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.
***
>> All right everyone. Welcome to the open forum on CONNECT.POST, connecting digitally connecting through the postal network. Today we have a wonderful lineup of speakers. On my left is Mr. Nigel Cassimire, deputy Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union. Right, one chair away, there's the inclusion expert from The Universal Postal Union. Directly across to my right is senior ed a view to Internet society. Let me get Yu Ping's title. We are Yu Ping from UNDP. Her title is Engagement At Executive Office of UNDP and Ms. Kerry Ann Barrett, Chief of Cyber Security at organisation of American states. Is Kerry Ann Barrett online? If Kerry Ann is there, if you can just pop in and say hi. As well, we have Mr. Rodney Taylor, Secretary General. We can see physically or see virtually. Yes, says hello. Rodney, welcome. He is the Secretary General of Caribbean Telecommunications Union based in Tobego from the Caribbean and look forward to hearing from Rodney as we proceed.
I will not talk much. Without further adieu, I will hand the Mike over to Mr. Hernandez from EPU, who will give us the quick presentation of the topic at hand.
>> KEVIN HERNANDEZ: Hello, can you hear me? Okay. Sorry about that. Hi, everyone. My name is Kevin Hernandez, a digital inclusion expert at the UPU and CONNECT.POST link so if you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
So CONNECT.POST is a project led by the Universal Postal Union to maximize sustainable development contributions of the postal sector and foster digital transformations that leave no one behind.
Among those are bridging the digital divide and promoting social, economic and digital inclusion.
So very briefly, I think it is important to make a clarification by what we mean when we say, bridging the digital divide and promoting digital inclusion. Though these concepts are often used interchangeably, in reality mean two different things. When we mention bridging the digital divide we are talking about gaps in digital access. When we speak of digital inclusion we are referring to people's abilities to fully participate in societies as they undergo a process of digitalisation. The important thing to note about these two is the digital divide can contribute to digital exclusion but does not automatically cause it; instead digital exclusion occurs when there is a digital divide present and opportunities and services can only be accessed digitally. In those situations, those without access, or who lack digital skills, end up being left out and put at risk of falling behind.
We believe that a connected global postal infrastructure, or postal network, is well placed to help mitigate both of these risks. Sorry, I'm having issues with the clicker. Next slide, please. If you can control it, okay.
So connecting a post office can contribute to bridging the digital divide. If we connect post offices in rural areas, we can leverage that connectivity to provide access to the communities surrounding it.
There are different ways. For example you can offer public access to equipment or provide Internet access such as Zimbabwe is doing. They have connected over 200 post offices and turned them into community information centers. Or post offices can host a community network, meaning post offices can become an Internet service provider for surrounding communities.
Now moving on to digital inclusion. As I mentioned earlier the digital divide does not automatically lead to digital exclusion. Instead it is a combination of the digital divide, and when opportunities and services are only accessible through digital channels that leads to digital exclusion.
Unfortunately this trend has become widespread. For example, the 2023 UN World Public Sector Report found too many countries and service providers were taking a digital only approach, resulting in digital exclusion of marginalized groups. This has led government to re think. The report suggests, quote, a just digital inclusion that leaves no one behind includes hybrid models, including blended or multi channel service delivery.
Some governments try to provide multi channel service delivery by setting up in person, one stop shops ah, we went too far, okay. So some governments try to provide multi channel service delivery by setting up one stop shops, or service centers, where people and businesses can access a wide range of digitally enables services from a single location. Unfortunately, as an FAO report released earlier this year, service centers are often few in number and tend to be concentrated in urban and densely populated areas.
So then this means they are not easily accessible for people in rural areas, who end up continuing to be at risk of exclusion and being left behind, even when service centers are introduced. Next slide, there we go.
Meanwhile, the global postal network infrastructure is the most extensive and expansive retail service network in the world. There are over 650,000 post offices globally. The majority are located in rural areas. So this gives .POST and unprecedented reach in digitally underserved areas, where there is a presence where government providers and other actors struggle to reach. Post offices create a more multi facetted service delivery. I don't know what is happening with the slides. There we go. Next slide.
