The digital divide persists, especially along gender, geographic and generational lines. The public sector often lacks the requisite resources to ensure universal and meaningful connectivity. Meanwhile, the private sector may ignore financially unviable people and places. By combining the convening power of the public sector with private sector entrepreneurship, well-designed and executed public-private partnerships (PPPs) may bridge such gaps. While charting pathways for PPPs in pursuit of digital inclusion, policy makers must focus on:
- identifying and monitoring digital exclusion; ensuring transparency and accountability;
- upholding technology neutrality and adopting digital public infrastructure (DPI);
- engaging with the local communities for co-developing applications and capacity building;
- creating intentional positive discrimination for demand-side support; and
- overcoming the friction in inter-agency coordination.
