The following are the outputs of the real-time captioning taken during the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Paris, France, from 12 to 14 November 2018. 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 to understanding the proceedings at the event, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> And a lot of connecting projects. Also, the ones we received were also a smaller scale, specifically focusing on certain sub communities, which highlights the regional and local specificities, as we have, when talking about throughout the phases of CENB. Lastly, the SDG we focus on is SDG17, which is to strengthen the global partnerships with sustainable development. Internet access projects facilitate stakeholder groups, you cannot advance these as a single stakeholder, but partnership tweep different stakeholders is crucial for attaining the goals we have been talking about. Some of the common themes that we received among the project submissions were first that there were different levels of aggregation that we received projects at. Some were world partnerships, some were regional, some were local partnerships. Some of them had a lot of specific articles. Equals focuses on the issue of gender digital equality. And we have Joyce today, who will be able to speak later on more about this in the session. Some partnerships also had country champions and working group leader, working group coalitions. Some of the submissions ‑‑ some of the submissions also showed how again, libraries can sometimes be a strategic partnership to further Internet access goals. That is briefly highlights of what we're working on in the paper. I'm sure the speakers will add more as we go along in the session. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you. She's put together a lot of work for the threads. Just to give more color on the aspects. On the energy SDG, all of solar. Interestingly, one of the projects, there is one battery powered, and that is different, we'll see how that works out. Many of the solar or energy projects are focused on Internet connectivity, some are specifically focused on agriculture, in terms of running irrigation and agro processing. Economic growth, there is a wide, wide range of projects. Some are about engaging in promoting economic activity in mountainous areas, some are digital training as Veronica mentions, some are based on women, youth, entrepreneurship, one is often training in law. And a number of them trying to increase the expertise that farmers bring. Infrastructure as Veronica mentioned, there are community as an interesting option. Schools, clinics, different aspects in the case studies. Perhaps the one that is most interesting is the one where they have Wi‑Fi equipped motorcycles that drive around neighborhoods and establish hot spots. It is an interesting model. We have seen different forms of that in the work we're doing. One world connected has collected 1,000 innovative ways to connect people to the Internet. You see the mobile processes used to deploy different technologies.
So you know, I negligent ‑‑ neglected to mention, I am working on the one world connect project. The dynamic ways to connect people to the Internet is in Salle 8. I encourage you to come to booth number 1 in the village, but we will have handouts, again, providing more and more information about these kinds of interventions. Okay. Is Wisdom here? No? Is Mary here? Mary.
So we are going to change the order of the program because Wisdom is not here yet. Mary, I will invite you up to give remarks, Philip as well. Mary will speak for three minutes about SDG8 about decent work and economic growth. We'll talk about the different policies the countries should put in place. Join us, Mary. Philip is doing a deployment of actual Wi‑Fi in the Philippines. And one of the things we're attempting to do with this program, which we did last IGF is not talk at the high level of generality, but bringing people that are deploying the projects in regions to talk about their experiences, aspirations, challenges and what we will need to provide a map forward on how to proceed. Mary?
>> MARY: Thank you, very much, my name is Mary, I'm from Nigeria. First, I want to start by saying that we're all agreed that the Internet is a disruptor.
There are legacies, there are issues, and for economic growth, it would be, while good, but on SDG8, decent jobs, so how can we redistribute the gains of information, automatization, the gains of Internet development to be able to distribute fairly to both the innovators as well as legacy skills.
We witness in my region, my country where some health workers refused to adopt new technology because they're afraid they're going to lose their jobs. So now that we're talking about innovation, talking about new technologies and economic development and growth, and yet some will lose out.
What policies should countries put in place to be able to make sure that they are fairly treated, fairly distributed? How can we start retraining? I am an accountant by profession, but I decided to come to the space of Internet, ICT, and some, when they speak to me, they think I'm an engineer. So retraining is one aspect of economic development. So when we gain from the new technologies, disruption of automatization, and new things happening in the space, we should on the other hand, give back the mental set, the orientation ‑‑ people are afraid to embrace new things because they are afraid they want to keep their jobs.
So if we are going to say jobs for all, not only seeing new things happening, but also, we need to retrain the legacy skills, so we can key it into what is happening currently. So that is my point. That is the point I am bringing up. That is the thing we should take home with us, what policy with our countries, with organizations, with our communities. What do we do to reorient legacy skills to be able to key into the new development and all of us who help and grow together as we development economically. That is where I will stop for now. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Mary. If I could mention, Mary is also a member of the MAG, thank you for your service to the entire IGF community. With no further ado, I will introduce Philip who will share with us his experiences.
>> PHILIP: My name is Philip from the Philippines, easy to remember. The name of the company is Wi‑Fi Interactive Network, WIN, for short. We're a 3‑year‑old tech start‑up based in the Philippines. The approach is different because we're a private enterprise and we're trying to figure out is there a commercial model out there that we could test, wherein we could actually provide affordable Internet access to the people that are underserved and unserved. So we have been at the journey for three years now. The first model we test ad I will share with you ‑‑ and I will share with you the different trials that we have undertaken to give you a flavor of what we have tried to do.
