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No school left behind: Connecting marginalised schools in the West Bank

In collaboration with the Palestine Authority, Giga has launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) to select suppliers to connect the remaining unconnected schools in the West Bank.

96% of the 2,284 schools in the State of Palestine are connected to the internet with more than 5 Mbps per school. The remaining unconnected schools are in marginalized areas, with most of them in Area C*. There have been previous efforts to connect the unconnected schools through pilots, however the main challenge is sustainability as the schools are unable to cover the cost of staying connected once these pilots are completed 

Giga therefore aims to explore different business and commercial models to sustainably connect the schools. The aim is to test if schools could raise the necessary funds to offset their connectivity costs by providing a Wi-Fi access point to their communities, partnering with the community to manage the network and reduce operational expenses, or partnering with Internet Service Providers (ISP) to use the schools as nodes and redistribute connectivity to households in the area.  

If you are an internet service provider or can provide a solution to sustainably connect schools located in the West Bank, submit your application to optsuppliers@unicef.org no later than 15:00 hours (GMT+2) on the 9th of December 2021.

Solicitation documents can be downloaded here: LRPS-2021-9171769 and Terms of Reference “ANNEX B”. 

Please pay attention to the special notes on page 5 of the LRPS. 

*Area C constitutes over 60 per cent of the West Bank with some 300,000 Palestinians living in 532 residential areas located partially or fully in Area C, alongside 400,000 Israeli settlers residing in approximately 230 settlements: https://www.ochaopt.org/sites/default/files/area_c_key_humanitarian_concerns.pdf.

In Area C Israel retains near exclusive control, including law enforcement, access and movement, and planning and construction.