Anyway, I will continue without the next slide, next slide. There we go. For this reason post offices are well placed to include a more exclusive service delivery. This is not just a concept but is happening in several countries. This is from post Italiana who have connected post offices and leveraged to transform their post offices into one stop shops for digital services. This allows rural residents to access across multiple channels, including the post office counter, through electronic kiosks, advanced ATMs, a call center and through the web.
This makes these services more easily accessible to people in rural areas, where the post office is often the only public institution with a presence in those areas. This is the kind of use of the postal infrastructure, which we want to promote at CONNECT.POST.
So in summary, the goal of CONNECT.POST is to connect all post offices to the Internet by 2030. We have created a work flow to get there. I don't really have the time to get into that. But a key point to highlight for all of you is making this vision a reality requires collaboration with governments, international organisations, donors, the private sector, Civil Society and of course designated postal operators. We are currently building a coalition of actors to make this vision a reality. We are keen on building and exploring partnerships to facilitate more inclusive digital transformations and help bridge the digital divide and promote economic, social and digital inclusion, thank you.
>> Thank you, Kevin, for that brief but great introduction on CONNECT.POST. Hope everyone got an idea how to move forward with the project. It is ambitious in its scope to ensure the postal community, post offices and stakeholders are connected by this network.
today is sort of a talk show format. Going to ask questions of our experts who are here, including Kevin Hernandez, who may be asked to answer questions. I'm going to start with the CTU, The Caribbean Telecommunications Union, because I'm Caribbean and taking moderator's privilege and talk about them first. Let's start with the online participants. We will have Rodney say a few words as to what is happening, but I think Nigel will give an introduction of the CTU's overarching thinking.
>> RODNEY TAYLOR: Thanks for being part of this important discussion and good to join you online. Since 2023 we have signed an MOU, the CTU, which we are a regional intergovernmental organisation in Trinidad Tobago serving 20 member states. Most are independent territories or independent country, but some are British overseas territories and Dutch overseas territories as well.
We have been advocating for that bridge between the postal service and the ministries of digital transformation. In some cases, the same Ministers or same policy makers have responsibility for postal services, which of course are form of communication, information technology or communication or digital transformation. For us the link is clear for reasons outlined in the presentation because the postal service can allow or facilitate the close sure of the digital divide and ensure that there is no risk for the is minimized.
We signed an agreement in 2023 with MOU to promote assessments of postal services in the region, how ready they were for e Commerce, how connected they were under the CONNECT.POST initiative. The drive is to ensure they have good, robust connectivity, that they can, in turn, service their communities.
In addition to that, my own experience working with the government of Barbados is we partnered, in particular during Covid, to allows delivery of driver's license so we were able to stand up online renewal of driver's licenses. Though the offices were closed physically, the postal service stepped in to allow for seamless only delivery and renewal of driver's licenses, that evolved to passports and other credentials, where needed so allows for end to end e Commerce.
I will stop for now. There are many other speakers. For us it is to ensure policymakers get it and understand the postal service is more than the delivery of letters. And that is a very integral part of our digital transformation in efforts, especially if we want to be inclusive, thank you.
>> Thank you, Rodney Taylor. Hand to Your Colleague, Deputy Secretary General Nigel Cassimire, who will elaborate on connectivity in the Caribbean region. Nigel?
>> NIGEL CASSIMIRE: Thank you, Tracy. I think I would like to see a partnership, as Rodney has mentioned, we our main basically develop ICT policy and regulation in the Caribbean. With postal there is this legacy PTT type in government. There is a history of relationship between an organisation like CTU looking at development and the postal service as well. So I think it was quite natural we got an MOU arrangement, there was an encounter between CPU at the plenipot conference and there are opportunities for our area.
