Open Forum #46 Developing a Secure Rights Respecting Digital Future

Summary

This IGF open forum discussion focused on developing a secure, rights-respecting digital future through collaborative governance approaches. The session was chaired by Neil Wilson from the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and featured panelists from government, international organizations, academia, and civil society discussing digital development challenges and solutions.

Alessandra Lustrati outlined the UK’s comprehensive digital development framework, emphasizing three key pillars: digital inclusion (focusing on meaningful connectivity and digital skills), digital responsibility (addressing cybersecurity and online safety), and digital sustainability (considering environmental impacts). She highlighted the Digital Access Programme, a partnership between FCDO and other organizations working across five countries – Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa – which has reached 15 million people in over 5,000 communities.

Samantha O’Riordan from the ITU emphasized that 2.6 billion people remain offline globally, with the majority in Africa and Asia. She stressed the importance of meaningful connectivity that provides safe, satisfying, and productive online experiences at affordable costs. The ITU has been supporting countries through capacity building, establishing computer incident response teams, and developing national cybersecurity strategies.

Leonard Mabele discussed Kenya’s National Digital Master Plan, focusing on innovative spectrum sharing approaches including TV white spaces and Wi-Fi 6E to deliver last-mile connectivity. Professor Luzango Mfupe shared South Africa’s experiences with community networks and spectrum innovation, noting that data costs remain a significant barrier for rural households who must choose between connectivity and basic necessities.

Maria Paz Canales from Global Partners Digital emphasized the need for participatory approaches in digital transformation, ensuring that local communities are involved from the design stage rather than being passive recipients of top-down technological solutions. She stressed the importance of balancing innovation with human rights protection and establishing mechanisms for monitoring and course correction.

The discussion highlighted the critical balance between expanding connectivity and managing associated risks, including cybersecurity threats, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and digital divides. All panelists agreed that sustainable digital transformation requires multi-stakeholder collaboration, community-centered approaches, and frameworks that prioritize both innovation and rights protection in building an inclusive digital future.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Digital Divide and Meaningful Connectivity**: The persistent challenge of connecting 2.6 billion people who remain offline globally, with emphasis on moving beyond basic connectivity to “meaningful connectivity” that provides safe, satisfying, and productive online experiences at affordable costs.

– **Multi-stakeholder Approach to Digital Development**: The UK’s Digital Access Programme framework focusing on three pillars – digital inclusion (connectivity and skills), digital responsibility (cybersecurity and online safety), and digital sustainability (environmental impact considerations).

– **Spectrum Innovation and Community Networks**: Technical solutions for last-mile connectivity including TV white spaces, Wi-Fi 6E, private LTE/5G networks, and community-based approaches that start from local needs rather than top-down technology deployment.

– **Balancing Innovation with Risk Management**: The challenge of promoting digital transformation while addressing emerging threats like cybercrime, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, misinformation, and ensuring cybersecurity capacity building, particularly in least developed countries.

– **Human Rights-Centered Digital Transformation**: The importance of inclusive, participatory approaches that involve local communities in designing and implementing digital strategies, ensuring that marginalized groups have meaningful participation and that policies are responsive to local contexts and needs.

## Overall Purpose:

This IGF open forum aimed to explore collaborative solutions for developing a secure, inclusive, and rights-respecting digital future. The session focused on sharing practical experiences and frameworks for digital development, particularly through the UK’s Digital Access Programme partnerships in Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, while addressing how to balance technological innovation with human rights protection and inclusive governance.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently collaborative and constructive tone throughout. It was professional yet accessible, with speakers building upon each other’s points rather than debating. The tone was solution-oriented and practical, focusing on sharing concrete examples and lessons learned from field implementation. There was a sense of urgency about addressing digital divides while maintaining optimism about the potential for multi-stakeholder partnerships to create positive change. The conversation remained respectful and inclusive, with clear efforts to bridge different perspectives from government, international organizations, academia, and civil society.

Speakers

– **Neil Wilson** – Chair of the session, from the cyber policy department of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office

– **Alessandra Lustrati** – Head of the Digital Development Cluster in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Senior Private Sector Development Advisor

– **Samantha O’Riordan** – Based at the ITU in Geneva, part of the ITU Development Sector, working on connecting the unconnected

– **Leonard Mabele** – Leads research and innovation at the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AfralT) based in Nairobi, PhD candidate at Strathmore University

– **Luzango Mfupe** – Professor, Chief researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSAR) in South Africa, research focus on connecting the unconnected

– **Maria Paz Canales** – Head of Policy and Advocacy at Global Partners Digital, a civil society organization based in the UK working globally on human rights considerations in digital policy

**Additional speakers:**

– **Lea Kaspar** – Mentioned in the transcript as being introduced by Neil Wilson, but appears to be the same person as Maria Paz Canales based on the context and responses given

# Summary: Building a Secure, Rights-Respecting Digital Future Through Collaborative Governance

## Introduction and Session Framework

This IGF open forum discussion, chaired by Neil Wilson from the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office cyber policy department, took place during the 20th anniversary of IGF and following the recent adoption of the Global Digital Compact. The session brought together representatives from government, international organisations, academia, and civil society to explore collaborative solutions for developing a secure, inclusive, and rights-respecting digital future.

Wilson framed the discussion around fundamental questions: How can we ensure that all voices, especially those historically excluded, are heard in shaping our digital future? How do we connect the unconnected whilst balancing innovation with rights protection?

## The UK’s Digital Development Framework

Alessandra Lustrati, Head of the Digital Development Cluster at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, outlined the UK’s approach to digital development through three interconnected pillars, emphasising that digital transformation should encompass government and society broadly, not just economic transformation.

The first pillar, **digital inclusion**, addresses meaningful connectivity beyond physical access, including digital skills development, relevant content creation, and accessibility for underserved communities. Lustrati stressed that digital skills development must always include cyber hygiene awareness and online safety tools.

The second pillar, **digital responsibility**, focuses on managing risks including cybersecurity threats, online safety concerns, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), with emphasis on prevention rather than merely responding to consequences.

The third pillar, **digital sustainability**, considers the environmental impacts of digital technologies.

The UK’s Digital Access Programme, implemented in partnership with the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), works across five countries—Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa—and has reached 15 million people in over 5,000 communities. The programme emphasises community networks that start from understanding local needs rather than imposing top-down solutions, supporting local tech entrepreneurship and prioritising local organisations in delivery models.

## Global Connectivity Challenges: ITU Perspectives

Samantha O’Riordan from the ITU Development Sector highlighted that 2.6 billion people remain offline globally, with the majority in Africa and Asia. She distinguished between basic connectivity and meaningful connectivity, noting that whilst 97% of the world has mobile network coverage, a significant usage gap remains.

Meaningful connectivity requires “a safe, satisfying, enriching, and productive online experience at an affordable cost.” The usage gap persists due to affordability issues and lack of digital skills, awareness, relevant local content, and trust in online services.

The ITU has established 24 computer incident response teams and developed national cybersecurity strategies in multiple countries. O’Riordan emphasised that cybersecurity must be foundational to digital development, noting that least developed countries and small island developing states lag 10+ years behind in cybersecurity capacity. She also mentioned the upcoming World Telecommunications Development Conference in Baku.

## African Perspectives: Kenya’s Innovation Approach

Leonard Mabele from the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute discussed Kenya’s National Digital Master Plan, which emphasises affordable meaningful access, digital skills development, innovation, and digital government services.

Mabele highlighted connectivity challenges in underserved areas, noting that regions like Ustia County only have 2G/3G access despite high population density. He questioned whether accurate population data exists for planning purposes, suggesting underserved populations may be systematically undercounted.

