Among three critical areas for a recovery from COVID-19 pandemic, as stated in the United Nations Secretary General’s Policy Brief on South-East Asia, I would develop a regional programme on “Bridging the digital divide” for South-East Asia. According to the policy brief, bridging the digital divide across South-East Asia would ensure that people and communities are not left behind in an increasingly digital world, where services and support are increasingly based on digital awareness, literacy and access.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of digital technology and supported countries enhance their socio-economic development recovery and build resilience for sustainable development. In other words, the pandemic has clearly demonstrated the link between digitalization and sustainable development. Digitalization is becoming a critical element to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The Some of the targets related to digitalization under the SDGs include SDG 4.4.1 (Skills for digital world), SDG 5.b.1 (Mobile phone ownership for women), SDG 9.c.1 (Proportion of population covered by a mobile network), SDG 17.6.2 (Number of fixed internet broadband subscriptions), SDG 17.8.1 (Proportion in individuals using the internet). Therefore, it not only shows the potential opportunities of digital technologies but also reminds countries the potential existing crucial digital divides within and between countries. Digital technologies have increasingly becoming a critical foundation of socio-economic systems and society.
Opportunities and Challenges of Digitalization
During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital tools are used to trace and record of infections as well as coordinate, monitor and manage the crisis. Digital technologies also enable people to work remotely, conduct businesses online, and learn online. Digitalization also fills gaps in the health and social protection systems and promoting good governance by supporting Governments to distribute social benefits to their citizens. However, digitalization is not panacea and carries the risk of further widening inequalities within countries, as well as the digital divide between them. The pandemic has also highlighted the pre-existing vulnerabilities among vulnerable groups of people and countries in special situations as well as the potential impacts of digital divide within and between countries in leveraging the potential benefits of digitalization. The increased use of digital technologies will not automatically lead to the inclusion of the poor and marginalized. “Inclusion must be at the heart of digital transformation if the promise to “leave no one behind” is to be met” said Kaveh Zahedi (ESCAP, 2021).
Even before the pandemic, the signs have shown the existing digital divide among countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Within the Asia-Pacific region, the Internet usage in 2019 is 96.2 per cent in the Republic of Korea, compared to 25.5 per cent in Lao PDR. Among all the Internet users, around 70 per cent are youth (15 to 24 years old) while the older generation are not connected to the Internet (ITU, 2020a). Only 13 per cent of Asia’s population have a fixed broadband connection and the developing countries of the Pacific less than 1 per cent of the population have fixed-broadband subscriptions (ITU, 2020b). Hence, uneven digitalization creates the potential risk of undermining the achievement of SDGs by marginalizing vulnerable populations and remote countries, particularly those with weaker social protection systems, may be left behind as the speed of digital transformation accelerates (UN-ADB-UNDP, 2021).
Bridging Digital Divide and Accelerating Digital Transformation
In order to bridge the digital divide and accelerate digital transformation, Governments need to assess the critical elements of digital divide: accessibility, availability, affordability, capability, and interoperability as well as the crucial means of implementation such as financing and region-wide intergovernmental cooperation, including South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation. The preconditions or enablers for bridging the divide and accelerating digital transformation are: improved digital infrastructure, enhanced capacity development for digital literacy, increased mobilization of financial resources, and strengthened regional cooperation. Hence, the main components of bridging digital divide and accelerating digital transformation are:
- Digital infrastructure for enhanced connectivity: Better connectivity is one of the key drivers of digital transformation. Hence, improving digital infrastructure the top priority for the countries.
- Capacity development for digital skills: Digital literacy, digital skills, and digital understanding are the foundation for meaningful access to digital technologies and connectivity.
- Resource mobilization through digital financing: Digital financing facilitates the mobilization of limited financial resources.
- Regional cooperation as cross-cutting enabler: Regional initiatives such as Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway can facilitate the increased regional cooperation among countries to improve digital connectivity and standardization of digital technologies.
“Siloed approaches that turn a blind eye to the system-wide relevance of digital transformation can be inefficient, impinge upon economic growth, and cause structural imbalances” (UN-ADB-UNDP, 2021). Therefore, countries in the South-East Asia subregion must strengthen existing mechanisms and introduce new model of regionalism to improve the critical components to address the digital divide and accelerate the digital transformation. Regional organization like ESCAP can play the critical role in achievement this objective and support the achievement of sustainable development in the South-East Asia subregion.
Reference
ESCAP, (2021). The illusion of digital inclusion in the post-COVID world, ESCAP. Available at: https://www.unescap.org/blog/illusion-digital-inclusion-post-covid-world.
ITU, “Measuring digital development: Facts and figures”, (2020a).
ITU, (2020b), World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators 2020 Database, 24 ed (2020). Available at: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/wtid.aspx.
United Nations, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme (2021). Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leaving No Country Behind. Asia-Pacific SDG Partnership Report.