The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
***
>> MODERATOR: May I advise all of you to be seated, we are looking forward to comments of the session in about a minute now. Thank you. Thank you for your kind cooperation.
Good afternoon, excellencies, esteemed delegates, and those joining us here in person and those online. Welcome to this Parliamentary Track session here at the IGF 2024. I'm Shivanee, a senior journalist with Nepal television, the state television in Nepal, and feeling very, very important to be part of this session. I think arriving here at the IGF has been incredible, especially as we gather the a very important juncture in human history where things are so rapidly changing and technologies are reshaping every facet of our lives, from the way that we work to the way we communicate, and even in the way we address the global challenges.
Yet, this transformation is not without complexities, we all are very much aware about this. Now, distinguished guests, this session seeks to pan through the landscape of how the state of affairs are and how the efforts can be consolidated to navigate an era of digital transformation on global transformation and cooperation.
We're privileged to hear on this very theme from some of the most authoritative voices in the field of digital cooperation. First and foremost, it's my honor to introduce to you our esteemed speakers for the very opening part of this session. We are joined in here up in the panel by His Excellency Junhua Li, the Under Secretary General of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, along with His Excellency, MishalAl Sulami Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council of the kingdom of Audi Arabia.
Your excellency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, distinguished representatives of departments, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to all of to you the parliamentary track of the 2024 in Riyadh. This increasingly digital world, this first edition of the parliamentary track remains a very much focused on bringing the parliamentarians together with the stakeholders to develop the policy and the regulatory frameworks for an open, accessible, inclusive, and secure the Internet. In 2024, it's connected to building our millty stakeholder digital future. In this year the parliamentary track emphasizing the digital cooperation, the need for collaboration across the borders, industries, and sectors has never been more important than ever.
From cybersecurity to from cybersecurity and privacy to misinformation and ensuring the ethical use of the AI, the digital landscape is full of pressing issues that affect all of us. It is our responsibility to collaborate in addressing these challenges in ways that are thoughtful, trusting, enabling, and inclusive. This will align our ongoing digital transformation journey with the needs and aspirations of the people worldwide, ensuring a more inclusive and sustainable development progress.
As parliamentaries, you have the power to shape the digital future by enacting solid legislation, everything in digital policies, and fostering digital cooperation. Your actions and initiatives here can build inclusive digital space that is safer, more secure, and trustworthy. You can also help shape a digital landscape that fosters the economic growth through the innovation while certainly upholding human rights.
Excellencies, distinguished members, while the Global IGF is a unique opportunity for parliamentarians and other stakeholders from around the world to come together, it is equally important to continue the discussions at the regional and the national levels in responding to the general call for the increased integration of legislators in digital public policy discussions. We have since extended our dedicated parliamentary activities to the local IGFs.
Many of you present here today also participated in this year's Central Asia, Latin American and Caribbean and African forums. We are eager to hear the parliamentary outcomes and priorities from your representatives.
For all of in days, weeks, months
(captioner is getting multiple speakers).
together, we can create a common digital future where the technology serves as a force for good and a global stability. I thank you very much for coming to Riyadh, and at the end I really hope that you have a wonderful, constructive, and forward looking discussions. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you, your excellency, may I now invite Mishal Al Sulami Deputy Speaker from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for his welcome remarks.
>> MISHAL AL-SULAMI: Thank you. Excellency, Under Secretary General, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, your excellencies, heads of parliament, and first of all I welcome you all on behalf of the Shura Council in Saudi Arabia to participate at IGF.
(captioner hearing multiple interpreters).
(no English interpretation).
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you. Thank you, your excellency, for gracing us here today and for your very invaluable words.
Ladies and gentlemen, our next speaker would be esteemed Mr. Martin Chunggong, the Secretary General of Inter Parliamentary Union, and we have a video message from the Secretary General, so I will have you look right here.
>> MARTIN CHUNGONG: Thank you very much, Madam Moderator. I hope you can hear me. Let me first of all apologize for not being able to be with you in person today for this very important session. I had other longstanding commitments, but I want to extend greetings to you from Geneva.
