The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> MODERATOR: Good morning. I hope I'm audible, right? Am I audible?
Welcome to our session, our Day 0 session on Sharing and Exchanging Compute: New Digital Divisions. I am from Tanzania, the Coordinator for the Youth IGF in Tanzania, and I'm also an ITU Generation Connect Youth Envoy. And today I'm going to be moderating this amazing session.
So, I have here with me joined the three speakers, and we are also going to be joining us soon. But before we move farther in our discussion, I would like to just give a concept of whatever we're going to be discussing for the next one hour.
As we all know, we have all the new technologies, like AI, all these, the robotics and all that. So, then we also know there is this one group who is able to access all these tools easily, but considering countries like the Global South countries, they're still having difficulties to get connected to stay online, and this has been contributed by different factors. For example, the high cost of the Internet, success. Some other groups, they can't access the tools, say have access to computers or mobile phones and all that. So, today we are going to have a discussion with my panelists here. We're going to explore different aspects on how we can ensure, like people from the Global South, but also, this other, larger group that is left can become online, despite that we have all these emerging technologies that are really coming up, right? Yeah.
So, before I go in the discussion, I would like to welcome my speakers. So, they're going to introduce themselves and then I'll ask them questions and then each can respond.
>> Hi, everyone. I am from Egypt and I am an instructor in the Arabic cohort, an engineer by profession. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. Good morning, everyone. I'm from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I'm a software engineer by profession and I'm the coordinator for the Youth IGF in the DRC. And I'm very happy to be here.
>> Good morning, everyone. My name is Matilda from Tanzania. I'm a Youth Ambassador with Internet governance and I'm an ambassador and it's an amazing and great chance to be here in this very productive and interactive session. I'm looking forward to collaborating, getting any questions or ideas, get to talk and discuss all this. It's a very informantic session and I can't wait to get into it. Thank you very much.
>> Good morning, everybody. My name is Chris from Nigeria, director of technology. Sorry, I just walked in. We're trying to get ourselves together, but looking forward to this session. Thank you very much.
>> Hi, my name is Monojit, I'm a researcher with Internet governance. It's good to be here. Looking forward to the discussion.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. I will be asking questions to my speakers in no particular order, just any order, so just be ready to contribute, yeah? So, I'm going to start with, first we need to explore some of the challenges. So, I'll start with you, Matilda. In your experience, what are the most significant invisible barriers that contribute to combat disparities in the region, especially that you're from the African region? And how do you see they're going to be addressed in the near future?
>> Matilda: Thank you very much for a very insightful question. The challenges are so many, especially the fact that I'm working closely with women and young girls in my country. And I can tell you, I did these projects not only in the city, but I did go deep. I did the projects in Kigoma, so I was able to see the challenges. I am also affected. There are so many challenges, the young girls. You can see the disparities. So, if you told me as a young girl, being born as a girl in Africa, in a rural area, that's a challenge already, you know?
And then, trying to engage that young girl into the digital world. It's also another challenge, because we do not have the digital infrastructure. And I'm speaking for my country. So, the challenges are so many for young girls. And if you ask me what we can do to overcome the challenges, there are so much we can do for young girls. But we also need this to be in the gender equity into digital literacy. Whatever the young boy can access should be exactly what also young girl can access, the same.
But in Africa, for example, I'm telling you, in Kigoma, a dropout, a 16‑year‑old with two babies, but when you ask her routine when she goes to school, she has to wake up in the morning, do home chores, then go to classes. Come home early, go for lunch because she has kids, come back to class, earlier, late evening, do the chores again, the dinner. But what about the boy child? He wakes up in the morning, goes to school, comes back, goes to play games or football, whatever. So, first, we need to treat the same exact opportunity and the chances that a young boy gets is what you and I should get, what a young girl in Kigoma should get. But it's difficult. The digital infrastructure is poor. They do not have the digital infrastructure. Even if we're going to go, we'll go to do with the sessions like this, the programme. It's not only about teaching, it's about engaging in this technical world. People have amazing, confident works. People have vision, but they do not even know how to dream those dreams, because how can they dream of something that they do not know? So, they do not know what is technology. They do not even know what is digital, digital literacy, digital world. Never saw a smartphone in their life, so how can I teach that young girl, you know what, you can be a software developer, a graphic designer, whatever, an engineer? So, there are so many things you have to do.
