonville, Florida, for instance, we worked with a local bank to connect students to their school. The school put up a mast, so that the kids could go to the kids’ children’s laptops, so that in the poorest areas of Florida, students could get connected. And on bridging that technological policy divide, that is something that is part of our daily work. We try to make connections at the standardization level, so that’s at a very global level. We try to provide tool sets, so that people can analyze whether their policies will impact the open, global, secure, trustworthy, and unfragmented Internet. We have the Internet assessment toolkit for that. And we try to keep that Internet safe, so we will intervene in technical or policy discussions at the local level, where we think that the security of the Internet is under threat. And these are all wicked problems. Building the Internet out to the last billion, the next 1.8 billion people are probably okay, but the last billion people, that is a wicked problem, and we cannot do that alone.

Yu Ping Chan: And another catchphrase, we can’t do it alone. And so picking up on that, and asking who else we can do it with, I’m turning to Cynthia now, and asking her where she thinks that the GDC can connect with other important work that’s underway. For instance, with South Africa’s G20 presidency, and the WSIS review that many other speakers have discussed already as well.

Cynthia Lesufi: Thank you, Philippine, for this important question. Perhaps before one can ask that question, it’s really key for us to ask another question. You know, to then say, what do we make of the WSIS Plus 20 review process? From where we are sitting, as South Africa, we look at the WSIS Plus 20 review process as a framework for all stakeholders, and then based on the WSIS outcome documents, to address opportunities and challenges posed by the current digital landscape, including universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation. Moving forward, it is also important to look at the GDC as a next step for WSIS, right? Where we are sitting, we believe that WSIS has primarily responded to the initial wave of globalization and digitization, and also concentrating on infrastructure and efforts to build the digital divide. While the GDC, we view it as a reflection of the advanced state of the digital ecosystem in addressing its complicities in the era characterized by widespread of digitalization, misinformation, emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain. And we also believe that it is important for us to ask another question as to our role in the digital divide. how GDC reinforce WSIS. For us, these both initiatives, they aim at enhancing ICTs and digital technologies to transform humanity. And we also believe that the GDC builds on the principles of WSIS by incorporating ethical and the rights-based approaches to digital transformation. While WSIS focuses on action languages, the GDC seeks to centralize sets of principles and commitments agreed upon by all stakeholders. And again, as South Africa, we also believe that really WSIS has laid the groundwork for global ICT discussions. And we also believe that the GDC as an initiative, it builds upon those principles by focusing on modern challenges, such as the regulation of your platform providers, the regulation of AI and ethics, and the online misinformation. And we also believe that the GDC could also be seen as the next step of WSIS’ legacy through aligning digital governance with the broader 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Now, you know, now moving to the South African G20 Presidency. I was, as a country, we are informed by the general culture of inclusivity and consultation, which is, again, at the center of the WSIS and the GDC. And this is informed by the values of the values and the spirit of our constitution. With South Africa as a G20 Presidency, we seek to reinforce the notion of multistakeholder approach. And I want to believe that this is also important for both processes. And we are doing this through enhancing a dialogue and engagement with various states, international organizations, and civil society. And with its presidency, the South African government also intends to place Africa’s developmental agenda at the top of the G20 Presidency. And we aim to build on the success of the past three presidencies led by the Global South. As South Africa, we also believe that this presidency will provide us with an opportunity to advocate and mobilize support for developing economies of Africa and the Global South, particularly championing the developmental agenda. In conclusion, of us as South Africa, we believe that the G20 Presidency has a pivotal role in advancing the WSIS and the SDG agendas by focusing on the digital inclusion, sustainable development rights based on governance and global accountability. And we also believe that with our G20 Presidency, we can leave a lasting impact on global transformation, particularly for developing nations. And lastly, we believe that with our leadership, we can also fulfill the principles of WSIS, but also position South Africa as a key advocate for more equitable and inclusive digital future. Thank you. Thank you so much, Cynthia. And with that, we end our panel and we’re going to audience interaction and questions and answers for our distinguished panelists. Before we start that, we have another question for you to answer via Slido, and if I could have share screen again. So, having heard everything from our panelists, but also thinking about your own experiences and your own perspectives, in one to two words, can you tell us how we will know that we are succeeding and delivering impact at the country level? Again, not just talking about action this time around, reflecting on everything that you’ve heard, but the need to hear these voices and to act on these needs and priorities. So, in one, two words, how will we know that we are and delivering impact at the country? Okay. Hello. There we go. Two responses have been in, digital quality and results. Other suggestions? Other reflections? For those just coming in, we’re taking an audience survey via Slido. You scan the QR code and you give us one to two words on how we will know that we are succeeding in delivering impact at the country level. I see someone says that more than one to two words. I appreciate your commitment.