Kenya’s approach emphasises spectrum innovation, including TV White Spaces (with framework development since 2020) and spectrum sharing to reduce connectivity costs and enable last-mile access. Dynamic spectrum access and Wi-Fi 6E in the 6 GHz band can enhance capacity for underserved communities. These technical innovations are coupled with community-focused approaches considering local needs, particularly in agriculture.

## South African Experiences: Community Networks and Affordability

Professor Luzango Mfupe from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa noted that whilst South Africa has achieved 78% internet connectivity, only 14.5% have fixed internet at home, highlighting significant infrastructure gaps.

Mfupe provided a striking affordability analysis: data costs in South Africa represent 10% of the average household food budget, meaning rural families must choose between connectivity and basic necessities like bread.

South Africa has focused on spectrum innovation around 3.8-4.2 GHz and lower 6 GHz bands to enable affordable connectivity. The country has supported 13 small-medium enterprises led by women, youth, and persons with disabilities to deploy rural connectivity, connecting over 70,000 rural users daily through community-based initiatives that include both technical and business model capacity building.

## Civil Society Perspectives: Human Rights and Participatory Governance

Lea Kaspar introduced Maria Paz Canales from Global Partners Digital, who emphasised moving beyond top-down approaches to embrace participatory governance models. Canales argued that effective digital transformation requires local communities to be involved from the design stage rather than being passive recipients.

She stressed that “the only way to effectively respond to local community needs and realities is to have digital transformation policies produced and discussed at the local level with relevant actors,” including traditionally marginalised communities. This approach requires ongoing assessment of technology’s impact and establishing oversight mechanisms that can adapt to changing circumstances.

Canales emphasised that participatory processes must be meaningful rather than tokenistic, ensuring marginalised groups have genuine influence over decisions affecting them.

## Key Areas of Agreement

Several areas of consensus emerged among speakers:

– **Meaningful connectivity** requires more than basic access—it must provide safe, satisfying, enriching, and productive online experiences at affordable costs

– **Community-based approaches** are essential for sustainable connectivity, with development being community-driven and responsive to local contexts

– **Spectrum innovation** and dynamic sharing are crucial for making connectivity more affordable and accessible

– **Digital skills development** must integrate safety and security awareness from the outset

## Technical Innovation and Partnerships

The discussion highlighted the importance of partnerships, with specific mention of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance as a key partner in spectrum sharing initiatives. Technical innovations discussed included TV White Spaces, dynamic spectrum access, and community network models that reduce costs while maintaining quality.

## Ongoing Challenges

Several challenges remain unresolved:

– Balancing innovation promotion with preventing harms such as cybersecurity threats and disinformation

– Accurate population mapping in underserved areas for better planning

– Sustainable financing mechanisms for long-term digital infrastructure in rural communities

– Addressing the persistent usage gap even where network coverage exists

## Conclusion

The session demonstrated alignment around principles of inclusive, responsible, and sustainable digital transformation. The practical experiences shared—from the UK’s multi-country programme to Kenya’s spectrum innovations and South Africa’s community networks—provide concrete examples of collaborative approaches that combine technical innovation with community engagement.

The discussion emphasised that building a secure, rights-respecting digital future requires moving beyond technical solutions to embrace participatory governance models that ensure historically excluded voices are heard in shaping digital transformation. The collaborative approaches explored provide a foundation for continued progress, though sustained commitment to multi-stakeholder collaboration and community-centred development remains essential.

Neil Wilson: Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for joining here in person and online. And welcome to this IGF open forum on developing a secure rights respecting digital future. My name is Neil Wilson. I come from the cyber policy department of the UK foreign Commonwealth and development office. And I’m delighted to be chairing this session alongside such an esteemed panel at such a pivotal moment in global digital governance. And you will all have heard a lot this week about the critical juncture we find ourselves at here at the 20th anniversary and indeed the 20th edition of the IGF. Following the adoption of the global digital compact and amidst the WSIS plus 20 review, both the scale of the challenge and the urgency of addressing it has arguably never been clearer. We have been continually reminded this week as in our kind of daily lives that the digital world is no longer a separate space. It’s the very infrastructure of our economies, our societies, our daily lives and how we govern these technologies is critical to how we govern ourselves and especially for those of us undergoing digital transformation. Indeed, we’re in a period of immense change and it shows no signs of slowing as we embrace new and emerging technologies. And with this transformation comes a really complex web of challenges. Cyber security threats, widening digital. Digital Divides, Ethical Dilemmas in AI, the urgent need to ensure ultimately that digital transformation respects human rights and promotes inclusion. But this session is about more than just identifying problems. In line with this year’s IGF theme of building governance together, this session is about exploring collaborative, inclusive and accountable solutions. So today we’ll be asking a wide range of questions. How do we ensure that all voices, especially those historically excluded, are heard in shaping our digital future? How do we connect the unconnected? How do we balance innovation with rights protection? How can we build resilient, rights-respecting digital infrastructure that serves everyone everywhere? So to help us unpack these questions, I’m joined by an outstanding selection of panellists who I will actually ask to introduce themselves, so it’s not just me speaking at this top section. So to my right, we have Alessandra Lestrati. Alessandra, do you want to introduce yourself?

Alessandra Lustrati: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Neil. Good morning, everybody, online and in person. Thank you for waking up this early to join us. I’m Alessandra Lestrati. I’m the head of the Digital Development Cluster in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. I’m also a Senior Private Sector Development Advisor. Thank you.

Neil Wilson: Thank you, Alessandra. I think online we have Samantha O’Riordan from the ITU. Samantha, can you hear us?

Samantha O’Riordan: Yes, I can hear you. Thank you. So my name is Samantha O’Riordan. I’m based at the ITU in Geneva and I am part of the ITU Development Sector and working actually with Alessandra. We have a partnership working to assist several countries in connecting the unconnected.

Neil Wilson: Thank you, Samantha, for joining us. Great to see you. Also joining us online, we have Leonard Mbale. Leonard, are you with us?

Leonard Mabele: Yes. Hello, Neil. Hello, everyone. I hope you can all see me. My name is Leonard Mbele. Greetings from Kenya. And I lead the research and innovation at the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute, AfralT, which is based in Nairobi. And I’m also a PhD candidate at Strathmore University. And with the two institutions, that is AfralT and Strathmore, we’ve been working closely with Alessandra through the Digital Access Initiative at CDO. Looking forward to speaking more.

Neil Wilson: Thank you, Leonard. Great to see you. Next, we have Professor Luzango Mfupe. Professor, can you hear us?

Luzango Mfupe: Yes, now. Good morning, colleagues. I’m Luzango Mfupe. I’m a chief researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSAR, here in South Africa. My area of research interest is connecting the unconnected. And I’ve been working with Alessandra and FCDO in a number of initiatives. Thank you.

Neil Wilson: Thank you, Professor. And now returning to the room for our final panelist here in Oslo, Lea Kaspar.

Maria Paz Canales: Thank you very much for the invitation from FCDO to be here speaking with you. I’m Lea Kaspar. I’m the head of Policy and Advocacy at Global Partners Digital, a civil society organization based in the UK, but working globally with partners across different regions in underpinning human rights consideration in digital policy.

Neil Wilson: Thank you, Maria. So each of our panelists really brings quite a unique lens to this conversation, and as do you, our audience, both here in person and those of you joining online from all around the world. And it’s really wonderful to use this opportunity to bridge these different perspectives, encourage some multi-stakeholder dialogue from across government, industry, academia, the technical community, and civil society. So together, we’re going to explore how we can shape a secure, inclusive world. and rights respecting digital future and just a very quick note I suppose on how we will run this session to kick things off each of our panelists will provide some opening remarks on the principles they see as most relevant to developing a secure rights respecting digital future and then we’ll dive into discussion as a panel before we open it up to our audience here both in the room and those of you joining online so without further ado Alessandra and would you like to kick us off with the principles you see as most relevant to developing a secure and rights respecting digital future.

