IGF 2024 Open Forum #20 CONNECT.POST: Connect communities through the postal network

The focus of this Open Forum was the potential to leverage the vast global postal network to help bridge the digital divide and promote digital inclusion. 

The session was kicked off by Mr. Kevin Hernandez from the Universal Postal Union (UPU) who provided an overview of the UPU’s CONNECT.POST project. CONNECT.POST aims to connect all 650,000 post offices in the world to the Internet by 2030 and leverage their connectivity to help bridge the digital divide by providing Internet and digital equipment access to surrounding communities and to promote digital inclusion by transforming post offices into one-stop shops for essential digital services. The presentation highlighted the growing recognition of the need for hybrid service delivery through one-stop shops to help mitigate digital exclusion for less connected groups. Mr. Hernandez underscored that many one-stop shop efforts fall short of their digital inclusion potential because they tend to be concentrated in urban areas and thus fail to reach people in rural areas. Meanwhile, post offices are well-placed to foster more inclusive one stop shop networks due to their presence in remote areas.

Mr. Rodney Taylor and Mr. Nigel Cassimire of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) provided updates on a collaboration between the CTU and the UPU to leverage postal infrastructure for promoting digital inclusion. The CTU advocates for the postal sector to play a more prominent role in the digital transformation strategies of member states, recognizing its potential to help bridge the digital divide and mitigate the risk of digital exclusion. Digital assessments of postal services have been conducted across the region to guide policy development and upgrade initiatives. Mr. Taylor highlighted Barbados's experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the postal service facilitated driver’s license applications which was later expanded to include other services requiring physical credentials, such as passports and visas. Mr. Cassimire emphasized the CTU's vision of transforming post offices into digital hubs in remote areas, with a focus on utilizing Universal Service Funds (USFs) to support these transformations and ensure their long-term sustainability.

Ms. Yu Ping Chan from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) applauded CONNECT.POST’s approach of hybrid service delivery for essential digital services. She stressed that digital inclusion efforts and global digital inclusion narratives (including those in the GDC) are often narrowly focused on providing Internet access and that there is a need to think beyond this, especially in remote areas where expansion of infrastructure is unlikely to lead to digital inclusion on its own. She provided an example of a collaboration between UNDP and Egypt Post where they are delivering 27 e-government services and a wide range of other digital essential services (e.g., digital financial services). Ms. Chan sees potential to replicate this partnership in more countries. She also asked whether low-cost connectivity options such as Internet in a box solutions might be suitable to connect posts in remote areas.

Mr. Dan York from the Internet Society (ISOC) commenced his presentation with an overview of ISOC’s goal to ensure that people everywhere have access to affordable resilient Internet by 2030. ISOC has partnered with many anchor public institutions in rural areas including schools, libraries, community centers, and hospitals to establish community networks. Mr. York says public institutions are well-placed to ensure the sustainability of rural connectivity projects due to their existing role as social hubs in their communities and their stronger likelihood of having existing funding and energy infrastructure. He expressed ISOC’s interest in exploring partnerships with posts, something they have not yet engaged in. He briefly mentioned the potential for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to provide high speed connectivity in rural and remote areas. 

Ms. Kerry-Ann Barrett from the Organization of American States (OAS) stressed the need for the digital transformation of postal networks to be secure by design especially if post offices are transformed into one-stop shops. As postal networks offer a wider range of services to more people, they become a more critical infrastructure, making their resilience to cyber-attacks increasingly important. This also opens up new vulnerabilities and entry points for cyber-attacks and identity theft. She underscored the need to upskill postal staff to ensure they have the cyber hygiene knowledge necessary to limit entry points for cyber-attacks. Collaboration with governments, cybersecurity firms, international organizations, and third-party vendors is key to mitigating these risks. Best practices such as the establishment of incident response teams must be replicated. There is potential for OAS to work with the UPU on these issues. Mr. Tracy Hackshaw of the UPU provided a brief overview of the UPU’s existent global cyber-security efforts including the establishment of an Information Sharing analysis Center (ISAC) and the UPU’s administration of the .POST top-level domain. 

A lively discussion followed. The importance of building the digital capacity of the postal staff especially in cyber-hygiene was further stressed. The potential to offer digital literacy and cyber-security training in post offices was discussed. There are examples of post offices being leveraged as community information centers where rural residents can partake in digital training. The role of the posts in ensuring less digitally literate people can receive ‘hand-holding’ support when applying for digital services that are only available digitally was also stressed. The potential to link the digitalization efforts of libraries and posts was considered. The UPU is currently establishing an MoU with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to explore how post offices and libraries can facilitate place-based ecosystems for digital inclusion. The provision of digital financial services via the postal network was discussed, something that is already happening in many countries across the world thanks to the role the postal sector already plays in global financial inclusion efforts. The potential role of drones for delivery via the postal network to help address infrastructural challenges in rural areas including in remote unplanned settlements that lack addressing systems was mentioned.