Image sourced from AfrikaTech. AfChix – a network of African women in technology – is enabling women in rural Kenya, Senegal, Namibia, and Morocco to take the lead in connecting their communities to the internet for the first time. The organisation is one of the winners in the third round of the WomenConnect Challenge, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The WomenConnect Challenge WomenConnect is a global call for solutions to improve women’s participation in everyday life by meaningfully changing the ways women access and use technology. As a winner in the first round of the WommenConnect Challenge, launched in 2018, AfChix has already built four community networks by installing communications infrastructure in rural areas. AfChix trains local women t...
Sourced from Getty Images. The director of Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Jean-Paul Adam, told journalists during a virtual press briefing on 10 June 2020 that Africa contributes less than 1% to the world’s digital economy, which accounts for about 15% of global GDP. He says the continent needs about $100 billion to achieve universal, affordable and good quality internet access by 2030 (according to the World Bank). Presently, only 17.8% of households in Africa have the internet at home and the continent accounts for only 21% of worldwide internet users. It is estimated that over a quarter of a billion school children in Africa have been affected by COVID-19 and most of them lack the digital tools to continue their e...