Development
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), together with SMART Africa, has launched the online learning platform ‘atingi’ that aims to provide marginalised groups with better access to high-quality education.
Israeli satellite operator Spacecom concluded an agreement with La Poste Senegal on the provision of high-quality Internet service in remote areas.
According to the research conducted in 2020 by Cable.co.uk, mobile data is the cheapest in India where the average price of 1 GB of Internet is USD$0.09. Israel comes in second place with the mean price of USD$0.11. Among European countries, Italy (USD$0.43), Ukraine (USD$0.46), and Russia (USD$0.52) have the lowest cost of mobile Internet coming in fourth, fifth, and ninth place respectively. Somalia, with an average cost of USD$0.50 per 1 GB of mobile data, is the only African country to feature in the top ten. Inversely, five of the bottom ten countries featured on the ranking are from Africa, with 1 GB of mobile data being the most expensive in Sao Tome and Principe (USD$28.26).
Gender equality
A campaign aimed at the digital generation has been launched by Spain’s Ministry of the Interior to combat ‘digital gender violence’.
A study titled State of the World’s Girls Report, conducted in 22 countries by Plan International, found that 58% of respondents had faced online abuse on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, and TikTok.
Climate action
A recent study, conducted by PwC for Green Alliance, found that phone manufacturing emits 60 kg of CO2, which is 300 times the weight of the finished product.
Facebook has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University in order to assist scientists use artificial intelligence (AI) tools in order to develop renewable energy and combat climate change.
Digital health
Google Cloud has developed a healthcare AI tool intended to combat healthcare data challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, and several other air carriers will introduce ‘CommonPass’- a digital health passport that will allow passengers with a negative COVID-19 test to travel without the need to self-isolate.
Food security
Bosch and BASF Digital Farming have concluded a joint venture agreement so as to market and sell smart-farming solutions worldwide from a single source.
Water management
The Arab Ministerial Water Council called for cooperation between the Arab states and the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) in order to create a digital database of water resources in their countries.
E-governance
Serbia’s government has announced its plan to launch an e-governance system for regulatory procedures in the energy and mining sectors.
Under the recently launched European Union project – EU4DigitalUA, the Estonian e-Governance Academy will assist with the development of digital government infrastructure in Ukraine.
Migration
The UN special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance warned against smart border control and discirimantory data collection.
Nigeria’s federal government has approved digital identity for internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Humanitarian
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has called on social media platforms to use big data and artificial intelligence to help eliminate trafficking in women and girls.
According to a report published by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 3 billion children aged 3 to 17 years old do not have Internet connection in their homes.
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