Geneva. – UNICEF helps children to go online by using its procurement muscle to fast-track internet access in African schools. This could cut costs for governments and unlock new opportunities for tech providers. After five years of planning, the organization is planning a formal procurement process aimed at connecting 500,000 schools to the internet by 2030 — using its global supply chain expertise to lower barriers, accelerate rollout, and ensure value for money.
Connecting these schools to the internet across Africa will cost about US$6 billion over five years plus an additional US$1.2 billion in annual operating costs. The final amounts will depend on the costs of connectivity, which UNICEF aims to reduce by as much as 60 percent.
As one of the world’s largest buyers of goods and services for children — from vaccines to ready-to-use therapeutic food — UNICEF procured $5.2 billion in supplies and services across 162 countries in 2023 alone. That same procurement power is now being used to close the digital divide.
“When we bring UNICEF’s procurement power to the table, it changes what’s possible — governments can connect more schools, more quickly, and at a lower cost. That means more young people gaining the digital skills they need to participate in the global economy,” said Jaime Archundia, UNICEF’s Procurement and Market Development Lead for the Giga initiative.
UNICEF can also help to attract more bilateral and multilateral funding for school connectivity, reducing the costs to governments even further. In Sierra Leone, for example, it worked with the government to pitch for finance from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
Transparent Processes
Private sector suppliers, on the other hand, will benefit from transparent procurement processes, predictable contracts, and a large untapped market.
“We are activating this market,” Archundia said.
The Giga initiative was launched in 2019 by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to connect every school in the world to the internet. Despite progress, one third of the global population remains offline.
Some 107 private companies have expressed an interest in working with UNICEF to connect African schools to the internet, and UNICEF is now preparing to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) perhaps as early as fall this year. Those companies that meet the standards on price and quality will then be invited to bid on a list of specific schools to connect, likely involving thousands of schools.
Clustering School Connectivity Across Africa
“Our target is to cluster school connectivity projects across all Africa, into groups of thousands of schools, so we can make deployments more efficient and reduce costs,” Archundia said.
By mapping school connectivity and developing finance and delivery models for multiple countries, UNICEF has improved market transparency and dropped the levels of risk for private investors.
Lack of electricity and other infrastructure gaps do not have to be an obstacle, since UNICEF is looking to bring solar power and satellite connections, when needed, into the market, adding to the list of suppliers and increasing market competition.
Source: giga.global
Giga is a UNICEF-ITU global initiative to connect every school to the internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice.
