ITU Secretary-General
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Welcome remarks at Giga Connectivity Forum
9 July 2024 – Geneva, Switzerland
[As prepared for delivery]
Excellencies, Ministers, ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to ITU.
And welcome to the first Giga Connectivity Forum.
I'm happy to share the stage this morning with the ITU Development Bureau Director, Cosmas Zavazava, and Thomas Davin, the Director of the Office of Global Innovation at UNICEF.
ITU and UNICEF have been hand-in-hand in this effort for a number of years.
Our goal is clear: That is to connect every school in the world to the Internet.
To give young people everywhere a voice, a choice, and an opportunity in today's digital revolution.
Challenges like this are too big for any single player to tackle on their own. That is why this forum is so important, because we brought together the necessary stakeholders.
We have Digital Ministers and Ministries, Education Ministers and Ministries, regulators, the public sector, the private sector.
We have the Governments of Switzerland and Spain. The regional Government of Catalonia, the cities of Barcelona and Geneva.
We have international experts and representatives of the Swiss ecosystem who are all represented at this Forum.
This combination of stakeholders and the vibrant international Geneva community is really our strength — and it is also a key pathway to universal school connectivity.
There's a fundamental truth about this initiative: Connectivity is an integral part of our societies as well as our economies.
Bringing connectivity to schools creates a positive social ripple effect that can help benefit entire communities.
We launched Giga in September of 2019. Some seven months before a global pandemic struck us and really put the truth to the test.
Almost overnight, the pandemic forced millions of children out of their classrooms.
More than four years later, we continue to grapple with the consequences of the pandemic. In particular, for young people that did not have access to education because they did not have access to connectivity.
Just days ago, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres launched the Sustainable Development Goals Report for 2024. In his intro, he called it sobering. It highlighted the pandemic's profound impact. It notes in particular, the scarring impact – as the UN Secretary-General put it – when it comes to the impact on global education.
Today, technology has expanded educational opportunities, but regretfully it has also widened inequalities.
Leaving millions without access to education, especially in marginalized and low-income communities.
This makes Giga more important than ever.
To date, Giga has helped bring educational opportunities to some 8 million students through increased access to connectivity.
These are young people who often live in remote or rural areas where traditional educational resources are scarce.
Like the children in the remote mountains of Kyrgyzstan, who have to trek by donkey to get to school.
Or the students of Noonkopir Primary School in Kenya — a mere 30 kilometers from Nairobi, yet a world away from modern education.
We see what an impact connectivity has had on those young people in a very short period. They now have access to learning. Enrollments have increased and academic results have also improved.
This Forum comes at a crucial moment.
In a couple of weeks, we will gather in New York for the Summit of the Future. On the table is the Global Digital Compact being negotiated by Member States. That document underscores the importance of Giga.
The UN Secretary-General sat at this podium just a couple of weeks ago at the ITU governing body, the ITU Council, and he called on us to intensify efforts on Giga and the need to double-down and ensure that we get connectivity to all.
In a moment, we will hear about the importance of Giga on the African continent from Executive Secretary Claver Gatete of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
The African Union has put education – and linked to that, connectivity – as the theme for 2024.
It's a crucial moment to double-down on our efforts.
When it comes to Giga, those efforts start with mapping and our new Giga Maps tool.
Those maps have too many red dots. We need to make sure that those red dots – which indicate those schools that are not connected – turn green to signify connectivity.
It's time to share challenges and best practices.
Because we recognize that each country and each circumstance is unique, and we want to ensure that we take that uniqueness into account.
Sign up for the new “Giga Report." The QR code is on the screens.
And it's time to grow our community. As we advance in our Giga operations through our Tech Centre in Barcelona, as well as our soon-to-be opened Global Connectivity Centre that we are establishing in Geneva.
That's why I call on you today:
- To open your data for public use through Giga.
- To mentor a country that's not part of Giga yet.
- And to build a multidisciplinary global community dedicated to advancing school connectivity.
Connecting schools to the Internet is one of the most urgent and one of the most defining challenges of our time.
Together, let's join forces. Let's accelerate progress.
Let's unlock the power of digital teaching and learning.
Let's make school connectivity a lived reality for every young person and every community — everywhere.
Thank you.