The first model we tested is a model where we would provide Internet access through the mom and pop stores, based within communities. The mom and pop stores are called (speaking non‑English language) stores in the Philippines. There are different versions in each country. Typically women‑run, small stores that sell consumer goods, shampoo, soap, milk, whatnot. The idea was, what if we provide Internet access to consumers in exchange for purchasing preferred brands that would actually pay for the Internet access. So we actually worked with a major global consumer goods company, Unilever. They funded the trials. If someone would purchase a sachet or shampoo, we provide the consumer 30 minutes of Internet access. It is a purchase for value exchange. It was interesting and very exciting idea, in fact, it made its way all up to the global CEO of Unilever when it was presented to him. One thing we learned that was really important was that we couldn't link the purchase of the specific brand to reward the consumer with Internet access. The reason is the small mom and pop stores didn't have POS, point of sale systems. So, you know, cash registers.
So we were left to having the store owner or salesperson decide whether or not the person qualified for free Internet for their purchase, because they wouldn't work for a brand sponsor. Because it would be difficult to attribute the actual purchase for the Internet access reward. That was an important learning experience for us.
In fact, one of the sponsors even offered to foot the bill and put POS systems in the stores. But unfortunately, in my country, people are very tax sensitive. And what that means is that the stores didn't really want a POS system, because then their sales would be tracked by the government and it would be taxed. So that was another hurdle we didn't anticipate that we learned from.
So moving on from that, we moved to a pay model. This time, with the help of Microsoft, we got the grant from the Microsoft air bud initiative. We set up our own base station. We decided to broadcast our own Wi‑Fi signal in a small town. We basically put up access point in different houses and stores.
The idea being, if we provide Internet access to the stores, they would sell access at 20 U.S. cents per hour. We learned people were not willing to pay Internet access. They prefer Wi‑Fi to be free.
If there is any take away ‑‑ I only have one minute left ‑‑ one thing we concluded is providing Internet access to the base of the pyramid is not the question of affordability, it is the question of sustainability. People don't have the budget to pay for Internet access. So we have to develop a business model to be able to give them free access with sponsors and maybe advertisers paying for the taxes. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, both to Mary and Philip for sharing your important perspectives with us. Wisdom, are you here? No? Is June here? June is here. If I could invite June and Carlos to come up. Audience, invite me in thanks Mary and Philip for stimulating conversations.
Now SDG9. We will have June introduce the topic and Carlos will share the work he's doing with communities all over the world.
>> JUNE: I'm June, I'm from Barbados. Looking at policy number 9, connecting and enabling the next billions to promote sustainable industrialization and fosterization of quality ‑‑ and transport infrastructure. Promote inclusive and sustainability industrialization by 2013, raising industry share of employment and gross domestic product, increase the access of small scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries to financial services including affordable credit and their integration into value chains and markets. Hopefully by 2030, we will upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable with increase resource use efficiency and greater adoption of sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries being taken action in accordance with the respective capabilities.
We need also to enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities, industrial sectors in all countries. In particular, developing countries, including by 2030 encouraging innovation and sustainability, increasing the number of research and development project workers, by one million people and public‑private research and developing spending and ‑‑ sorry. Facilitate sustainability and resilient infrastructure in developing countries through advanced technologies in different correspondents including land lock and small island states and support domestic technology development research and innovation in developing countries. Included by ensuring a conducive policy environment for industrial diversification and value action commodities. Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.
So how can we make this possible? Let's see if we can find some changes here. How can we build resilient infrastructure and promote industrialization and foster ideas. We need structures that are resistant to natural disasters, war, and open to entrepreneurship. Encourage partnership and village investment.
Have debate on inclusiveness using a bottoms up approach including polytechnics and learning so it reaches everyone, not only universities. Build and support credit unions, offer small business loans and involve participation from governments.
Reach out to villages and give them a voice, encourage bottoms up participation to prevent elitists, also, make full use of research development at universities, give opportunities for funding by making funding more transparent, although funding may be available, it is not always accessible. Offer small loans and investment opportunities with easy payback schemes.
Make use of universities in developing countries, link universities so they are not standing alone and have greater strength, use other institutions that can provide training and entrepreneurship schemes. We also need to publish this information. Newspapers, newsletters, government information sites, like in Barbados, GIS, include collaboration with institutions and include the institutions. Countries share in enabling the guidelines set by the U.N. Strict monitoring on users and providers.
Providers are accountable. For example, on Friday in Barbados, there was no Internet. So if you got e‑Commerce and you work on the Internet, especially from home and you haven't got the Internet, how can you get your work done? So therefore, disruptions should be ‑‑ public should be notified when there is going to be a disruption. We also have social media and SMS on most phones, even in developing countries, if one is notified, one can plan. If I knew there was no Internet in Barbados on Friday morning, I could done my work on Thursday night.
