Celebrating one year of Partner2Connect

By Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau and Secretary-General-elect, ITU

How can we ensure that the hardest-to-reach communities are connected?

In just one year, the Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in collaboration with the UN Secretary General’s Office of the Technology Envoy and the UN OHRLLS, has uncovered hundreds of different ways of achieving that goal.

This presents a game-changing opportunity to mobilize the resources needed to connect those who are still offline, catalyse new partnerships and commitments to achieve meaningful connectivity for all, and ensure that everyone, everywhere can benefit from the transformative power of the Internet.

Progress on pledges

Digital skills proficiency for youth and adults, gender parity in digital access, 100 per cent of individuals aged 15 and above using the Internet, cybersecurity preparedness and resilience, and broadband-Internet user penetration are the ‘top five’ most popular targets from our reported pledges to date – but there are many more ground-breaking pledges that have been made on the P2C Online Pledging Platform.

As of December 2022, 582 pledges, worth approximately USD 30 billion, from 281 entities in 118 countries were submitted to P2C. These pledges support universal connectivity and digital transformation.

Of the total pledges submitted, more than a third have already been reported on. Of these, an impressive 10 per cent are already completed, and 74 per cent are in progress.

During the first P2C Annual Meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 8 December, many pledgers shared their progress towards reaching their targets, revealing the tangible impact achieved so far.

We heard about the progress that Cambodia is making to advance their national digital transformation strategy, for which P2C is providing support to advance pledge mobilization and implementation.

Microsoft pledged to equip 10 million people from underserved communities with in-demand digital, foundational, or technical skills by 2025 – and is well on its way to achieving that goal, having already trained and certified over 5 million people around the world.

The BBVA Microfinance Foundation, with its pledge to invest USD 8 billion by 2025 to support vulnerable entrepreneurs and their families in Latin America, has already impacted the lives of 10.9 million people, having disbursed USD 2.6 billion and provided financial services, Internet access, and digital skills training to 3.3 million low-income entrepreneurs – 58 per cent of whom are women.

As of 10 November, the Eutelsat Konnect satellite had extended Internet access to 185,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa. In the next five years, Eutelsat will connect a total of one million people living in remote, rural, and unserved areas of sub-Saharan Africa where terrestrial networks cannot reach.

These are just some of the success stories that were shared. Other success stories can be found in the P2C Annual Report.

Looking to the future

It’s amazing to see how much change the P2C Digital Coalition has enabled in just one year – and how it continues to be a source of inspiration, with the announcement of several new pledges at the P2C Annual Meeting.

But P2C does not stop there. That is why I am putting out a call to the global P2C community and to those around the world who haven’t yet joined us, to pledge, so that we can continue our work to bring the power of ICTs to everyone everywhere.

I am excited to see what comes next as we keep building and growing our extraordinary P2C community, working to connect the 2.7 billion people who are still offline and create a meaningfully connected planet.

Image credit: ITU