Alessandra Lustrati: Thank you so much Neil I’ll try to see whether I can oh they’re opening up my presentation Thank you so thank you tech I guess you can go into presentation mode okay and so good morning again we’ve started getting to know each other so I hope you’re looking forward to this kind of quite diverse set of sort of contributions my task this morning is to provide you with an overview of the approach of the UK government to digital development and as usual before we say the what we do and how we do it it’s always good to ask why we do it even in this early in the morning so why normally when we reflect on these things we try to organize them on four different levels first of all and apologies that maybe the text is a little bit small for reading but I’ll run through the key concepts for you and so first of all we think about the fact that digital transformation is now widely recognized as an absolutely key enabler of social and economic development even an accelerator of the SDGs as many people like to say and this has been further sort of accelerated and amplified also by the you know upcoming technologies and including AI that is already there with us and then of course the let me just see enabling development yes I can’t read my eyesight is very bad so all of this can enable development at different levels and But at the same time there are Problems that we need to solve. So the first one is the digital divide We know that 2.6 billion people are still offline in the world But we have other divides plural including on digital skills and access and accessibility of digital content and services We also have specific things like the gender digital gaps and many of you are very very familiar with these issues On top of the divides we need to think about the risks and as you all know risks that have been developing and accelerating over time Include, you know cyber security threats online safety risks But also those risks that again AI has amplified and is amplifying like misinformation in this information So these are the kind of four levels that would sort of in a way justify why we want to work on digital development But what is digital development for us? So the definition of digital development for FCDO is that we want to support our partner countries in achieving an inclusive Responsible and sustainable digital transformation. It’s quite a mouthful. So I’m going to unpack it for you by using our policy framework which Is here very colorful So digital development is quite a complex concept and I know that different colleagues and stakeholders in the IGF and beyond Define it in many different ways. We find this way of articulating our thinking quite useful and we’ve developed this policy framework You know based on experience of various, you know Quite a few years of working with partner countries in trying to promote Sort of the use of digital technologies to advance development. So when we think about digital transformation, we are actually referring to digital transformation typically of the economy as people think of Spontaneously, but also very much of government and of society in the broad sense of the term So it’s a very broad approach to digital transformation However, we don’t want to let’s say promote a digital transformation just for the sake of it. We want it to be inclusive responsible and sustainable so under the pillar of digital , we are a global organization that is focused on digital inclusion, we focus of course on the foundational block without which we cannot do anything, which is inclusive and sort of affordable and sustainable connectivity, especially connectivity at the last mile and for the most sort of underserved, but also within that same bucket of digital inclusion, we look at the situation of specifically underserved communities of course but also marginalized

Neil Wilson: communities and how they can be connected, but also how they can access digital content and services that are relevant to them and how they can develop and use digital skills at different levels so that digital connectivity becomes meaningful to them, productive and really make sense for their context. And then going on to sort of manage the risks is the bucket of digital responsibility within which we include all our work, of course not just our work as the UK, but the work with all the partners and stakeholders that we collaborate all the time with, we focus on cyber security capacity, building cyber hygiene awareness, but also the promotion of online safety, we have also very strong emphasis on technology facilitated gender-based violence, unfortunately it’s a phenomenon that has been growing over the past few years, and also the importance of data protection, and you know, again with the advance of AI, data, and the protection of data and the use of data and the transparency of it is becoming an even more critical issue. And last but not least, we have the digital sustainability, this is a pillar that we added to our framework a couple of years ago, it’s a bit more recent, like many other organisations around the world have started to think about, yes, digital transformation is really critical, it’s really important, it brings a lot of benefits, we can leverage it in a positive way to provide digital tools and platforms for solutions on climate change adaptation and resilience for local communities, however, there is also a clear environmental impact, and this might be a bit complicated, but digital transformation is about the data, it’s not the technology or the technology is the data for the solution. It will be a big and then we go into last part of my presentation is on actually giving you a practical example of how we apply all of this thinking and sort of our policy and strategy approach and I will focus only specifically on our what we call our sort of quote-unquote flagship program on digital access. The digital access program is a partnership between FCDO and DCIT, the Department for Science Innovation and Technology. We work together across government to promote three pillars of work. The first one is on digital inclusion, pillar one and it basically works at two levels. One is the level of the policies, sort of regulatory frameworks and standards that create that enabling environment, that system-wide change that can sort of support and enhance digital inclusion but at the market and community level we specifically focus on testing technology and business models that can enable first of all that kind of famous inclusive, meaningful, affordable, sustainable connectivity at the last mile but also all the other models that can help with digital skills, access to content and services etc. The second pillar is the kind of trust and resilience so it kind of maybe makes you think back of what I explained as digital responsibility with a lot of emphasis on cyber security capacity building but also work on online safety and data protection and last but not least pillar three is about now taking all of this work, creating that sort of

Alessandra Lustrati: positive environment for the local digital economy and ecosystem and specifically supporting those forms of tech entrepreneurship in the local digital economies of our five focal countries that you see listed at the top, Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, to basically facilitate and sort of stimulate digital innovations that are useful for local development challenges. And this also creates opportunities for, obviously, business partnerships and investment collaborations across the border as well. Obviously, from those five countries, today we have with us, obviously, Kenya and South Africa represented extremely well. We work also in the other three, and actually we are amplifying the work of the Digital Access Programme or DAP to the regions by just sharing knowledge and just on a demand basis disseminating the models that we demonstrated over the years. And I will just say to conclude that top-line results of the programme have been so far that we’ve reached 15 million people over five countries in over 5,000 communities, or 555, it’s quite easy to sort of remember, where we have sustainably improved the digital inclusion of people in these communities. But you could think that 15 million people, actually 2.6 million people is just a drop in the ocean. What is important is not so much just the number of people that we reach in a sustainable way, but it’s actually the models and the practices that we try to demonstrate with a multi-stakeholder approach, and how all of this gets embedded through a lot of sort of capacity building and technical assistance that really enables local organisations to then take forward, and local stakeholders to take forward that work. I should quote that delivery model is very flexible and agile, and I should say that we give huge priority to working with local organisations, but we also have fantastic global partners. Of course, the ITU is on the line with us, and you’ve heard from the other partners in Kenya and South Africa, you’ll listen to them in a minute. We also work with the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, the British Standards Institute and the British Council on the various aspects of the programme. So I will stop here and I hope that this gives you enough of a framework of our thinking of digital development and also the overview of the programme and now you will hear more specific presentations on some of the activities. Thank you so much.

Neil Wilson: Thank you Alessandra, a really comprehensive overview of the UK approach there and I’m sure plenty of material for some really rich discussion to follow. So turning now to Samantha O’Riordan from the ITU. I’ll turn over to you for your opening remarks on how we can develop a secure and rights-respecting digital future. Thank you.

