NetHope Global Summit 2022
'Collaborate, Innovate, Impact'
Keynote: Unleashing the Power of Partnership
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau & ITU Secretary-General-elect
Hello everyone, what a huge honour it is for me to join the NetHope community for this hybrid global summit.
I am proud to have been a supporter of this pioneering digital initiative ever since I attended the Geneva launch event just over two decades ago.
Back then, NetHope's founders and early supporters were true visionaries in recognizing the unprecedented potential of new information and communication technologies to build a better world.
Since those early days, the power of digital technologies has grown exponentially, and the NetHope vision of 'tech4good' has been embraced not just by the UN family, but by the broader development community right around the world.
It's a vision that my team and I try to turn into reality every day, through the work of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau.
Our task is a critical one for global development, because, despite steady progress in connecting the world since that very first NetHope summit, an astonishing one third of humanity has still never, ever been online.
I passionately believe that identifying new and impactful ways of changing this picture is one of our most pressing global imperatives.
Why?
Because the devastating pandemic we've all just lived through has thrown a merciless spotlight on what it really means to be digitally excluded in an increasingly connected world.
If I were asked to name just two key takeaways from the global health emergency, they would be the absolutely vital importance of connectivity; and the truly outstanding ability of the digital sector to collaborate, share, and partner towards a common goal.
I think this second point might have surprised many of us.
The COVID crisis has shown us that there's another way.
It has shown us what the digital sector should have realized all along… that having more people online benefits all of us, and that every single player in the digital space has much to gain from a planet in which everyone, everywhere, has ready, affordable access to digital networks and services.
I'd like us to keep that in mind as we start to figure out how we're going to achieve that global imperative to connect the world.
Because the problem is more complex than just putting a telecoms network within reach of the 2.7 billion still offline.
Bringing life-changing, meaningful connectivity to them, and to the hundreds of millions more who simply don't enjoy the kind of robust, affordable, and accessible broadband that would help them transform their lives and their futures, is about much more than just raw technology.
It's also about finding ways to bring down the cost of connections, and of devices.
It's about empowering communities with the digital skills they need to harness online services.
It's about conceiving and developing devices and platforms adapted to real-world constraints – constraints like lack of reliable power sources; literacy and language issues; and cultural norms that may limit the access of women and girls.
We increasingly hear that “the digital divide is the new face of global inequality"… and that the importance of meaningful access is now accelerating exponentially.
That's because access to digital networks no longer just means the ability to speak to someone or to send a fax. Today it means access to employment, access to learning, access to commercial opportunities, to banking, to a growing host of essential government services, to health care, to social interaction and entertainment, and to the store of the whole world's accumulated knowledge.
In short, connectivity means access to opportunity.
And because digital now increasingly defines who gets access to opportunities to improve their lives, and who does not, 'universal meaningful connectivity' needs to be at the very centre of global development in this final Decade of Action.
But if only connectivity that is affordable, accessible and actionable will empower people to make material improvements to their own lives, then only collaboration on an unprecedented scale is going to succeed in putting that connectivity within reach of all.
That's because a challenge of this magnitude is simply beyond any one entity. No one is going to be able do this alone.
Those beliefs were the impetus behind my decision to establish the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, and to incorporate the world's first global connectivity pledging drive – the Partner2Connect Roundtable – into ITU's World Telecommunication Development Conference which was held in Kigali, Rwanda in June.
I am delighted to be able to report that once again, the digital sector has surprised us all.
ITU members and P2C partners exceeded even our most optimistic forecasts in their willingness to step up, make concrete commitments, and collaborate on a scale we've never before seen.
To date, Partner2Connect has notched up more than 480 pledges worth over US$ 28 billion – and the numbers are still rising.
I could not be prouder of our sector, and of its willingness to put people over profit, and to work together for the good of all.
The variety of pledges is staggering – from pledges to scale up affordable access and build people's digital skills, to reinforcing crucial connectivity infrastructure in remote and rural areas, and putting in place policies to try to close the many different digital divides.
Taken together, these Partner2Connect commitments represent a giant leap forward in making meaningful connectivity a reality for everyone.
It's a great achievement, and one I'm so proud to share with you today, because many members of the NetHope community have been part of this success story, and because I know you 'get it'.
The theme of this global summit – Collaborate, Innovate, Impact – could almost be the Partner2Connect tagline, and I look forward to working with many of you even more closely in the coming years, in a brand new role.
Dear colleagues,
A fortnight ago at ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania, ITU Member States chose me to be their next Secretary-General.
I don't need to tell you how proud I am to be the first woman in ITU's 157-year history to achieve this office. And how honoured I am by the trust and confidence ITU Members have placed in me to lead the Union into its next exciting chapter.
When I take up the helm in January 2023, I'll be keeping those three words – Collaborate, Innovate, Impact – very much in mind.
Partner2Connect shows us what that collaboration and innovation can look like in practice, and I know that, together, we'll succeed in dramatically amplifying the impact of our efforts.
Collectivity and cooperatively, we've made a major leap forward that might just change the way our industry interacts on a more profound level. We've proved that, through partnership we really can change the world.
As ITU's new Secretary-General-elect, I look forward to working with you to make 'digital exclusion' obsolete, so that everyone, everywhere gets the chance to play their part in shaping our digital future.
Thank you.
