NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 15 – African e-commerce platform Jumia has partnered with the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF’s) to support its Giga initiative that seeks to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice 2030.
In a joint statement, the two said that the partnership was meant to ensure that every young person has access to the internet in order to get hold of information that would broaden their opportunities and their perspective of the world.
“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,” the statement read in part.
Jumia Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Juliet Anammah, said that in Kenya, Jumia will work on developing two prototypes for digital payment mechanisms that would enable the procurement process more transparent and efficient.
“We believe that technology can transform lives in Africa for the better. 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,” Anammah said.
Thomas Davin, Director at the Office of Innovation at UNICEF said that Jumia would be important in mapping out additional key locations in Africa that need internet connectivity through their provision of anonymized data.
”Partnerships with African companies like Jumia help UNICEF to tailor its approach to local circumstances and Jumia’s in-depth knowledge of markets across Africa will help Giga pinpoint both demands for connectivity and the economic benefits that it can bring,” he said.
So far, Giga has already mapped over 1 million schools and their connectivity around the world and has connected over 3,000 schools.
