GIGA in Niger - interview of Patricia Lombo, Chief Education UNICEF Niger

Launched in 2019, Giga, a joint initiative of UNICEF and ITU,  sets the goal of providing connectivity to every school in the world. Some 3.7 billion people in the world do not have access to the Internet. The current COVID crisis undescores the need to overcome the digital divide. Space technologies plays a central role in this process. Earth Observation satellites provide essential data which can be combined with AI and local expertise to draw a precise mapping of schools at the country level, while communication satellites can offer broadband capacity to rural and remote areas. Few Nigerien schools are connected to the Internet. 89% of Primary schools are rural. 92% of Primary schools have no electricity.