For Tanzania, there is so much we have to do, so much, from the government level, from the government level, from the school, from the curriculum itself. There are so many cultures we have to unlearn. We have these cultures that affect us young girls from different ‑‑ I'm also coming from a Lake Zone tribe, so I understand. But thanks for me, it's different now, because at least my parents, at least I was able to go to good schools, at least I was able to live in the city. So for me, can't say much, but what about that person who cannot go to those good schools? What about that person whose parents cannot afford to take them to good schools? It is complicated, but we are heading there, we are trying. So, thank you very much. And I really love whatever involves young girls and women.
>> MODERATOR: Wow, thank you, Matilda. That was impressive for me, especially because you talked about gender inequality in terms of accessing all of these resources when it comes to, like, young women and young boys, so that inequality that exists. And picking up, I'll come to you, Noah. Now, we have talked about all these marginalized groups. How do you think we can ensure that the marginalized communities have access in shaping the voices of, like, policies and solutions to reduce these disparities?
>> Yeah, thank you, Millennium. I guess everyone has to have a say in drafting these policies, because we need to attract investors to invest in our, like, countries. Africa and the middle east are very central in the world, but like big tech companies are not heavily invested in this area at all. We don't have big data centers in our region. That would provide many computation resources and enough computation resources for us to use the technology and also design technology that is suitable for us as Africans, as Middle Easterns, as people from the Global South, but we don't have enough resources to do this. So, when drafting the policies, we need to, like, ensure having, like, of course, first, it needs to be ‑‑ we need to adopt a multistakeholder approach, invite everyone to the table to have a say in this, in drafting the frameworks. We need to ensure having, like, proper infrastructure to support, like, technology that is growing each and every day.
Because for example, in Egypt, we still don't have the 5G network. We just got the license. I'm sure it's the same situation for most of the African countries. So, we need to have the proper infrastructure to support the tech that we are using and that is growing each and every day. We are in the age of data and AI. So, we need to support this. Also, I'm calling on governments to draft policies to support the data exchange between the countries and also the data production laws, because this will attract tech companies, cloud service providers, Internet service providers, to invest in our countries, and this will affect our GDP in a positive way and will also attract other investors, and we will retain the talent in our countries instead because we are losing our talents. They are leaving our countries. They are looking for jobs elsewhere, including women. It's not only the male talents we are losing. I hope we can create a better future by having the proper data frameworks and policies to support our future of computation.
>> MODERATOR: All right! Thank you so much. So, investing and allowing proper policies on the cross‑border data transfer. We have the marginalized group and so we have been discussing the digital literacy and all that. Especially since you come from where we impact the community with the Internet governance knowledge. What would be your contribution on how we can incorporate digital literacy into formal and informal education so that we may ensure that we have sustainable benefits for, like, everyone?
>> Thank you so much. Very good question. Just that you mention, it's very important to rethink the way we see digital literacy, not only in the formal way, like the normal curriculum when it comes to high school, university, and postgraduate, but also in the informal way, how we can build capacity of the people already on the ground. Sometimes we talk about marginalized communities. They're not only the youth. They're not only in rural areas. Sometimes they're also, all generations, they're already in business for years, but then digital technologies are coming to interfere with the way they do business. And now, they are very marginalized.
Even, when it comes to cybersecurity questions, they are really very easy to get in this sense. So, we also need to rethink literacy, in the sense that we don't only reach the people at school, but also the people who are already working. So we give them enough capacity to navigate the digital world very well.
So, one of the things we are doing, the initiative that came out of Africa for Internet governance. What is interesting about this programme is the language barrier is something in all the regions. We have a lot of languages. But then, most of the technologies, they come with predestinations of languages they come with, and also discussions around those technologies also will be around, most of them happening in English, the IGF one of the good cases.
So, what we did is train people in languages that are very close to them so they will understand very well the stakes of the digital space; they will understand the stakes of Internet governance in languages that are very close to them. So, we are doing trainings in five languages, which include Arabic, Portuguese, French, English, and Swahili.
So, what is original in this programme is now we have African languages that are incorporated in this digital literacy initiative. And people, from the feedback we are getting, we see that after the training, the people have been trained are ready to enter the ecosystem. If the entrepreneurs you see now, they are leveraging on the digital technologies because they are more aware of the opportunities that are around.