Olaf Kolkman: in one or two words, because the DTC, the action items or the objectives are, in fact, the KPIs that we’re looking at. And it’s not one KPI, it’s a bunch of them. And I think that once you’ve seen results at each individual objectives, they’re not really, not all of them have been

Yu Ping Chan: This is a good point that Olaf is making, that really the measure is really capturing the objectives of the GDC itself. Dennis wants to come in a little bit before we open the floor to participants. Go ahead.

Olaf Kolkman: I’m looking at the screen and I’m seeing most of the business action lines there, economic development, additional quality, SDG acceleration. And I just want to make this last point that you understand, we still think that GDC is a very comprehensive framework moving forward, which will guide us into the business plus 20. But the business framework is also still valid since 2003 and 2005. We think that existing mechanisms just still work, such as IGF, this is forum, STI forum, technology facilitation mechanism, et cetera. One last thing I want to mention is, for example, in 2005, we didn’t have AI, social media or a number of things were not there. But paragraph 72G of the Tunis agenda, where IGF gets its mandate, I quote, identify emerging issues, bring them to the attention of the relevant bodies and the general public, and where appropriate, make recommendations. So one of the keynotes of IGF is to discuss emerging issues. And AI was in the discussions of IGF since 2015. And UNESCO started discussing AI ethics in 2018. So we think that IGF and all this has enormous agenda setting, and how issues have normally first popped up in IGF, and then produce concrete partnerships and brought us here. So I think that’s an important point I just wanted to input here. And I think

Yu Ping Chan: that’s a point that a lot of us, resonates very strongly with a lot of us, and really reflects to the importance of the IGF process, feeding into these global conversations, and in some ways, prefiguring the conversation that then happens at the global level, because it was here at IGF that you heard it first. Olaf, go ahead. And then I’m going to turn to the floor.

Olaf Kolkman: I use the term norm entrepreneurship. That’s exactly what’s happening.

Yu Ping Chan: Norm entrepreneurship. All right. So we’re going to the floor now for reflections. I saw Henriette raise her hand, and then I see Isabel. So Henriette, go ahead. Henriette from the Alliance for Progressive Communications.

Anriette Esterhuysen: No, no, no, no, no. Thanks, Ola. Thanks, everyone. I kind of feel we’re still beating around the bush. You know, I hear, I want to pick up on what Cynthia was saying about the alignment between GDC and WSIS, but I want to hear more than that. I want to hear that the WSIS plus 20 outcome will integrate GDC follow-up and implementation with the WSIS. And if there’s a need to update WSIS action lines, to merge them with some of the new emerging issues that the GDC raises, then ask WSIS to do that. Ask the WSIS facilitation agencies to work that. Improve cooperation within the UN system. We know it’s not as good as it should be. But I think ultimately, if you want country-based actions, you have to respect countries and you have to, as the international system, not just dump new agendas on them all the time. I can speak for African countries. I was at the African WSIS plus 20 prep comp. They are implementing those WSIS action lines. They’re doing their best. It’s an imperfect and even process. They’re now concerned about also integrating GDC. Make it easy for them. Merge these processes. I think anything beyond that is serving our international intergovernmental bureaucracy rather than serving what we’re trying to achieve at member state level.

Yu Ping Chan: Thank you, Henriette. Turning over to Isabel from the Office of the Tech Envoy. And then after that, we have Nnenna online and then a colleague here. Isabel, go ahead.

