Some “Then What” Issues with Global Connectivity/Internet Access

Global connectivity/sustainable internet access will be an extraordinary win on many levels for humanity and, along with sustainable energy access, be a leading driver for accelerated, universal achievement of all of the SDGs.  What might be some “Then What” issues to discuss as PCIC/GC continually defines/refines critical components of what success looks like?

For consideration:

1/ What new financial models can emerge that work for the most vulnerable?  Scaling cannot happen if providers offer the most vulnerable expensive data plans (a common problem now where connectivity is available at the Last Mile). JANA.com is ten times larger than Facebook Basic in India - 30,000,000+ users and all apps downloaded come with free internet.  Their current goal is 500,000,000 users by 2020. Is the JANA model a good way forward?  And what other approaches should be piloted?

2/ Local technical expertise at the Last Mile for home connectivity/sustainable energy installations and maintenance.  How about a full value chain "Train the Trainers" model, that expands upon the highly effective approach that BRAC has developed for provision of legal services at the Last Mile?  BRAC's award winning "Barefoot Attorneys" initiative has already trained 20,000 - 30,000 local community members to bring justice to the marginalized at the Last Mile in numerous countries.  How about inviting BRAC to partner with PCIC/GC to develop a Last Mile service corps of women and men that can install and maintain home sustainable energy and local connectivity products and trouble shoot basic issues on a fee for service basis?  http://blog.brac.net/2014/02/barefoot-lawyers-bring-legal-empowerment-to-the-poor/

3/ What about the 500 million illiterate women of the world - how can they participate?  A staggering number of women around the world are illiterate.  The situation is improving significantly for children and youth up to age 24, but women age 25 and older in many developing nations are effectively condemned to a life sentence of illiteracy.  Per 2014 statistics, about 775 million people are illiterate, and about 500 million of this group are women.  How about a commitment to develop various local language voice recognition products to enable an illiterate child, adolescent or adult a) to navigate the internet (communicating and receiving communication via speech exclusively), and b) to learn how to read over time, at a pace of the user's own choosing? What if Google Voice and IBM's Watson and other leading voice recognition global leaders get together to reflect on the size of the prize, what might be possible and what would it take?  Literacy among youth is rising, but young women lag behind http://data.unicef.org/education/literacy.html; The literacy injustice: 493 million women still can't readhttp://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jun/17/literacy-women-illiteracy-development

4/ NEETs and connectivity - a new beginning? The World Bank has signaled to the world that 50% of the planet's youth are Not in Education, Employment or Training (and calls them NEETs).  Incredible India has the incredible task of generating 500 million jobs for its next generation of citizens. Unengaged youth, at the height of their energy and launch capacity, cause extreme social disruption and conflict at local levels around the world.  How will scaling connectivity and internet access to the Last Mile accelerate training and jobs for NEETs?  See World Bank report on NEETs in Tunisia:  http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/tunisia/publication/tunisia-breaking-the-barriers-to-youth-inclusion.

5/ Will local communities be authentically involved in this process from the beginning, even though a lot of time and resources must be focused on Systems Specifications, Supply Chain, Macro/Micro Energy Grids, Technology, Monetization and IP Protocols. etc.  Can this process be hardwired to enable genuine discussions at various local levels (with separate focus groups of children, women, youth and men, as their vantage points and cultural voice and power vary greatly) to understand their hopes, fears, questions, etc.?  

6/ A key metric for consideration: "Do No Connectivity Cultural Harm" to local communities.  How about a discussion of ways that the Do No Harm issue can be continually mitigated? For example: How about engaging a team of international and local anthropologists to reflect deeply on the high risk of local culture destruction/disintegration as an unintended outcome of rapid connectivity into villages that have literally hundreds of years of mostly undisturbed local/sacred practices?  Such an initiative could involve a collaboration with GeoPoll.com, which has a database for focus group research of 200 million mobile clients in developing nations.  They have the ability to get real time, local and scaled market intelligence, even in conflict zones, that could scarcely be imagined even a year ago.   

7/ What does it mean to protect children in the context of Internet coming to the Last Mile?  Internet access should be a common good/human right, but deep reflection is needed, again, with local communities, about potential harmful outcomes.  At the most basic level, what if parents and teachers are unable to supervise children’s use and/or understand the content being made available? As well intentioned fast tracking of people into the digital world occurs, we need to be partner with governments and communities to provide support/advice on protection, particularly child protection.  World Vision has a Keeping Children Safe Online model which has been in operation for five years in various countries.  This program, and others like it, can support better child protection outcomes. http://www.wvi.org/keeping-children-safe-online. How about approaching Sesame Street (the most recognized brand by children in the world) to partner with PCIC/GC to introduce of a new muppet that teaches children about protection issues in a friendly and engaging way?  Note that Sesame Street has had unparalleled success teaching children positive messages and recently successfully launched the muppet Raya globally to teach children about hygiene and hand washing. http://www.sesameworkshop.org/what-we-do/our-initiatives/wash-up/  

8/ How about involving ten of the most innovative universities in the developing world in this global connectivity journey?  One university to put on the list:  Catholic University Institute of Buea, Cameroon, located seven hours by bus from the capital of Cameroon; started in 2007, where entrepreneurship courses are mandatory. CUI students are challenged, not to look for a job at graduation, but to create jobs. Buea, population 100,000. nine years later, is now the home of 50 tech start-ups impacting the world; one of these start ups, Africa Internet Group, is valued at more than a billion dollars, has a presence in 26 countries across the continent, and since 2012 has created 71 companies in various verticals: online retail, online marketplace, food ordering, car classifieds, real estate classifieds, taxi hailing, online travel booking and P2P lending. See http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36054263 [April 15, 2016]; http://www.cameroonweb.com/CameroonHomePage/NewsArchive/The-untold-story-of-Buea-Catholic-University-319905

9/ Possible collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to collaborate by engaging Southern Think Tanks in this connectivity journey?  The Gates Foundation is funding 48 Southern Think Tanks with 10 years of core funding. See thinktankinitiative.org.  How about approaching Gates with a social research innovation idea; namely, what if PCIC/GC and Gates issue a call to these 48 think tanks to publish research within the next 24 months on a Question Presented such as: How can global/local connectivity and internet access empower girls and women to achieve the SDGs in their local communities?  PCIC/GC and Gates could establish an independent advisory panel to choose the best five research pieces to receive a significant financial reward; and these Southern policy papers could be shared with the global development community and governments during the 2018 UN General Assembly Week and at other venues. This process could be repeated with different questions every two years with the following outcomes: a) these awards inform policy and programming discussions and implementation models globally, b) Southern Think Tanks experience shorter maturity cycles resulting from such competitions; and c) over time these research awards achieve global recognition with all related benefits associated with the most prestigious global awards.