So, I think it's very important to start investing in digital literacy. We don't have to wait for when everything will be all right, because it takes time to make sure everything is online, but we start from where we are. Even on your personal capacity, you can start by making sure you preach the gospel of the literacy of the digital space around you. Make sure when you are with people ‑‑ some of us have knowledge about some of these cases we are having. You can use smartphones. You can use now AI. You can use quantum technologies are coming, and they will not wait for when we are ready for them to develop, so they are already developing. So, we need to start from where we are, starting to, you know, balance between our other priorities that are different from region to region, but also getting into the space, taking enough knowledge so that we can keep the pace and go to what the digital future that we all want. Back to you, Millennium. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you. That was very ‑‑ I liked the multi‑lingualism part, especially considering countries like, let's say countries like my country, Tanzania. We have 121 languages, so you can imagine, we have some communities ‑‑ our national language is Swahili, but then we have these other groups that don't even speak Swahili. So, you can imagine, we have like all these new technologies, like AI. Then we want to teach, let's say in English. People don't even understand our own national language; how can you teach in English? So, it's really important when we are doing all this digital literacy thing, the trainings, we do it in the language that our people understand so that we can bring everyone on board. So, that's how we ensure that nobody is left behind.
So, I'll come to you, Dr. Monojit. So, we have seen, we have talked about all this AI, the quantum computing. They are really transforming the world, and I really like it. But then, we have these developing countries, like our country, like the Global South countries that were still not to the point where we are benefitting from all these technologies enough. So, what do you see we can ‑‑ like, how do you see we can ensure that all these innovations, like the AI, these all‑new technologies are being ‑‑ what we say ‑‑ are succeeding in all these developing countries? How can we ensure that?
>> MONOJIT DAS: You can hear me? I'm so sorry. Technological disadvantage, you like too much, considering it is ‑‑ okay, thank you so much.
Firstly, I'd like to congratulate or thank the first speaker. I'm sorry about your name, I don't. But you see what the change you brought. You will see a lot of women participants, this is the hard effort you guys have been doing the past few years. You see the presentation, they are mostly colleague in number or women to be more. Our moderator also has been the gracious lady who is leading and spearheading.
So, considering the fact to the point which you have highlighted, and my next female speaker, that on technological sharing, you know, I come from India, and we are certainly one of the leading countries in terms of technology. You see the digital payments. There are a few initiatives that I'll tell you a little bit of background. I was previously a student. I did my PhD in Internet governance and then switched to media and I'm now in a prestigious think tank of the Government of India. Our main motto is that to flourish or to ensure that the language is never a barrier, which again is a very key point highlighted by my panelists.
So, we have developed, you know, the Government of India at large has developed a translation mechanism or tool, an AI, which ensures we are outreaching the knowledge we have into all 22 official languages of the country. So, alongside this, what we have tried to ensure ‑‑ I'm just giving you this fact because what I wish here is that let this be an opportunity for collaboration. You particularly, you all present here, also in the audience, not just for today, but in future also will be power that represents the country, in any society, whether it is academy. So from here we can go back and have collaboration.
Now that I'm part of the Government of India's think tank, if at all I don't represent in government capacity, but I'm sure the people of India and the government at large will be definitely very happy to share this knowledge. Now you see, recently, what the government has done is ensuring buying or taking the subscription of all leading journals that are available globally and making it a repository so that all the students from far‑flung areas and also for the many who cannot get access by paying in their capacity can get access to their repositories so they can have access to the knowledge, which is kind of a fundamental right that I can say.
So, I am very much sure that collaborating with African Union and also Africa at large or other countries like my colleagues from the Middle East or representing the voice of Middle East I can say, so we can definitely collaborate on the bigger session at large. You talk sharing. So, we can always focus on these areas. Whether it is AI, whether it is sharing of the resources, I think we can certainly collaborate. And India being a rich power in this aspect, at least, we can explore collaborations. I don't see there is any hindrance to it, you know, geopolitically, whatever the concepts are. But ideas and innovations like this always are welcomed across the globe, no? So, with this, I hand it over to you once again. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you so much, doctor. You have spoken about collaboration, in terms of like the government and stuff. Now I want to come to you, Chris. Dr. Monojit talked about the importance of collaboration. Now, we have, let's say considering we have different stakeholders, let's say in the Internet governance space. We have the governments, we have the technical communities, the civil society. How can we ensure this multistakeholder, let's say we have the government and all that. The relationship between them is equitable, or it's, like, good so that we may ensure we are driving change in all these developing countries or just the world at large. Like, how can we ensure a good collaboration between the multistakeholders?
>> Okay, thank you very much. Good morning once again. Thank you very much for the question. Before I go ahead, I think I would like to appreciate this balance, this gender balance, and I think it's territory, so we are good.
You talked about collaboration, and doctor, here, first of all, kicked off the pace. The first thing we need to do first is you need to identify, do we have ‑‑ how we accept that we have a problem. That's the first thing. For instance, you cannot just ‑‑ even if a doctor is trying to treat you, the patient must first agree that he or she is sick before he can actually receive treatment.