It gives me great pleasure to be with you here and to add a few words of welcome, and I do recognize the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Saudi Arabia, His Excellency, Mishal Al Sulami, I thank you and the Parliament of Saudi Arabia for hosting this very crucial meeting. This track as the Under Secretary General said earlier on this morning, provides a unique platform for parliamentarians, policymakers, Civil Society representatives, and industry experts to come together and exchange ideas, and build consensus on key issues related to Internet governance.
At a time when geopolitical tensions are high and conflicts are bound, global cooperation on digital policy is more crucial than ever. A fragmented digital landscape, characterized by divergent regulations and standards, could undermine the benefits of the Internet and exacerbate existing divisions.
By working together, countries can develop common principles and norms that promote a free, open, and secure digital future for all. Parliaments, as the voice of the people, have a pivotal role in fostering international cooperation, and ensuring that the digital age benefits humanity as a whole.
In this, we're guided by the Global Digital Compact. This landmark initiative, recognizes the need for a comprehensive approach to achieving the important objectives it sets out, including for the international governance of artificial intelligence.
ITU, members of parliament recently took a step in this direction, adopting an important resolution on AI and democracy, which highlights the urgent need for legislative action to ensure that artificial intelligence is developed and used responsibly, ethically, and in a way that upholds human rights and democratic values.
The resolution also acknowledges that to effectively navigate the complexities of the digital age, it is essential that parliamentarians themselves possess strong digital competencies by building digital skills parliamentarians and lawmakers in general can better understand emerging technologies, make informed decision, and effectively represent the interests of their constituents.
The ITU intends to work closely with the Internet Governance Forum. The ITU, Secretary General Junhua Li is in the room with you, and other partners across the system to help ensure that parliaments have access to the knowledge and skills they need.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Global Digital Compact is an important step, but there is still much to be done to transform its recommendation into action at the national and international level. I encourage all parliaments, and all parliamentarians to actively engage in these discussions, and I hope that this Parliamentary Track of the IGF can be a catalyst for renewed cooperation in the realm of Internet governance. I thank you for bearing with me. Thank you.
(Applause).
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you so much, your excellency, Mr. Martin Chungong, thank you for connecting us despite the technology that we're still able to have you and have your thoughts among in distinguished audience.
Thank you to the distinguished speakers for laying this very strong foundation for today's deliberation. His Excellency the Under Secretary General had to leave because he has to attend another very important session as well; however, we're really pleased to have the presence of His Excellency, the Deputy Speaker, and the distinguished members of the audience as we now transit to the core engagement of the gathering that we have held under this roof, and that is to convene a fireside conversation, in fact, on a very, very critical topic as to how to navigate an era of digital transformation that we're living at the moment.
This would be a dialogue on global cooperation, as in today's inter connected world, the digital revolution demands not just innovation, but as collaboration across borders, to ensure inclusivity, security, and sustainability, three important pillars or elements that the IGF 2024 has been laying a lot of emphasis on.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's my privilege now to invite up to the podium Ms. Doreen Bogdan Martin, Her Excellency Secretary General of the interInternational Telecommunication Union, who is at the forefront of digital technologies for inclusive and sustainable development.
Such a privilege it is for me, your excellency, to have this privilege of having this very, very critical conversation with you. So, without further ado, let's move on with this conversation that we've been looking forward to since this morning.
Your excellency, as the Secretary General of the Specialized United Nations agency responsible for information and communication technologies, you are certainly at the helm of global efforts to shape a digital future. In an ideal world, how do you envision this future?
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Well, thank you. Thank you so much, Shivanee. Good afternoon, excellencies, members of parliament, ladies and gentlemen, it's a real pleasure for me to be here with you and having this fireside chat. It's always difficult to follow my friend and colleague, SG Martin who wishes he was here in person, but it's great to share in part this session with him.
