Session
Organizer 1: Civil Society, African Group
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 1: Nathalia Foditsch, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Elmstam Carl, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Leandro Navarro, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Gomer Padong, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 2: Elmstam Carl, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Leandro Navarro, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Gomer Padong, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Format
Theater
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: Following the IGF guidelines and given that 4 speakers are needed for a diversity of views from stakeholders, 90 minutes are required to allow the speakers to present the results of the research as well as sufficient engagement with the audience, both offline and online. A theatre layout is the best option given the presentation of a publication with research. Should a 60 minutes slot be the only one available for this session, we could adapt the number of speakers to meet the time provided by the IGF secretariat.
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: Following the IGF guidelines and given that 4 speakers are needed for a diversity of views from stakeholders, 90 minutes are required to allow the speakers to present the results of the research as well as sufficient engagement with the audience, both offline and online. A theatre layout is the best option given the presentation of a publication with research. Should a 60 minutes slot be the only one available for this session, we could adapt the number of speakers to meet the time provided by the IGF secretariat.
Policy Question(s)
A: How are community connectivity initiatives evolving to successfully deploy blended and impact finance? What can they learn from the social and solidarity economy initiatives from other sectors which have successfully done so?
B: What innovative financing mechanisms can be considered to help closing the digital divide and contribute to the implementation of the UN Global Digital Compact?
C: What is the role of different stakeholders in realizing the successful implementation of those innovative financial mechanisms?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Community Connectivity initiatives have traditionally largely relied on international aid to fund the infrastructure they require. Through the presentations in this session, participants will obtain a deeper understanding of alternative approaches to achieving self-sustainability in community connectivity initiatives. These strategies can be leveraged to position them for receiving blended finance and other innovative financial mechanisms that multilateral and national development banks could make available. Experiences from social and solidarity economy initiatives in other sectors will additionally contribute to ensuring that communities’ communication needs remain at the centre.
These takeaways are unique insofar as it will be the first time such a lens is applied to community connectivity providers.
Description:
Large and persistent digital divides continue to underscore the difficulties of achieving the goal of universal access. It has increasingly been recognized in many internet governance fora, including the IGF, that community connectivity initiatives play a role in closing the gap. Most recently, the Global Digital Compact, adopted by the United Nations, included the commitment to invest in local networks as a way to address persistent digital exclusion. However, creating financing mechanisms to address the needs of these types of initiatives has been a challenge dating back to WSIS, and little progress has been made to date. Part of the problem has resulted from reliance on traditional telecommunication operators to close the digital divide, which in turn is reflected in policy and regulatory frameworks designed for their national scale and centralised ways of operating. Similarly, most financial instruments available are designed for these large operators and their multimillion-dollar telecommunication infrastructure projects. Developing new strategies that can close the digital divide by addressing the gaps where these operators cannot meet their return on investment targets, requires exploring innovative financial solutions that can be made available to community connectivity and other local initiatives. This session will present novel research and discuss how community connectivity initiatives, as contributors to the social and solidarity economy, could be recipients of blended and impact finance, and other innovative financial mechanisms that multilateral funds and national development banks, and other members of the finance community, could make available to close the digital divide. Speakers will include representatives from governments (Sida), a non-profit impact fund (Connect Humanity), a learning and action network of social enterprises and social enterprise resource institutions (ISEA) and a non-profit consulting organization specialized in the creation and support of social economy enterprises (MCE Conseils).
Large and persistent digital divides continue to underscore the difficulties of achieving the goal of universal access. It has increasingly been recognized in many internet governance fora, including the IGF, that community connectivity initiatives play a role in closing the gap. Most recently, the Global Digital Compact, adopted by the United Nations, included the commitment to invest in local networks as a way to address persistent digital exclusion. However, creating financing mechanisms to address the needs of these types of initiatives has been a challenge dating back to WSIS, and little progress has been made to date. Part of the problem has resulted from reliance on traditional telecommunication operators to close the digital divide, which in turn is reflected in policy and regulatory frameworks designed for their national scale and centralised ways of operating. Similarly, most financial instruments available are designed for these large operators and their multimillion-dollar telecommunication infrastructure projects. Developing new strategies that can close the digital divide by addressing the gaps where these operators cannot meet their return on investment targets, requires exploring innovative financial solutions that can be made available to community connectivity and other local initiatives. This session will present novel research and discuss how community connectivity initiatives, as contributors to the social and solidarity economy, could be recipients of blended and impact finance, and other innovative financial mechanisms that multilateral funds and national development banks, and other members of the finance community, could make available to close the digital divide. Speakers will include representatives from governments (Sida), a non-profit impact fund (Connect Humanity), a learning and action network of social enterprises and social enterprise resource institutions (ISEA) and a non-profit consulting organization specialized in the creation and support of social economy enterprises (MCE Conseils).
Expected Outcomes
The session will contribute to an increased understanding of how community connectivity initiatives can attract investment as Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), and hence contribute to economic development in their countries. It will also showcase mechanisms through which they can receive and deploy blended finance, in a cost-effective and socially impactful way. This aims at encouraging the finance sector to meet commitments from the Global Digital Compact, and contribute to its implementation.
The outcomes of the session will feed into follow up sessions expected to take place at the WSIS+20 High Level event as well as at a T20 side event, so the lessons learned through this research can be featured in the outcomes of the other relevant policy processes.
As in all other sessions from the Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity, there will be an output document containing the research presented in this session.
Hybrid Format: Speakers will be briefed prior to the session to remind them of the hybrid nature of the session, so they can make reference to online participants in their interventions to keep them engaged. In addition, the onsite moderator will remind at the beginning and throughout the session that online participation is welcome. An online moderator will continue encouraging participation on the chat, and will communicate with the onsite moderator shall online participants want to take the floor, or to summarize conversation which might have taken place by the online participants in the chat room.