So, first of all, one of the things we actually having, the issues we have is that we think ‑‑ we know we have a problem, where we know that we have a problem, but have we, all of the various stakeholders, have we accepted and agreed that we need to solve that problem? Because for me to be able to work with you, we must actually agree. Both of us must actually agree to work together.
And one of the key things I see or I feel, because I'm going to speak in ‑‑ is this better? Can you hear me?
>> We can. Yeah.
>> Please, let's try to fix this because my moderator is not hearing me, so I need her to actually hear me. Okay.
>> Okay.
>> You can hear me now better? Okay. So, I think sometimes technology just fails us, but we are good. We are good now.
So, for me to be able to work with you, first of all, we must agree on something, there must be mutual benefits between both of us. And the truth is, the government can't do it all alone. We need partnerships. But rather ‑‑ but the thing is, the government first must lay the foundation. And what's the foundation? A good policy. Good. You can't have a bad policy and expect private sector to come in and collaborate with you. It's not going to work. Because for instance, even coming from the private sector, I want to know, what's in it for me? That's the thing, what's in it for me? So, you need to have favorable policies for us to be able to work together in harmony.
And then, I would just like to touch on something which is very key for me, which is capacity building. I think we're actually lacking a lot in capacity building. And when I'm speaking, I'm speaking from my own primary constituency, which is Africa, you understand. We do have a lot of issues when it comes to capacity building.
I'll give you an instance. We're talking about digital literacy, digital technologies. I'll use blockchain as an example, okay. We are in a time where blockchain is actually a thing. You go everywhere, you hear blockchain, blockchain, blockchain. But if you go back to Africa, a lot of people still do not understand what blockchain is, you get. So, it's something ‑‑ but technology is supposed to ‑‑ so we are speaking the same language. If I come here, some of you are speaking Arabic, I'm speaking English, but we are here to speak technology, so we should be able to communicate on something. And we should be able to speak on something, something which connects us. And what's that connection? Technology. So, we need to actually build our capacity, wherever you're coming from, we must be able to speak the same language, which is technology. And that's why I said it's good we now use this platform, and go back to our various regions and ask that: How can I be a change?
The change must start with each and every one of us. What am I going to do? Am I going to mentor? Am I going to teach? Am I going to guide? Well, how do I play my own part? Because as a stakeholder, all of us have a role to play ‑‑ the government, the private sector, the businesspeople, everybody has a role to play. So, we shouldn't just go back and say, oh, we leave it for the government, oh, we leave it for this sector, no. Each and every one of us, once we leave this place, we should go with a mindset of, what's that little thing I can do and contribute to my own constituency? How am I going to contribute and give my own quota?
For instance, I do a lot of mentoring. I do a lot of mentoring on digital literacy, okay, trying to see how ‑‑ because most of the time we speak, we're just speaking to those in the urban areas. How about the rural areas? Those are the bottom of the ladder. How are we going to bring them into these conversations? We're talking about technology, technology, technology, but someone in the rural village, a remote village, does not really understand this technology. How can we bring them on board? So, that's actually part of collaboration. How can we collaborate and make sure this group of people are not left behind?
So, my take is, we should always champion change wherever we go. We should be contributors, too. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Wow! Thank you so much, Chris. I was about to chip in a question when you were speaking, but then in the end, you ended up answering it. Yeah.
>> Chris: My moderator must hear me.
>> MODERATOR: So, now, I think I want to move the direction to the floor. Now, I want, if you guys want to share something, especially in your specific countries, something that you have seen, the challenges that you have seen, or if it's something that you have seen that has worked in your country, in terms of, like, bridging this whole digital divide. So, I want to open the floor if you want to share something like that. Yeah, I'll start with you.
>> Hello? I hope I'm audible enough.
>> MODERATOR: Yes.
>> Okay, thank you very much. I am from Ghana. Thank you for the insightful conversation. But my concern is that I asked, who are we benchmarking? We are talking about sharing and exchanging compute, new tickets on divisions. Every now and then, I know people are from Europe, Middle East, the Americas. There are new challenges which are evolving every now and then, but who are we benchmarking? What way are we trying to develop digital literacy? These are the questions, the nuances we should look at.
So, Chris also did talk about mentoring, which is very, very good, but what I've noticed in our countries, specific countries, is that it has become too robotic and machinistic that it stifles innovation. So, if I'm imparting young people in terms of mentorship ‑‑ go my way, go this way ‑‑ so there's no ground for innovation. Pave my way. But we need to move from that area and see it as a dance where there's information sharing, where we can continually innovate.
