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Rural Broadband Policy Framework: Connecting the Unconnected. A Rural Broadband Policy Framework providing guidance to address the 'Digital Divide'

Washington, DC: Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI); World Wide Web Foundation; Association for Progressive Communications (APC); CIPESA (2020), 15 pp.

"The internet has revolutionised the way that many of us live our lives, enabling new forms of communication, fostering online communities, fuelling economic growth, and facilitating all manner of entertainment. Yet about half of the world’s population remains offline, and only about 19% of the Le ... more

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Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA): Colombia

Lauren Bieniek, Kate Dimsdale, Craig Jolley, Fernando Maldonado

USAID, Digital Frontiers Project (2020), 43 pp.

"[...] The DECA is a decision-making tool to help USAID Missions, their partners, and other relevant stakeholders identify the opportunities, maximize the benefits, and manage the risks associated with digital technology. The goal is to help USAID’s partner countries along their journey to self-re ... more

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How Many Children and Young People Have Internet Access at Home? Estimating Digital Connectivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

New York: UNICEF (2020), 13 pp.

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Africa’s Digital Divide and the Promise of E-Learning
Deep Insights

Matthias Krönke

Afrobarometer (2020), 18 pp.

"On average across 34 countries, one in five adults (20%) have access to both a smartphone and a computer, while 43% only have access to a basic cell phone. In 15 out of 34 countries, at least half of adults have access to a smartphone or a computer or both. About three in 10 respondents (31%) use t ... more

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Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA): Kenya

Molly Dean, Kwasi Donkor, Amy Paul, Olu Olutolak

USAID, Digital Frontiers Project (2020), 42 pp.

"Kenya’s digital ecosystem has significant strengths not yet fully leveraged: • Political interest in digital technology at national and county level: The Government of Kenya’s (GoK) digital economy blueprint, ICT Masterplan, and eCitizen (government service platform for Kenyan citizens and re ... more

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Rights in Africa

African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms Coalition (2020), 297 pp.

"This publication is a compilation of 19 articles by African researchers, academics, journalists and human and digital rights activists on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital rights in Africa. The articles were commissioned by the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms (AfDec ... ) Coalition as part of its project on “Securing human rights online in Africa through a strong and active ‘African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms’ network”. The AfDec Coalition is a pan-African initiative which promotes human rights standards and principles of openness in internet policy formulation and implementation on the continent, guided by the 13 principles established in the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms. At the time that the papers were commissioned, in June 2020, African states had either invoked existing policies or adopted new policies for prevention of spread, containment and treatment of the virus that had an impact on the enjoyment of digital rights. For example, most governments employed the use of contact tracing applications to track and trace citizens’ movements and put in place measures criminalising free speech when it contained false information about the pandemic. These two examples had the potential to be abused, particularly the latter, which was used to silence journalists and government critics. The pandemic also moved most citizens’ communication, education, work, trade and access to basic services from physical interactions to primilary online interactions. However, the continent is still largely made up of informal economies, has a low internet penetration rate of 28.2% (far below the global average of around 53%), and has seen an increase in reports of digital rights violations resulting from repressive cyberlaws, making the efforts to address the pandemic inadequate and inequitable. These articles offer reflective analyses on government efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of the AfDec principles, with a focus on a number of the principles including privacy and personal data protection, gender equality, freedom of expression, internet access and affordability, and the right to development and access to knowledge." (Introduction) more

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Connecting with Confidence: Literature Review

Katie Drew, John Wannes, Aaron Martin, Silva Pelucchi

UNHCR (2020), 23 pp.

"Specifically, the review focuses on the means, barriers, and associated cybersecurity and privacy concerns that refugees face around connectivity. This includes but is not limited to mobile connectivity and social media, particularly in displacement contexts. While these subjects may at times inter ... more

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Meaningful Connectivity: A New Standard to Raise the Bar for Internet Access

Dhanaraj Thakur, Teddy Woodhouse et al.

Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) (2020), 18 pp.

"The meaningful connectivity standard is a tool to raise the bar for internet access and set more ambitious policy goals for digital development. It sets minimum thresholds across the four dimensions of internet access that matter most to users. These are: regular internet use - minimum threshold: d ... more

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Limited Internet Access in Zimbabwe a Major Hurdle for Remote Learning During Pandemic

Simangele Moyo-Nyede, Stephen Ndoma

Afrobarometer (2020), 13 pp.

"The government of Zimbabwe is encouraging the use of digital platforms to provide remote learning services during the COVID-19 pandemic, but data showing that most households lack Internet access and reliable electricity suggest that many students will find it difficult or impossible to participate ... more

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Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures

Geneva: ITU (2020), 17 pp.

"Facts and Figures 2020 reveals that people in rural areas continue to face greater challenges than people in urban areas in terms of remaining connected during the lockdown, especially in developing economies. Large swathes of the rural landscape are still not covered by mobile broadband networks, ... more

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From Digital Divide to Social Inclusion: A Tale of Mobile Platform Empowerment in Rural Areas

Lisha Ye, Huiqin Yang

Sustainability, volume 12, issue 6: 2424 (2020), 16 pp.

"The digital divide in rural areas is an important social issue, especially in developing countries. Although Internet and broadband penetration have increased in the world generally, there are many obstacles for rural China to get access to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and its ser ... more

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Connecting humanity: Assessing investment needs of connecting humanity to the Internet by 2030

Geneva: ITU (2020), vi, 25 pp.

"Nearly USD 428 billion is required to achieve universal access to broadband connectivity by 2030 at the global level. This amount includes significant investment in infrastructure, investments to design and implement policy and regulatory frameworks that incentivize and promote growth in broadband ... more

External Link (155)

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Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa: A Mediated Analysis

Bruce Mutsvairo, Massimo Ragnedda (eds.)

