Building an Enabling Environment for Indigenous, Rural and Remote Connectivity

Experts at WSIS Summit advocate for inclusive connectivity in rural and indigenous communities

An insightful session at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) brought together a diverse group of experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to internet connectivity for rural, indigenous, and remote communities. The panel included representatives from government bodies, non-profit organizations, international agencies, and community network advocates. The conversation focused on the need for connectivity that is not only widespread but also meaningful and tailored to the unique needs and ways of life of indigenous and rural communities.

The panelists underscored the significance of community-centric connectivity models, such as community networks, which are designed to meet the specific requirements of local communities. These networks are seen as a way to foster socio-economic development and support the ecosystem of micro, small, and medium-sized businesses that are crucial for many developing economies.

A key point of agreement among speakers was the necessity of making connectivity affordable and accessible. The cost of data and devices remains a significant barrier to digital inclusion, and the panelists called for action to bring down these costs. They emphasized that technology should be inclusive and usable by all members of society, including persons with disabilities and the elderly, to ensure full participation in the digital world.

Content creation and cultural representation were highlighted as critical issues. The panelists stressed the need for indigenous communities to have the ability to produce and share their own content, preserving their cultural identities and ensuring that indigenous knowledge is represented online. This was seen as vital for preventing new forms of exclusion and promoting cultural strengthening through digital technologies.

Policy and regulatory support was identified as another crucial area. Speakers advocated for inclusive policies and flexible regulatory frameworks that encourage community-led initiatives and alternative models of connectivity. They also highlighted the need for financial support and the sustainability of connectivity projects, urging governments and international organizations to provide the necessary backing.

Training and capacity building were discussed as essential elements for empowering local communities to manage and operate their own networks. Digital literacy was pinpointed as a key component of meaningful internet use, ensuring that individuals can fully benefit from online services and opportunities.

Environmental considerations were briefly addressed, with an acknowledgment of the need to consider the environmental impact of digital technologies and the importance of respecting planetary boundaries.

The session concluded with a call for updated policies and regulations to support alternative connectivity models and a multi-stakeholder approach to digital inclusion. The upcoming WSIS+20 review was identified as an opportunity to integrate concepts like meaningful connectivity into the WSIS action lines.

Some panellists expressed disappointment with certain governments’ lack of vocal support for community network text in WSIS negotiations, highlighting the importance of aligning domestic actions with international representation. An appeal was made to governments and the ITU to raise awareness of the viability of community network models and to ensure that the negotiations reflect the progress made in regulatory environments.

In conclusion, the session highlighted the importance of a holistic approach to connectivity that goes beyond infrastructure to address affordability, accessibility, and meaningful use. It emphasized the need for collaborative efforts to ensure that digital inclusion strategies are responsive to the diverse needs of indigenous and rural communities. The discussions set the stage for further dialogue at the WSIS+20 review, with the aim of shaping connectivity to better serve all communities in the decades to come.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
them with all these issues, with training, with access to financial resources, all the things that they need to develop their own productivity and financial resources. Not in all the places. For example, in Mexico, we have a network that is that works on NBNO that is a mobile virtual creditor, so we can sell SIM cards like any other company. We have a lot of regional ICISPs, for example. Good morning, everyone. Nice to be here. I am very, very excited about this session, because, as you know, we need to reflect and rethink a lot of things in the perspective of the information society. One of these is how to include and how to develop all the entire things that the communities need to develop their own projects. Yes, we have still a big challenge to connect one-third of the population, and a lot of this one-third of the population are part of rural, indigenous and remote communities. But it’s not only to connect people, but also how to make that connectivity meaningful and universal. This is the big challenge. It’s not about only to make the conditions for the people to connect, but also how to make it meaningful. For this, we need to rethink other models. There are other ways of life. The indigenous have a very long history around sustaining their own life in their territories. That’s why we have these beautiful territories all around the world that are part of these communities. They also have different ways to manage and to understand how to communicate with each other and how to use the technology. This session is an invitation to think and to reflect around this enabling environment that we need to enable people in the communities to make their own projects. And how a multi-stakeholder approach can help to do that. Thank you very much to our panelists. It’s a very quick session, as all the WESI sessions this year. So, I will let our panelists to start. So, maybe we can start with Dawit Bikile from Microsoft for Internet Society. He is the Vice President for Africa of Internet Society.

