This was the second Web Dialogue of the Partner2Connect Digital Development Series. This Web Dialogue on Focus Area 2 was part of the WSIS Forum 2022 agenda open to all stakeholders. On this Web Dialogue, the P2C Focus Areas Action Framework, the P2C online Pledging Platform, and initial pledges made under the umbrella of the Coalition were announced. The session also included a specific “dive in” into the key pillars and issues driving change for Focus Area 2.
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Panellists
David Kirkpatrick
Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Techonomy Media
Moderator
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
Ajmal A Awan
Member of International Coordination, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), Pakistan
Sinead Bovell
Founder, Waye and member of ITU Generation Connect Visionaries Board. Youth Leader Focus Area 2 of the P2C Digital Coalition
Nisreen Deeb
Executive Director, Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB). Co-founder of Girls Got IT Lebanon – EQUALS in Tech Awards finalist 2021
Andrew Dunnett
Group Director SDGs, Sustainable Business & Foundations, Vodafone. Representing Nick Read, CEO, Vodafone – Leader Focus Area 1 of the P2C Digital Coalition.
Pledge Maker
Chat Garcia Ramilo
Executive Director, Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Leader Focus Area 2 of the P2C Digital Coalition
(Video Address)
John Jack
Deputy CIO, OGCIO, Prime Minister’s Office Vanuatu
Clement Namangale
Deputy Permanent Representative of Malawi to the United Nations in New York, representing the Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries
H.E. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful
Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Government of Ghana. Leader Focus Area 1 of the P2C Digital Coalition.
Pledge Maker
Carlos Rey-Moreno
Co-Lead of Local Networks: Policy and Strategy, Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Representing Chat Garcia Ramilo.
Björn Richter
Head of Digital Transformation Cluster of Global and Sector Programmes, GIZ, Government of Germany. Interim Leader Focus Area 3 of the P2C Digital Coalition.
Pledge Maker
Sophiyat Sadiq
Generation Connect Youth Envoy
Sima Sami Bahous
UN Under Secretary General, Executive Director, UN Women. Leader Focus Area 2 of the P2C Digital Coalition
(Video Address)
Naria Santa Lucia
General Manager of Digital Inclusion and US Community Engagement, Microsoft. Representing Brad Smith, President, Microsoft – Leader Focus Area 2 of the P2C Digital Coalition.
Pledge Maker
Michaela Sánchez Malcolm
Secretary of Public Innovation of the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers, Government of Argentina. Leader Focus Area 2 of the P2C Digital Coalition
Heidi Schroderus-Fox
Acting High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS)
Maria-Francesca Spatolisano
Assistant Secretary General UN DESA and Acting Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology
Maikel Wilms
Partner & Director, BCG.
P2C Knowledge Partner
Session Description
The digital divide continues to be a challenge particularly for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
As a response to this challenge, in close cooperation with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, and in line with the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, ITU has launched the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition(P2C). This multistakeholder alliance aims to foster meaningful connectivity and digital transformation globally with a focus on but not limited to hardest-to-connect communities, and to offer a platform for all stakeholders to engage and mobilize resources, partnerships, and commitments to achieve universal and meaningful connectivity. The work of the P2C coalition is built around four Focus Areas:
- ACCESS: Connecting people everywhere
- ADOPTION: Empowering communities
- VALUE CREATION: Building digital ecosystems
- ACCELERATE: Incentivizing investments
This session was the second of the P2C Digital Coalition Web Dialogues Series and it was a special one. The first portion of the session was dedicated to the launch of the P2C Focus Areas Action Framework, the online Pledging Platform, and the announcement of pledges from some of the Focus Area Leaders of the P2C Digital Coalition.
The second portion of the session concentrated on the Focus Area 2 of the Coalition: ADOPTION: Empowering communities. In this portion, we exposed the key issues that currently hinder minorities and disadvantaged communities to fully profit from the power of digital connectivity once access to the Internet is granted: Skills, Digital inclusion and Relevant/local content & services; and discussed global efforts that are being designed to address them.