An Opportunity for Sustainable Change
The technology and know-how needed to connect the unconnected already exists.
Just as cooperatives and community organizing were essential to rural electrification, non-traditional operators have consistently demonstrated how to deliver high-quality, affordable internet access where other market actors have not. In partnership with civil society, they are working to provide alternative infrastructure to disenfranchised communities, pioneering new and more affordable business models, delivering digital skills training, producing locally relevant content, and advocating for policy change.
Non-traditional operators like these need financial support to sustainably scale and meet the digital equity needs in their communities.
Connect Humanity can provide that critical, missing support, de-risking investments with our decades of experience in connectivity policy, technology, and funding.
Connect Humanity’s Holistic Approach
Digital equity is only possible by working together to address the interrelated barriers to access
Communities of non-traditional operators, philanthropists, impact investors, policy wonks, civil society organizations, and regulators have built a deep body of knowledge about how to deliver digital equity. Their knowledge has too often been siloed and disconnected. Cultivating communities of practice and sharing community-based insights is essential to meeting the needs of underserved communities because the path to digital equity begins with infrastructure expansion, but it doesn’t end there. Access, in and of itself, is insufficient. Far too many people today encounter connectivity services they can’t afford, devices they don’t have the skills to use, and content they are unable to access due regulatory barriers or are unwilling to pay for because it is not available in their language. That’s why Connect Humanity addresses the financial realities of the digital divide in a holistic manner by offering support to communities when, where, and how it is needed.

Digital Equity
- Infrastructure
- Affordability
- Digital Skills
- Content
- Policy
Infrastructure
Scaling non-traditional operators and means of expanding device access
Affordability
Catalyzing new business & financing models to reduce the cost of connecting
Digital Skills
Developing the workforce that can build the internet and supporting digital literacy initiatives at scale
Content
Increasing incentives to use the internet by expanding locally relevant content
Policy
Advocating for changes to accelerate the rate at which people are connecting