And one last thing is continuous learning. In this whole bridging the gender divide, trying to introduce computation and all, there must be continuous learning. And this continuous learning, we talk about multistakeholder approach, which is very good, by government, and a balance of power. Are they ready to work with the people, the private sector and civil society? Thank you very much.
>> MODERATOR: Wow, thank you so much, Katya. Is there ‑‑ yes, please.
>> Can you hear me? My name is (?). I'm from Mozambique. I have some ideas about the infrastructure development.
Since we have been facing challenges in building resilient and accessible broadband infrastructure in underserved and in rural communities, as you have mentioned. To address these issues through public‑private partnerships and innovation solutions, I brought you some ideas about infrastructure for telecommunications.
I believe that in an effective approach to ensure these areas without broadband infrastructure can apply to the infrastructure‑sharing model, which is a strategy that involves cooperation among different telecommunications operators, choose the same infrastructure, such as towers, cables, and fiber‑optic networks.
I believe with that, we must approach something for Africa, which is the cost reductions for the Internet. We have also accelerated the access for it and minimized environmental impact. Plus, we have an improvement for service quality.
Also, for the implementation of these ideas, I think about a favorable resolution, which is necessary to have a regulatory framework that encourages infrastructure sharing. That would be clear to the guidelines to protect competition and consumer rights.
We also need the partnership agreements, government involvement in these for the infrastructure part, plus innovative business models. I believe in that, so, thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Wow! Thank you so much. I really like the discussion that is going on here, especially ‑‑ okay, I'll come back to you. Especially I like the telecommunication. I think for my country, I think I will say, the telecommunication companies, they haven't, like, been a very good collaboration between, like, the telecom companies. At least, every telecom company is trying, like they're competing, you know? So, there is no, what do you say, cooperative effort that is done to ensure, like, okay, our goal ‑‑ our goal is just one ‑‑ all of us want to bridge this divide. We want to provide service to our people. But then, it's just, like, like rival, who will reach there first. But then if we do it all together, I think we will reach far. And yes, welcome.
>> All right, thank you. My name is (?). Can you hear me? Okay, all right. So, listening to some of the conversations, I will focus more on the literacy aspect and capacity aspect on that.
It was mentioned that at least we have to do some capacity literacy models aspect, but I have two questions in this one. What actions are we taking and which categories can we sort it out?
The reason that I'm saying is that sometimes, let's say the people in this room may understand the concept of Internet governance. So, when we come, we discuss about emerging technologies, advancing technology, we mention blockchain and other stuff. It's a conversation on different categories. But when we come to the lower aspect of the category we look at digital literacy, that's where we see the gap, because people can come and discuss about AI, digital infrastructure, emerging technologies, blockchain, but most of those people who are listening to that conversation, some people don't even understand basic computer literacy, how to even operate basic tools within the IT space. So, come to think of the AI.
So, what I want us to do is, in terms of conversation among youth, we can close the gap by categorizing and prioritizing where we need to focus on. So, there might be a group that we can group them ‑‑ okay, people who have advanced the state of using basic technology tools. This conversation, we can focus on them. Then, the youth can start developing models that is still digital literacy and how to use basic things, because even some people don't know how to use Zoom. So, if we are having a conversation on closing digital gaps, digital AI and other stuff, how can they even connect to do that?
So, we need to start by prioritizing the categories of people that we are dealing with and make sure that we try to put ‑‑ the people in the room ‑‑ let me take the panelists. We cannot bring you to start learning how to use the computer because you are advanced on that, so that conversation will be going. So, while we're going, we should also look up, look down to the people that we have below so that we can train them in basic things. So, whilst we're also catching up with the advanced African youth, we can also bring people who don't have any idea to start also from somewhere. Then we will be bringing them in along and along. So, some will be ahead of people, but you will always get the chance to bring people included in the conversation and topics. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you, Fifi. Do you want (?) for that? What?
>> Can you hear me? Good, okay. Fifi, thank you very much for that thought. I agree totally with you. I agree totally with you. That's why when I said the conversation, I said something. I said, we need to identify our problems.
Before you visit a doctor, you must first of all believe that you actually are not feeling fine, before even going to the hospital. So, we must first of all identify the problems. And how we're going to identify those problems is having these kinds of conversations. That's why, for instance, whatever work you do, you are the grassroots. You know there's problems. You know how to categorize them, okay? So, we cannot all be on the same pace. It is not possible. Everybody must be on a very different level, even in schools and everything, there are different classes where you categorize people.
So, first of all, we need to identify our problems. We need to accept that we have this problem. And what's that problem? Capacity building. Yes, we have identified that.