Dawit Bekele:
Thank you, Carlos. Thank you for organizing this very important session at this critical moment. You rightly said there are too many people that are still unconnected. If you try to look back at what happened in the last 20 years and the good and the bad, the good is that we were much less connected then, I think 10% or something. Today we have 60% of the world population that’s connected, which is good. The bad is that one third of the population of the world is still not connected and the ugly is that those who are unconnected are much more marginalized than they were before. There were things that they could do offline 20 years ago, they are no more available. So they are worse than they were 20 years ago. Because connectivity has become essential and what is also ugly is that internet growth is slowing down. At one point we thought that connectivity is improving and it will improve up to 100%, but that is not what is happening. It is plateauing and the solution that connected two thirds of the population of the world cannot work, will not work for the one third. So we need innovative solutions that will help us connect the remaining unconnected. Some of the population that are mostly affected by this divide are the indigenous population. And internet society has been working with indigenous population all around the world. It really doesn’t matter. in a developed world or in developing countries, but very often, almost always indigenous population have been marginalized from the Internet. So I will show you three communities around the world where the Internet Society have made real impact. First in South America, the NANEM Connected Women Project in Bolivia and Paraguay. It is a transnational and multi-organization initiative to connect indigenous women in the South American Chaco. Next please. So this required partnerships. At the Internet Society, we believe that we can only achieve what we want to achieve in this current situation only with partnership, especially when it is such a big project with cross-country. So we had non-profits, civil society movements, and it is important to also have government, in this case local governments. The project concerned connecting women from the Wurani, Nivakle, and other indigenous populations. A dozen communities were connected and thousands of people were served. Here, sometimes the criticisms are some people say, oh these are just a few thousands, but these few thousands are important. They need to exist. They have been marginalized in the past, and now in this digital society, they are getting even more marginalized. So that’s why we need solutions that connect them as well. Another community, very far from South America, is the Ulu-Tup community network that connected the rural Arctic Indigenous communities. It is a community network and a regional initiative to connect Indigenous women in the Arctic region. So you would think that this is in Canada. You would think that this is a developed country and they would be connected. They are not. And we needed a solution like that. And a solution that is sustainable. Because very often what happens is that someone who sees an unconnected community comes and says, okay, let me bring you a solution. And then a few years later, when he or she leaves, then there’s no connectivity. For that, we have a multi-year initiative built upon relationships. It is value-driven and it is important to think about affordability. Another exciting project is in the Everest. You know, in the Everest, you have the local population that are serving all of us discover the wonders of this world. Unfortunately, they live in difficult conditions and very often without connectivity in that remote area that have a major impact on them. So we went there, those difficult places, we helped them to connect, opening many opportunities for the young Sharpa who have become freelancers, large owners who can connect with their customers directly. Children and women. who can learn online. And this has to be done sustainably. So we are training the local population to do the work because nobody will go and have them. It is not easy to go to those places. So they have to be the operators of their own network. I think I will stop here because I don’t have many minutes. Thank you.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
Thank you. Thank you, Dawit. It was a wonderful presentation. And of course, we need to take care of these little communities that is needed to develop the projects for them too. So maybe I can continue with Roxana and Suheel and then the online participants that we have. So if you want to.

