The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and a telecommunications company have signed a memorandum of understanding for “digital transformation in Guinea-Bissau.”
The UNDP and the telecommunications company will jointly organize “contests and programming marathons to encourage entrepreneurs and digital innovation, establish facilities for learning digital skills, and provide vocational and entrepreneurial training for youth and women.”
UNDP’s deputy representative in Guinea-Bissau, José Levy, explained that the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus “exposed the fragility” of lack of digital capacity, and the UN agency has supported the government with Internet, laptops and applications to improve “their digital capabilities.”
For José Levy, quoted in the statement, digital transformation in Guinea-Bissau is “fundamental for sustainable economic development.
According to a study carried out by the Catholic University’s center for studies and opinion polls, presented in December 2020, and funded by the UN, Internet access in Guinea-Bissau is “clearly dependent on cell phones” and “conditioned by people’s economic capabilities.
The study also states that there is no public and shared Internet access and that people between 25 and 49 years old are the most intensive users.
