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A South Sudanese refugee youth tries to get signal on his mobile phone in Nyumanzi refugee settlement, Adjumani, northern Uganda. From this hill overlooking the refugee settlements, refugees can sometimes pick up the South Sudanese phone network and make cheaper calls home.
© UNHCR/Frederic Noy
In December 2019, the Avanti Connectivity Project pledged to donate satellite broadband connectivity and hardware to seven sites in refugee settlements in Northern Uganda. The goal was to enable refugees to access information, humanitarian services and livelihoods services, and offer their host community the same access to connected sites.
At the time, no one was aware of how important this pledge would be, when a few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a halt. As borders, schools, and offices closed, online activities became the norm.
Refugees who have fled their country of origin need digital connectivity in remote and off-the-grid areas, such as Palabek, Imvepi, Bidi Bidi, Kiryandongo, Maaji II, and Rhino Camp refugee settlements. The solar connectivity equipment, laptops, free bandwidth, maintenance, and customer support provided by Avanti allowed refugees and host communities to keep in touch with their families and friends, receive information from the situation in their home country and avoid misinformation, especially with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the Global Refugee Forum, 85 pledges have been reported as fulfilled. Avanti is one of the six pledging entities from the private sector that have announced that they have fulfilled their pledge. Avanti looks forward to continuing to bridge the digital divide.
Discover exactly how this will benefit people forced to flee and their host communities in the video below.