In many areas of Caribbean we have hard to reach rural areas. The Telecom infrastructure has not really reached out to or managed to get to us yet. As Kevin and Rodney mentioned in terms of Barbados, the rural post offices have been quite useful. The general concept of using remote hubs is something that has been applied in multiple countries of the Caribbean. But one big challenge is making them sustainable.
Very often, in many cases, they have gone out and created hubs, build a nice, new building, for one reason or another, the equipment breaks down or lose staff, there isn't another activity associated to make the operation sustainable.
So in cases where there are post offices close by maybe, or that could be upgraded, those are some of the examples that we are seeing. Another option that make itself available, to help make it sustainable, is in reaching out to rural areas for improving connectivity and access to services, that this can often fall under the rubric under universal service initiatives.
And there is funding available to get those things going and to keep them going, so we partnership with the postal with the UPU and postal services generally in the islands is one we are seeking to leverage better and utilize the available resources as well to make them sustainable. So I'll stop here for now.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you. Just to finish off on the CTU input, is there anything else you would like to get at, Rodney, like how the existing projects have gone thusfar with you. If I recall, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad Tobago, Belize, how are they driving forward?
>> RODNEY TAYLOR: Thank you, Tracy. What they have been done is informal in policy to ensure postal services in the countries you mentioned are ready. That work is ongoing. I think you also presented in the CTU in Nives on the benefits of this issue. Subsequently Grenada and request from St. Kitts so we look forward. So we have a postal region in the adopt post so they can benefit for that .POST initiative so they can go ahead with the .POST registration and to benefit from the suite of offices offered by the UPU.
So the work is ongoing. Not moving as quickly as we would like, but we will continue to push and advocate for resources to ensure postal services form an integral part of the digital transformation strategy in our member states, thank you.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you, Rodney Taylor and you as well. Now to Michael from UPU. You pinged another partner from the system. The UPNU and UP are collaborating on several initiatives including connecting post offices. What do you think will be the benefit of leveraging the pose tell network promote digital include and deployment of digital public infrastructure. Yu Ping?
>> YU PING CHAN: Thank you for including this. Kevin has spoken to core fundamentals why the .POST would be instrumental tool in promoting digital include, the concept of connectivity and using the post as means to have underserved communities and remote areas access the Internet and opportunity to access online e government services, basic information. That is at the core of the idea of bringing connectivity, then bridging digital divides. I actually thought the element Kevin highlighted, we need to move beyond connectivity, right? We need to look at hybrid models of delivery of government services. It is that interesting nuance beyond connectivity, which is what the UN has been talking about in digital inclusion and we look at this area where it is not just about giving somebody broadband access or ability to get online, but what more has to be done in remote places as well.
Because as I think has already been said, there are places where it is just not that easy to bring in a satellite or fibre and say connectivity will solve these issues. That is how you promote digital inclusion, like what more do you have to do to really reach not even the last mile but beyond in these communities where it is not possible at all.
For me, I think, listening to Kevin's presentation illuminates how we have to go so much further than what is just already said at UN when comes to bridging digital divides and digital inclusion.
When I think about to the compact signed at the UN in September, part of the pact for the future, promises to be sort of the next iteration of how we look at global digital cooperation and I'm struck it doesn't speak to all of these. If we go back to the concept of capacity building, inclusively building environments, that really goes to the heart of some of the broader issues and how we should be looking at digital transformation, right. Not just assuming it is about connectivity or these types of things but going beyond to conceptualise digital inclusion and make sure everybody is not left behind.
I'm quite interested and will put this out to experts, whether for instance you think right now around Internet in a box or raspberry pie enabled networks may be equipping .POST to be part of this digital transformation.
Going back to the question it is not just about broadband or bringing up fibre, are there innovative technical solutions that can further this effort to make sure .POST could be the center, the front line of reaching the underserved communities. It would be remiss to also not mention from UNDP we work with .POST, as Tracy mentioned in other areas.