Samantha O’Riordan: Thank you Neil and good morning everyone. I represent the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, which is the UN specialised agency for information and communication technologies and this year ITU is proud to turn 160 years old. But even since the beginning of the ITU, there have been concerns about trustworthy communication and about interference. Back in the day it was interference of cable but now things have moved on. Technology has progressed with the rise of new technologies such as AI and quantum computing. Cyber security has become foundational to digital development and should be part of every layer of technological advancement to ensure trust and resilience. It is important to note that as we progress in this digital age that there are still, as Alessandra mentioned, 2.6 billion people who are offline and of those people who are offline, the majority of them can still be found in Africa and Asia. So it is a disproportionate spread and it’s also just important to note that while we talk about coverage and and we say that I think it’s now between about 97% of the world is covered by a mobile network. There is also a usage gap and there are many reasons why there is and still remains a usage gap and this is often the primary two of the primary reasons are down to affordability but also a lack of digital skills, awareness, knowledge, maybe local content and trust. It is important that people feel safe and secure online. That is why ITU has been part and supported the UN targets on meaningful connectivity for 2030 which state that it’s important for those who have connectivity to have meaningful connectivity and by meaningful connectivity it means that users have access to a safe, satisfying, enriching and productive online experience at an affordable cost. So in terms of ITU-D and what we do and how we support countries, we have been supporting countries with enabling policy and regulatory environments, helping them to create those through research, capacity building and awareness raising. Also we have been promoting inclusive and secure telecommunications for sustainable development. On the topic of cyber security, ITU has been at the forefront of capacity development for over 20 years through the WSIS Action Line C5 and World Telecommunications Development Conference in 2006. Even though it’s been a decade of the Global Cyber Security Index, you can see today the challenges persist in least developed countries and small island developing states, which are often more than 10 years behind other developing countries. So just to give you a few examples of how ITU is supporting countries to help ensure safer environments. So ITU has helped establish 24 computer incident response teams. And over the past two years, ITU has worked with seven different countries to establish national cyber security strategies through training workshops, discussions in countries. Since 2022, ITU has worked with over 50 partners in 30 countries to train over 170,000 children, 2,500 parents and educators and over a thousand governments and stakeholders on child online protection. And it’s not just about keeping children safe online. It’s also thinking as well about the experience of women and supporting women online with initiatives such as women in cyber and her cyber tracks, making sure that women are also trained and able to connect safely. And lastly, just to mention that in May, ITU organized a global cyber drill in Dubai with over 136 countries participating. As Alessandra mentioned, we have been working with FCO in particular, the digital access program to promote effective regulation, greater investment and innovative models for connectivity in underserved communities in five countries, which are Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. So the work has included policy guidance and recommendations for regulators. research into last-mile and alternative access solutions and digital inclusion research and training. Examples of the work that we have been doing include collaborative regulation studies in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, development of universal service financing efficiency toolkit and training, and digital skills assessments conducted in Kenya and Nigeria. We have been supportive of making sure that when connectivity reaches those underserved communities, they still have a safe online experience. Finally, I just wanted to mention that with the upcoming World Telecommunications Development Conference this November in Baku, ITU-D will continue to deepen our commitment to leaving no one behind and ensuring meaningful connectivity, ensuring that populations have the relevant skills and countries have the tools and partnerships needed to ensure that their populations thrive securely in the digital age. Thank you.

Neil Wilson: Thank you very much, Sam. Much appreciated. And really interesting there to hear about all the work that the ITU is doing, not just on improving connectivity, but meaningful connectivity, of course. And I know this is the topic of kind of innovation as well as tech connectivity is of keen interest to our next speaker, Leonard Mavelli. So, Leonard, I will pass now to you for your opening remarks.

Leonard Mabele: Yeah, once again, thank you very much, Neil. And great to be here again. I’m just going to share a small slide I have here. Yeah, Neil, I can see you on my screen. Just let me know if it’s all clear in the room. Yep, we can see that in the room. Thank you. Perfect. So just building on to what Alessandro was mentioning earlier about digital access initiatives, I’m just going to present a glimpse of what’s going on in Kenya, what sort of activities are happening in Kenya and pretty much from what some of the government initiatives are looking at digital access across the country and some form of collaborations within the region as well as the projects that we are working on or have already worked on under the Digital Access Initiative, a program by FCDO. So from 2018 to 2021, the government was working together led by the Communications Authority of Kenya, developed the National Broadband Strategy, pretty much saw a growth and a bit of multi-stakeholder participation in delivering access and connectivity to different sort of stakeholders, in this case to schools, to rural locations, etc. But still, while significant results were achieved out of it, there were still some challenges realized and in this case was delivering last mile access requires more like a holistic approach to things, which in this case includes digital skills, includes devices, a focus on power. So that National Broadband Strategy, having lived its time until 2021, the government enacted a new plan with the Ministry of Digital Economy. The new plan is the Kenya National Digital Master Plan, the one I’m just presenting right now. And in this case, the most affordable access and maybe borrowing some of the words from Samantha making sure that the affordable access is also meaningful in some of the places that are still very much underserved and in this case most of them are in the rural areas. So if you’re looking at the Kenyan map and which was on my first slide we do have counties as large as the size of Netherlands and some of them are larger as you know kind of combine two countries in Europe and with that kind of geography different models are needed and also different approaches to reaching the last mile are required and that forms a very key strategic pillar for the ICT for the Ministry of ICT and so digital infrastructure is really key and looking at how that can look at also innovative ways that enable success meaningful access to the last mile and then while looking at that and fleshing out from the previous social broadband strategy is also the focus on digital skills. So in this case ensuring that the underserved population see value in what connectivity means and in this case underserved might include the rural youths also includes a significant fraction of women in the rural communities that may not see their own value or do not have yet the understanding of the opportunity that ICT presents to them. So that’s a very key pillar that the ICT the Ministry of Digital Economy has also put in a lot of ways to ensure some key objectives are achieved there and then while looking at that of course infrastructure being window or an opportunity to unlock more entrepreneurship activities and enable more developments in the industry 4.0. Opportunities such as internet of things, we are all familiar with the conversations on AI now. So digital innovation is also one of the key pillars that the Ministry of Digital Economy has also fleshed out to be able to see a lot of work happen, not only in the urban and suburban areas, but as well as the rural communities. In this case, just remembering that if you’re in Kenya, you’ll find a lot of digital hubs within the cities and there’s so little of that in the rural areas. So hence this sort of pillar trying to see how we create that digital, how do we bridge that digital divide, particularly when looking at the aspect of digital innovation. And of course, while some of the government services have come online and Kenya has been pretty active on that within the region, there’s still some that are not online and they still also are part, a significant fraction of the people. In this case, again, underrepresented groups and rural communities made up of women that are not having access to the digital government services. So again, the Ministry of Digital Economy has created this as a separate pillar to have new services that are meant to reach as many people as possible, becoming digital and accessible. And at the same time, the ones that are available being made to reach the underrepresented groups. Now, building onto this, I’m just moving to my next slide, which in this case speaks onto the work that is contributing to what these pillars or the strategies the government has already put out there. And one of the developments that we have ongoing and we pretty much added from way back in 2020, when the communications authority developed the framework for TV white spaces has been the work on spectrum sharing. So beyond the legacy models of delivering access to rural areas and legacy models that deliver connectivity, particularly through cellular connectivity or delivering fiber infrastructure, there’s been the need of looking at the… to deliver this last-mile access and also enable innovation. So, of course, with TV White Spaces forming as a foundation, what chunks of work we’ve developed over time after that has been the immense collaboration that has been going on and still going on with the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance and FCDO alongside Communications Authority and other stakeholders to look at what other opportunities of spectrum sharing can be considered or can be looked into to enhance capacity for Internet access. And, of course, at the same time, enhance access to the Internet. So, one of that has been the work on Wi-Fi 6E, the work in the 6 GHz band in 2022-2023, led by Strathmore University. Of course, at DSA, we worked on the coexistence studies for Wi-Fi, and in this case, helped develop what has become like a guideline on the lower band of the 6 GHz band that the Communications Authority published to look at ways of enhancing Wi-Fi capacity. Of course, some of the conversations happening now is to be able to see how the upper part can be, again, be adopted or used to be able to enable more access to Wi-Fi or more capacity for Wi-Fi. During the study on the coexistence work, we did not focus on the lower part. Unfortunately, we looked at the whole band, which the Communications Authority at this point is just evaluating how that can be extended. And beyond that, of course, what we’ve been able to work on between 2023 and last year was the work to see an opportunity or evaluate an opportunity of having non-public networks deployed in places that are underserved. And in this case, support last-mile Internet access, particularly maybe through private LTE or private 5G networks, have community networks deployed in places that are underserved. And that’s part of the new initiatives of pretty much combining enabling affordable access and supporting last-mile Internet access. And of course, at the tail end of this development is to have new policies come out that are able to support the commercial rollouts of this sort of networks and more sustainable models that this. on various other initiatives and even at the moment of course there’s work going on led by DSA with Strathmore University to be able to have like a dynamic spectrum access certification program that can enable now the internet service providers understand the opportunity of spectrum sharing and the approaches that they will probably go forth to collaborate with other stakeholders to deliver this sort of models of infrastructure to support the last mile networks. And beyond that there’s also the aspect of just having the understanding of the different topics particularly on cyber security as of course as we push for the access to the underside we also understand the vulnerability that comes with it just as Samantha was saying earlier and of course we are keen that cyber security skills are developed and also with the aspects of data protection are made to be understood by the state agencies as well as the private sector and a plethora of other digital skills program that are presently running in the country. Of course we do have right now a fiber program that has been developed to be able to have community networks understand that they could also deploy their networks through fiber infrastructure.