Now, what exactly are we building? Which categories? People that do not know how to use devices. Is it people that want to construct robots? Is it people that want to control blockchains? What exactly? So, once we're able to do this. And how do we do that is by each and every one of us taking that responsibility to say, yes, I want to contribute in this way. So, thank you very much for that contribution of yours.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Do you want to say?
>> Thank you so much. Very interesting conversation, actually. I wanted to say something quite interesting already said. I have an example where we have seen a race of literacy, not coming from a special entity going to teach people, but the interest rising from actually the audience. What is interesting here, in India, what they have managed to do is to widen the digital infrastructure. And what happened is we have seen a raise in digital literacy, in eCommerce, in mobile banking.
So, I believe Internet infrastructure is an engine that will move the literacy to come, also in the pace when it comes to continuing with innovation.
India now, when we talk about innovation in ICT, there is definitely an (?) at some point, so I believe in our different countries. When we will be able to implement sustainable infrastructure that are reaching all the different areas. Can it be the urban space or the rural areas? When will we reach all of them? They will definitely make use of the infrastructure they have. And sometimes, it's very interesting. They are very innovative and use ways that we didn't even think were able to use.
We have a case in many countries now that sustainable infrastructure solutions that are non‑for‑profit, which we call community networks, whereby people around communities get together and say, we need Internet. And we see it as a force for good and an enabler.
We are a community of agriculture, but we see that the Internet will be an enabler in us selling our local products. So, they get together. They connect to a certain access point. Because the Internet, what is it? It's a network of networks. So, they have already their own personal network, but then they connect to the Internet in a certain case. And now you see trade will be moving around the space, quite interesting.
And when you see the numbers, they get to do wonders with the access. So, I think we need to build on good capacity infrastructure. That will help us go with the pace.
One person was talking about, you know, we have other priorities. In some countries, people are not able to feed themselves, and you see Internet connection part of their? So, if you need to connect to the Internet, what is the choice you are going to take? So, access to connectivity is very important.
And for us to make sure this access is easy, we need to have infrastructure. When we have infrastructure, it will be cheap and people will be able to actually not only prioritizing, they will definitely prioritize the aspect of their life, but they will balance. We are moving with our natural challenges, but also, we are not left behind, as we are solving our different challenges in life, we are leveraging the ICT, we are leveraging the digital solutions so that we solve our challenges helped by the digital solutions. And that will be very helpful for us to move together. So, that's what I wanted to bring to the table. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: All right. Matilda, you have something to say?
>> Matilda: You know, like, whatever involves capacity building, like I'm in love with it. So, for the development, you know what I think? We do not even need, like ‑‑ it's not like we need something like sustainable development. I think for my country, in particular, since ‑‑ I mean, since I am working very closely with the people in the rural areas, we need to localize, localize infrastructure development. Because if you see we are, what, using 5G already? 5G. I was in (?) less than five days ago. There's not even 2G there, and I'm supposed to teach those women capacity building. So, we do these capacity buildings really, in the urban areas, even in the rural areas. But then, we go to the capacity buildings without the infrastructure for that capacity building. So, if I have the 2G Internet ‑‑ and sometimes, actually, the 2G ‑‑ until I need to find a spot, climb on top of a tree or sit somewhere around the mountain, you know, to try to balance the signal, like frequency wave. So, we need to localize this development.
So, the private sectors, the government, they really need to push the focus for the digital infrastructure development into the local areas, the rural areas.
You know, speaking about it, you think it's worse than even how I'm explaining. It's worse, I'm telling you. I don't know how ‑‑ for my country, for Tanzania, it's worse, guys. I've been in Kigoma, Kasulu, where the sun is literally red. You know, you just go, you have white hair, by the way, so you can imagine with the dusk how my hair was, but with the 2G Internet not working, trying to teach these women. The women do not even have ‑‑ I went, for example, Kigoma, these people, it was the women entrepreneurs. They were doing an amazing job. Confidently, I'm telling you, perfect job.
So, we went there to give them the digital capacity building, how to engage them to the digital marketing. Mind you, we want to engage them to the eCommerce. Mind you, these people do not have a smartphone. Never even seen one! Can't even write their names. You know, the eCommerce also comes ‑‑ oh, my God ‑‑ and oh, the situation is bad. What I just wanted to say, the point should just be, we should localize this development to the rural areas, localize the infrastructure, the digital infrastructures, yeah. So, we need this. And this is ‑‑ actually, this situation is actually different.
Buzz because I went there for the women entrepreneurs, but if I was doing for the women and men entrepreneurs, I'm sure the men would be facing the same challenge. Something is not there, it's like going ‑‑ one day, a lady once asked me, so, you guys came here talking about dream, dream, dream. What is a dream to begin with? Someone doesn't even know, what is a dream to begin with? Then I'm about to tell this person, you know what, you can be a software engineer. You can do this, combat stereotype. So, that's what I wanted to say.