So, when I think about an ideal digital future, I think back almost 160 years' ago, because 160 years' ago, the ITU was created. We're the oldest organization in the UN System. We're older than the UPU, and we were created because of the telegraph. And so at the time of the telegraph back in 1865, it was needed to have an international organization to be able to send a telegraphic signal from one country to the other. There were standards issues, in the future spectrum issues, development issues, regulatory issues. So the ITU, has been I like to say, as you said, at the forefront of technology changes and the technology revolution.
We're also quite unique when it comes to the UN System, and when I think about the multistakeholder theme for the IGF, what's interesting about the ITU is that we're actually multistakeholder. So we have 194 Member States, one more than the United Nations. We have more than 1,000 private sector members, we have Civil Society, we have academia, and so that kind of membership makeup, makes us multistakeholder, and it also enriches our discussions on spectrum, standards, development, et cetera.
And so when we think about what is an ideal digital world, I think I would say first and foremost, would be that everyone has access everywhere at any time, and that's not the situation that we see today. So access is absolutely critical. I would say the second piece would be the skills. So having access is one thing, but having the digital skills necessary to be able to leverage that access, to feel empowered is a second piece that I believe we have to we have to focus on.
I think the third piece, and Martin I think would certainly agree with this, is that men and women have to have a fair shot when it comes to opportunities, digital opportunities. That's not the case today. We have this digital gender gap, and Martin has been a champion in his leadership role as the co chair of the International Genders, Champions. We have to tackle that. In an ideal world we have have men and women with equal access and fair opportunities in the world.
I think it would also be desirable, necessary, that when we think about algorithms, that algorithms actually help create equity and not bias. I'd like to see that human rights are the bedrock of an ideal digital world. I think online safety has to be has to be core to that ideal digital world. And I would also like to see digital and green go hand in hand.
So I think those are just some thoughts of the kind of ideal digital world that I'd like to see.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: So well said. And it was a wonder listening to you earlier in the Opening Session today at the Plenary Hall, and as you spoke of the so much success stories, especially on the P and Gs, the rise of an entrepreneur, the story was very, very encouraging. Of course, and any digital transformation offers immense opportunities from economic growth, to improved healthcare and education. Yet, these technologies also bring risks from data breaches to digital divides, you know, the list could be long.
In any view, how can countries and stakeholders, especially members of parliament work together to advance a digital future that's trusted, sustainable, and inclusive?
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. I think you kind of framed it well because we want to leverage and advance the opportunities, and there are so many opportunities that digital brings, but at the same time we've got to manage those risks. It's not a role that's limited to the ICT regulators, nor the ICT ministries, so I think it's a really important role for members of parliament. I think you are uniquely positioned, and of course your role in serving your constituents makes your part also critically important here.
And so I would say we have to start with trust, and as I shared this morning, when it comes to the digital world, every year cyberattacks are increasing by 80% year on year.
Cybercrime is predicted to reach some 11 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030, that's also an alarming number. At the same time, in His Excellency Minister highlighted this in his presentation this morning, we have this big gap when it comes to the workforce. We have a gender gap when it comes to the workfork as a whole, but when 2 comes to cybersecurity, we have a huge gap. There are jobs, but we don't have enough people to fill them, so we have to focus on that piece as well.
I think countries need to put in place stronger, more robust strategies. At the ITU we help countries put in place their cyber strategies, we help countries put in place their SIRTs, cyber training, but it's very sophisticated so I think we have to do more. We need stronger strategies.
We need to focus on the capacity building piece, the skilling. So sort of one off strategies. I look to my colleague in the second row, yes, a person who does lots of trainings for us. We need to be confident with cybersecurity, even when it comes to AI, we need that skilling piece to be at the core.
I think also inclusion, as I mentioned. If you have a third of the world that's never ever connected. We can't forget and leave behind the 2.6 billion people that don't have access to those digital opportunities. So we also have to focus on ways to connect those 2.6 billion, and we often hear that we've succeeded and we've connected the world, because when we look at coverage, if you take 3G, 4G, and even 5G, we've covered pretty much 95% of the planet. But covering the planet, does not mean connecting the planet so we really have to zoom in. And, again, I think this is where parliamentarians can help us with your constituents. We need to zoom in on the unconnected, and at the same time the underconnected. And underconnected for us means when it's not affordable, when the content is not relevant, when it's not in a language that can be particularly helpful, when the speed is not what it should be. There are all of these other elements that we include in underconnected, where we say it's not meaningful connectivity, so I think that's also a space where you can be helpful.
