Three key pillars to address
Based on the research and interviews conducted for this report, there are three key pillars to address: Skills, Digital inclusion and Relevant / local content and services.
Under each pillar there is a list of issues to resolve in order to move towards empowering communities:
Skills
A fundamental requirement for the remaining 2.9 billion people to be able to connect is having the capabilities to understand, use and configure digital technology for meaningful engagement. Developing these skills across populations is hindered by:
- Low literacy levels
- Insufficient digital skills in the teaching community and school curricula, e.g. around cybersecurity
- Lack of training infrastructure and opportunities
- Few tailored training or educational programmes for vulnerable communities or target groups such as women, older people, persons with disabilities, LGBT+ people, youth, and children
Digital inclusion
There are many ways in which discrimination and barriers to access more acutely affect particular groups of people, owing to e.g. structural inequalities and marginalization. Historically, these have been insufficiently addressed and have manifested into larger obstacles including:
- Gender inequalities and the exclusion of vulnerable groups
- Inadequate policies and strategies to support ICT/digital accessibility for persons with disabilities and specific needs (e.g. older people)
- ICT use discrimination
- Not enough universal inclusion and assistive technology (AT) for persons with disabilities and specific needs
- An absence of data on e.g. the numbers of girls completing education, people from ethnic minorities enrolled in colleges and universities, and use of ICT by people with disabilities
- Few ICT programmes or initiatives factoring in local culture and tradition
- Inadequate or outdated laws/regulations around safeguarding online access for different segments of society, including women, persons with disabilities, and older people
- Insufficient child online protection (COP) measures and implementation
- Online antisocial behaviour
Relevant/local content and services
Although there exists a myriad of digital products and services, not all of these are equally accessible, applicable or empowering to everyone. They may especially lack relevance for people living in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.
This is because of:
- A failure to adjust content to the local reality and characteristics
- The use of monolithic tools and systems that prevent, negatively impact on, the development of local content and services
The next three sub-sections explore these key issues in further detail. Issues that are closely related or similar in nature are explored jointly. A set of potential interventions to tackle these issues are also introduced, but these are not exhaustive and only represent a sample of ideas on how to address the ADOPTION challenge. All stakeholders are encouraged to consider additional actions to help bring the remaining 2.9 billion people online.