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26 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2025 income-generating opportunities and educational advancement, and where there is power, there can be internet. Connecting the Unconnected We often think of internet access as a conve- nience, but in rural communities, it's transfor- mational. In rural India and Bangladesh, internet kiosks and mobile-enabled services help farmers get real-time crop prices, health information, and government services from their phones. Satellite-based internet services, such as Star- link, are entering the fray with bold promises: low- latency, high-speed broadband in remote corners of the globe. Though still in rollout stages and rela- tively expensive, these services represent a vision of a world where no one is too far away to be part of the global conversation. However, connection alone isn't enough. The Digital Literacy Divide The uncomfortable truth is that even with technol- ogy, there is often a digital literacy gap. In com- munities where there is limited education, many people have never used a smartphone, much less navigated a search engine, an email platform, or a government portal. This creates a new kind of exclusion: one not based on infrastructure, but on understanding. To counter this, community tech hubs and non- profit initiatives offer basic digital training. In Ghana, Curious Minds, a youth-run organization, teaches children how to use digital tools to advocate for health, education, and human rights. In South- east Asia, companies like Grab provide digital liter- acy training to gig workers, helping them manage finances, navigate apps, and improve safety. It's not just about giving people the tools; it's about empowering them to use those tools meaningfully. Partnerships That Power Change One entity cannot address the scale of the digi- tal divide. That's why partnerships between gov- ernments, NGOs, tech companies, and local lead- ers are the linchpin of sustainable progress. For example, Internet Saathi, a collaboration between Google and Tata Trusts in India, has trained over 80,000 women in rural villages to become "Internet Saa- this" (internet friends), who have then taught millions of other women how to use smartphones and the internet. It's a model of grassroots empowerment: women teaching women, in local dia- lects, on their terms. Similarly, UNICEF's Giga initiative, in partnership with the International Tele- communication Union (ITU), aims to map every school in the world and con- nect them to the internet. The logic is simple: connect the school, connect the community. Schools become digital anchors, providing access to students, families, and village leaders. Transfor- mative results emerge from partnerships grounded in cultural understanding and mutual respect. Technology Changing Lives—One Story at a Time Thanks to these efforts, individual lives are chang- ing in dramatic ways. Consider Almaz, a young woman from rural Ethiopia. Before her village had solar-powered internet access, she had never used a computer. Now, she runs a small digital ser- vices shop, printing documents, providing inter- net access, and teaching basic tech skills to local youth. Her shop has become a local hub for infor- mation, connection, and a source of financial inde- pendence for her family. In Guatemala, indigenous farmers now use GPS- enabled tools and weather apps to plan planting G LO BA L C I T I Z E N S H I P