And then I would say the last piece, and I alluded to this before, comes to green and digital going hand in hand. We do have to zoom in on sustainability, and of course that's an issue for all of you. The digital sector emits about 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, but if we leverage artificial intelligence, we can actually reduce it by the overall greenhouse gas emissions by 10%. So we have to make sure that we're aware of this and that we're helping to develop green digital standards. We launched our Digitization Day at COP29. We had a green digital action, we had about 1,000 signatories that signed on to that, but we have to do more.
My other kind of plea, and sometimes] we don't think about this is e waste. When we think about the global economy, only 7% of the global economy is actually circular. Less than half of the world's countries actually have e waste policies and e waste management. Within that that actually have policies, come are doing better than others. This is an area where we can make a real difference. If we don't do anything, by 2030, we're going to have 82 billion tons of e waste. And so this is a kind of, I think, a wake up call that we have to do more.
Again, I think parliamentarians have a lot that they can help in pushing for better e waste policies and management because they do have an impact when we think about our sustainable future.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Uh huh. Let me get back to your emphasis on digital inclusion, which has been quite significant, and the voices that you have in platforms. As you know, digital technologies, trends and borders, you very well mentioned that, and you yourself have championed and steered so many changes, so many initiatives, and being at a position to make that impact, what specific policy measures could you do you think could help bridge this gap and ensure that all nations, regardless of their development stage or the divide that is in between can participate in and benefit from the digital age?
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Yeah. Thank you. I think that's a great question. As we look to kind of the current state of digital affairs and look to the future, it's important for countries to work to align their policies with the pace of digital transformation, which is always difficult because technology runs so far ahead of us that it's difficult to keep pace. What we always want to strive to achieve is not put heavily sort of onerous restrictive regulations and policies that stifle innovation, but put in place ones that can actually help to flourish and stimulate innovation. I think we always have to keep that risk element in front and center, the security pieces front and center, the ethical dimensions, also need to be at the core. So trying to align our policies with the pace of transformation, a challenge but must be looked at.
I also think we need to, when we talk about inclusion, to understand the gaps. So we can say the gap is the digital divide, but within that gap, there are so many other gaps. It's the urban/rural that I spoke about this morning, aging populations, persons with disabilities, the gender gap, of course, that I mentioned, the affordability gap where we still want seem to bring down the cost of a smart phone or the services, and we have to focus on those gaps. The skilling gap is another key one if we really want to get to a digital future that benefits all, so we got to zoom in on those gaps.
And to do that, we also have to look at the investment challenges because if we want to connect the world by 2030, which is our target, it's not going to happen naturally. And as I said before, we have the underconnected, we have the unconnected, it's not just going to happen, so we need to be very specific. We need to be very targeted, and we need to invest in digital infrastructure. Because investing in digital infrastructure makes economic sense. It's good for society, it's good for healthcare, it's good for education, it's good for entrepreneurship, e commerce opportunities, and much, much more.
And if we look at the African Region, for example, if we look at the current versus future GDP coming from the digital sector, Africa is anticipated to reach 750 billion U.S. dollars in terms of the digital sector by 2050 and that would represent some 8.5% of GDP. It makes sense. It makes sense and so we have to invest in digital. On the ITU side, and again I alluded to this this morning, we launched something called Partner 2 Connect. We created pieces and went out and looked at the platform and looking to how we can connect the hardest to connect. We invited countries, Civil Society, all to come forward and come together to help with what we're going to do to help connect the unconnected. We're looking to get 100 billion commitments to be connected by 2026. We're at about 54 billion commitments, that's not cash coming into the ITU, but it's commitments we're monitoring and matchmaking, and I think that's also a great way to try to push that infrastructure investment.
