The second session of the NetMission Academy, titled “Access and Empowerment,” took place on January 16, 2025, and was expertly moderated by Nawal Munir Ahmad and Nattaya Kay Jaratruangsaeng. In this session, participants from all around the Asia Pacific joined our honorable speakers: Felicia Antonio (Campaign Manager for the Keep It On initiative at Access Now), Merrin Muhammed Ashraf (Researcher at IT for Change in India), and Farhan Shahmi (Independent Scholar and Media Literacy Advocate) to explore the challenges and opportunities in achieving digital equity, with a focus on internet access, empowerment, and bridging the digital divide. A key emphasis was on breaking down societal barriers, particularly for women and marginalized communities, to ensure everyone can fully participate in the digital world.
Case Study Presentation: Access and Empowerment
The session focused on how digital tools can be leveraged to close the digital divide and empower marginalized communities. The discussions highlighted the transformative potential of technology in areas like education, entrepreneurship, and gender equality, especially in rural and underserved regions. Subgroup 2, the assigned presenting group, kicked off the session by offering a brief overview of global internet access and the empowerment of digital literacy in the age of AI, followed by two insightful case studies.
Case Study 1: Grassroots Initiatives in Sri Lanka
The first case study looked at grassroots efforts to address internet adoption challenges in rural Sri Lanka. Despite advancements, half the population still lacks internet access, with rural areas hit the hardest. Key initiatives include:
- ICTA’s Vision 2024: Establishing over 50 ICT hubs to boost digital education and support rural businesses.
- Digital Economy Strategy 2030: Providing over a million rural entrepreneurs with digital tools and training.
- Digicon 2030 Program: Enhancing digital skills across the country.
Suhuru School Project: Targeting ICT education specifically for female students in rural schools.
These initiatives have made a real difference—by early 2024, internet penetration had risen to 56.3%, with a 20% increase in digital literacy. The goal is to reach 80% nationwide internet penetration by 2030, reducing rural poverty by 10% and highlighting how digital tools can drive economic growth and inclusivity.
Case Study 2: Empowering Women in Nepal
The second case study focused on empowering women in Nepal through internet access. In Nepal, gender inequality severely limits women’s access to technology—only 42% of women have internet access and just 15% use digital payment systems. Cultural norms and stereotypes make these challenges even harder to overcome. The story of Sunita KC, a digital champion from rural Nepal, showcased the transformative power of digital empowerment. Despite initial skepticism from her community, Sunita led workshops on digital financial literacy, helping women build confidence and independence. Key initiatives included:
- ISOC’s Remote Connectivity Projects: Bringing internet access to underserved areas.
- DigitALL Nepal Acceleration Project: Working to bridge digital inequalities.
- Digital Financial Literacy for Women Farmers Program: Training 20,000 women, which increased mobile payment use by 17%.
- Women Digital Champions Initiative: Promoting leadership and digital literacy among women.
- As a result, digital literacy increased from 25% in 2018 to 45% by 2023, with over 15,000 women in rural areas gaining internet access and many adopting digital tools for education and entrepreneurship.
Following these presentations, participants moved into breakout discussions, focusing on policy solutions to close the digital divide and promote digital equality, especially for rural populations and women.
Speaker Highlights
- Felicia Antonio spotlighted the global issue of internet shutdowns, which governments often impose during protests, elections, or unrest. She discussed the work of the #KeepItOn campaign, which aims to stop these shutdowns by raising awareness and advocating for digital rights. Felicia stressed the importance of solidarity and collaboration in tackling this growing issue.
- Merrin Muhammed Ashraf tackled the issue of gender disparity in AI. Women and marginalized groups are significantly underrepresented in AI development, which can perpetuate bias and harmful gender stereotypes. She emphasized the need for a gender-transformative approach to AI, calling for transparency, accountability, and the active involvement of underrepresented groups.
- Farhan Shahmi focused on the importance of localized approaches to media literacy and fact-checking, highlighting the dangers of misinformation. He advocated for collaboration, transparency, and widespread media literacy education as essential tools for combating misinformation.
Breakout Group Discussions
The session wrapped up with participants splitting into breakout groups to discuss broadband deployment, gender inclusion, and digital equity.
- Breakout Group #1 focused on equitable broadband deployment and strategies to dismantle gender barriers in the digital economy. Participants stressed the need for frameworks that actively involve women and called for gender-balanced leadership in regulatory bodies to ensure inclusive decision-making.
- Breakout Group #2 discussed the challenges of bringing broadband to rural areas, such as resistance from landowners. They suggested offering incentives to speed up development and setting up localized internet hubs in schools. Public-private collaborations were also highlighted as a way to overcome barriers and empower women in rural communities.
- Breakout Group #3 discussed public-private partnerships and universal service funds as ways to share the costs of broadband infrastructure. They also focused on the importance of metrics to measure the success of digital inclusion initiatives, with broadband penetration rates and gender parity indices suggested as useful tools to track progress.
The session concluded with a strong focus on collaboration and long-term strategies to close the digital divide and promote digital equality, particularly for marginalized communities.
Written by Rupam Barui, Joysa Kaushik, Khursheed Akram, Long Seng (Edited by Jenna Manhau Fung)