Isabel De Sola: Thank you so much. And I’m devastated to go after Henriette. I’m Isabel D’Soula from the Office of the Tech Envoy. And I just wanted to say that I think this is such a good question on the screen is how do we know that we’re succeeding? From the Office of the Tech Envoy, I really wanna take this question back and see how we could connect some of our work on implementation to KPIs. And I couldn’t get my camera to work, but I would like to add one to the screen, which is two actually, data governance. So two words, Yuping. I think that we have an opportunity in the GDC to advance some pretty groundbreaking principles for international data governance. And the task is probably one of the most complex and most important of the GDC that will require a multi-stakeholder approach. So for the IGF and its role as an ideation center as a place for exchange, I really hope that the IGF will contribute to that process, which is just about to kick off in Geneva in January. And a second two or three words is about diversity of content. And that relates to the WSIS agenda. So this is something that we’ve been working on for 20 years but where I’ve recently learned there could be real potential for partnerships with the private sector. 80% of content online 20 years after the WSIS is still just in seven languages. And 50% of that content is in English. And now we have maybe some technical tools that could provide shortcuts to translating loads of content online. Those technical tools are in the hands of a certain sector also present here at the IGF, and they’re doing their part. I understand Google is taking 110 new languages into its AI-powered translation model. But here’s a place I think where the WSIS and the GDC could dig deeper together and say, all right, the progress we’ve made with the WSIS on languages is this. And in the GDC, we call on tech companies to support us in this, that, and the other in nine areas. And perhaps that’s a nice low-hanging fruit for the two frameworks to work together and deliver, as this question suggests, results. Thank you.

Yu Ping Chan: Thank you, Isabel. And we go to Nenna online and then we’ll come over here to our colleague here. Nenna?

AUDIENCE: Thank you. you. I hope you can hear me very well. Very quietly, Nana. Is it

Yu Ping Chan: okay if we speak a little bit more loudly? Can you hear me?

AUDIENCE: Yes, but not a little faint, but go ahead, Nana. Yeah, I think we’ve had a lot of sound issues. I just wanted to come back on the divides and the intersectionality of the divides. At this stage, we’re not just talking about digital divides. That is infrastructural part of it alone. But I think we should pay close attention to the digital policy divides, digital gender divides, digital rural and urban divides, digital age divides. So that’s just what I want to pitch in here. And maybe our panelists, our resource people can zero in on this. After 20 years in IGF, speaking about digital divides alone is not enough. But I think we should all as a global digital community, be aware that divides are intersectional, and our response to them must be intersectional. And I think that it is important to put this here, because we’re talking about digital cooperation. And most of our UN family members are here, so that we don’t just run with our own individual mandates at the expense of the mandate of other agencies. But we should have that collaboration ahead as a focus, because our divides are intersectional, and our response to them should also be. Thank you very much for having me.

Yu Ping Chan: Thank you, Nana. Let me reassure you that I think the collaboration between UN agencies, as you can see from the presence on the stage, has been strong and continues to be growing as well. So over here to colleague in the room.

AUDIENCE: Okay, thank you very much. Thank you for your good presentations. Though we had these hiccups of the, you know, internet, and you hoping that because it’s IGF forum that tomorrow, everything will be better than this. I’m Julia Fosha. I come from Kenya. We mainly work in the northern part of Kenya called Masbit. It’s a very dry place, and the place is remote. We do have a school, for example, called Tego School, which, you know, not only internet, we do not even have electricity in the first place. So I was wondering, Rob said he’s going to work with the country, mainly for the civil servants. In Masbit, most of the people are pastoralists, and they are mainly affected by drought. Like we had drought for the last four years. It only rained early… No, end of last year and early this year. I tend to agree with what Mr. Oph had said, that let’s really look at the local part of it, other than, you know, the whole population. Because if you look at the civil servants who come from Masbit, or from the marginalized places, they are very few. And we really need this taken down to the students, you know, to the ground local levels. So kindly, I would also request, if you are able to work with us, who are the CSOs… like the local, local NGOs who deal directly with the people in the grassroots. I think that can touch more people other than just going to the towns. Thank you.

Yu Ping Chan: Gitanjali has a response to that. And I think that is exactly a reminder of the perspectives and the people that we need to reach if we truly want to be impactful. Gitanjali? We have one more person in the queue. Maybe Gitanjali first. He’s been waiting. Go ahead.