Neil Wilson: Professor Lasango, please take it away with your remarks. Thank you.

Luzango Mfupe: Thank you now, panelists. So, my colleagues have already touched some of the aspects of topics I would like to cover, but to emphasize more on the need of broadband connectivity for development of any nation. So, here in South Africa, of course, just to give you an overview, in the last 10 years, the government has achieved quite a good success in terms of digital transformation, particularly in connectivity. For example, we are talking about almost 78 percent of the population has some form of internet connectivity. However, most of the population are connected via mobile networks. Of course, the picture is similar to my colleague in Kenya, and only around 14.5 percent of the population is connected via fixed internet at home. Of course, we do have a national development plan 2030, which calls for universal access for everyone, as we are aware that broadband connectivity can contribute quite a good percentage of GDP in developing countries. And there are some initiatives, for example, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and others are talking about the Fifth. But how can a nation achieve that if there is no affordable or ubiquitous access to the broadband? If you look at the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, over half of those actually requires broadband access to be achieved by any country. So the fear is that if we proceed this way, where the few in the urban areas, for example, are just connected and the majority of people in rural areas are not connected, we might not achieve the UN SDGs. To give you more details, I would like to give you an analogy of affordability of data here in South Africa vis-à-vis the daily household food basket cost. Of course, the cost of data, of one gigabit of data, has gone down from around 89 Rand per gigabyte to around 33 Rand, which is around 1.8 US dollars. However, if you compare that to the average household affordability of food, this is around 1.8 US dollars. 10% of that. So a rural household owner will have to debate whether they should buy data or put bread on the table and also afford other things. So this has always been a challenge. How can one reduce the cost of connectivity? And this is the focus of the research that we are doing at CSAR, trying to reduce the cost of connectivity. So to give you an idea of what we’ve been working in the past 10 years, we’ve been trying to develop technologies and solutions that will allow rural communities to connect to the broadband affordably. And some of the initiatives in the area of reducing the cost of accessing spectrum, because we are aware that spectrum contributes immensely in the total cost of ownership for any operator, particularly the wireless operators like mobile networks. So one of the solutions that we’re looking at is through the innovative use of spectrum by dynamically sharing it. And in the past 10 years, for example, we worked with a regulator, ICASA here, to come up with the regulations that will allow operators, big and small, to access spectrum in the broadcasting band, this so-called TV wire space. And by 2018, in March, that was achieved. The regulator here published the regulation, the use of TV wire space. currently working with the regulator on the so-called innovation spectrum. This is the spectrum around 3.8 gigahertz to 4.2, as well as lower 6 gigahertz, the so-called Wi-Fi 6. So in this regard, we’ve been working very closely with the FCDO. Firstly, in enabling the ICT forecasts, SMMEs owned by women, youth and persons with disability, in taking advantage of the spectrum which is now available in the TVB band, as well as the one that we are busy working to get the regulations in motion. Since around 2020, the FCDO and CSER have collaborated in supporting around 13 small-medium enterprises, forecast SMMEs, in deploying affordable connectivity in rural areas. Connectivity in rural areas, around five provinces have been reached through this program, and over 70,000 users in rural areas are connected to this initiative daily, over 200 and other partners have been providing capacity building to these beneficiary SMMEs in terms of technical and business models, so that they can be sustainable beyond the support that we’re providing to them. Maybe I should stop here. Thank you, Nell.

Neil Wilson: Thank you very much, Professor. Really interesting there, and I think already across this conversation, if you’ll excuse the pun, we’re really running the full spectrum of all the way from local regulatory frameworks and environments all the way up to the global normative initiatives, which I think also kind of leads us on quite nicely to our next panellist, Maria, who is going to be representing the civil society voice on this, and will hopefully be able to provide a bit more flavour on these topics, particularly from that sort of normative angle and in terms of our rights respecting approach to these issues. So Maria, please.

Maria Paz Canales: Thank you so much, Neil. Thank you for all the presentation, as Neil just mentioned it. The idea of my intervention is to try to complement a little bit a different angle of what you already have heard. We have heard a lot in the previous presentation around how to ensure connectivity in a sustainable way, in a meaningful way, but a complement of what it means, what also was in the pillars presented initially by Alexandra, of having inclusive and responsible. and sustainable digital transformation strategies look into the the aspect of like what means unpacking having effective and inclusive participation of different stakeholders at the local level involved from the very beginning in in the design and the deployment of these different strategies and this is something that has been part of the core work of the global partners digital organization across the years we have been working with partners in different regions around the world and trying to support them to unpack in their own work at the local level and working in collaboration with local authorities in in setting kind of the elements of what it means and what are the benefits of having participatory process of design and implementation deployment of of digital strategies so apply it particularly to the context of connectivity also i think samantha was referring to this uses gaps many times when we start with the deployment of this digital transformation strategies or implementation of this project we we focus very heavily in the first part which is like ensuring that the population can be effectively connected have a broadband access access to the devices and increasingly we think also in digital skills as we have heard in many of the programs are essential part of of the implementation but then there is an additional layer when we increase the sophistication and we provide tools to the local actor to engage meaningfully with this policy so one element that i would like to see more in the future probably for for ratios of the strategy is like where it sits like the more participatory angle that can be a little bit part of the inclusive approach but also it’s part of the responsible approach because we we only know The only way to be effective in responding to the needs of the local communities and the local realities and the context is to have by design the digital transformation policy being produced and discussed at the local level with the relevant actors, with the traditionally marginalized communities also because we need to go beyond the top-down approach of seeing that we are providing certain technologies and certain skills to certain populations but we also need to learn what are their needs, what are their ways in which they start to engage and how technology starts to transform the social life at the community level and all those elements should be taken into account when we are talking about digital transformation that is really conscious and right for expecting for the exercise of the best measure for human development and the final angle that I would like to include on that because maybe probably after we will not have much time for discussion is what is the relevance of the connection between the local developments and the global guidance I have seen in the work of Global Partners Digital that many groups at the local level struggle to show their local governments, their local policymakers the benefit of looking into digital transformation policy with this human rights angle approach and also even for example in the engagement of companies that look at many of the developing countries that are engaging in digital transformation strategies as markets but not necessarily are willing to offer the same level of protection that are offered in the digital transformation but also of the interaction and feeding the local perspective in terms of how to design meaningful, responsible and sustainable digital transformation at the local level. We try to be good partners, as our name says, Global Partners Digital, in trying to bring that to the different groups working on the ground. So if you want to have more access to information, I encourage you to visit our website and there are many materials and I’m happy to be in contact with anyone that can benefit from some of the projects that we have implemented in that sense. I’ll stop there for now. Thank you, Neil.

