JAKARTA, INDONESIA, November 18, 2021 -- The N50 Project is a new global initiative to accelerate digital adoption and community enrichment through innovative applications, network design, and business models to enable the next 3.9 billion people (the ‘Next 50%’) to participate in the digital world. With its first pilot underway in Zambia, N50 will be formally launched in Q1 2022.
A collaboration of global corporates, academic, government, NGOs, application developers, community stakeholders and others, N50 is a project managed by nonprofit digital inclusion specialists, Geeks Without Frontiers. “N50 partners, including Intel Corporation, share a passionate drive to close the global digital divide and enhance community enrichment. The primary focus is on developing digital inclusion solutions for unserved communities using best-practice, scalable, blueprints,” according to Geeks Without Frontiers CEO, David Hartshorn.
Geeks Without Frontiers co-Founder, Michael Potter, said: “N50 Partners believe that there is a collective moral imperative to invest in each person’s capacity for growth and opportunity and Indonesia, with over 6,000 inhabited islands and a large and remote and dispersed population, could greatly benefit from the N50 approach.“
We are excited to promote awareness of the N50 Project to Indonesia through the Indonesia Human Resource Foundation for Leadership round-table today and invite the Government of Indonesia, the private sector, NGOs and community leaders to work together to bring digital equity one community at a time.
Geeks Without Frontiers considers Indonesia a country which can see tremendous impact with use of the best practice playbook. We are now actively seek both public sector, NGO’s and the private sector to join together to implement this in Indonesia The N50 initiative aligns well with the directive of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) of Indonesia who, earlier this year, appealed to the Minister of Communications and Informatics to ensure that the Palapa Ring does not just stop as a backbone. “It must be connected to households so that the large investment in the Palapa Ring can immediately be utilized by all of our people, let alone during the pandemic." About Geeks Without Frontiers Geeks Without Frontiers (www.geekswf.org) is an award-winning non-profit organization whose mission is to bring the benefits of broadband connectivity to the estimated 3 billion people who remain unconnected in order to help close the Digital Divide and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In addition the Geeks Without Frontiers’ WomenConnect! initiative focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment by providing access to connectivity, technology and innovation that will give women unprecedented opportunities. About N50 N50 www.n50project.org is the Geeks Without Frontiers led initiative that is focused on the next 50% of the planet that does not fully digitally participate. The N50 partners' primary focus is to launch projects for marginalized communities using best-practice playbooks for long-term delivery of ICT solutions. N50 is an open, inclusive ecosystem that is fueling transformation in some of the world's most challenging environments. Our live 'Digital Participation' projects in the field are designed to enable communities to access the education, health, social and financial benefits that flow from affordable and sustainable digital inclusion. Your organization can make a difference. Submit a compelling project or a compelling solution. Join us to help communities that are currently stranded on the edge of networks. Join N50 | www.n50project.org/join