The EDISON Alliance, global coalition of leaders from the private sector, governments, academia and civil society, has released its second Annual Impact Report highlighting the progress that has been made in increasing digital inclusion.
In addition, four new counties – Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria – have joined the EDISON Alliance Lighthouse Network to increase digital inclusion. Existing members include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Honduras, Rwanda, Togo and the United Arab Emirates.
The report highlights the progress made against the Alliance’s 1 Billion Lives Challenge, an ambitious goal set to enhance the lives of 1 billion people by 2025 through affordable and accessible digital solutions in healthcare, education and financial services.
It finds, that of 784 million people affected by access to digital solutions, 94 million individuals benefited from educational initiatives, four times the number of lives reached compared to the previous year.
This progress is crucial in addressing the stagnation in global education, where 16% of children and youth remain out of school. The alliance’s partner initiatives also brought digital financial service access to 463 million people, a 65% increase since last year.
For instance, in Rwanda, a partnership with Mastercard has introduced bespoke digital financial services tailored to the Rwandan market’s unique needs. Bangladesh, another member of the EDISON Lighthouse Countries Network, has effectively leveraged the Alliance’s collective knowledge to enhance its digital education services.
“Rwanda is benefitting significantly from its participation in the EDISON Alliance Lighthouse Countries Network,” said Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation of Rwanda. Our involvement has allowed us to draw in partners to support our ambitions to become a cashless economy and ensure financial inclusion and digital skills access for our citizens. We have also been able to engage in peer-to-peer exchanges with other member countries to share best practices on how to accelerate universal digital inclusion.”
Hans Vestberg, Founder and Chairman of the EDISON Alliance and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Verizon added: “No matter where you were born or where you live, everybody should have access to the digital services that are necessary to fully participate in 21st-century society Helping all people access our shared future has been my life’s work and it’s what we at Verizon work to address every day.”
Download report here