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2019), 278 pp.

"This is a timely and much-needed collection that fills an important gap in the literature. It offers excellent conceptual tools and a selection of case studies that provide a useful map of the digital divide across the African continent and between Africa and the rest of the world. I especially app ... more

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UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Internet Development
Key Guides

David Souter, Anri van der Spuy

Paris: UNESCO (2019), 198 pp.

"The four principles identified as key to Internet Universality are summarised as the R-O-A-M principles, and are fundamental to the development of the Internet in ways that are conducive to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals with no one left behind. These principles are: R – that the int ... more

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After Access 2018: A Demand-Side View of Mobile Internet from 10 African Countries

Cape Town: Research ICT Africa; International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (2019), vii, 38 pp.

"Of all 10 African countries surveyed, only in South Africa is more than half the population online. The Internet penetration rate in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria and Senegal is above the 20% threshold – but even this requires further investigation in a developing country context, where the unaf ... more

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Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies: A Rights, Openness, Access, and Multi-Stakeholder Perspective

Xianhong Hu, Bhanu Neupane, Lucia Flores Echaiz, Prateek Sibal, Macarena Rivera Lam

Paris: UNESCO (2019), 197 pp.

"This report recognizes artificial intelligence (AI) as an opportunity to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through its contribution to building inclusive knowledge societies. Based on UNESCO’s Internet Universality ROAM framework agreed by UNESCO’s Member States i ... more

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Smartphone Ownership is Growing Rapidly Around the World, But Not Always Equally: In Emerging Economies, Technology Use Still Much More Common Among Young People and the Well-Educated

Kyle Taylor, Laura Silver

Pew Research Center (2019), 46 pp.

"Mobile technology has spread rapidly around the globe. Today, it is estimated that more than 5 billion people have mobile devices, and over half of these connections are smartphones. But the growth in mobile technology to date has not been equal, either across nations or within them. People in adva ... more

External Link (144)

Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures 2019

Geneva: ITU (2019), ii, 11 pp.

"Welcome to the first of ITU’s Measuring Digital Development series of statistical and analytical publications that replace the annual Measuring the Information Society Report. Facts and figures 2019 offers a snapshot of the most important ICT indicators, including estimates for the current year. ... more

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Media Use in the Middle East: A Seven-Nation Survey

Everette E. Dennis, Justin D. Martin, Fouad Hassan

Qatar: Northwestern University in Qatar (2019), 104 pp.

"This 2019 report pays special attention to social media and social media influencers even as it focuses heavily on news media. As always, we look at media use by platform and content while also honing in both generally and in detail on the use of the internet. As a member of the World Internet Proj ... more

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Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership
Deep Insights

Araba Sey, Nancy Hafkin (eds.)

United Nations University (UNU); Equals Global Partnership (2019), 338 pp.

"1. While gender gaps are observable in most aspects of ICT access, skills and leadership, the picture is complex. There are large regional variations: some countries are close to parity or have even reversed the gender gap on some indicators, while others still have persistent gaps. Individual coun ... tries can have both large and small gaps, depending on the indicator being measured. Interpreting the gaps requires careful and contextualised analysis. 2. Barriers to gender digital equality are generally related to one or more of the following: 1) availability of infrastructure; 2) financial constraints; 3) ICT ability and aptitude; 4) interest and perceived relevance of ICTs; 5) safety and security; and 6) socio-cultural and institutional contexts. Most of these barriers cut across issues of access, skills, and leadership, although they may manifest in slightly different ways. While research has documented these barriers, the evidence from different sources is sometimes contradictory, even within the same country contexts. 3. There is no one conclusive strategy for eliminating gender digital inequalities. Recommendations generally call either for targeting specific contributing factors of gender digital inequality (such as affordability or recruiting practices), or for reshaping deeply ingrained social norms and practices (such as gender stereotypes) that are at the root of gender inequalities. As with the evidence on barriers, research results are sometimes contradictory or nuanced. 4. The dominant approaches to gender equality in ICT access, skills, and leadership mostly frame issues in binary (male/female) terms, thereby masking the relevance of other pertinent identities. Insufficient research has been done on the implications of ICTs for intersectional identities. Data collection should move from binary sexdisaggregation towards finer degrees of status disaggregation in order to recognise multiple and interacting identities (such as sexuality, poverty, class, education, age, disability, and occupation). 5. To ensure privacy and safety as well as full participation in the digital economy, women should have equal opportunities to develop adequate basic and advanced digital skills. Cyberstalking, online harassment, image manipulation, privacy violations, geotracking, and surveillance can compromise women’s and girls’ safety both online and offline. In addition, some evidence suggests the digital transformation of labour may be widening gender wage gaps. These outcomes can be averted with the right types of training combined with social and institutional change. 6. Developments in digital technologies open new pathways to gender diversity and inclusion; however, lack of attention to gender dynamics and differences hampers the potential for true progress. For example, evidence suggests that most women’s work in the digital economy, particularly in the Global South, reinforces existing social divisions. Moreover, artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, designed largely by men, tend to ignore the negative gender implications of their designs. Research, government policy and design principles should include gender awareness and analysis, for example by building in data and privacy protections and avoiding gender stereotypes." (Key findings, page 19-20) more

Africa’s Digital Divide and the Promise of E-Learning Deep Insights

UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Internet Development Key Guides

Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership Deep Insights

Africa’s Digital Divide and the Promise of E-Learning
Deep Insights

UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Internet Development
Key Guides

Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership
Deep Insights