Alex Mora: Hi, I’m Alex Mora. I am originally from Brazil. I work here in Saudi Arabia in the Cal State University, and I’ve been working on the research and education and support for scientific research for more than 25 years now. And from all the perspectives I heard here today, I’d like to add on the last commentary from our colleague here that I miss a lot of the integration or collaboration involving organizations that are working on those in this area of research and education. For instance, in each country, there is some sort of research and education organization working to connect schools, universities, all sorts of educational, let’s say, facility. And those facilities could be, I think, on my view, education is the main thing that could change people’s lives instead of only giving the access to Internet. Because if you give them the communication capabilities, but along with that, if you give access to good information and relevant, meaningful material that they can improve their own lives and do new things for themselves, you can empower communities, remote locations, people that are disconnected. So a lot of good things can come from that. So I think all efforts should always try to look involving the local people who work on research and education. And one good channel is the research and education networks. In each country, you have a lot of people working to do the same thing you are talking here. They are striving to bring fiber across the Amazon River. They are building connections through satellites. And that’s not only for scientific purposes. It’s also to connect schools and make people have access. So if you join efforts with those people and they have global coverage, I am also on the leadership of the GNA, Global Network Advancement. And this group is working to integrate the whole backbone of all NRENs in the whole world to work as an integrated system that every scientist, educator in the world can have access to make things better for science and education in every country. So this, I think, is important to see how we can leverage that capacity. They are very hardworking people. They work on trust. They collaborate. And they do a lot of incredible things. So you could check out the website in the field where they publish a lot of things they do. And the accomplishments are there. So if you join efforts with those kind of organizations, I think it would be very helpful.

Yu Ping Chan: And again, I think that’s a good reminder. that we should be looking to where there are efforts and really these partnerships with local bodies and local organizations are already doing this good work. So thank you for that and that perspective on who we really need to be focusing on and at the local level as well. So I saw that Gitanjali and Rob both wanted to come back in on what they’ve heard so far. And I will also open it up to the other panelists as well. So Gitanjali first and Rob.

Gitanjali Sah: So Yuping, this discussion really takes me back to 2006 when I was working with UNDP and UNESCO at the grassroots level. And I think Olaf and Rob, you really remember how together as a passionate community, the Open South movement started after WSIS. It was so passionate on the ground. The indigenous is bringing indigenous languages and cultures to the digital world. The community radio stations. I mean, I don’t know if any of you were involved in that movement, but in 2006, Anirudh, you remember, you know, when we had started empowering the local villages to run their own community radio stations and to be empowered, you know? So really this whole digital ICT movement dates back to a lot of achievements, you know? So we’re talking about AI, new technologies right now, but think of the grassroots level work that we have all done together at this level. You know, it reminds me of the first offices in India which were converted into telecentres where the postman had the role of the trainer as a telecentre manager. You know, we should be having this accessibility. So you know, we used to balance twice a day because we had a lot of time and we didn’t eat. I’m sorry to interrupt again, but the sound is, again, very bad online. So this was in South Asia, you know? So this one also reminds you that, as Anirudh said, we have been working since 2000, you know, on the ground to make all of this possible. And this is why today we are talking about AI and new technologies and all of that, because a lot of work is going on. Because a lot of work has gone into it.

Yu Ping Chan: We are running out of time. So I’m going to ask the panellists to really be very short in their responses and to also ask if anyone online in the room has any, literally two sentences, comments or responses. So very quickly to the panellists, two sentences. Oh, now, okay. Everyone gets two sentences.

Robert Opp: I just wanted to respond quickly to the two comments made here that are extremely valid in terms of looking at rural areas across the country, local and the education system. You know, what I’m talking about, I kind of left it at the upper level, but in Kenya, in fact, we are now working on local district digital readiness assessments because we know that the disparities are out there. The education system in Africa, we have 13 countries with innovation offices into local universities because we also know that’s the source of a lot of the digital skilling and the kind of the pipeline of the future. And yes, and then we have lots of things around the world as well on extension to local spaces like Bangladesh has something in the order of 9,000 local digital services centres and things like that. So just to say, acknowledge excellent points and there’s a lot going on.

Yu Ping Chan: There’s a lot of two sentences. Hold up very quickly, two sentences. Points.

PANELIST: First, Henriette I assume made a good point. Don’t invent too many processes. Build on what you have. We have the idea. It’s solid. We need to tweak it. We need to grow and evolve it, but build on it. Second point, academic networks and brands have been part of the technical community since the dawn of the internet. We have been on the edge of that education So we’re working on this. And it’s really important for us to be able to do this. And it’s working. It’s working. It’s really important. Thank you.

Yu Ping Chan: Thank you. I just wanted to say, which I agree with. I think this is going on for years and years. And we’ve been going to some cheap meetings. And we’ve had some people who have been doing this for years. Thank you. Thank you.