Meaningful connectivity for all is critical to creating a world without hunger, yet 2.6 billion people—roughly one third of the world’s population—do not have access to the internet.
To bridge this digital divide, we have developed partnerships with Microsoft Accessibility, Microsoft Airband Initiative, DAI Digital Frontiers and several Internet Service Providers to increase access for women, people with disabilities, indigenous people, and other historically marginalized groups. Our ISP partners provide the technical deployment expertise while we mobilize rural marginalized communities to understand what internet connection offers them so they can adopt and use it as a tool to improve their lives.
As of 2024, our programs have connected over 105,600 people to the Internet through 11 ICT centers in Ghana, Malawi and Mexico.
Understanding the Gender Digital Divide
As our world moves online, the digital divide continues to grow. It leaves part of the population without essential skills for daily, modern life. The lack of connectivity is happening because of many related challenges: the infrastructure needed to link rural communities, who often don’t even have reliable power; gender norms and discrimination; the marginalization of people with disabilities; skill disparities; and more.
Digital access is a gender equality challenge—globally, women are 17% less likely than men to use smartphones and 16% less likely to access mobile internet. Around the world, the digital divide follows similar patterns: men have greater access to the Internet than women, men are more likely to have digital skills than women and use them in job settings, and men have greater digital literacy than women.
Indigenous communities also face significant access challenges. In Mexico, for example, Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Yucatán have some of the lowest Internet use rates in the country at 21.6%, 29.3%, and 51%, respectively. Across Mexico, approximately 5,200 towns with large Indigenous populations are outside the coverage areas of the fixed and mobile broadband telecommunications networks, impacting access for 3 million people, the government estimates.
Increasing Digital Access
To increase meaningful connectivity we worked with our technical partners and communities in Ghana, Malawi and Mexico to set up local ICT centers and WiFi access points that would support women, people with disabilities, indigenous people, and other historically marginalized groups to get online.
Local women stepped forward to work with us to identify the access challenges in their communities and then to design our interventions. These women were key change agents throughout the entire process, serving on the engineering teams, as micro-operators selling vouchers for Internet access, as trainers at computer hubs, and as managers of the ICT lab, ensuring women, girls, and the most marginalized are able to access the lab.
In the three countries, over 105,600 people now have connectivity through 11 ICT centers. Many of the centers are equipped with accessibility technology, including JAWS screen-reading software and orbit readers, and are outfitted with desks, ramps and other accessible furnishings that make the spaces welcoming and useable for people with physical disabilities.
In Ghana, nearly 4,200 women took advantage of THP’s digital curriculum and training, including accessing workshops for agriculture, business skills, income generating activities, and more. Over 3,400 people participated in our specific digital skills training that improves digital literacy and accessibility.
In Malawi, when we started only 0.77% of women in the area reported using the internet. At the end of the program, in 2023, 47% had used it within the last 3 months. Smartphone ownership increased by 153% and cellphone usage doubled for both men and women.
In Mexico, 19,200 people now have access to digital resources through the ICT centers. The screen readers are incredibly popular here, particularly among women. They are supporting women with low vision and people with low literacy levels access the internet to improve their businesses and livelihoods.
Mobilizing community volunteers to help their neighbors who have been marginalized, particularly people with disabilities, understand that they can access the internet—that we can leverage technology and creativity so that they can benefit from this resource—has been a key to our success. In Malawi, trained volunteers visited 117 villages to raise awareness of accessible programs and tools available at ICT centers. Similarly, in Ghana, volunteers visited women’s groups in remote settings, to show them how the internet could help them reach their goals. These visits allowed people to experience connectivity firsthand, generated demand and encouraged community members to get more engaged with the ICT centers.
Embracing the Power of Connectivity
In each of the communities where we have supported connectivity, women and men are embracing the opportunity to learn, to build their businesses and achieve their vision for the future. This resource is supporting new pathways for development and supporting the next generation of leaders to unlock their full potential.
Photos: Ghana 2023, Johannes Odé for The Hunger Project; Ghana 2022, Storybox Media for The Hunger Project