In Egypt, we have had a long standing partnership since 2005 to modernise services and postal systems and worked with Egypt Post to deliver 27 services and other services. I'm wondering if it can be taken further used as model elsewhere. It's been recognized by EPU but think about it in other places. Just end there and think if other experts can address the question whether UPU can be used in .POST connect solutions as well.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: That is a beautiful statement, Yu Ping. I have known Dan a long time and extremely close on evolving networks in the space and he is involved in networks and LEU thinking and how that can work in terms of connectivity for underserved regions. Dan, let me post this question to you. Given your experience in connecting public institutions with nodes to networks do you think there are advantages to connecting the buildings and nodes for community networks? Are there unique opportunities in using post offices. Of course thread through there the concept of LEU, how that is shifting playing field in this discussion. Yu Ping, thanks.
>> Tracy, how much for this session?
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Ten hours.
>> Let me back up for those that aren't aware. The Internet society is a 30 year old charitable organisation. We have a vision the Internet is for everyone. That is really our focus and goal. We have about 132,000 individual members. Tracy is one of them. We have 120 plus chapters out there, including you in Trinidad Tobago. We have known each other for years, you were involved in the fellowship. Anybody here can visit our booth. We have a bunch of information there. But to there we have a strategic goal for 2030 around the people everywhere will have access to affordable, reliable, resilient Internet.
This comes to what we are talking about here. I have to say honestly, and this is why I ask you why you invited me here on one level, is we have not done work yet with post offices. But it is interesting because we have dealt with a lot of other anchor institutions. Let me mention a couple. We have worked with 85 networks across the world, given over 3 million in if grants through the Internet Society Foundation, working with UNICEF and the giga project, connecting schools and partnering and pieces there. Last year we came up with a community network DIY tool kit. You can find it online. It walks through the steps there.
I will come back to that maybe I will go directly to Yu Ping's questions. You said when you talked about LEOs, low earth orbits. We can drop in a technical solution that is great, awesome connectivity. We can do that and in like a year, it will be dead because either the people have left or subscription has run out or whatever else.
So really the biggest part is how do you have a sustainable community network? How do you have something there that works and that also has this? In reality I think this is where anchor institutions come up with that, because of the fact that they do provide sometimes a stronger anchor in that kind of space who again, we haven't worked with post offices, but we have a large in Armenia now, we are currently in a programme where we are digitizing rural libraries. We have worked with libraries and as they start to develop it for patrons, people in there and coming in there, people start to come in, get their wi fi, access and becomes more of a digital community and becomes a home.
In Paraguay we were working with a hospital and Winnipeg, Canada, a project community center. It became a social hub and brought people in in a way that was different. In Rwanda we did a school, our chapter helped build a building that would help the school provide a computer lab, connectivity and wi fi and found that other people were showing up.
One key factor, if you look at them all maybe we should swap mics because this is fading in and out. So one key thing is, you know, what we've seen in many of these places is, these anchor institutions, in some way, have a sense of resilience that is stronger in other locations. In some cases, they are economically sustainable, funded by the governments. Other times housed in a place with level resilience, generators, solar panels, other things like that. Another basic factor is they know where it is, they know where the post office and hospital is.
It is a beacon where people can be engaged in digital life in some way. To all of those, those are reasons we found public institutions in particular are great places to begin as a node or be part of it. They may not be the center but may be part and provide in that connectivity because people know where it is, they can get there. It is maybe even a more rugged building in some form and they can do that. So that is kind of where we see all of that going in there. I think we'd be delighted to talk to folks in post offices and other areas as well.
As far as the technology, Tracy had mentioned, we did do a project a couple years ago and are still monitoring all the low earth orbit satellites like Starlink, Oneweb. I could go on for hours, so you'd have to scope to what I can say. But they are another connectivity solution. They are great to give connectivity to especially rural and remote regions, places you can't get to by other mechanisms, you know. They can provide high speed, low latency connectivity. Still not as good as a direct fibre connection, but if you can't get that, they provide another alternative, it is there.