Roxana Widmer-Iliescu:
Thank you very much, Carlo. And thank you very much. I think you have said so many things that I had the intention to say. So I will echo a little bit. So first of all, I want to share with you that from the perspective of the ITU work, for us, the work in indigenous peoples communities to ensure that have equal and equitable access to technology, but also to the use of technology. And I will build a little bit on beginning in 2004. And thanks to partners like Rizomatica now, thanks to you, we try to extend this in our region. From our perspective, the key element to enabling the environment in rural, remote and indigenous community, I believe is the community involvement to ensure their ownership and management on the project activities. And in particular, I want to highlight that this is necessary from the planning. but also to ensure that communities involved for the planning of what we want to do, but also to ensure the local ownership. So to ensure that the key leaders of the communities own the project that we do. We have been failed in many times, and I will not tell you about this, but it was a lesson learned that arrived me in front of you to share this. And I think this is a key element. And of course, then the part of the policy of regulatory support, I’m very attached to the accuracy. So I take from our work here and I put, so from ITU development of inclusive policy that specifically address the needs of rural, remote and indigenous community, it’s also essential, but also to have these flexible regulatory measures, because as the executive has to say, some solution should not be copy paste in indigenous and rural communities. So implementation of flexible regulatory frameworks that encourage community lead initiative and allow for alternative models of connectivity are truly important. Of course, I cannot stress more the financial support and how government can support this. We all know the infrastructure development, of course, connectivity, and I just want to put a small stop here. We all talk about connect the world, but you cannot put people fingers in a plug and say, I’m connected. So the infrastructure and the connectivity, the broadband connectivity, it’s very important. But to this, exactly as the colleague does say, affordability to pay the internet access and the device that you have to do, it’s also another important pillar to achieve towards this digital inclusion and digital society. Finally, access to information and content is key. And here I will stop on what IT is focusing. So internally training program from indigenous communities based on their specific. needs based on their, let’s say, what exactly a specific community wants to develop. And we agreed jointly with partners in the Americas that managing and the safe sustainability of these communities, managing ICT networks, indigenous networks, are really key. So we develop with you. I think a video can say more than my words. I will just compliment them. And if I have, so I have my two minutes of this video. I was trying to speak quick to have my two minutes and a half the video. And then I will conclude. Thank you. And then I will conclude. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks, and thanks, super, for the opportunity. And I’ll just like to repeat, thanks for giving us the console. Thank you. Sorry, I should have started with that slide. Thank you, Srisala, for your opportunity and a lot of participation in today’s webinar. We’re really excited to have you on the panel. We can’t wait to hear from you in the future, from the people behind it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. for our learning, our development in the community. At this moment, we are learning to install the internet networks. I feel very happy and I think that women always have all the abilities to do many of these activities, to do radio, to have that voice, to be in the part, but also to be in the technological part. And also, if we have always given it to women, it is the electrical networks. Why not the woman be the one who knows how the whole network works? Access to culture, education, health, the disadvantages that still exist to this day, the violences of which we are victims, women, indigenous, native peoples, all this discourse so full of racism, hatred, ignorance, that is transmitted by hegemonic media. So, if we are going to dispute this, you need to have the technical knowledge, but also to work a lot, a lot in the content. That is why we invite you not to disconnect from this live broadcast, from this great radio party, because we will talk about the territory and telecommunications. This type of program allows us to bring people closer to the development of technology, that the cultural part is properly respected, is properly used, with the component of technology, with the component of telecommunications. Thank you so much, Carlos, for this video. So, I hope we give you a flavor of what we are doing, and what I want to stress, and to commend each and every one of you who are really trying to invest in this type of work. As mentioned, two-thirds of the world’s population is rural and remote. And working with these communities, it’s the digital inclusion, because in the communities you have children, you have youth, you have women, you have older person, you have person with disabilities, you have all of them. So you have to put all your knowledge in ensuring that technology is human-centered, so digitally accessible what we try to do. Yes, technology is important to ensure that technology has embedded accessibility future from the design to also enable an illiterate person to use the technology and perhaps save his life if the information is a vital one. So the added value of this training is not only the knowledge development, but also the creation of the network of community managers. So I just want to say since this inception, I think we had over 6,000 or 7,000 indigenous leaders trained, but since 2019, we have been training over 350 communities leaders, and from this has certificate 120 managers of ICT network in indigenous rural communities, gender balance from about 14 countries. This is huge because only one manager can serve many other communities. So this is very important and also address the self-sustainability. And I cannot stress more the importance of collaboration and network. So this training cover many of these requirements that we indicate and thanks to APC, ITU extend this type of training since last year. It was a contribution in the TDAC, so we extending now localized in the Africa region. And thanks to Internet Society this year, again in TDAC, we hope having this also in Asia and Pacific. So let’s try to join our efforts and please join ITU. to try to to make a difference also for this indigenous and rural community. Thank you so much Carlos.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
Thank you, thank you Roxana. Sorry I forgot to say that Roxana is the Senior Coordinator of Digital Inclusion in the ITU Development Bureau. So thank you, thank you Roxana.

