Technologies for Connecting the Unconnected

Last summer, the UN declared that it considers the internet to be a human right. However, according to the Broadband Commission, 53% of the world’s population still doesn’t have access to the internet today. Information and communications technologies for development (ICT4D) organizations are designing and delivering innovative technologies to ensure inclusive access to information and services that better everyone’s lives.

Join this webinar to hear an overview of a dozen case studies from grassroots projects covering both supply-side and demand-side interventions to connect the unconnected and promote broadband adoption. Spanning Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Africa, these real world examples will provide unique insights on new technologies used for providing last-mile connectivity-including TV White Spaces, the use of unlicensed spectrum bands, and community networks.

Join this webinar to learn:

• Some of the challenges that are faced in remote and rural contexts
• Innovative ways to provide digital literacy training
• Ways in which different organizations are working to promote local content in the developing world

Presenter:

Sharada Srinivasan is a CTIC research fellow working on 1 World Connected. Her research is focused on empirical validation of innovative initiatives that address supply- and demand-side challenges to improve broadband adoption globally. She moderates the Dynamic Coalition on Innovative Approaches to Connecting the Unconnected and contributes to the intersessional work of the Internet Governance Forum. In the past, she has engaged with regulatory barriers to internet deployment in the developing world, cybersecurity, encryption policy and network neutrality at internship stints with the Global Public Policy Insitute, Berlin and the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. She was an Amazon fellow at the 10th UN Internet Governance Forum and a Global Internet GOvernance Fellow at the European Summer School of Interest Governance 2015.

Sharada holds a Master of Public Policy from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and completed her undergraduate degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.