Author: iAfrikan News / Source: The Next Web
A new report has revealed that South Africa has $10 million sitting unspent in Universal Service and Access Funds meant to for the provisioning of Internet access in the country. The report, Universal Service and Access Funds: An Untapped Resource to Close the Gender Digital Divide,
Furthermore, the report (published by the Web Foundation, the Alliance for Affordable Internet, and UN Women) states that many governments in Afrika are failing to take action to connect women and other offline populations — despite the existence of funds earmarked for this purpose.
This at a time when affordability is a major barrier to women being able to access the Internet, with 1GB of mobile prepaid Internet costing approximately 2,35% of monthly average income.
“Universal Service and Access Funds offer an incredible and vastly underutilized opportunity for making real progress — an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. Every day that these funds remain unused is another day women and girls are sidelined in the digital revolution.
We call on governments to take immediate action to put these funds toward their intended purpose, and to work to make the digital divide history — starting with women and girls,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Executive Director of UN Women.
Some of the analysis and insights in the report shows that in order to reduce the growing global gender…
The post South Africa has an untouched $10M fund for internet accessibility appeared first on FeedBox.