We had a session earlier talking about policies. There's a bunch and things but they are another tool in the toolbox we have that are out there. I'm glad to go into detail if you want on particular questions around that.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thanks, Dan. We appreciate you be here. You were concerned about why are we inviting Dan for the session. I think you are seeing the benefit of it now, so that is exciting. Maybe the post offices can become a new thrust in the Internet society world, why not. We are happy to work with you. We are here at UPU. Give us a call. We are right here.
So we have said
>> Dan: Should I write you a letter? I had no choice, Tracy.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Postcard, likely. We have talked about connectivity, how to get to the last mile but haven't talked about securing that connectivity. Ensuring not just the physical layer is secure but transactions and communicating with stakeholders in both directions. It doesn't make sense to just connect people and there is a risk in that connectivity and how do we treat with that.
I have another colleague who I know quite well, which sounds like a lot of people I know really well in this open forum. Ms. Kerry Ann Barrett is also from the Caribbean, surprise surprise. From Jamaica but based the organisation in American States and is chief of the division there. Kerry Ann, I have a question for you. Maybe this is something you can help us with. What are the cybersecurity implications of connecting postal infrastructure and how can countries best equip themselves to more cyber resilient. Would you consider .POST to be? Back to you.
>> KERRY ANN BARRETT: Thanks for that and the UPU for inviting us. It is a critical discussion that is happening. I think similar to the Internet society, we haven't had the opportunity to work with UPUS closely. But I think through this session we recognise there is a link we can't ignore. We will be working together going forward. I think the discussion so far really lead the platform that as the postal system shifts towards automation and digitizing, doing all the e Commerce integrations, digital meal tracking, electronic payments, to make more efficiency, unfortunately it usually means more vulnerability with this connection. It doesn't mean we should fear it or that the postal system should be worried inasmuch as identify the risk and prepare for this. The question is about many of the countries are invested in smart postal infrastructure. In doing that and this connectivity means there are more enter points for cyberattacks.
If you think about what you are in the question of infrastructure, the more connected postal systems get, you are now handling more sensitive data, including personal identifiable details. You now have more financial information. If compromised, it would lead to identity theft, financial loss. In several areas where you are improving their connectivity and accessibility for the citizens, you are also recognizing rural areas may not have required staffing that is needed on the technical side to do what is required.
If you compare the postal system to other high profile examples such as transportation or health care, I would probably say a postal system in identifying whether or not it is a critical infrastructure needs to start looking at, one, the type of information and data and criticality if systems are stopped.
In preparing, there was some thought and who is impacted if the postal system goes down and how does that actually affect society if the postal system goes down. If you think about criticality, as the postal system office more and more services to people and citizens, especially in the rural areas, which we have spoken about so much in the session so far, you'd have to think the impact and the ability to be able to bounce back from such an attack, the agility needed for that.
Who will be targeted, if we think about it? Oftentimes we have the systems, and that is one thing, but we have to think about postal workers, recognizing they are a key component to the value chain for offering the services. Often time s if you are doing more connectivity it means your postal workers as well would need to be focused on as a key entry point for cyberattacks.
Phishing companies in postal workers and customers could lead to unauthorized access to these datas. How is this unique also to some of our countries that are similar to Latin America and Caribbean in terms of them now being connected and some of the challenges. In looking at the solutions, Tracy, I would probably say we also have to take into account who we are dealing with. As the postal systems across the globe start to connect and you compare it to some regions like Latin America and Caribbean there will be various layers of cyber security maturity.
I have heard in this conversation in some more advanced countries but we have to take into account country who struggle with Internet connectivity like Pacific islands or smaller countries who may have emerging economies but lack financial resources to put the signer security infrastructure or talent, to be able to secure the postal systems adequately. We also have to look at the more broad challenges of cooperation, which oftentimes cybersecurity requires.
So to your last aspect of the question you asked me, and just reflecting some of the solutions. It is not a doomsday solution.
The Postal system has been so robust and carried us through, this is just another challenge for them to overcome. Collaboration is going to be key. Working with government to ensure that they the postal operators have connections with cybersecurity firms, that they understand the international landscape with other international organisations. We already have our UN as part of this discussion.
