Several voices and one goal: how to foster Internet development in Latin America and Caribbean? Thumbnail
Development 14 November 2016

Several voices and one goal: how to foster Internet development in Latin America and Caribbean?

By Olga CavalliFormer Member, Internet Society Board of Trustees
Sebastian BellagambaVice President, External and Community Engagement

On 08-09 November 2016, the first Regional Internet and Development Dialog for Latin America and Caribbean (LAC-RIDD) was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the historical building of Palacio San Martin. The event has been hosted by the Ministry of Communications in Argentina, the InterAmerican Development Bank and the Internet Society.

Following the successful experience from the Asia Pacific version of this event held earlier in October this year, we have brought together key stakeholders from the region who are working in different pieces for digital development.

The main takeaway of this first event is that everyone agrees and is eager to work in collaboration for drawing the Internet development plans.

More than 200 people have attended the event, which had a high level attendance from government officials from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay and United States of America, as well as intergovernmental agencies, CEOs and Executive level of companies in different sectors (telcos, providers, internet industry) and representatives of the civil society, academia and technical community.

LACRIDD had 6 sessions covering topics as Access – demand and offer; Internet, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Education; Digital Economy and the launch of the Broadband toolkit (OECD-IDB). Each session had a moderator and a keynote speech, followed by a diverse panel of discussants.

First day was focused on Access challenges and opportunities, which can be summarized into 5 pillars to be tackled: connectivity, building capacities, regulatory frameworks, investment/resources, and social impact. The second day has been divided into 2 main axes: Internet and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Digital Economy.

Stay tuned! A full outcome report will be made available at: http://internetsociety.org/lac/ridd/

We want heartily to thank our partners, the government of Argentina and the IDB, for the team work and hard efforts that led to this successful event. We also want to thank our local Argentina Chapter for the support with the rapporteurs.

Do you want catch up with the LAC RIDD discussions? You can watch the video recordings at: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/lacridd 

Send any comments to: <[email protected]>

Disclaimer: Viewpoints expressed in this post are those of the author and may or may not reflect official Internet Society positions.

Related articles

Development 21 December 2018

Youth@IGF Fellow Story: How Far Are You From the Internet?

Growing up, a family friend will run all the way from her house with a pot of soup hoping...

Community Networks 19 September 2018

Learning by Doing: Have You Heard of the Suusamyr Community Network in Kyrgyzstan?

Last week, the Internet Society together with our Kyrgyz chapter and the wider local community held discussions about Internet...

14 September 2018

From Idea to Action: Beyond the Net Selects 15 Amazing Chapter Projects!

The Beyond the Net Funding Programme is pleased to announce the results of our 2018 grant cycle. A total...