And then I guess the last piece I would mention is about engagement, and I think opportunities like the IGF, and this is really a critical platform here at the IGF, are very important for us to exchange experiences, to talk about our challenges, to talk about opportunities, so leveraging platforms for dialogue, which also included the WSIS Forum, and I would include AI for Good is a great platform to have these kind of exchanges.
As we look to next year, and Martin also mentioned the great outcome of the recent AI Resolution in the IPU. It's an opportunity for us at the ITU to include you in the governance discussion. We have this governance day, and so in front of my ITU colleagues, I'm extending an invitation to you to come and join us at this governance day. It's an important moment to bring all stakeholders from the Global North or the Global South across the world, come to the table, and let's talk about who is doing what, what are the best practices, and what can we do together?
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: All right. Allow me to extend this conversation to the floor. I would like to invite the members in the audience now to contribute their insight, questions, or comments to this conversation or on the topic that we've brought to the floor. Yes, can we have the microphones passed on, please.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you very much. Thank you, Doreen, for the insightful thoughts as always. My name is Mahab, a member of parliament from Egypt. Actually, my question is about the skills gap. If we know quite well that we have this gap and the Global North needs these skills to be happening, needs those people to be trained. And the Global South we have the people and we have the talents, it's just we need them to be trained.
Is it that a dream that the Global North will put an effort in making those people trained and get the benefits of them and reach the gap at least a little bit? Thank you.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Shall we take the questions all together? All right. I think we will take all the questions all together. Please go ahead.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you very much. My name is Cathrine, I'm a Senator from Kenya. First to thank the IGF for this track. We have attended a few meetings as parliamentarians, and one of the things we've realized is that as the tech world is talking policies, they talk about government. But government means the executives, so you organize these meetings with executives, but parliament is left out.
Now, I'm glad that you now have a parliamentary track because if parliamentarians are not skilled and they are expected to pass the laws and the regulations, there is a likelihood that what we could do would actually negate or not align to what is happening. So I hope that greater investment can be put in ensuring that parliamentarians understand and are able to contribute to the policy field, but as well as the judiciary. Policy is at the executive level developed by the executives who implement. Parliament actually passes the laws that are passed, and the judiciary enforces that law.
So if the Judges, the judiciary also don't understand and make decisions that are going to impact wrongly, then we will not be moving. So, I would just wish to plead that greater investment be put on this.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for this very important suggestion. Any other insights or questions from the floor? Okay. Yes, please. One more and then we'll get back to the discussion.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER: (no English translation).
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. Can I get back to you, Ms. Bogdan Martin, please, if you could take your moment to answer the queries.
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Thank you. Thank you very much, and thank you for the questions. I mean, I guess, first to you in terms of the skilling piece and is it a dream that the North helps the South? I mean I think it can really happen. We're very focused on the skilling gap. We have different programs that we offer at the ITU, from our Women in Cyber program to our Women in AI program. We also have an online academy, the ITU Academy where we offer things like basic digital literacy to advanced technical skilling, and that platform is available to all countries.
But I would say specific to AI, and as you said, I mean, when we look to the Global South, what's incredibly exciting, if I take Africa, for example, is the percentage of youth in terms of the population. Right. That's a huge opportunity, especially when it comes to digital. So how can we leverage and take advantage of the young people who want well most of them are far more digitally literate maybe than I am, but how can you take advantage of that and build the talent and the pipeline that you need. I do think it's possible, and that's one of the reasons that we launched this past September, an AI Skilling Coalition. It's exactly for that purpose. It's about bringing together different players, some from the private sector, some from international organizations, and putting our offerings together and making it available for governments, parliamentarians, but for the public at large.
So I don't think it's a dream. I think that it can really happen, and we have to make it happen. So help us make it happen.
I mean, I guess, Cathrine, it looks like she left, but I think I take good note of Cathrine's point about parliamentarians being left out, and I agree that we have to make greater investment to include parliamentarians in this discussion. I think the way that this track has been built out in the IGF is encouraging, also in the WSIS Forum, process, and we'll look to also do that at your AI for Good event as well when that approaches in July.