I'm sorry. Rough app and consider diversity and improvement of education, have a computer, laptop and iPhone does not mean it is up to potential. It is up to the networks, I.T., departments, schools, Internet societies, especially to outreach and fully enter the next phase of enabling the next billion.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you, June. Carlos?
>> CARLOS: Welcome. I thought I would start somewhere else. Let me step back. At the moment, many people ‑‑ you are in the session, you probably know half of the people on the planet don't have access to the Internet. Maybe they don't for several reasons, including skills and infrastructure. In Africa, for instance, as of today, 40% of people don't have access to mobile infrastructure. Not because of skills or local content but because of infrastructure per se. And the main actors, those that represent the GSMA are recognizing in report that have come out in the last two months. This is not going to change much in the next eight years. Actually, the trend is that mobile infrastructure and the pervasiveness in remote areas where more of the unconnected live it is no going to grow, it is plateauing. In the introduction, it was noted that there are new actors that are contributing to this debate, increasing the infrastructure in those areas that traditional market players are not able to provide connectivity. Right? This is happening in many cases because the communications landscape as was said in some of the writing is changing. The value change of the telecommunications network infrastructure is becoming segregated. That is, people can actually invest in the last mile because there are other infrastructure in the middle mile and the back haul that are in place for smaller actors to make use of it. There is a huge spread of fiberoptic, both intercontinental and international. It is booming. Many countries, the pervasiveness of fiber is again. Again ‑‑ is huge. Again, it allows the providers to tap into global infrastructure.
There is a huge change in the last few years. We were speaking spaces and GSN. It is the technologies and cost and the way assigned for connecting, low power, low cost, et cetera. There is also some opening and changes in the environments that are allowing this is allowing to make use of the changes in the infrastructure to provide affordable and universal access.
appreciator. It is providing connectivity in places where there was none. The Mexican government has set aside for social use of a spectrum that is not used by operators in the area. It would be interesting to see similar examples in other places. overnetYeah, some of this ‑‑ some of the actors, you mentioned them, they have been cited before. Community networks and small operators. I would like to speak on some to highlight in the report, to highlight some of the issues I was mentioning before. The one that I described is the community in Mexico, it is using local DSN autonomous infrastructure that connects over Wi‑Fi to the voice
Also in Colombia in particular, there are spaces that has a technology with huge potential to increase infrastructure in the remote areas. Yet, very few countries have regulated and created regulates for the technology. The Colombia South Africa, in the U.S., an interesting project to connect libraries in the U.S., using the spaces technologies. Why are no more countries implementing these regulations?
And the type traditional Wi‑Fi that is being used in many places, the Philippines, he mention, in Uganda, other countries, both for fixed Wi‑Fi, long hauls and for access.
, that is not in the report. One minute? Oh, wow! That is with fiber. I want to mention that infrastructure ‑‑ that it is not only the community networks are contributes to GIFIThere are other providers, SDG9 and 8. Many don't see they're a small, medium enterprises employing people, contributing to the economy in many ways. There will be sessions today and tomorrow where you listen to other case studies, in particular the lounge tomorrow in room 10 at 1:30 for three case studies for communities are going to be presented.
Around policy and regulatory changes to monitor these. First, recognize the actors and recognize despite not having support from the funding agencies, et cetera, they're actually thriving and providing connectivity in places where there was none. Recognizing them as viable actors, I think is important from government and other stakeholders.
Also, access to spectrum, there will be a session later today in room 7, discussing this at 12:30. Access to spectrum in the case of Colombia and Mexico to other spectrum is critical for enabling this and enabling the connectivity in the places where the market is failing.
I'm going to leave it there. Maybe I can talk later about it. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Carlos. I also should mention that we have with us here is Jane Coffin from the Internet Society, who has been doing instrumental work in promoting community networks and supporting through a wonderful grant program that Internet Society runs making a grant possible that is working to provide like what Carlos is discussing all over the world. We thank you for that at the Internet Society as well.
and Joyce will join me, we will go to partnerships. While they're joining, please join me in thanking John and Carlos for a stimulating conversation. Renata is here. If Renata here? RenataAre Wisdom or
will begin by telling us why they're important and Joyce will be talking about what lessons we have learned. Renata. interconnectivity and Joyce are joining us, they will be talking about SGC 17, which is partnerships for the goals of RenataWhile
: Thank you chair, thank you everyone for participating in the CNB efforts. My area of action, research, whatever, is nine countries long. The Amazon region and we represent 50% of the world's remaining rainforest. And we have around 10 federal and state universities in the area. And several other spaces that are in the countryside, representing this universities. RENATA>>
So the SDG17 is about partnerships. And partnerships are important for people from other regions to report regional challenges globally.
The indigenous people could only share their voice with global partners. The group published the manifesto to present to their community and not only that, through a program called Mozilla open leaders to a capacity building of our indigenous leaders, which are, by the way 70% women. Brazil is the world leading killer of environmental activists.