Also looking how they would manage third party risks. A lot of postal workers and systems work with other third party vendors to do their work. How you actually look at reliability with logistics for them and technology that they are employing to make sure they are protected. The last two critical things I would probably say is thinking about strategies such as establishing for those who may not know it incident response team, which is really a firefighters within cyber security incident happens, to think about establishing this for the postal systems.
The financial sector is a good example where they prioritise incident response teams and have cross network collaboration among themselves. I think the postal system can start to think about it that way, so they have shared resources. The final recommendation I'd probably make, to make yourself more cyber resilient, is cyber education. Or work, as I pointed out, are critical entry points to the system. They have passwords, they log in daily. How do they recognise a phishing attempt and handle this broadly.
I will stop there to continue the discussions. Hope some of these things would be talked about throughout the session. Thanks, Tracy.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you, Kerry Ann. I see a lot of comments coming in, from Rodney in the chat giving information and links. Back to Kerry Ann's point about cyber resilience. Also (?) I'm going to make a plug for what we are doing at the UPU. We are establishing an information sharing center, an ISOC, global for postal center. That is currently underway. The last phase is about design. We expect to have that up and running next year in 2025. In addition to that we are also implementing secure .POST platform, which would allow the postal as you said, the postal employees, stakeholders to get, I would say, user friendly access to information, education, training, awareness, resources generally about cybersecurity and how to become more cyber resilient.
I think from where we sit we are trying to do the best in ensuring the sector becomes more resilient. I would be remiss if I didn't mention, of course, the fact we run the .POST top level domain, which we like to think is the most secure, if not the most secure, top level domain on the Internet and encourage all stakeholders who are interested in this sector to, you know, look into what that brings to the table and all the services we offer with that.
What I have just given a plug for, I will pause for open forum and ask the audience if there are any questions, any thoughts. I'm seeing two hands already going up, so I would maybe pass the mic. The third mic. Mic number three, yes.
I saw gentleman in the red jacket first. Introduce yourself, let us know who you are.
>> My name is Nicola. You mentioned connectivity. For me the postal service is a new topic. You address a lot on cybersecurity, but we are talking here about digital information as well. I like to touch on the role of emerging technologies in postal services. For example, in the U.K. and U.S. They are using those for postal deliveries in remote areas. In U.S. they optimize connectivity clouds and countries like Rwanda have technology logistics. This increases technology and reduce emission and help sustainable. How can postal services in Caribbean have similar innovations to addressing infrastructure challenges while aligning to environmental sustainability goals, thank you.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: We like to do not immediate answers. I'm going to ask Kevin, the UPU expert to think about that and come up with an answer. There is another question in the quey.
>> Hi, I'm from the Internet society foundation. I have a question. You mentioned a lot of these are rural. Kevin mentioned emerging e government services. So my question is, are there any plans or does this programme include any kind of digital literacy training for people?
I know we are running we currently have a chapter that is doing training in rural areas so people are able to use e government services, but also thinking of it from in terms of cybersecurity or cyber literacy, cybersecurity literacy.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you. Nigel, did you have a question? I saw your hand go up.
>> NIGEL CASSIMIRE: Yes, my hand did go up. But I think the question I had has come up, so...
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Excellent. Third question. Introduce yourself.
>> Thank you so much. My name is Silahor from lisutu, President of (?). I'm working as the system librarian. One thing if this concept go into the digitalization of the library and bringing the library to the people, not people come to library, thank you.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: All right. Thank you very much. So I think all three questions seem like they can start with a response from the UP, but I ask other colleagues at the table to give responses. Let's start with our expert from the UPU, Kevin.
