Executive summary
ITU’s Partner2Connect Digital Coalition allows all stakeholders to mobilize and announce new resources, partnerships, and commitments to foster universal meaningful connectivity and sustainable digital transformation.
Though focused on the hardest-to-connect communities in least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing states (SIDS), P2C is a Coalition for all. As of 6 December 2023, it has received a total of 845 pledges valued at USD 36.78 billion from 408 entities representing 138 countries around the globe.
When compared with last year’s Annual Report figures, P2C has increased by 53% the number of pledges received, by 24% the financial resources mobilized, by nearly 55% the total number of entities pledging, and by 20% the number of countries engaged in the Coalition.
Pledges continue to be submitted under P2C’s Action Framework, addressing specific pillars and issues. Of the four focus areas, which are ACCESS, ADOPTION, VALUE CREATION and ACCELERATE, most of the pledges are directed towards the first two.
Entities based in Europe are the most active, submitting most of the total pledges (245), followed by entities based in Africa (174) and the Americas (171). Regarding region of implementation, Africa is the region receiving most of the pledges (274, valued at USD 17.24 billion). Of the 845 total pledges submitted, 261 (31%) target at least one LDC and are worth an estimated value of USD 12.24 billion; moreover, 52% of the pledges include women as one of their beneficiary groups.
Government continues to be the sector submitting most of the pledges to the Coalition (470 pledges worth an estimated USD 9.7 billion). The private sector comes in second with 144 pledges but remains the leader in terms of financial resources mobilized (USD 24.46 billion).
Turning to pledge type, programmatic pledges continue to dominate by number of pledges (389 pledges worth USD 20.76 billion), followed by policy-related pledges (177 submissions worth USD 1.87 billion). Advocacy pledges took third place (143 pledges worth USD 63.98 million), and financial pledges came in fourth (136 entries worth USD 14.09 billion). Important to note is the 75% increase vis à vis last year in the number of programmatic pledges, and that the financial value of the advocacy pledges has doubled when compared with last year.
Whilst P2C’s pledge mobilization efforts advance, the Coalition continues to emphasize the importance of monitoring and reporting progress toward implementation. P2C’s self-reporting process and online form allow pledgers to comply with the principles of accountability, transparency, partnership and action-oriented leadership established by the Coalition. The process is also intended to support adherence to the commitments made at WTDC-22 to monitor and report on pledge implementation. Self-reporting is a duty for all P2C pledgers. Progress reports enable the Coalition to automatically update dashboards, improve their analysis of the overall progress, and make aggregated results instantly available on P2C’s online platform. Pledgers can always provide further regular progress reports to more accurately reflect how implementation activities are evolving.