So families led by women specifically in the indigenous regions are very common.
to do a chapter project. In the block IGF to formalize the embryo to have the Amazon IGF. I hope you all come. (Chuckling). blockchainWe also in IGF Brazil had the workshop on the theme, IGF Ghana and Ecuador invited us to speak. And Isaac was important for us, because it enabled us as a
We have for those, we have Caribbean partners. Because we're all part of the Caribbean community region.
The I can global indigenous ambassador program brought two indigenous fellows for meetings. Duo lingual has the Bolivian indigenous language for their new indigenous languages program. It started with the Amazon languages and Indian languages. And as a condition the summit in the U.S.A. had their online attendance. Little by little our partnerships expand the borders of the Amazon.
We will never stop. We have just started.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much for that very inspirational message. Joyce?
>> JOYCE: Thank you, Christopher. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to say when you look at the sustainability development agenda, it requires partnerships to achieve the goals between governments, private sectors, Civil Society, academia and technical community alike. The challenge that brings the efforts together on all the other 16 SDGs, have agreed that the inclusive, sustainability development cannot be achieved without global success of the Internet. Big statement. Just like the Internet to achieve the goals set out, we need to create a network of network and not only in the technical sense, but network of network of humans, communities. equisystem, actually. At the same time, when you look at the agenda, the different stakeholders from the Internet
If you look at it really, the harder the issue you look at and ambitious goals of the SDG is one. The more multi stakeholder approach you need to achieve the goals. I have been invoiced here today with my Equals hat on. As a vice Chair of the equals partnership, I wanted to share a little bit about what happens with equals and how we see this as a really successful model.
, gender equality. We know the Internet is really a powerful tool for inclusion. Probably the most powerful tool for inclusion the world has ever seen. And we still see that women are trailing behind in use of the Internet. In access. And use of the Internet. Especially in the developing regions of the world. SDG5I will sneakily bring in another SDG part of last year. Actually. I will sneakily bring in
Now, we still see that there is 250 million fewer women online compared to men. 32% of fewer women are online compared to men in all of the 47 U.N.‑designated least developed countries.
The gaps are depriving women to access to social improve; economic improvement, to healthcare, just to name a few. The difference ‑‑ it is critical that our work really in connecting the next billion does not leave that part of the population behind. That we really work in including women and being connected to the Internet.
Now, equals, to really dive into the case study of equals here. Equals is a multi stakeholder partnership bringing together representatives from government, private sector, Civil Society, academia, to really address the issue of digital gender gap.
Equals was founded in 2017, a young partnership, it was founded by ITU, U.N. university, GSMA and U.N. women and international trade center. It is the organization of 40 organizations, academia, governments all together that have come together to tackle an issue together. We see a lot of initiatives going on around gender divides. We hear them, hear them a lot of IGF as well, which is great. There are amazing initiatives going on. What we saw is that these initiatives are often happening in a silo. It is often smaller, local NGOs or smaller organizations trying to make a difference. Where the equals partnership is trying to achieve and in the first year, I have to say, successfully achieved synergies between organizations and involving governments so we can get the digital gender divide on the agenda at government levels as well and bringing in the private sector to bring in some of the important activities and funding ‑‑ let's just say it ‑‑ to some of the access issues related to digital gender gap.
The equals partnership has set out four different coalitions. One is around skills. We heard some comments around the importance of the development of skills in the meaningful access and development of skills for people to have meaningful access once they have the connectivity. So we just have launched the equals digital skills funds. Please go and check it out apply if you have amazing projects. Call for advertising.
Second part is leadership. Leadership coalition working on business and leadership for technology seconder. And the courses being developed around that. We have the access coalition, which is definitely part of bringing women on the Internet. Lastly research coalition, putting numbers to what we are doing as well.
So what we see is thanks to Equals partnership, there is more coordination and collaboration happening at local, regional and global level. A lot more information sharing and collaboration in terms of actual projects. It is something we definitely need to replicate in other areas as well, to make sure we achieve the ambitious goals we set for the U.N. sustainable goals. More information at equals.org. Feel free to come chat afterwards. Thank you for the opportunity, Christopher.
is concerned about the issue and enabling the next billion and issue such as Equals and gender as well. ISOC shows ISOC are members of copresenters >> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. University of Pennsylvania and Global Network is proud to be support of Equals. The work we're doing is feeding directly into the project and best practices forum here on gender as well. We delighted in the work, think this is important. And thank you the Internet Society. And mentioned Jane and the other work being done. And two of the other
and Joyce for and excellent presentation.RenataI will ask Michael to join us, join me in thanking
>> JOYCE: Excuse me. Just leaving the online address of our project is not collective brass dot com.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you. Wisdom is not here yet? The MAG speaker that was supposed to introduce the session is probably detained in the process of getting registered. Michael is going to do double duty, talking about the importance of the issue and the important projects going on. Thank you, Michael.