>> KEVIN HERNANDEZ: So thank you for the question about drones. I think yes, 100%. With drones especially it is a very particular case, because I think this also democratizes delivery to rural areas. Why am I saying that? When you've seen pilots for drone delivery, they have tended to be concentrated in rural areas because this is something hard to make work, even in urban areas. So I think it is actually one of the rare emerging technologies that works better in rural areas than it does in urban areas for delivery. So I think there is a lot to explore there. And also at the UPU we recently did a survey where we have asked all the well, over 150 postal operators about the use of emerging technologies. Drones were one. We asked a wide variety. There are even some using things like exoskeletons and emerging technology, so there is a lot of use of emerging technologies by postal operators. I haven't done the analysis. I can't tell you which are the most used, but that will be coming out in the near future.
There were two questions about digital literacy programmes. The reason I came back to this slide is because this is the kind of thing that happens in the setup. So it all depends. Everything is context specific. In some countries you will have postal operators who will set up this kind of community center inside the post office. That is what you see here. The post operator will offer digital training to its citizens. But in other places, that may not work. In other places, I think you made a great plug about libraries. Actually, Maria was here from the IFLA, International Foundation of Library Associations and we are here to determine if there is any potential to create ecosystems of digital inclusion, where maybe citizens go to the post office for one type of service, then maybe they go to the library for another type of service.
Although in this example, in this context, this works very well. In other context the post office might not be set up to offer the digital literacy training. We might be better off having the e government services and these transactional services happening in the post office, then maybe some more of the digital literacy programmes you were explaining happening in the library.
We find sometimes this happens but it happens informally. We are trying to see if there is any potential to formalize these relationships between post offices and libraries so, you know, people can be sent from one to the other quite seamlessly instead of ad hoc fashion, thank you. I know you have done a lot of work with libraries, I don't know if you want to pick up
>> It speaks to more we talk about sustainability of community networks. (Dan) and part is the financial aspect, the part I focused on in my earlier remarks. You really have a much broader sense, which is they need to be human sustainable as well. That digital skills training, the digital literacy, the ability to know and do that is so critical. Because otherwise you don't have a system that's long term sustainable.
One of the things we found is this community centered model we are talking about here and have been working on really is the way to deploy this because it comes it is bottom up, coming out of the community. This is where I would say, as you look at your systems, what we found works is that when it is really of the community and by the community, then the people are bought into it and working with it. It is not imposed by some central entity, like put this in every post office, you know, or something. But it is more of the communities around that are wanting to provide build that connectivity. They are using the post office or other entity as that hub and they are working with it in that way.
What we found is when communities do that and build that, they develop the expertise, develop the ability to create this. That means they are much more invested in it. They also have that human resilience. The capacity to understand what it is, how it works. They are able to ensure it keeps on working, you know, through in the Caribbean, the next hurricane or whatever. The recovery time, the ability to do that.
So that digital skills is vital to have computer connectivity in so many different ways.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you so much. You have responses, but let me see if any of our colleagues online have a response. I see Kerry Ann's hand is physically up, yes.
>> KERRY ANN BARRETT: I think the questions are really good. I think what is important, as we even look at the efficiency, anything that is an IoT, whether it be a drone or other smart postal infrastructure that is implemented, I think the last speaker in terms of highlighting the need to have the digital skills is critical. It is just always to keep in mind the more connected that they get, it is another surface or another attack point in which a cybercriminal can enter.
And even as we improve efficiency, I think it has to be coupled at a minimum for the user training for users given these tools to make it more efficient. The idea of digitizing and improving or closing the digital divide for many people and making these services accessible, it is also informing the users of these services, recognizing if they are more sensitive to some of the risks that could happen, they would be able to partner with their service providers in rural area, et cetera, to be able to keep their data more secure and information more secure.
So I just wanted to highlight it is one of the things that has to be a coupled approach, making sure you kind of think about all the risk factors and ensure not just standards are implemented but persons have the ability to implement the standards.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you, Kerry Ann. Just to remind everyone, Kerry Ann is chief Of Cyber Security At the OAS. I forgot to introduce myself, Tracy Hackshaw, with my colleague we are here working with postal technology center. I see my bosses online, so that reminded me that I have to say who I am. Are they still there? So I will say who I am, for the record.