She also mentioned the point about the judiciary. We do engage with the judiciary a bit when it comes to cybersecurity, when it comes to online harassment and violence, so that's also an important constituent to be focused on.
I think as the representative from Algeria noted, when it comes to digital transformation, and I think that was a good example. It's important at that countries are focused in how they approach digital transformation. Sometimes we see countries approach it from a siloed way, so they have a digital strategy for health and a digital strategy for education, and that's often not so efficient when it comes to issues around data as well, so we advocate for this whole of government approach, whole of society approach, and we think that efficiencies can also be made on that front.
You also raised issues linked to migration, to brain drain. I think what's important about digital is that you can do it anywhere, so we're working with IOM, for example, with UNHCR. We're very focused with bringing digital skilling to all, be it a refugee, be it a migrant, to all. Because with that digital, and this morning I told the story as you mentioned about the woman from Papua New Guinea, her life was changed because she learned skilling. She was able to create her own website and sell her product around the world, and she could be anywhere. So I think, again, it comes back to your point about skilling. We need to invest in that skilling.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: We see one more question coming from the floor. Can we have the microphone passed on, please. All right. Two more. Maybe three more questions, and then we'll have to call it a session. All right. Okay. Many more hands are raising. Can we please keep it like very brief and make it concise so we can entertain as many voices that they are. Yeah. Please go ahead, sir.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you very much. I am from Gambia, Member of Parliament, when we look at digital transformation, for me I look at two areas. That is now and tomorrow. Tomorrow being the future, and the fact that we have a very young population, particularly in Africa, and our minds are not really too much focused on the education sector because you have the young education, primary, secondary, and high school. So what efforts, actually, are ITU making to ensure our governments, parliamentary is included to ensure we have technology at the very young age so that the younger generation can grow up with it, by the time they're in high school, secondary school, they're really in the thick of things. Instead of, you know, so for me I believe maybe a multiapproach, look at it now with the current population, but as looking at the future where you build from the schools.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you, sir. Thank you. Can we move to this side, please. All right. Yes. And then we come to the center. Yes, sir. I, again, request you to be as concise as possible.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you. I'll be very short. I would like to come back to the things that you have mentioned here when it comes to the gap. You spoke about the gap of gender, gap of skills, but then I would like to add to my brother there from Gambia. One more thing is the gap of generation, because you've mentioned about the youth and then the old generation. Specifically when it comes to Africa, you find the youth that are more into the itech, more into migration movement, so most of youth that are African, they move up north. Either they move to Europe or they move to North America in search of better life. But then if you idea is to connect the world, how do we do it with a continent such as Africa who is struggling with the Internet connection, and then with this that gap of generation. That's my question.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you. Thank you. Can we come around here. All right. Can we make it very quick. Very quick.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER: Quick. Objective for government in Africa is make money right now. Pouring taxes on companies, on the ecosystem, and the objective, the global objective of IoTs in the world is to push on digitalization, putting connection everywhere. Those two objectives are very, very it's not compromised. Can't find it compromised directly. How the north, who have a good GDP, can help the south in that way?
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. One last question and then we head forth to wrap up the session.
>> AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My question revolves around the young generation. I would like to understand the best practices or ask about the best practices that we can enable our youths to become more capable, and being having them with us in the parliament and being the driving force to make better access for everyone to use on the Internet and engage in the proper way, to nurture them and make sure they become the drivers of the future.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you for that. May I turn back to the Secretary General, if you could quickly furnish your answers to these queries.
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: Okay. Maybe I'll start with the last point, which is actually linked to the first intervention. I think when it comes to nurturing young people, I think there is a couple of things we have to keep in mind. We have to remember that when they go online, they need to have the skills to be able to navigate and participate in the cyber world in a way that doesn't cause them harm. We see the rise in online violence, harassment, bullying, and even trafficking, and so we need to prepare them with the right skills, so good cyber hygiene as a parent, as a leader of the ITU, that cyber awareness and hygiene, I think, is critical for all of us, but especially when we think about our young people.