>> MICHAEL: Thank you for having me. Although I am here in the official capacity for the global forum here at IGF. I'm speaking now with my personal hat on. Sustainability is a key passion for me when it comes to Internet policy. It is unfortunately, something we don't quite address often enough. I really hope to address a wider policy gap ‑‑ I'm sorry, policy gaps under the wider umbrella of sustainability, not just specifically to energy. Really, one of the key theses, I have been making the past year or more is we cannot legitimately discuss Internet access without addressing sustainability. One of the biggest oversights that I recognize is there is no actual direct or explicit link within the SDG framework between goal 7 and 9. I would say that is a grievous oversight.
It is not just about data center power use. ICT electricity use is growing in general. Current estimates amount say ICT energy use is about 10% of all global electricity used which accounts for about 2% to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is something relevant. The relationship between energy and Internet ‑‑ although to me it is clear ‑‑ it is still well over a billion people still lack access to reliable energy especially within the global south. According to the digital dividends report in 2016, more people have access to mobile phones than they do to reliable energy. Or clean water, for that matter.
Energy and sustainability should consistently be part of the conversations. We should not look back and address sustainability in retrospect, it should be integrated into the core of our work, into the core of technological design, whether that be devices or networks, et cetera. But as well, sustainability should be a public policy consideration and basic requirement, you know, especially as it relates to things like the Paris Agreement and other, you know climate and environment related agreements.
Something else to take into account is as data traffic rises, with the increase in the number of Internet users, Internet of Things, machine to machine, you know, traffic, et cetera, so does energy consumption. Although energy efficiency is rising, so is the amount of devices that are connecting to the Internet. So it the amount of high‑definition video being consumed per year and so is the amount of traffic in general. These are all very relevant issues that are not getting enough consideration at the policy level.
There has to be an effort made really to monitor and address this foreseeable rise in a sustainable way. Right now, the curve is practically exponential when it comes to energy use of ICTs. Something Carlos mentioned, how community networks are an integral part of SDG9 and 8, the fact that there is a big push ‑‑ there is such a big actor when it comes to SDG7, community networks are advantageous here because energy and power issues are typically one of the first considerations of community networks have to take into account when building community infrastructure, particularly in remote and rural areas. You know, this is really a holistic issue. It is one that, you know, to me, it is impossible to see SDG9 and not look at SDG7. How are we doing on time?
>> MODERATOR: (?) (Off mic)
>> MICHAEL: Perfect. There are projects I want to highlight. You can read about them in the document. Most are, in SGD7, are happening throughout Africa. One that was mentioned is in Copa. That is happening in Kenya, pay as you go access to clean energy using portable solar panels, bright, efficient L.E.D. bulbs and a charging solution to mobile phones and other devices. It reached over 700,000 homes, three million people throughout Kenya who also used to rely on kerosene. It is not just energy in general, but very much connected to the environment.
Another one that I followed for quite a long time now is Solar Sister. It is also in East Africa, but especially in Uganda. It trains and supports women to deliver clean energy directly to homes in rural Africa while providing central services and training that enable women entrepreneurs. The partnerships, goals, you talk about energy and women, these are absolutely necessary. Oftentimes, these are where the real changes are happening, especially in households, when you empower women, you change households. Very important to consider.
And another one is really interesting is Mesh Power Rwanda, happening in Rwanda, it is a pay as you go access to power through smart interconnected microgrid connected off‑grid villages. The IEEE has the smart village program that is something I think is very interesting. They do connect power and Internet connectivity more broadly and specifically.
One I would really like to talk about ‑‑ it is not really specifically within the umbrella of SDG7, but the larger one talking about sustainability. A project called digital inclusion Luxembourg. They're addressing refugee inclusion, digital media literacy, skill building sustainability and recycling and reusing old devices.
For instance, that is not necessarily related to energy, it is a really good example of how holistic solutions, as they relate to sustainability do exist and require a bit of creativity, but addressing the challenges as they relate to sustainability and relate to energy, requires multi stakeholder collaboration. We need industry, government, policy solutions, reviews of supply chains, et cetera. And obviously, we need solar power. That is one of the biggest considerations, see as how most of the people coming online now are, you know, if they ‑‑ if they don't have access to energy, they're not going to be online for very long.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you, Michael. Join me in thanking him for his remarks.
(Applause)
The order we'll proceed from here, we have 15 minutes for discussion for questions from the floor and discussions on general matters on anything involved in the session. I think that you have been briefed on this before. The speakers at the end of that will have a 30 seconds to one minute to give one key take away ‑‑ we'll swing back by the people that spoke and an opportunity to share their thoughts. After this, Paul Rhony from the MAG will offer comments to and closing remarks. And I will tell you about the project.
At this point, I open the floor to comments or questions. Two things, identify yourself and also, because we have remote participation and we have interpretation, make sure to use a microphone, please.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you, I'm from Myanmar. I'm from the MBBF. I really appreciate using the libraries. We take ‑‑ we use the library network in the local community, the Internet devices training. We have a support from a lot of international organizations like Microsoft, foundations, Facebook, Google, so and so. But what we're lacking in our country is the support from the public sector. This year, the U.S. F funds available, but mainly on the towers.