Neil Wilson: Thank you so much, Maria. I really appreciate it. So we have just a little bit of time left now for questions. So if anyone here in the audience would like to ask a question, please do go up to one of the microphones on either side of the stage. And all I’d ask is when you do, please state your name and any organisational affiliation you’re with. And if you’d like to address your question to any of the panellists. We also, of course, have online participation. This is a hybrid session and I believe there’s a Mentimeter attached to that. So I’m just going to double check the chat and see if there’s any questions. If there are none in the room, or indeed online, then I am more than happy to ask a question to the panel here. I think we’ve really covered quite a broad spectrum of issues here and running the full gamut of… Digital Development. And it’s really clear I think as a kind of recurring theme from the conversation we’ve had is the need to not just ensure connectivity but meaningful connectivity and ensuring that it’s not just you know technology for the sake of technology but ensuring it’s actually rights respecting and of course part of that is that we are hearing a great deal about the kind of risks and issues that are that are created obviously with the adoption of new technologies so I suppose there’s a bit of an open question to the panel and I you know welcome perspectives from anyone but really interested to hear a bit more on this balance between kind of innovation and increasing connectivity so increasing connectivity and balancing that with the need to prevent new harms such as Alexandra you mentioned tech facilitated gender-based violence cyber crime disinformation of kind of all all appeared I’d welcome any thoughts from that on the panel as we as we rapidly approach the end

Alessandra Lustrati: shall I shall I jump in shall I break the ice before I jump back into the risks allow me to stress one point because there’s been a theme through the conversations and presentations of this morning which is the approach of community networks to increase not just affordable and inclusive but also meaningful connectivity I just wanted to stress that we work with the Association for Progressive Communication to actually deepen that approach and that is an approach actually that’s because it’s community-based it really starts from as Maria indicated very importantly I’m avoiding the risk because this is also a risk of exclusion of being very top-down in the way we propose technological solutions and actually hearing first of all from the community what are their needs but also their potential and their ambitions and I think the APC has been done a fantastic job as a global partner across the five countries of the doubt but also beyond there are global partners who encourage anybody who is interested in community networks approaches to approach to approach APC and get more information that we did a great session with them yesterday as well and there’s a new publication also that we’ve launched So after this plug on community networks, because it’s one of my passions, going back to the risks part, maybe I’ll just focus on TFGBV, because I would just want to give space to the others. So we’ve done a lot of work on not just promoting approaches to online safety, to promoting online safety, which always has to go both at the level of regulatory frameworks, but also the capability of the users themselves. We always build into digital skills development trainings, always cyber hygiene awareness and online safety sort of tools and sort of skills. But at the same time, when it goes specifically into technology-facilitated gender-based violence, the theme becomes more complex. And so we’ve done additional research to try and really understand the drivers of where that comes from. And what can we do also to kind of prevent that dynamic rather than only deal with, try to support the sort of survivors, so to say, to deal with the consequences. I’ll stop there. But just to say that if anybody wants to know more on that approach on preventing TFGBV, we also have a global partnership of the UK with different countries around the world on this. Please come and talk to me or other FCDO colleagues and we can tell you more on that. I’ll just stop on that. Yeah, thank you. Thanks a lot.

Neil Wilson: Thank you, Alessandra. We have just a few minutes left in case anyone has any questions. So please do feel free to approach the microphones if so.

Maria Paz Canales: I can jump in also with that. Just a compliment also from my previous remark, I think that one essential element in terms of ensuring this human rights approach that I am advocating for and address in an effective manner the potential risk or the harms that come from some of this very relevant development. We need to acknowledge that they all have negative sides also, as well as they bring a lot of potentiality for improving human life. They bring new risks and new challenges. It’s precisely enhancing at the same time that we’re enhancing the access to a technology and the ability of the people to meaningfully interact with technology, enhancing the other structure, the institutional structure, the normative structure that will allow particularly to be able to track in an effective manner what is the impact that the deployment of technology is having on the ground. So usually when we focus in providing meaningful connectivity and more meaningful access, more luxury to technologies, we focus much more in the shiny object than in the potentiality of the negative impact that the shiny object can have. So what we advocate with the human rights approach is that we do both. Those are not some elements that are contradictory or a zero sum game. We can do both at the same time and they have a great benefit in terms of reinforcement, legitimacy, and ensuring that it’s not mission creep in terms of the original intention of the digital transformation policies that we are implementing. Because usually, I mean, I truly believe that there are good intentions behind the deployment of the technology always, but there are a lot of unknown, and they are known and not only coming from the nature of the technology itself. They come from the specific interaction that happens between specific technologies and local context and realities and cultural and social elements that are different from one place to another. So that is why, like, monitoring constantly how this is unpacking and being able to have mechanism in place to course correct, to have oversight and review and repeat in the cycle of policy assignment are fundamental for ensuring a human rights respected approach in the digital field.

Neil Wilson: Thank you Maria. I’m afraid I can’t see our online participants on the screen I have in front of me, so please do just chime in if you have anything to add. Yeah, they could just jump in, isn’t it? Yeah, thanks Neil.

Leonard Mabele: Yeah, I just probably wanted to share a bit of a little perspective. I see we only have a minute, so I had to keep it low. So I recently just came from, actually yesterday I came from the Ustia County, which is a county to the western part of Kenya and neighboring Uganda. And moving around that county, probably I found it to be the most underserved in terms of cellular access in the country since I’ve been moving around. It has, going by the words of the Alliance for Portable Internet Access and ITU’s definition of meaningful internet access, the best connection you will get in most of the places as you go deeper is 3G. And most many other places I had edge, I mean 2G. And that’s something that I found baffling was just how many schools are next to each other in such regions. And when I started thinking about it, I realized that the population reported by the National Bureau of Statistics of that county, somehow practically it’s not correct. It makes me doubt if we really have the right figure of the global population as 8 billion or there are more people that we are not really counting as we think about this stuff. So looking at the intersection of connectivity and innovation was something that struck my mind was we have an avenue to have community networks really function to deliver meaningful and affordable access in the rural areas. But beyond that, because of the conversations we were having with farmers, it was very interesting to note that they also need digital solutions. So I’m looking at the intersection of connectivity brought on by community networks and maybe community networks supporting also innovation to support the sort of sectors in some of the underserved areas. Sorry, I got into extra time.

