BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin participated in the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference in the Americas region, hosted by the Republic of Peru.
Describing the growth of digital development in the region, Ms Bogdan-Martin noted that over three quarters of the region's one billion people was using the Internet by 2020, and an impressive 90% of the region's youth was online (above the global average of 69%). The Americas is also the only region that that has achieved digital gender parity in terms of use of the internet.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges for digital development in the region. Ms Bogdan-Martin remarked that the region actively put in place measures to maintain and extend connectivity throughout the crisis, as demonstrated by submissions on these initiatives to ITU's REG4COVID knowledge-exchange platform. With over 100 submissions, the Americas shared the highest number of initiatives out of all the world's regions.
Other challenges continue to exist, such as those related to affordability, the rural-urban divide, and the availability of international bandwidth, especially for small island developing states (SIDS).
A number of ITU initiatives are underway in the Americas to bridge various aspects of the digital divide. The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) has officially become a lead organization for the ITU-UNICEF Giga initiative to connect every school to the internet, which is currently working to connect 1,147 schools in the region and improve learning outcomes for 180,000 students and teachers. Two Digital Transformation Centres have also been established (in Brazil and in the Dominican Republic), which have already delivered digital skills training to more than 22,000 people.
The Network of Women in the Americas was launched during the RPM, to boost women's leadership and participation in WTDC and beyond. Ms Bogdan-Martin said, ''We know that women's meaningful participation and leadership are absolutely essential to achieve a WTDC that goes down in history. This is because women's ideas are necessary to draw up an effective, revitalized connectivity agenda and come up with digital solutions that meet the development challenges of today."
Ahead of the Youth Summit that will precede the WTDC, the Generation Connect Americas Youth Group was also launched during the RPM. 15 motivated young people were selected to contribute their ideas and actions towards WTDC. Ms Bogdan-Martin noted that the new elements to the WTDC preparatory process directed important attention on the need for an inclusive and collaborative approach.
She encouraged delegates to be bold and ''to propose new and thought-provoking recommendations that leverage the unprecedented power of digital to create a more sustainable and inclusive world, and help each and every country achieve its 2030 SDG targets.''
