UNICEF, Jumia mull partnership to connect schools in Africa to the Internet

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and African e-commerce platform Jumia, announced today a partnership in support of Giga’s work to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice.

Jumia’s data science capacity will offer Giga insights into the economic benefits of increased connectivity, helping to make the case for increased public and private investment in Africa. Jumia will also share anonymized data to help map school locations and connectivity across key Giga countries.

In Nigeria, Jumia and Giga will work on two prototypes for digital payment mechanisms that can be used to make school connectivity procurement more transparent and efficient.

“Jumia’s in-depth knowledge of markets across Africa will help Giga pinpoint both demand for connectivity and the economic benefits that it can bring,” said Thomas Davin, Director, Office of Innovation at UNICEF. “Partnerships with African companies like Jumia help UNICEF to tailor its approach to local circumstances, making our work on behalf of children and young people more effective.”

“We believe that technology can transform lives in Africa for the better. Through Jumia’s unique local expertise, we are happy to support UNICEF and Giga’s work by leveraging data across all our countries in the continent to enable learning institutions in Africa to have access to the internet”, said Juliet Anammah, Jumia group chief sustainability officer.

Around half of the world’s population still has no meaningful access to the Internet. UNICEF and Jumia are committed to addressing this digital divide, which has widened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Giga has already mapped over 1 million schools and their connectivity around the world and has connected over 3,000 schools.

Giga is part of UNICEF’s broader Reimagine Education initiative, which aims to connect all children and young people to world-class digital learning solutions by 2030. It has the potential to transform efforts to narrow the digital divide, providing a connectivity layer on which digital empowerment initiatives can build.