So I would like to ask any of you, any cases where these USF funds are used for training not just for the infrastructure, just what we do? The training to the digital literacy and media training to the libraries? Thank you very much.
>> MODERATOR: I can answer directly. In the thousand case database we're doing, about half are on the demand side. The single largest category is on digital training. If you look at studies in Brazil, China, India, EU, U.S., digital literacy is the second largest difficulty to adoption. What is interesting is what is lacking is the commitment to sustainability. All of them have no revenue models whatsoever. Unless there is a commitment from the government or corporate social responsibility donor, those projects will die the minute the funding ends. One of the challenges many in the community are starting to do with digital literacy training is finding a way to make them self‑sustaining, so the beneficiaries of the training provide some support back in the program so it can continue to scale and expand. It is clearly an effort many are pursuing and a critical part of any effort to connect the billions. Because what we discovered is without the digital literacy training we can build all the networks we want but we will not accomplish the goals we seek. Jane?
>> JANE: I will mention a project in the United States for the Native American community, it is 19 tribes in Southern California. Matt Rantana is here. You will recognize him as the tall guy with beard, long here and three‑piece suit and cowboy boots. We have worked with Matt on indigenous connectivity. There is a specific example of their community network project wasn't charges, when it did start to charge and self‑sustainable, it does fund itself now. People found more valuable in the networks. In some regions, free doesn't have value. Matt is creating a sustainable, it is connected and public funding. There are lots of projects in the United States, as well. Believe it or not, there is a lack of connectivity, a lot of it, where the government has funded schools, libraries, hospitals, under specific legislation, that was under the Obama Administration. There is a lot of public funding going into libraries as well. We're lucky to have IFLA and IFLE here this week. In front of you is Andre and he knows a lot about the library work. And Kodof and Valerie.
>> MODERATOR: And Don.
>> And Don knows about white space and connectivity and white space.
>> MODERATOR: Please.
>> AUDIENCE: My name is Jerry from Dublin, Ireland, I'm blind myself. 1.3 people with disabilities in the world, probably disproportionally higher in that percentage in developing and third‑world countries.
To see about people with disabilities is not only they don't have access to the Internet like the rest of society but don't have access to the alternatives such as paper‑based systems, inaccessible buildings or whatever. If you develop systems which exclude these people, they're doubly excluded because they don't have access to the new technologies made available to the rest of the society. If they don't have access to them, they don't have access to the alternatives.
The sustainability goal mentioned disability 11 times. My request is that every system put in place, be sure to include the needs of people with disabilities. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you for the important comments. I know from the case studies we have done is that the encouraging and discouraging news is there is some, but small number of accessibility focuses. It is a challenge in connecting more people to the Internet which we cannot solve by building additional networks. In reference to the comments that Jane made. Most recent comment a session held on hybrid business models that is being held tomorrow in Salle 8. And one world connect is participating in, tomorrow room 3, there is a session on accessibility improved, building inclusive societies with AI. One of the goals about that is increasing disability access as well.
>> JERRY: To say again, room 10, in the disability, I will Chair the middle one. Three sessions on accessibility.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you, Jerry. Any other questions or comments? Please?
>> AUDIENCE: Hi, my name is Harold Huerta. To call the attention to the two presentations that were done. It made me think of the two approaches I saw in solving the problems for unattended connectivity areas. One of the many models mentioned by the person from Philippines, fill up, also the solution talks about Carlos ray Moreno on both sides. I think it is important to rethink how we approach to the problem. And how do we consider new ways ‑‑ new models that are not necessarily based on the same architecture of the network and think different ways of the architecture of the network in which communities could do those parts that are not ‑‑ that probably are expensive ones for the traditional operator. For the traditional operator, sometimes very expensive to manage the network within the community, but that could be done by the community and make it sustainable and not needing to find someone to pay for the use of the Internet, rather the community could use the income generated by the community to manage the network and pay the fee, probably for the other connectivity that goes out from the community. I want to call that attention of that whole. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. It is important, I think ‑‑ it is very appropriate coming from Razamatica. Razamatica has created a microcell architecture in Oaxaca Mexico where there is traditional technology on a small scale basis. They're one of the things to cover, not because the founder, Peter is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
? Please? RenataI want to recognize the Myanmar book store is one of the studies, and we're happy to share the information on trying to connect more people into one of the areas that needs connectivity the most. We appreciate it. We hope sharing the stories helps generate energy and ideas on new ways to do things, such as the paid models we have seen going out of Razamatica and other places.