Roxana Widmer-Iliescu:
Thank you Carlos.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
Information Technology of the Government of India.

Sushil Pal:
Thank you, thank you Carlos and thank you for inviting us, inviting India to share its part of journey for enabling connectivity for the indigenous, rural and the remote connectivity. And we have a, we are a diverse country I think and we got as many communities in as many different geographies as would exist normally in a continent. So in a way we are representative of, I mean the diversity we have, we are I think representative of more than a continent you know in terms of the diversity we have to cater to, not only in terms of difficulty in geographical terrain as well as the cultural differences. On hardcore connectivity front I think we have launched the BharatNet project which is one of the world’s largest connectivity project and which discovers more than 600,000 villages of the country. And apart from that those even, I mean we got two islands as well, Andaman Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep and Andaman is roughly 1500 kilometers from the mainland. It was a couple of years back connected through the satellite but now it has been connected through the optical fiber network. So the point to be highlighted that even the tribal communities which are thousands kilometers away from the mainland, they are connected through the optical fiber network and the speed there is, you know, I mean which used to be in hundreds kbps is more than 300 mbps now. So that is the level of connectivity. connectivity which we offer. And in a few areas in the very difficult mountainous terrain region, I think we do provide satellite connectivity to the satellite, which is managed by the committee out there. So that’s broadly on the hardware or the pipe part of it. But as you said, it has to be meaningful and universal connectivity. And as per ITU’s own definition, meaningful connectivity is achieved when you have safe, satisfying, and enriching productive online experience at an affordable cost. So affordability is a very important element. And India prides itself not only in providing the optical piper, but providing at a very affordable cost is one of the cheapest countries in terms of data uses. And that’s what countries have to ensure. I think only providing connectivity doesn’t help. Our cost of data uses is roughly $0.17 or $0.15 per GB, which is one of the lowest in the world. And in many of the sub-Saharan African countries, I think it’s $15 per GB. So that’s a, I don’t know, it’s a mad coincidence. Or those are the countries which needs connectivity. And there you have the highest data use charges. So that comes, so that addresses the pipe part of it, as well as the affordability part of it. Now, how do we get meaningful, right? So the connectivity can become meaningful only when citizens are able to access those services, right? When they go online, they start using. I mean, thanks to our very high and developed and mature digital public infrastructure services, through which we deliver all government services. We’ve also made sure that content on the internet is available to the indigenous and rural community. in their own languages, you know, that’s very important, right? And therefore, we have launched a special project, we call it Vikaspedia, on the lines of Wikipedia. So, Vikas means development, that’s what. Vikas in Hindi would mean development in English. So, it’s a Vikaspedia, we call it. And it’s a completely multi-stakeholder digital ecosystem which completely focuses on creation of online content in their own languages so that people can go online and have that meaningful and productive online experience, right? So, that’s on the content part. And we also have to focus on the skill these communities have, right? There are many angles to when you actually make it meaningful connectivity. I think many of the elders in the remote areas, they’re not skilled enough, right? So, what we have done, one, I mean, I’ll go, let me cover the skilling part first of all, right? So, what we have done, we have launched a project, you know, making sure that at least one person in 60 million households in remote areas. We are a huge country, right? So, any number might look very big, but still, you know, 60 million is roughly 60% of our population. So, that is covering almost complete rural population, right? So, we made sure that at least one person in 60 million households are skilled and trained enough so that they can operate computers, they can operate tablets, they can operate smartphones, they can send and receive emails, they can browse on the internet, they can search information, they can access the government services. So, that’s the training we have provided. However, I think since we know that it’s even part of this, there are many families, you know, where they may not be wanted to be dependent on the younger population. and the young elder population may not be able to get that skill, how so hard we may try. So we have another model, you know, we call it assisted service delivery model. So wherein one entrepreneur in the village, there’s one entrepreneur in every village, and he has a kiosk kind of a thing, and he provides all the services in electronic form. So the people in the villages, they come to him like, you know, and it’s a, it’s on a very nominal cost so that, you know, that entrepreneur gets his own sustainable for that particular entrepreneur to, you know, operate on a daily basis. So he provides assistance to all those people who come there and who take the pension, and even he helps them to draw the pension. They don’t even need to go to the bank to draw the pension. I think using our, again, like I said, our unique digital ID system and the banking payment system, they can authorize him and without any risk of the security, without sharing anything, I think the payment can be drawn by the operator sitting in that particular center, right? So, and yes, okay. And thinking of the internet, I think, as you all know, that internet is the biggest enabler to connect people. So, and you cannot achieve this without the multilingual adaptation of the internet, right? The universal acceptance, as you all know, in the internet governance, David is from the ISOC, so he can well appreciate that, and we have focused heavily on the universal acceptance and to make sure that the domain names, as well as the email authentication, they are accepted in the local languages by the various platforms and by the government as well. And we pride ourselves in saying that we champion the universal acceptance initiative. And And similarly, for all the villages, more than 600,000 villages, we have initiated a special project. We call it, in English, it would mean that my village, my heritage. So that’s the project. And every village has been given a special domain name in their own languages so that they can start, you know, populating whatever culture, whatever sharing they need to share from their own village, I think, on that particular site or that domain name. And they have been given a special identity of their own. So that’s it, I think, largely, sharing in the Kadesh Lama site. Thank you.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
Thank you. Thank you for sharing these government actions. I think it’s important, as you know, as you are seeing, we have the technical community we have also the international organization, the government, and all these efforts and the diversity of it, of them, is a very important part of this. Carlos, is it possible to make a comment or later? Later, please. So we have Paloma from Derechos Digitales. She is in Latin America and she is the Director of Public Policies of this NGO. So, Paloma, please jump to the floor.

