1. Key Policy Questions and Expectations:
- What is the cost of Internet deployment through innovative technologies? What are the implications for policy?
- What are the current trends in the digital skills training programs? What are the implications for policy?
- How can policy facilitate women’s Internet access and use?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed:
Cost of Deployment:
- Operating expenses vary widely and appear to be more important than capital expenses (esp. backhaul)
- The average TV white spaces deployment costs more than the average Wi-Fi deployment
- Fixed cost of TV white space spectrum (average USD 145,444) is higher than for Wi-Fi based deployments (average USD 98,872)
- TV white space radios are generally more expensive than Wi-Fi equipment
- Higher costs may reflect better service/greater reach (esp. for revenue generating projects)
- Anchor institutions drive cost effectiveness
- Local communities may not have the capacity to operate the most innovative technologies
- Evaluation of costs should take into account differences in purchasing power parity
Digital Skills programs
- Projects do not have a viable business model for long-term sustainability
- There is a wide variance in curriculum and pedagogy, as well as on mode of delivery across projects
- Projects do not report outcomes in terms of learning rigorously with no structured M&E
Women’s access
- Women face unique challenges in access and use due to multiple, intersecting factors
- Relaxing just one barrier may not improve women’s access and use
- Addressing multiple barriers simultaneously can help to design more effective and sustainable interventions
3. Policy Recommendations or Suggestions for the Way Forward:
- Policy should encourage the collaborations between project deployments and anchor institutions to drive cost effectiveness
- Policy should encourage a structured M&E to measure the learning outcomes of digital skills training programs
- Policy should address multiple barriers of women’s access simultaneously (e.g., infrastructure
4. Other Initiatives Addressing the Session Issues:
- Jane Coffin from Internet Society drew attention to the less costly community network model among deployment projects
- Carlos Rey Moreno from APC mentioned that women only spaces can promote participation among women.
- Claire Sibthorpe from GSMA mentioned that affordability is still a main barrier for women around the world based on their work at GSMA.
5. Making Progress for Tackled Issues:
- It is imperative to bring different stakeholders together to promote discussion and devise strategies that engage a broader range of stakeholders for more impactful and sustainable interventions and policy. At IGF, we don’t often have the opportunity to speak with local practitioners and implementers on the ground, technology companies, or funding agencies. That prevents us from learning about their challenges and sharing our findings and learnings with them. For instance, our work shows that most of the demand-side projects are grant-funded or CSR funded but these funds are one-time solutions and do not ensure sustainability. Dynamic Coalitions should offer more opportunities to meet with private organizations and funding agencies to identify more effective ways to allocate funds so that they will have more impact. Therefore, we would like to see more tech companies, funding agencies (e.g., Gates Foundation, IDRC, Microsoft etc) at IGF to open up the space for discussion.
6. Estimated Participation:
50 people total, half women
7. Reflection to Gender Issues:
- Women face unique challenges in access and use due to multiple, intersecting factors
- Relaxing just one barrier may not improve women’s access and use (e.g., in geographies where the decision makers are not women and women live with gatekeepers, the intervention should also involve gatekeepers such as in South East Asia; or in geographies where HIV is prevalent among women, interventions should be sensitive to the privacy concerns for women)
- Addressing multiple barriers simultaneously can help to design more effective and sustainable interventions