>> MODERATOR: All right. Thank you so much. So, you can do ‑‑ like, from this discussion that has been going on, so, you can do digital, like, capacity building or digital literacy without having proper infrastructures. So, it's really important we make sure that we invest in proper infrastructure so that we can ensure everyone can get access to all these things.
So, before I get to see if there is any online contribution, I think there was one contribution back there. So, I'll go to you and then I'll see online if I have a question or any contribution.
>> Okay. Can you hear me? Good morning. I'm Grace from Cameroon. I want to be more practical about what you have said, because I'm a learner. I don't want to say I soak up everything, but I'm here to learn.
So, you mentioned something like identify your problem. Okay. I love technology. I want to learn more about it. I want to solve problems. I want to make money from technology. But how? How can I start? Where am I starting?
So, I think one of the sessions is to help us to understand more what is all about technology and this. So, I would just like to have more advice about it. Thank you very much.
>> MODERATOR: Okay. So, I can have Chris respond to that, and then we can move to one on site and then we can move online.
>> Chris: I hope I'm audible now.
>> MODERATOR: Yes.
>> Chris: Okay. Thank you very much, my sister from Cameroon, for that question. You know, I like going back to my analogy of the doctor. You know when you have an illness, you have to make inquiries. Where is this doctor? Where can I treat this illness good? And one of them is what you have just done, asking questions of how. Where, how can you start on all of that?
I think just a little bit of linkage of what Fifi said. There are different levels. Everyone is not on the same level. And we are here as supposed experts, okay, still be experts and all of that. There are actually resources online where you can actually make those inquiries or how to learn.
For instance, if you want to go learn ‑‑ let me just use the case of blockchain. Someone might want to say, I want to go into this blockchain. I want to actually know how beneficial it can be, because blockchain is broad, okay? It's going to solve problems that are existing. However, we are not using the blockchain to solve those problems. So, you can now say, okay, you want to tap into that sector. So, how can I now know more about blockchain?
There are a lot of resources online. One of them I can link you to is the ITU Academy website. Yes, it has a lot of good resources, where you can actually learn. There are some of the paid resources, some are actually free. ITU is the International Telecommunication Union. That's one of them.
Also, another good place which we always go to, YouTube. YouTube is our friend. That's how I look at it, YouTube is our friend. You can literally see everything in YouTube. But sometimes, like I was saying, that's why I mentioned earlier about mentoring, okay?
My friend here from Ghana also said something about mentoring, which is, you would actually put the person on the same path as you, where I kind of also actually disagree with him on that. Because for instance, when we're all young, we needed parents to actually put us on a path. It doesn't mean we have to be the same like them, but we need someone to guide you on the path, first of all. So, okay, it's always good to attach yourself to a mentor. You don't have to be exactly as the mentor, but he is going to push you because he has gone through hurdles already, so he is going to put you through so you don't go through the same hurdles he or she has gone through. So, that's why having a mentor is also key, because they're going to put you through whatever you need, direct you on the right path, and also direct you to where you can actually get these resources. So, I hope I've been able to answer that for you. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you so much, Chris. So, if we can take one ‑‑ if you can ‑‑ and then I'll move online because we are out of time, and then we can close. So, one minute. One minute. Then one minute from online, and then we close with my panelists.
>> Can you hear me?
>> MODERATOR: Yes.
>> Okay. I'm (?) from Egypt. I'm an ambassador. I have a very important question about the Internet justice and equality. Nowadays, we see that especially in the countries that have wars, there is not people that can have access to the Internet to reach out their voices to the world and to connect with the people around all of the world.
Who the sector that have the right to manage, not control or prevent people to get access to the Internet. So, who the sectors have a right to manage this Internet rights to the people in this society that have a word? That is my question.
>> MODERATOR: Is there anyone who wants to respond? You can respond in less than one minute, I would appreciate it.
>> Very good question, actually. What is pretty much interesting is that every aspect of life, the digital technologies are being improvised and can be influenced.
Currently, when you see people who are affected by war, definitely people using ICT technologies as, you know, war tools. But also, we are seeing humanitarians using digital technologies to solve these issues.
So, if we take technology, we don't have to take it in and frame it in an area, but we need to see it as a tool that you can use for good. And we advocate for the use of technology for good. It's like a knife. The doctor can use the knife to, you know, help operate and save a life, but someone else can use a knife, you know, to kill someone. You get the point. The knife is not the problem. The problem is the people.
