61: Technology for good, bridging the digital divide: Heddy Ring, Telia Company and Lourdes Montenegro, World Benchmarking Alliance

61: Technology for good, bridging the digital divide: Heddy Ring, Telia Company and Lourdes Montenegro, World Benchmarking Alliance: "Digital technologies are accelerants, they are cross cutting enablers of sustainable development. It is not just one SDG that they can facilitate or hinder but it is all the SDGs. That is how central the digital system is” @Lourdes Montenegro, Lead Digital Sector Transformation at the WBA. While the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies it has also widened the gap between the under-connected and the hyper digitalised. There are numerous examples of those that are being left behind. Across the world the lack of access to both remote and online learning is expected to perpetuate intergenerational inequality and poverty. In the UK there are harrowing examples of the people on the margins being further disadvantaged by the lack of access - this includes older people, those on low incomes or without jobs, the homeless….. In this episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast my guests Heddy Ring, Lourdes Montenegro and I discussed the 2nd iteration of the WBA’s Digital Inclusion Benchmark. The benchmark aims to highlight industries and companies that are currently leading the way in fostering digital inclusion to trigger a race to the top, as well as holding underachieving companies accountable. We spoke about trends, the COVID bump, impact washing👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 👉🏾 The surprising reality that progress on digital inclusion is very slow and most companies are lagging behind with very few demonstrating a strong commitment 👉🏾 The marked discrepancy in how companies disclose environmental data vs social and governance data 👉🏾 While Tech companies are gung ho on AI, they are failing to consider the risks. Just 19 of the 150 companies surveyed commit to publicly available principles of ethical AI. Given the human rights implications the numbers are chilling 👉🏾 Techno-solutionism and the fact that most tech for good initiatives are one-off projects 👉🏾 On an average, women make up just 23% if the technical workforce in the 150 digital companies assessed, highlighting the need for more women in tech roles. 👉🏾 And just 15 of the 150 companies disclose that they have the basic processes in place to identity, assess and integrate human rights risks and impacts in their business practices. I was also surprised to not see any Indian telecom companies amongst the leaders, considering how innovative they have been in making mobile telephony accessible to the poorest and marginalised If you would like to know more, listen here

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The Elephant in the Room Podcast is a curated safe space to have uncomfortable conversations about the pervasive inequalities in society and our workplaces. The idea of the podcast was born from my sense of conflict about identity, self and the concept of privilege and fuelled by my own need to understand how my overlapping identities and experiences had impacted and would continue to impact my life chances. Two years ago I decided to ‘opt out’ to find my own purpose and focus on passion projects including learning about the systemic biases that are endemic in business and society. The Podcast is my very own listening project, a step towards being more intentional in my learning. The Elephant in the Room Podcast is for people who want to be a part of the change, for those who want to step up & speak out, for those who want to learn more about biases, barriers and best practice, for business leaders and for individuals, anyone who is interested in a fairer, more inclusive and compassionate society and workplace. Each week I will interview inspiring speakers from across the world on issues that are taboo and deserve to be mainstream including(but not limited to) systemic and institutionalised racism, discrimination based on further eight protected characteristics, poverty, mental health, climate change. The podcast will also talk about cognitive inclusion, culture, purpose, ethics and the importance of empathy, cultural intelligence and how conversations on identity and disadvantage would be incomplete without considering intersectionality. With the podcast I hope to share stories of people with lived experiences, stories that may have never been told, stories that galvanise us to take action for change and keep the conversations alive by raising the decibel on issues of inequity, inequality in our search for a fairer and more inclusive world.