Executive summary

In 2021, ITU launched the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition in line with the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and in close collaboration with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS). Partner2Connect (P2C) is a global leadership-level platform that engages all stakeholders to mobilize and announce new resources, partnerships, and commitments to foster meaningful connectivity and digital transformation globally. Its focus is on but not limited to the hardest-to-connect communities in least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing states (SIDS).

This first year of the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition has been marked by a number of important moments and key milestones.

Key milestones

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P2C’s first-ever Digital Development Roundtable at the World Telecommunication Development Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, engaged hundreds of participants, who announced over 360 pledges valued at USD 18.55 billion. Resolution 88 ⁷ on P2C was adopted to implement and scale pledges, mobilize new resources and partnerships, and report and share experiences.

Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (GIZ) together with the Government of Estonia, the Digital Impact Alliance, and ITU, announced its support of digital public goods through the GovStack initiative, which aims at improving the lives of at least two million citizens with the specification of 12 ICT building blocks for the digitalization of government services.

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The UK Government announced it will continue to support inclusive, responsible, and sustainable transformation by promoting affordable, meaningful, and secure connectivity, digital literacy and skills, and digital entrepreneurship in underserved communities through its Digital Access Programme (DAP). The government pledged to continue its work with the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector through DAP in five partner countries in East, West and Southern Africa as well as Latin America and Southeast Asia until at least March 2023, with a focus on improving policies and regulations, demonstrating technology and business models for school connectivity, and building digital skills for youth.

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The Telecommunication and Digital Government Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates pledged to invest AED 5 million to support the ITU International Centre of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI) initiative through the hosting of the I-CoDI ARB Regional Hub, including providing training and workshops to empower Member States in digital innovation.

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ITU’s host country Switzerland pledged that Geneva would be the headquarters of Giga – a joint ITU-UNICEF initiative to connect every school in the world to the Internet by 2030. Announcing the plan, the Swiss Confederation said the new headquarters would serve as a unique collaboration point, bridging the world of finance with the world of international relations and development.

By 18 November 2022 ⁸, a total of 552 pledges valued at over USD 29 billion for projects around the world had been submitted by 263 entities. Whilst P2C’s pledge mobilization efforts will continue, the Coalition recognizes that monitoring and reporting on implementation is equally important for the benefits of the pledges to accrue for those that need them.

The self-reporting process and online form launched by the Coalition in October will allow pledgers to comply with the principles of accountability, transparency, partnership and action-oriented leadership established by the Coalition. The process also intends to deliver on the commitments made at the WTDC to monitor and report on pledge implementation. All pledgers are required to complete this form and submit it online.

Of the total 552 pledges submitted by 263 entities, 202 pledges had been reported on by 99 entities. This means 37% of the total commitments have been reported on so far by 38% of all pledgers. This represents an impressive response rate only one month after the launch of the P2C Self-Reporting Form.

These preliminary response rates are indeed encouraging and surpass 30%. However, the full scope of progress of the Coalition will only be known once the majority of pledgers have submitted their reports.

Reporting progress on pledge implementation is an organic process and can take place at any point in time. The data presented in this report will help the Coalition produce dashboards and analyses on overall progress; aggregated results will be made available on P2C’s public dashboard. Pledgers can always provide further regular progress reports to more accurately reflect how implementation activities are evolving. The Self-Reporting Form will remain open, and the P2C Secretariat will continue encouraging all pledgers to report on their commitments to capture more data and insights for the next reporting cycle.