: I wanted to contribute to the point about where do you get the community to participate? Where do you get the resources? This becomes even more difficult when you have communities. In the Amazon, what happens is you have tribes that are always by the Riverside and they're always moving. There are some frat ‑‑ for example, from wood makers or land robbers, they will move. That is an extensive network of rivers. What we do count on is to have routers on boats, small boats, canoes, sometimes. Passing along to share the connectivity. And that is in the villages. I have a student that leaves on Monday ‑‑ on Sunday for a class on Wednesday in the capital. And during the day, she goes community to community using Internet, mostly mobile messaging to teach students. And then on Thursday, she comes back. So she spends six days a week riding on the rivers sharing connectivity. And one day a week, only in the capital getting resources. So we cannot really count with anyone. Because we are not going to know where we are and which are the communities that can help us. We need fast and reliable ways of connectivity to change ourselves. RENATA >>
We're accounting this ‑‑ we're telling the story also on the launch of gizz watch.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. We probably have time for one more comment, if there is one. Please.
>> AUDIENCE: Good morning. Thank you very much. It was a very interactive session, I have really enjoyed being here. My name is Mohammad Azizy. I am the Chair of (?) Afghanistan. One point I realized from the discussion is there are a couple of different actors that are involved in order to make sure that we have a solution for the issues of accessibility and then what probably Michael mentioned is accessibility versus meaningful accessibility. And I think we have to really understand one fact, that it is a real multi stakeholder effort that will give us this access. The government and regulators can only work on the soft sides of the equation.
The industry comes with solutions. When it comes to the users, we have got a number of different stakeholders, what ideally I appreciate y'all brought the people who are nonprofits and the real players in the field, they shared their experiences.
So I think the message I would like to convince, you have to strengthen the bonds in order to make sure all of the stakeholders on continuous basis work together. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you for that important perspective. We have learned the hard way, yes, the industry is the backbone of employments and the government plays a key role. Government funding is limited and the ability to reach the entire country will not be sustainable as obligations of the enterprises. Hybrid models, community networks, funding from the unsustainable projects can be understanding how to use and marshal all the resources is critical. That is why I think the venue like the Internet Governance Forum with the commitment to the broad representation of every multi stakeholder group is important, it emphasizes we're not enemies we're collaborators, all pushing toward the same goal and we need to find the best way to maximize the limited resources we have, so they benefit as many people as possible. I thank you for your comment.
At this point, I will close the open part of the participation. I will reiterate this is only midway ‑‑ part of the process. We have ray draft report out ‑‑ have a draft report out, which I encourage all of you to look at and consider. If you would like to give input, we appreciate the suggestions you have to improve the report. If you have a project that is not mentioned, we depend on a submission process to generate information. If you feel your project should have been included, I would say anything included in the 2017 report we did not repeat because of the lack of the need to repeat ourselves. If there is something you would like to be included we would appreciate your contribution and find a way to make sure it is incorporated before the final output. I encourage anyone involved in the case study orientations to join the dynamic coalition meeting tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m., room 11.
At this point, I will now allow each participant to give one key take away, if they would like to, but out of the essence of time, to keep it relatively short, if I may. Mary, do you have anything you would like to share as a last thought? Please use the microphone, because of the remote participation.
>> MARY: Thank you very much. As I said, since we're looking at the economic development from connecting the next billion there must be fair distribution of the gains of what the new technology will bring. That's one.
The second thing is there must be proper reward for the developers, those that are developing new networks or new application. Startups. There must be proper reward and not you know, when we bring it together, they come up with the ideas and at the end of the program the business would go make a lot of money from that development. So how are those ones in the development rewarded. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: June, did you want to share anything?
>> JUNE: Hi, reminder, I'm June. At the end of the day, Mary said, businesses will make money from good connections and everything. I will say we rely on connection tools like WebEx, zoom, WhatsApp, but not work really with good Wi‑Fi connections. My problem is Wi‑Fi connections as you realize. We make payments on the various methods but we need a good connection to do this. How can we work in e‑Commerce without good connections, we e‑mail, text, and need a network provider to do so.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you. Joyce?
>> JOYCE: Thank you Christopher, I will be very brief. I think we all heard from the various people speaking today that the partnerships and collaboration is really key. I think whether what speak about community networks, energy, digital skills development, whichever of the topics we talked about today, none would have any form of success if we didn't actually actively deliberate or partner to come together to connect the next billion.
I hope this forum allows for more partnerships, that we can make more connections and enhance the work we're doing together, scale it together and get to the end goal we all believe in. And on Equals, in particular, I obviously hope we can replicate that model in other SDGs we're working on together. I want to thank you for being here and for being so passionate about the topic that I think we all share. Thank you.
. Renata >> MODERATOR: Thank you, Joyce.
: I would recognize something important. Partnerships are not dependence, they're about mutual exchange. You can imagine for us in the Amazon region, a retailer came with offers for us for social projects. But what we want is not to be dependent on a partner because we know that will not be long lasting. We need to have our own way of doing things in our community. So partnerships are about being honest to each other, finding what you have to give and what you need from other stakeholders. RENATA >>
We had a very impressive participation from municipal government stakeholders who climb trees and put up routers there. This is something they do voluntarily. It is completely different from what bead or color you would offer or expect. Thanks.
