The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will be organizing the annual ITU-UNESCO Regional Digital Inclusion Week for the Arab States during the period 25 to 30 October 2020 under the theme “Serving the underserved in times of crisis: No one left behind”.
2020 is a landmark year for Digital Inclusion, not only because it marks the start of the decade for action to achieve the SDGs, but it is also the year set for realizing 2030 Sustainable Development Goal Target 9.C. This target aims to “Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020”.
According to ITU (2018), as a whole LDCs were on track to reach over 90% mobile broadband coverage with relatively affordable Internet by 2020 . Research by ITU has shown positive correlations between mobile internet penetration and various socio-economic measures. These positive impacts are also potentially greater for developing countries and Least developed Countries (LDCs). However, the same research highlights that in spite of the widespread coverage of mobile broadband in LDCs, less than 1 out of 4 people in the LDCs will be using the Internet. This figure is significantly lower than the global average of around 50% connected to the internet.
The large number of people unconnected to the internet particularly in LDCs has a significant impact in their access to services be it educational, health, financial or even governmental; this is particularly acute in rural areas. Marginalized segments of society such as persons with disabilities, women, youth, the elderly etc. are the most affected negatively by this lack of access to the internet especially in times of crisis. This unfortunate fact became a reality as COVID-19 hit the world at the beginning of 2020. As of 9 September, the pandemic has reached close to 30 million cases and almost 1 million deaths globally, with warnings from the WHO of the prospect for a more severe second wave. Moreover, the economic and social impacts were just as severe as according to the World Bank, “the global economy will likely contract by over 5 percent in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, according to the recently released Global Economic Prospects. The deepest global recession in eight decades is sending hundreds of millions into poverty, and recovery appears to be far off” .