Panelist 1:
Hi, thank you all. Can you hear me correctly? Yes, we can hear you and see you. Perfect. Thank you. It’s so nice to be part of this exciting and important discussion. So, I know I have little minutes, so I’m going to focus my presentation on sharing with you the analysis and the results that we have gathered from an investigation we did recently regarding internet gaps in Amazonia. So, this is a series of investigations that is called Latin America in a Glimpse. Amazonia, which, as I mentioned, is a series of reports that focuses on internet access gaps in Amazon region. This research was conducted in collaboration with Fundacion Internet Bolivia, IDEC from Brazil, Dejusticia from Colombia, and Fundamedios from Ecuador. This series of reports investigates the gaps in access, the challenges and opportunities of internet access in the Amazon region, as well as the desires and risks related to the internet as perceived by some of the communities living in this region. So, for its part, the Hechos Digitales made a comparative report where we highlighted the common points in the four investigations, the need to create public policies of connectivity from a holistic and situated vision that involves communities in every stage of the policy, and the value of exploring alternative models of internet access, such as community networks. So, although there are particularities, obviously, in each community, we were able to identify some common problems and experiences. So, what research shows is that inequality, as in the region, is also reflected in the possibilities of access to the internet, which has a great impact on local population and can be seen in the access and exercise of fundamental rights, such as health, education, freedom of expression, and access to public services. So, what we notice is that these groups that have been historically excluded from access to rights not only face the same barriers in the access to the internet and the use of technology, but these inequalities are complemented in the interaction or in the lack of interaction with technology, which therefore generates new forms of exclusion. So, this inequality illustrates the enormous difficulties of certain populations to connect to the internet, which leads to a number of people being disconnected or lacking their own possibility. In turn, when they do manage to connect, the connection quality is very low and it hampers accessing the possibilities offered by the web. All of this is made even more complex by the lack of digital literacy. A central element for addressing these challenges presented by the access of Internet is the right to infrastructure, as has been mentioned already in the panel. What this study shows, though, is that infrastructure is identified as a cause and as evidence of the obstacles to access to services related to fundamental rights, among which we also find access to the Internet. The infrastructure related problems and the lack of Internet access are directly related to the lack of adequate public policies promoting Internet access that are specific to the region. One thing to keep in mind is geographic characteristics and the interculturality factor. It’s important to emphasize on the word adequate because this connection is not a synonym for absolute lack of public policies, but rather there is a lack of targeted measures that contemplate existing challenges and that are uniformly sustainable over time. By examining certain differences and opinions regarding the Internet and its uses, we can identify that the communities perceive connectivity as a need. On the one hand, as a way to dealing with difficulties in communication, which are exacerbated by the region’s geographic conditions, and on the other, as a tool for which they would have access to basic rights, like I mentioned, health, education, and access to Moreover, Internet is identified by the communities as an opportunity for community development and collective projects. On the other hand, it’s important to note that taking the interculturality factor as a basis for analysis and a cross-cutting aspect of the topics that are developed, the studies highlight the complexity of the relationship between digital spaces and the impact on the community’s cultural identity. So although these impacts are perceived in different ways by the communities in question, they have a common starting point, which is the lack of representativity of their communities in digital spaces, mainly due to lack of content around ancestral knowledge and also an over production of western content. In some cases, its negative consequences stand out, especially in the younger population, as well as the opportunities to use digital tools for cultural strengthening. For example, one example of cultural strengthening by the use of digital technologies can be found in Bolivia, where digital activism is used to recover and strengthen the Aymara language. So and with this I’m going to finish and I’m right in time. So considering these issues and the opportunities that are described by the communities, it becomes clear that technologies can end up being important allies for the communities, as well as for the economic and social development. In this, the creation of an enabled environment is a key element to achieve technological autonomy as part of the exercise to the right of self-determination by the communities, which is recognized internationally. So and with this I’m going to finish, I promise. It’s not only about providing adequate infrastructure, but rather to focus, as has been mentioned in the panel, on meaningful connectivity. And when we talk about Indigenous communities, this has to take into account the intercultural and holistic factor to address these policies. And with this, to appoint or to address or to look forward to appropriation of technology by these communities, where technology can actually help in its evolving. and development. So I’m going to finish with this and with the last mention that I’m sure Josemi is going to pick up on that is important for to enable this empowerment of communities that we take into account the provision with the legal security of community networks. Thank you.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
Thank you. Thanks a lot, Paloma. I know that this is very late. I don’t know in which country are you. Thanks to be here. And just to mention that we have two or more or less minutes, extra minutes, because there is no other session after this. So we have this time to discussion and some comments. And finally, not least, I want to invite Josephine Melissa. She is the policy lead at the Local Networks Initiative by Rhizomatica and APC. So welcome, Josephine.