>> MODERATOR: Carlos?
>> CARLOS: Thank you. For me, it is the point you were talking about resources and how to service and do we see the connecting and enabling the next billion as something the market failure that we need to think outside of the market on setting the resources, in a way that social development instead of profitability. I don't think it is a question of sustainability, it is question of affordability, there are not enough resources from fiber to spectrum to towers that are there to make the case that are affordable. People cannot serve because they want to take the last cent of the cent of the people that don't have money.
I think start thinking outside of the box and find ways to connect the next billion in terms of infrastructure and affordability, we can make a different case than the one we're making today. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Philip?
>> PHILIP: Yes, thank you. I think that is kind of the different school of thoughts that we're trying to deal with right now. When we're talking about affordability and sustainability, from a private enterprise point of view, our experience in the Philippines, it is not a question of technology. There is fiber together, low earth technology that is coming on board soon, I think it is not a question on whether there is enough technology to serve the majority of people. I think it is a question of who pays for that technology. How do we find the monetization model that will offer this service for free. When you mentioned earlier that free probably doesn't have enough value. I think it is free to the user, but somebody eventually has to pay for it.
I think we're trying to figure out what is the model that will make it sustainable that private enterprise, corporate organizations would spend to make it happen. This is the journey of what we're trying to go through right now.
>> MODERATOR: Michael?
>> MICHAEL: I want to be clear about something. According to the latest ICCP report, international climate panel, we have 16 years to fix the earth, more or less. Sorry to be a downer. Energy is such a key consideration. We cannot legitimately discuss Internet access without discussing environmental sustainability. We cannot be retroactive in the way to think about it. It needs to be integrated into the core design of networks, technology, et cetera. I don't think that is the case. We need to work actively, collaboratively to ensure that happens and it needs to happen yesterday.
>> MODERATOR: I think one of the key take aways for me is need to think outside of the box. I was thinking in the case studies, we have three Amazon case studies, including one using Cold War era hand radio towers to supplement connectivity, which is a brilliant way to leverage architecture that we thought was obsolete. We'll see if it will work out. It is one of the great ideas. Michael said earlier, it is systemically all part of the same problem. And to think about it jointly with energy and other issues, many times they'll ask is that electric power. Interestingly case studies where the communication network was established for its own sake and became the first source of electric power the other direction. Not communications following power, it is power following communications. We can think about joint revenue models and provide overall sources, it may create new ways of solving problems that the hope is to study more and more and share and continue generations of the IGF.
That is what this is for. We have reached almost the end. I will turn the microphone over to MAG member Paul Rhony, who organizes the IGF. And all the MAG members, but he offers technical support and helps build networks in Africa. Thank you, Paul.
, who had to level, unfortunately. I'm a TV space wire guy, I climb the towers and get communities connected. There is discussion if C and B is relevant, some are debating. I think it is. I think there are still challenges. We have almost got 50% of the people connected. Which means over 50% still disconnected. There is a slowdown. Countries, especially Africa we tend to miss targets. We make progress, we don't seem to make so much progress. Renata >> PAUL: Thank you. Thank you everyone for being here. We really appreciate your support. As mentioned, I'm a member of the MAG. I'm a cofacilitator of this group. I'm speaking on behalf of
We need to support community‑based networks as well as talk about community‑ based networks. We often don't have frameworks in the country to allow these to thrive. This is problematic. There is often a belief that the existing Telecos will connect the next billions. There is a big push for 5G. The conferences on 5G. It will not connect us, it will widen the gap. It will not narrow it. The debate is open. There is talk about using libraries as other technologies. We need to embrace all technologies, there is unused underutilized spectrum that is being kept there. We're not getting access. The regulators want to monetize it, because that impacts affordability.
We have entities with their own drive which is not necessarily driving toward digital inclusion. There are funds that are underutilized or misused. It goes on. Where I live, you know, with the push of 5G and Africa is pushing there, most Saturdays don't have edge. Is there a political way to connect to all of our citizens? That is something to ask ourselves.
Really, in closing, I need to thank everybody here that participated, including yourselves, the process, everyone that put thought processes into this. I need to thank Christof on my left, that facilitated this.
. We're interchangeable Brazilians.Renata: And I need to correct you. Who is not here is Rachel, I'm RENATA >>
on my right, instrumental for making this the session it has been. Thank you.Renata >> PAUL: Apologies. On the MAG. Just to close.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you, Paul, for your support. As Paul indicates, whether there is phase 5 CNB is a matter to be discussed. If you think it is worth continuing, I encourage you to approach Paul, Mary, other members of the MAG that are here. Share your thoughts. If you are interested in participating give us your report, if you have a project you think should be included we welcome your input. If you are interested in the case study work, I encourage you to come to the dynamic coalition on connecting the unconnected, which is meeting at 9:00 in room 8 and stop by our booth in the village at one world connected. With that, I declare this meeting adjourned.