Bridging the Digital Divide: From Evidence to Action

Meet Amina and Luca, whose contrasting experiences illustrate the digital divide. This opening module introduces the series’ objectives: understanding digital inequalities, exploring evidence-based solutions, and examining how partnerships and technology can drive lasting change.

Explore global connectivity and the factors driving digital inequalities. Drawing on international education studies, this module examines the evidence on technology and learning outcomes, showing how access, devices, and digital skills interact and why infrastructure alone cannot close the divide.

Examine the economic and social costs of disconnection and the returns on connectivity investment. Examples from India, Estonia, Thailand, and Singapore illustrate how digital public infrastructure can improve education, employment, governance, and access to services.

Discover how cross-sector partnerships can advance digital inclusion at scale. Using Giga, the joint UNICEF-ITU initiative to connect every school to the internet, this module explores shared purpose, complementary mandates, open-source tools, and facilitation as foundations for effective collaboration.

Explore how school mapping informs connectivity planning and investment. Giga Maps combines government records, satellite imagery, AI, and community validation to identify schools and their connectivity status. Examples from Niger, Colombia, and Rwanda demonstrate how reliable data supports action and government accountability.

Discover how Giga Meter monitors whether school internet connections work effectively. This module examines how real-time performance data strengthens accountability, contract enforcement, and national planning, with examples from Mongolia and Rwanda illustrating evidence-based connectivity management.

Discover how Giga Meter monitors whether school internet connections work effectively. This module examines how real-time performance data strengthens accountability, contract enforcement, and national planning, with examples from Mongolia and Rwanda illustrating evidence-based connectivity management.

Examine how procurement turns financing and political commitment into reliable school connectivity. This module introduces Giga’s four procurement levers and the three phases of the procurement lifecycle, with examples from Rwanda and Kazakhstan demonstrating the importance of well-structured contracts.

Understand the four layers of internet connectivity, from international submarine cables to connections reaching schools and homes. This module identifies the actors responsible, examines where the value chain can break, and explains Giga’s role in coordinating action across it.

Explore how open data, open-source technologies, and digital public goods support equitable digital infrastructure. Examples including OpenStreetMap, DHIS2, and Giga Maps illustrate the benefits of shared systems and the institutional importance of choosing openness.

Explore how academia advances digital inclusion through evidence, innovation validation, training, and impartial collaboration. A conversation with Giga Co-Founder Christopher Fabian and GRL Academic Director Professor Tina Ambos examines academic-practitioner partnerships and GRL’s contribution to the wider ecosystem.