Neil Wilson: But it’s not at all. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And yes, indeed, unfortunately, we are not only out of time, but slightly over time. So we’re going to have to wrap up there. But I think all that remains. Thank you so much to our panellists both here in the room and those online, all our participants here in the room and online. There will be a summary report of the session produced and published I believe to the IGF website so please do keep an eye out for that and I’m sure I speak on behalf of all of our panellists here in saying we’d be very happy to continue the conversation afterwards. So thank you again and we look forward to continuing the dialogue. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Agreement points

Meaningful connectivity requires more than basic access

Speakers

– Samantha O’Riordan
– Leonard Mabele
– Alessandra Lustrati

Arguments

Meaningful connectivity requires safe, satisfying, enriching and productive online experience at affordable cost, not just basic access

Kenya’s National Digital Master Plan emphasizes affordable meaningful access, digital skills, innovation, and digital government services

Digital inclusion must address not only connectivity but also digital skills, relevant content, and accessibility for underserved communities

Summary

All speakers agree that true digital inclusion goes beyond providing internet access to ensuring users can have quality, relevant, and productive online experiences that add value to their lives

Topics

Development | Human rights | Infrastructure

Community-based approaches are essential for sustainable connectivity

Speakers

– Alessandra Lustrati
– Luzango Mfupe
– Maria Paz Canales

Arguments

Community networks approach starts from understanding local needs, potential, and ambitions rather than top-down technological solutions

13 small-medium enterprises led by women, youth, and persons with disabilities have been supported to deploy affordable rural connectivity

Effective digital transformation requires participatory processes involving local stakeholders from design through implementation

Summary

Speakers consistently emphasize that sustainable digital development must be community-driven, participatory, and responsive to local contexts rather than imposed from external actors

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Human rights

Spectrum innovation and sharing can reduce connectivity costs

Speakers

– Leonard Mabele
– Luzango Mfupe

Arguments

TV White Spaces and spectrum sharing provide opportunities to reduce connectivity costs and enable last-mile access

Innovation spectrum regulations around 3.8-4.2 GHz and lower 6 GHz bands can enable affordable connectivity solutions

Summary

Both speakers from Kenya and South Africa agree that innovative spectrum management and dynamic sharing are crucial for making connectivity more affordable and accessible

Topics

Infrastructure | Legal and regulatory | Economic

Digital skills must include safety and security awareness

Speakers

– Samantha O’Riordan
– Alessandra Lustrati

Arguments

ITU has established 24 computer incident response teams and developed national cybersecurity strategies in multiple countries

Digital skills development should always include cyber hygiene awareness and online safety tools

Summary

Both speakers emphasize that as people gain digital access, they must simultaneously be equipped with cybersecurity knowledge and online safety skills

Topics

Development | Cybersecurity | Sociocultural

Similar viewpoints

Both African representatives highlight the unique challenges of their regions, including vast geographic scales and economic barriers that require innovative, context-specific solutions for rural connectivity

Speakers

– Leonard Mabele
– Luzango Mfupe

Arguments

Large geographic areas in countries like Kenya require different models and approaches to reach last-mile connectivity

Cost of data in South Africa represents 10% of average household food budget, forcing rural families to choose between connectivity and basic needs

Topics

Development | Infrastructure | Economic

Both speakers emphasize the importance of local ownership and participation in digital development, whether through entrepreneurship or community engagement, to ensure sustainability and relevance

Speakers

– Alessandra Lustrati
– Maria Paz Canales

Arguments

Supporting local tech entrepreneurship and digital economies creates sustainable models for continued development

Traditional marginalized communities must be meaningfully engaged to ensure technology responds to local realities and contexts

Topics

Development | Human rights | Economic

Both speakers acknowledge significant gaps in digital infrastructure and capacity between developed and developing nations, highlighting the need for targeted support and different approaches

Speakers

– Samantha O’Riordan
– Luzango Mfupe

Arguments

Least developed countries and small island developing states lag 10+ years behind in cybersecurity capacity

South Africa has achieved 78% internet connectivity but only 14.5% have fixed internet at home, highlighting infrastructure gaps

Topics

Development | Infrastructure | Cybersecurity

Unexpected consensus

Integration of environmental sustainability into digital development

Speakers

– Alessandra Lustrati

Arguments

UK’s three-pillar approach focuses on digital inclusion, digital responsibility (managing risks), and digital sustainability

Explanation

While environmental impact of digital technologies is often overlooked in development discussions, there was recognition that digital transformation must consider environmental sustainability alongside social and economic benefits

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Need for ongoing monitoring and adaptive management

Speakers

– Maria Paz Canales
– Alessandra Lustrati

Arguments

Human rights approach requires monitoring technology’s impact and having mechanisms for course correction and oversight

Local organizations must be prioritized in delivery models to ensure sustainability beyond external support

Explanation

There was unexpected consensus on the need for continuous assessment and adaptation of digital development initiatives, moving beyond implementation to ongoing management and course correction

Topics

Human rights | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

Strong consensus emerged around the need for meaningful rather than basic connectivity, community-centered approaches, spectrum innovation for affordability, and integration of safety into digital skills. Speakers consistently emphasized local ownership, participatory design, and addressing the specific challenges of underserved communities.

Consensus level

High level of consensus with complementary perspectives rather than conflicting viewpoints. The agreement spans technical, policy, and social dimensions of digital development, suggesting a mature understanding of the multi-faceted nature of digital inclusion challenges. This consensus provides a strong foundation for collaborative action in digital development initiatives.

Different viewpoints

Unexpected differences

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed remarkable consensus among speakers on fundamental goals and challenges, with no direct disagreements identified. The main areas of difference were in emphasis and approach rather than conflicting viewpoints.

Disagreement level

Very low disagreement level. This high level of consensus suggests either a well-aligned group of stakeholders or potentially indicates that more diverse perspectives (such as private sector, different regional viewpoints, or alternative development approaches) might be missing from the discussion. The lack of substantive disagreement, while positive for collaboration, may also suggest limited critical examination of different approaches to digital development challenges.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both African representatives highlight the unique challenges of their regions, including vast geographic scales and economic barriers that require innovative, context-specific solutions for rural connectivity

Speakers

– Leonard Mabele
– Luzango Mfupe

Arguments

Large geographic areas in countries like Kenya require different models and approaches to reach last-mile connectivity

Cost of data in South Africa represents 10% of average household food budget, forcing rural families to choose between connectivity and basic needs

Topics

Development | Infrastructure | Economic

Both speakers emphasize the importance of local ownership and participation in digital development, whether through entrepreneurship or community engagement, to ensure sustainability and relevance

Speakers

– Alessandra Lustrati
– Maria Paz Canales

Arguments

Supporting local tech entrepreneurship and digital economies creates sustainable models for continued development

Traditional marginalized communities must be meaningfully engaged to ensure technology responds to local realities and contexts

Topics

Development | Human rights | Economic

Both speakers acknowledge significant gaps in digital infrastructure and capacity between developed and developing nations, highlighting the need for targeted support and different approaches

Speakers

– Samantha O’Riordan
– Luzango Mfupe

Arguments

Least developed countries and small island developing states lag 10+ years behind in cybersecurity capacity

South Africa has achieved 78% internet connectivity but only 14.5% have fixed internet at home, highlighting infrastructure gaps

Topics

Development | Infrastructure | Cybersecurity

Key takeaways

Digital transformation must be inclusive, responsible, and sustainable, addressing not just connectivity but meaningful access that includes affordability, digital skills, relevant content, and safety

The global digital divide remains significant with 2.6 billion people offline, predominantly in Africa and Asia, with affordability being a major barrier (data costs can represent 10% of household food budgets in rural areas)

Innovative spectrum sharing solutions like TV White Spaces, Wi-Fi 6E, and dynamic spectrum access can reduce connectivity costs and enable last-mile access in underserved communities

Community-centered approaches that start from local needs and involve participatory design are essential for sustainable digital development, moving beyond top-down technological solutions

Cybersecurity and digital safety must be foundational and integrated into every layer of digital development, with particular attention to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and protecting vulnerable populations

Multi-stakeholder partnerships between governments, international organizations, private sector, and civil society are crucial for achieving sustainable digital transformation at scale

Human rights approaches require continuous monitoring of technology’s impact and mechanisms for course correction, recognizing that technology deployment brings both benefits and new risks