Josephine Miliza:
Yes, thank you very much to the panelists who’ve gone before me. With the very little time, my name is Josephine as introduced. I work for the Association for Progressive Communications. I am part of the Local Networks Initiative, which is a collective effort led by APC and Rhizomatica in partnership with grassroots communities and support organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. And the aim of this initiative is to support community centered connectivity initiatives while contributing to the emergence for their growth, for their emergence and growth. My colleagues have really grounded the conversation around the importance of alternatives to connecting the unconnected and especially the importance of looking at complementary access models such as community networks. And as we come to WSIS plus 20 and reflecting over the last two decades it’s important to note that despite significant public and private investment, traditional approaches to telecommunications have failed to provide or to reach the universal access goals even for basic voice connectivity and so within the context of the case studies that have been shared it’s important that we create enabling environments for alternatives such as community networks which are grounded in communities, they’re able to foster socio-economic development and also prevent a vital part of a micro, small and medium-sized business ecosystem which is the backbone for many developing economies. So I’d like to touch on just some of the milestones that we’ve been able to see over the past years as we started advocating for enabling policy and regulatory environments and first was that in 2019 the UN Economic and Social Council resolution on assessment of the progress made in the implementation of the follow-up outcomes of the world summit on information society recognized community networks and then following up in 2022 during the world telecommunications development complementary access networks were recognized under resolution 37 and which directed the telecommunications director BDT to continue supporting member states were requested in developing policy and regulatory frameworks that could expand and support the engagement of complementary access networks in bridging the digital divide. And so with the case studies that have been shared, we can clearly see that there are successes, but our community networks still face barriers when it comes to licensing, when it comes to access to affordable spectrum, also when it comes to access to financing. So an enabling environment means that we are building the community’s capacity to be able to actually deploy, operate the network, and also to be able to access the resources that are needed for them to be sustainable. We are seeing some progress in some countries, such as in Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya have all included community networks within their licensing framework. In Latin America, we see Mexico and Argentina have created provisions, Colombia and Brazil are working actively to enable them within their current frameworks. And so within the lines, as we approach the WSIS plus 20 milestones, our reflection is that how can the WSIS action lines be updated to fully integrate the concept of meaningful connectivity? I saw first is that as the action line facilitators and all digital governance stakeholders reflect on the advancement over the past, the last decades, it’s important to note that digital inclusion, the action lines around digital inclusion should be rethought and updated and adjusted to be able to accommodate what the people in the room have mentioned on the aspect of meaningful connectivity. Sorry about the background noise. I’ll just give it a second. Yes. And that’s to know that digital inclusion goes beyond connectivity and that… policy, that it’s not enough that policy and regulations should be designed to diversify and to be able to accommodate the emerging alternatives that are coming up so that we are able to shape connectivity better in the next decades. Additionally, the lines should be strengthened and updated and take into account that for communities to be able to participate in the digital economy, it requires broad-based and significant improvements when it comes to issues such as education, tertiary literacy skills, and also the urgent action when it comes to bringing down the cost of access. And it’s not just access to the internet, but also access to devices and also reduced taxation, which we’re seeing more and more governments increasing taxation, especially on ICTs. And it’s not possible to resolve digital exclusion without addressing the need to respect the planetary boundaries and the right of nature in the design, production, and deployment, and governance, and regulation of digital technologies. And so the WSIS action line should also take into account the consequences of climate change, for instance, acknowledging that impact is not experienced evenly, and women in the global south are particularly disappropriately affected. And so it’s important, and we think that WSIS can play a key role in setting parameters that are able to minimize the harm from extraction of natural resources to fuel new technologies. Thank you very much, and back to