We have about five minutes left. Let me do this. I'm going to ask Ashley Taylor to respond, if he hasn't responded, and give a closing comment. Then come back to Yu Ping. Same thing, respond with a closing comment. I see Nigel, who may want to give a response in closing comment. Perhaps if there is time, Dan and Kevin. Let's go to Ashley Taylor. Response and closing comment. Less than five minutes left.
>> Ashley: Thank you, I like the question on the so forth, need to partner with postal service (Rodney) that understands in developing and rural communities. Some are unplanned settlements so there isn't a neat adjusting system. Very often the postman or post person is the trusted person in the community, understands where people live and so on. So even by delivery of drones this is something that may be best done through the postal network, if we are talking. But rural communities and unplanned settlements.
A skills issue is a big one as well, where those persons who are unskilled receive the hand holding. This is something in Barbados for application for the U.S. Visa, which is 100% online, cannot be done in person.
I again want, in closing, thank Tracy and UPU for partnerships we have established and for work being done to bridge divide between postal services and digital transformation strategies. We think this is a winning strategy that will help us to ensure that persons are not left behind, in particular rural and underserved communities.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you for sparing your time. I know it is early in the Caribbean and for you to bless us with your presence. Of course thanks to Nigel, who will give comments in a bit from the CTU. I will hand over to the UPU sorry, the sign threw me off, to Yu Ping for her final comments.
>> YU PING CHAN: I want to pick up on his point as skills and capacity building. That is the number one priority that we work with and particularly important for Least Developed Countries and these communities. As we talk about these global solutions, connectivity, as a lot of colleagues have said, it is the ability to use these in a sustainable fashion and that really starts with building that digital capacity right there. Just to reiterate, it was a really great conversation. I'd like to pick this up with a lot of colleagues around the table. Thanks so much for having us.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you, Yu Ping. So this is the time for Nigel and Dan to give a few comments and maybe a last word from Kevin, so Nigel.
>> NIGEL CASSIMIRE: Yes, quickly, thanks from me to UPU for the opportunity. At the point I wanted to make, we have not had time to discuss it here, was what about financial services? I certainly recall a thing on a postal order, so the post offices were part of the financial system and what about the technology associated with financial services or Fintech? Is that part of the develops going forward?
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: I see Rodney just raised up in chat exactly the same point. I will let Kevin answer that but maybe Dan, last thoughts, last comments, then let Kevin wrap it up.
>> Dan: I will just say, thank you, Tracy and Kevin for putting this whole panel together. This was a very interesting conversation. I look forward to further conversations around this. I think I said plenty before, so I will leave it there, thank you.
>> KEVIN HERNANDEZ: Thank you, Nigel. Digital services are part. I didn't really have time to delve into it. I have a longer presentation which speaks about types of services we target. They tend to be e government services, digital finance and e Commerce, but actually any digital service offered through the postal infrastructure I believe would be more inclusive due to what I was saying earlier about their presence in rural areas.
But yes, I think you hit the nail on the head. One, digital services are offered by many post. I'm analyzing data that shows almost 60% of post offices deliver financial services so it is something we want to build on and help more operators deliver.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you. Kerry Ann, any last thoughts?
>> KERRY ANN BARRETT: I think the only thing I would probably emphasize is for persons to recognise that digital resilience has to be coupled with cybersecurity. I think those will be my last words.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: Thank you very much. I would like to thank all of our participants and those who have joined us in the room today for our wonderful open forum, which we finished in the Nick of time. Thanks to Kevin, Dan, Yu Ping, Rodney, Kerry Ann and everybody online and in the room. Thank you for your participation and engagement. Contact us at UPU.post for more information and the project title that we talked about, CONNECT.POST. Thank you very much. Kevin?
>> KEVIN HERNANDEZ: CONNECT.POST is our URL so connect that to find us.
>> TRACY HACKSHAW: That is the most brilliant thing we have heard so far. Thank you, have a good day.