Resolutions and action items

Continue collaboration between FCDO, ITU, and local partners in the Digital Access Programme across Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa

Expand knowledge sharing of successful models and practices from the five focal countries to other regions on a demand basis

Develop dynamic spectrum access certification programs to help internet service providers understand spectrum sharing opportunities

Publish summary report of the session to the IGF website for broader community access

Continue capacity building for small-medium enterprises, particularly those led by women, youth, and persons with disabilities, in deploying affordable rural connectivity

Advance regulatory frameworks for innovation spectrum in 3.8-4.2 GHz and lower 6 GHz bands to enable more affordable connectivity solutions

Unresolved issues

How to effectively balance innovation and increasing connectivity with preventing new harms such as cybersecurity threats, disinformation, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence

Accurate population counting and mapping in underserved areas to better understand true connectivity needs and gaps

Sustainable financing mechanisms for long-term digital infrastructure development in rural and underserved communities

How to ensure consistent human rights protections across different local contexts and regulatory environments

Bridging the gap between global normative frameworks and local implementation realities

Addressing the usage gap even where network coverage exists, particularly around digital skills and trust in online services

Suggested compromises

Adopting flexible and agile delivery models that can adapt to different local contexts while maintaining core principles of inclusion, responsibility, and sustainability

Implementing both connectivity expansion and risk mitigation measures simultaneously rather than treating them as competing priorities

Combining top-down policy frameworks with bottom-up community engagement to ensure both systemic change and local relevance

Balancing support for local organizations with partnerships with global technical experts to leverage both local knowledge and international expertise

Integrating cybersecurity and digital safety training into all digital skills development programs rather than treating them as separate initiatives

We find this way of articulating our thinking quite useful and we’ve developed this policy framework… when we think about digital transformation, we are actually referring to digital transformation typically of the economy as people think of spontaneously, but also very much of government and of society in the broad sense of the term… However, we don’t want to let’s say promote a digital transformation just for the sake of it. We want it to be inclusive responsible and sustainable

Speaker

Alessandra Lustrati

Reason

This comment reframes digital transformation from a purely technological or economic concept to a holistic societal transformation with ethical guardrails. It introduces the critical distinction between transformation ‘for its own sake’ versus purposeful, values-driven transformation.

Impact

This established the foundational framework for the entire discussion, with subsequent speakers consistently referencing and building upon the three pillars of inclusive, responsible, and sustainable transformation. It shifted the conversation from technical connectivity issues to broader questions of social impact and rights.

By meaningful connectivity it means that users have access to a safe, satisfying, enriching and productive online experience at an affordable cost… There is also a usage gap and there are many reasons why there is and still remains a usage gap and this is often the primary two of the primary reasons are down to affordability but also a lack of digital skills, awareness, knowledge, maybe local content and trust.

Speaker

Samantha O’Riordan

Reason

This comment introduces crucial nuance by distinguishing between mere connectivity and meaningful connectivity, highlighting that technical coverage doesn’t automatically translate to beneficial usage. The emphasis on trust as a barrier is particularly insightful.

Impact

This shifted the discussion from infrastructure-focused metrics to user-centered outcomes. It influenced subsequent speakers to address not just connectivity solutions but also digital skills, local content, and community engagement approaches.

To give you an analogy of affordability of data here in South Africa vis-à-vis the daily household food basket cost… So a rural household owner will have to debate whether they should buy data or put bread on the table and also afford other things.

Speaker

Luzango Mfupe

Reason

This powerful analogy makes abstract affordability concerns tangible by framing digital access as a basic needs trade-off. It humanizes the digital divide discussion and highlights the real-world constraints faced by underserved populations.

Impact

This comment grounded the technical discussion in lived reality, influencing the conversation to consider not just technical solutions but the socioeconomic context in which they must operate. It reinforced the need for innovative, low-cost approaches.

We only know the only way to be effective in responding to the needs of the local communities and the local realities and the context is to have by design the digital transformation policy being produced and discussed at the local level with the relevant actors, with the traditionally marginalized communities also because we need to go beyond the top-down approach

Speaker

Maria Paz Canales

Reason

This comment challenges the dominant paradigm of externally-designed digital solutions by advocating for participatory, bottom-up approaches. It introduces the critical concept of community agency in digital transformation.

Impact

This shifted the discussion toward governance and participation models, prompting Alessandra to elaborate on community networks approaches and reinforcing the theme that emerged throughout the session about the importance of local ownership and participation.

It makes me doubt if we really have the right figure of the global population as 8 billion or there are more people that we are not really counting as we think about this stuff… looking at the intersection of connectivity and innovation was something that struck my mind was we have an avenue to have community networks really function to deliver meaningful and affordable access in the rural areas.

Speaker

Leonard Mabele

Reason

This observation challenges fundamental assumptions about population data and connectivity statistics, suggesting that underserved populations may be systematically undercounted. It connects lived experience with policy implications.

Impact

This comment brought the discussion full circle by questioning the very data foundations upon which digital development policies are built, while reinforcing the community networks theme that had emerged as a key solution throughout the session.

Overall assessment

These key comments collectively transformed what could have been a technical discussion about connectivity infrastructure into a nuanced exploration of human-centered digital development. The progression moved from establishing ethical frameworks (Alessandra), through defining meaningful outcomes (Samantha), to grounding discussions in lived reality (Luzango), advocating for participatory approaches (Maria), and finally questioning fundamental assumptions (Leonard). Each comment built upon previous insights while introducing new layers of complexity, creating a rich dialogue that balanced technical solutions with social justice concerns. The comments demonstrated how effective multi-stakeholder dialogue can evolve from presenting individual perspectives to creating shared understanding around the need for inclusive, participatory, and contextually-appropriate digital transformation approaches.

How can we ensure that all voices, especially those historically excluded, are heard in shaping our digital future?

Speaker

Neil Wilson

Explanation

This was posed as a key question for the session to explore collaborative and inclusive solutions in digital governance

How do we connect the unconnected?

Speaker

Neil Wilson

Explanation

This addresses the fundamental challenge of reaching the 2.6 billion people still offline globally

How do we balance innovation with rights protection?

Speaker

Neil Wilson

Explanation

This explores the tension between technological advancement and ensuring human rights are respected in digital transformation

How can we build resilient, rights-respecting digital infrastructure that serves everyone everywhere?

Speaker

Neil Wilson

Explanation

This addresses the need for inclusive and sustainable digital infrastructure development

How can one reduce the cost of connectivity?

Speaker

Luzango Mfupe

Explanation

This is critical for addressing affordability barriers, especially in developing countries where data costs compete with basic necessities like food

How can we create that digital divide bridge, particularly when looking at the aspect of digital innovation in rural areas?

Speaker

Leonard Mabele

Explanation

This addresses the gap in digital innovation opportunities between urban and rural communities

What are the benefits of having participatory processes in the design and implementation of digital strategies?

Speaker

Maria Paz Canales

Explanation

This explores how to move beyond top-down approaches to ensure community needs and contexts are properly addressed

How do we prevent technology-facilitated gender-based violence rather than only dealing with the consequences?

Speaker

Alessandra Lustrati

Explanation

This addresses the need for proactive approaches to address TFGBV at its root causes

Do we really have the right figure of the global population, and are there more people that we are not counting in underserved areas?

Speaker

Leonard Mabele

Explanation

This questions the accuracy of population data used for planning connectivity initiatives, particularly in remote areas

How can community networks support innovation in underserved sectors like agriculture?

Speaker

Leonard Mabele

Explanation

This explores the intersection of connectivity and sector-specific digital solutions for rural communities