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
you, Baka. Thank you, thank you, Josephine. And yes, thank you for all the comments, actually. For example, we have one comment here in the Zoom that is very related to what the subpoenas are saying. And David Lemming says that, there are, just a comment from my research on Solomon Islands, where indigenous people are the majority, but are marginalized in the global context. There is a conundrum for indigenous people that although equal access rights is very important, the focus of connectivity is often equated with bringing indigenous people into the modern economy as axiomatic. In one use of digitalization from social change and predominantly modernization context for indigenous people, this digitally accelerated change can also lead to make the social realities change. The social realities is change. So sorry, because there is some difficult to read, but the main thing is that, as I said at the beginning, we have different models of life. We have different ways to sustain the lives. And so the technologies maybe needs to respond to these ways of life and not just to include people in the other, in the one.

Panelist 2:
I’m Vanessa Carlos. My name’s Anriet Esraezen. I’m also with KBC. I really just want to urge the governments that are here, you know, we have India, I’m not sure who else is here, and the ITU to create more awareness in the Geneva missions and amongst other governments of the viability of these models. And also actually of the fact that the ITU has endorsed them. And ABC and the Internet Society tried very hard during this year’s Commission on Science and Technology for Development, decision-making on WSIS follow-up, the resolution that they make every year to get stronger references to community-centered connectivity. and the need for financing mechanisms and the kind of enabling environment that Josephine was talking about. And the governments that were receptive to this, frankly, it was Canada. It was, you know, Canada, the UK were supportive. The governments that really should have been speaking out, not just voting for, but speaking out on this, South Africa, India, did not support this text. We did get text in 2019, as Josephine said. So it’s quite important. I mean, I don’t think there was any malicious intent in this. I think that the people that are doing those negotiations on WSIS follow up and implementation just are not aware of the fact that regulators are beginning to issue licenses for community networks, that the ITU has recognized the importance of complementary models. So really just an appeal to you here in Geneva to do more outreach to the missions. And then to India, you know, to connect the work that you’re doing at home with the foreign ministry and with the people that represent you in the ITU, so that they are aware that this is not just civil society off on a tangent. This really is a model that can make a difference. Excuse me.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
I don’t know if anyone has comments or can have answers, comments or other participation.