So, I think technologies that are centered around the people are definitely the ethical one, and we need to use them in a sense that, you know, looking for what sense that is ethical, and that's the only way forward from my perspective. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: All right. Thank you so much. So, allow me to move online first, and then I'll get to my last onsite and then we close. So, please. If you can take one minute or less, that would be nice.
>> SAMAILA Bako: My name is Samaila Bako. I'm supposed to be one of the panelists. So, maybe I'll briefly introduce myself. I work with an NGO called Good for Africa and I'm also an expert in Nigeria.
I would like to highlight, as was said, infrastructure is necessary, but you know, private sector will only go where they feel they can make some profit. So, governments must lay the foundation through, like you said, policies, maybe tax‑free and those kinds of things.
The other aspect is academia. We keep talking about capacity building or the lack of skills or digital literacy as the case may be, depending on the location. But if we check the academic curricula of some schools or in some countries, they're quite outdated, you know. There are schools that teach programming, for instance, with pen and paper, which shouldn't be in this modern day.
And I think the last thing I will add is that we need to go back to the basics. I think one of the speakers mentioned that we shouldn't be trying to jump into blockchain or AI when you haven't been taught the fundamentals of hardware and software. You know, what are the 1s and 0s that make these gadgets tick. So, we need to go back to the basics and make sure the basics are done well, and then we can build on that.
Maybe lastly, we need to build an R&D culture. So, from the government aspect, the investment, also private sector in academia so that we have research and development coming up from within Africa. You know, we have access to open‑source tools that can even shorten the journey for us, so we should leverage those resources and partner with big tech as well, who are always willing to support, so that we can come up with our own initiatives, ideas, products, and services from within the continent. I hope I kept to time. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Yeah, thank you so much, Samaila. Please, the floor is yours.
>> Good morning. My name is (?) from Cambodia. So, my question to the panelist from India. So, can you elaborate more about the mechanism for the infrastructure sharing, especially for AI development? And how ‑‑ hello? Do you hear?
>> MODERATOR: Yes.
>> Okay. So, how developing country join the mechanism, for example, if you already have the mechanism in place for sharing the infrastructure. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: All right. Dr. Monojit, can you answer in, like, have you ‑‑ yeah, can you answer in like one minute or less?
>> MONOJIT DAS: Yes. Okay. So, the question, I would like to share, since we are almost closeby neighbors, Cambodia, we can share the collaborating aspects, also in the private sector. We would be interested to share the best practices, particularly given the fact that India and Cambodia share close relations. We have very friendly relations between us. Probably we can take this ahead probably post‑session or something? I think there are multiple avenues that we can collaborate.
And obviously, given the fact that Cambodia and the relation with Africa, we can all be working together, at least disseminating the skills and the best practices can also be exploited at any point in time.
>> MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you very much, Dr. Monojit. I think you can link up after the session and discuss further, right?
So, I would like to thank my panelists, and of course, the floor, for participating in this session. And I would like my panelists, with one word, to close this. How does a fully digital world look like to you, in one word? Like, a fully digitally developed world look like to you, in one word? I don't know who is ready to start, but whoever is ready to start, just in one word. A fully digital world. How does it look like to you?
>> A fully digital world. It's about people who are connected and interconnected.
>> MODERATOR: Connection. Connectivity, okay.
>> It's about empowerment and enablement.
>> MODERATOR: Empowerment and enablement. Matilda?
>> Matilda: Yeah. I actually wrote something here. So, I'd love to leave you with these thoughts, which is, the compute divide is a challenge, we all agree, but also an opportunity. So, it is an opportunity to rewrite the rules of digital, of digital engagement, to ensure the computational power becomes a shared resource that uplifts all and not that privilege ‑‑ not that privilege that deepens inequality.
>> MODERATOR: I like that word.
>> Matilda: Thank you very much.
>> MODERATOR: A lot of words. One word.
>> Sure. While we leave here, let's be the change that we seek to see, yeah.
>> MODERATOR: Change.
>> For me, it will be accessible.
>> MODERATOR: Accessible.
>> That's what our Government of India is also looking for, to make sure every resource that is available in the Internet is accessible for everyone, irrespective of the distance. Like, as I mentioned, the far‑flung area students are also getting, everyone. So, accessible should be that one word. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Thank you so much, everyone, for attending. I'd also like to thank my online participant. This was really amazing. From the contribution I received from the floor and online. I hope to see you around. Thank you so much. Have a nice day.
(Applause)
Yeah, my panelists, please, let's take a picture before we leave.
(Session concluded at 10:31 a.m. AST)