From Vaccines To Bandwidth: How UNICEF Supply Uses Procurement To Slash School Internet Costs By 60 Percent
Giga, the global initiative to connect every school to the internet, is helping governments to cut connectivity costs by up to 60 percent—using strategies from the playbook of Gavi, the vaccine alliance.
Geneva Becomes Global Hub for School Connectivity with Inauguration of Giga Connectivity Centre
Giga, the ITU-UNICEF initiative supporting governments to connect every school to the Internet by 2030, officially inaugurated its Giga Connectivity Centre today in Geneva, Switzerland.
Factbox – Why UNICEF Supply Bundles Tech to Connect Schools
To connect every school to the internet, Giga supports technologic agnostic bidding processes which are open to all companies and consortia. This helps the procurement process to deliver cost-effective, scalable solutions even in the remotest areas.
Powering Change: How Procurement-Driven Solarization Is Transforming Zimbabwe’s Classrooms
Some 60 percent of Zimbabwe’s schools cannot access reliable electricity and this might once have prevented them from connecting to the internet.
Encadré – exemples de baisse des tarifs internet dans les écoles africaines avec le soutien de l’Unicef Supply
Depuis le lancement de l’initiative Giga en 2019, l’UNICEF a constaté que les stratégies d’approvisionnement groupé permettent de réduire considérablement les coûts de la connectivité scolaire — qu’il s’agisse des frais d’installation initiaux (CAPEX) ou des coûts récurrents d’accès à Internet (OPEX) — de l’ordre de 30 à 60 %.
FACTBOX – UNICEF SUPPLY EXAMPLES OF INTERNET PRICE DROPS IN AFRICAN SCHOOLS
Since launching the Giga initiative in 2019, UNICEF has found that bulk procurement strategies can reduce the cost of school connectivity—both initial connection (CAPEX) and ongoing internet access (OPEX)—by 30 to 60 percent.
Encadré – les huit stratégies de l’Unicef Supply pour réduire le coût de la connectivité scolaire
Alors que les gouvernements africains s’emploient à connecter leurs écoles à Internet, l’UNICEF met à disposition son expertise et son appui en matière d’approvisionnement. Fort de cinq années de planification, de préparation rigoureuse et de projets pilotes, l’UNICEF estime que son soutien aux gouvernements africains peut réduire les coûts de la connectivité scolaire de 30 à 60 %.
Factbox – UNICEF Supply’s Eight Tactics That Drop The Price Of School Connectivity
As African governments connect their schools to the internet, UNICEF is offering its procurement support and expertise. Based on five years of careful planning, preparation, and pilot projects, UNICEF estimates that its procurement support to African governments can drop the prices of school connectivity by 30 to 60 percent. UNICEF expects to use the following eight key tactics:
Giga Photo Festival Celebrating the Impact of Being Connected
The Giga Photo Festival will hold its official inauguration and award ceremony on 12 June at the Parc des Bastions in Geneva. In collaboration with the City of Geneva, the festival showcases the winning photographs from the Giga Photo Contest 2025, organized around the theme “The Joy of Connection.”
The Giga Q&A with Mei Lin Fung, People-Centered Internet
Mei Lin Fung is Chair and Co-Founder of the People Centered Internet, begun in 2015 (with Vint Cerf, often called “a father of the internet”), which works to create a more equitable digital world. In this interview, she said it is time to shift the conversation from access to school to its impact. “These are the stories that need to be told—and the data that needs to be seen,” she says.
By Leading on School Connectivity, Botswana Opens New Opportunities for its Youth
GENEVA, May 22 – Botswana is quietly leading a digital revolution in Africa – connecting hundreds of schools, reshaping public markets, and providing new opportunities for its youth to pick up the necessary skills that will allow them to thrive in a digital economy.
The Giga Q&A with Naveed Haq, Internet Society
Naveed Haq is Senior Director for Infrastructure and Connectivity at the Internet Society. He is focused on bridging the connectivity gap, particularly for unconnected and underserved communities in the Asia Pacific region. His background is in computer science and telecommunications, including regulatory work in his native Pakistan.