Panelist 3:
I need access to some of the research materials. I saw it was shared. Yes. How can we get access?

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
Yes, maybe I can share with you my email and then I can share some of the materials.

Panelist 4:
Yes. Thank you so much for the interventions. I think that this opportunity of the plus 20 review of the World Summit of the Information society is also a key space and a key opportunity for us to look at very concrete ways in which, for instance, the wishes moving forward, particularly around the action lines, could be adjusted in order to include, for instance, the concept and the notion of meaningful connectivity and also the notion of community-based solutions for access and connectivity. So I think having the active participation of this group, these voices, these perspectives, and the solutions that can be actually embedded in the way in which the action lines should be adjusted would be very, very useful in terms of ensuring that this process and other processes in the future really respond to those imperatives of getting not only support to these type of models, but then having enabling conditions for working at the national level, maybe in regulatory environments, and also hopefully a different arrangement around the financial mechanisms to support these type of models.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
Thank you, Valeria. Roxana?

Roxana Widmer-Iliescu:
I cannot agree more with this, and I think, just remember, so WSIS has over 20 years, and, of course, the technology evolved, our needs evolved, everything evolved, so definitely we have to revamp on these two best response to the current situation, from one hand. On the other hand, I think we all need to readjust a little bit our language, because we went all ahead with the word connectivity, connectivity, and I stress by all speakers here, connectivity is just the first pillar. Connectivity is not enough. And while connectivity is the first pillar and one of the most important, so it’s not this that we try to convey here, is that it’s not enough. And Let’s try to separate the pillars to arrive in digital, which connectivity is a first, then it’s about affordability, so much stress here to pay the connectivity, but also to the device to be used. And then we have the digital accessibility, which encompass the training, the use of how to do, and how the technology is developed from the design to ensure that has accessibility feature inside to enable also person with disabilities, older person, or those who are not so native, savvy in the use of technology to use it. So these three different things, one is about connect, connectivity, broadband, payment, and the use of technology, because if we have this technology, but people cannot use the services for different reason, because they don’t know how to use of the training, or because the technology is not digital accessible, I’m blind, and I have not text to speech, so I cannot use the service. So these three pillars, we all have to echo it in a same voice, either from the organization like ITU, UN, from the governments, from cyber society that we need access, affordability, and accessibility of the technology in order to ensure that we build this inclusive digital society that we’re talking about. Thank you for this.

Moderator – Carlos Francisco Baca Feldman:
So maybe just two final comments, one is very practical one, an announcement, and you are invited to visit our CN learning repository, so it’s an effort in the local networks initiative. have a lot of materials related to connectivity. There is a policy guide but also you can find some technical materials too. So you are invited to consult there. And some of the materials, for example, the Amazon region research are there. So it’s like a library about community networks. And the last one I think is to say that I am very, very grateful because we still continue thinking that. It is a process in which, as we said in the previous session of APC, we need to rethink a lot of things, even the notions about digital inclusions or information society, because it’s not the same for everyone. And if we part from it, we can have different results in the future. And also try to address all these needs that are related with the access to devices, the infrastructure, the access also to information and content, but also to let the communities produce their own content. And the right that the people outside the communities also to access to this type of content. So for example, WACC is very, very focused on it. So thanks Philippe for being here, because it is a big challenge and it is not only a matter to one of the parts, but more a multi-stakeholder approach. And WACC’s review, it’s a very, very good opportunity to make these spaces. Now, as Henriette said, 20 years ago, Canada actually paid for our forums of Indigenous people. thinking on it, this year we don’t have it. These kind of things, I hope we can push to have some kind of spaces in which indigenous and rural communities can meet and can share their ideas, no? This is one of the big challenges that we face in this year’s 2020 review. So thank you very much, and I hope you can see it. Thank you. Thank you.