But the other thing that's important, and something that I have prioritized in my role at the ITU is bringing young people into our workforce and actually like our percentage, I can't remember, but it's a really not good number. But our percentage of young people under 35 at the ITU is not one I was proud of, so I'm trying to change that. So bringing more young people into our workforce and bringing more young people to our meetings. So we have started this Young ICT policymakers. We've started our Generation Connect Movement. I have a young professional's program, I have a Youth Advisory Board with 12 external youth advisors trying to help me understand what are young people thinking about, so that we offer programs and initiatives that actually help serve them and empower them.
That comes maybe also to the first point that the gentlemen from the Gambia mentioned, when we look sort of at now and tomorrow, I think we have to be investing in education. We have to be making sure that we're connecting our schools, which less than I think about half of the world's schools are connected. We have an initiative with UNICEF where we're working to connect every school in the world to the Internet. And by bringing that connectivity, it's not again just a connection, but it's helping to transform education systems and bring digital opportunities to schools and communities that didn't previously have them. Of course, we also work closely with our friends at UNESCO. I think one of the things that we need to keep in mind is we have to start younger. We have a Girls in ICT Program running since 2010. We're still not seeing enough women in the workforce, so we have to start that investment and that training younger. We have to be targeting primary schools when we do that.
There was the point about generational gaps. Yes, we have generational gaps. Young people are, perhaps, more natural adopters. We also have to be focusing on the elderly and helping them with their digital skilling. When we think about movements, this comes back to my previous answer, you can be successful in a digital world, no matter where you sit in the world, and so leveraging those tiewntsz, and much of what we've seen in our AI for Good innovation factory, many of those successes are coming from developing, and in particular least developed countries where people are seeing problems in using technology to come up with a solution. And I had shared this morning the West Africa agriculture example, which using this example, farmers have been able to increase their yields by some 200%. And so those are the kinds of spaces that I think we have to be looking at.
I guess the last point was linked to kind of investment and the cost. And, yes, governments want to have, let's say more revenue or income, but we also have to remember when it comes to digital investments, when it comes to the cost, and I gave some examples this morning about the cost of smart phones, about the cost of services in Africa, for example, and we have to we have to find a way to balance those interests and not overly tax services and devices. Because that tax, which sometimes is a difficult sell, ends up stifling innovation and growth. So we have to find ways to make that work. Many countries have things like universal service funds. We've seen mixed successes on that front. But we also have other efforts that we've launched at the ITU. We have a Digital Infrastructure Investment Group where we're trying to bring this case to the different development organizations, to the IFIs, and to the others to really look at how can we leverage this investment in digital that will ultimately benefit society.
I would just add, perhaps, a last thought. Next year in at the end of June, it will be the Financing for Development Conference that will take place in Spain, and we have started our preparations on the ITU side with other partners, some of which are in this room, and we're trying to make that case that you can't forget about the digital infrastructure because it impacts the rest of the economy. Thank you.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Well, you've pretty much summed up and put things together very meaningfully. However, before we conclude, any final reflections to guide us through navigating global efforts in this era of digital transformation?
>> DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN: I mean, I think we have this incredible opportunity to work together and really shape a better digital future, a better digital today and a better digital tomorrow. But we can only do that if we work together. It's not just governments, it's parliamentarians, it's Civil Society. It really is all stakeholders, and I think we have this moment in front of us, and we need to come together and make sure that we leverage tech for good.
>> SHIVANEE THAPA: Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, as we
(Applause).
as we head forth towards wrapping up this very, very enriching discussion, I'm certainly reminded that digital transformation is not just a technological journey, but it's so human. And we believe leadership, vision, and collaboration has a lot to do for us to take to that meaningful destination. So I thank you so much for your gracious presence and for your very, very invaluable sharing of answers today, and for the great leadership that you're continuing, and to all of the distinguished members in the audience, thank you for this very, very engaging participation. We certainly wish you to have a very productive IGF 2024. Thank you.