Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday announced a new partnership that will double internet access across Africa.
Around 40% of the continent has access to the Internet and the new partnership aims to increase this to 80%. Harris’ announcement follows a trip to Africa last year and came as Kenyan President William Ruto visited Washington for a state visit.
During a conversation with Ruto, the vice-president highlighted that the US wants to reimagine its relationship with Africa. She said on Friday that “it shouldn’t be about benevolence, but about thinking about the relationship in the context of partnership.”
Harris also noted that the average age in Africa is 19, a sign of the potential economic growth that lies ahead of the continent. The future, she said, is in Africa.
The continent has struggled to obtain the capital needed to build its technology sector. Foreign direct investment fell in 2022, after reaching an all-time high in the previous year. Africa accounts for just 3.5 percent of foreign investment worldwide, the Associated Press reported.
Harris announced her “digital inclusion” efforts because there is “great potential” for economic opportunity, to advance social and gender equality and to create jobs, the White House said. said in a statement.
The African Development Bank Group, together with Mastercard and other organizations, will help form the Digital Economy Access Mobilization Alliance. The alliance will give digital access to 3 million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria before expanding elsewhere, according to the AP.
The White House promoted the partnership in a press release, noting that Africa’s “digital transformation” has and will continue to open “new markets for U.S. exports and services” and creating a “deep partnership between African governments [and] the US private sector.”
The management added that the transformation would also increase productivity and competitiveness.
While the alliance was enthusiastically greeted by event attendees, people working for US technology companies in Kenya demand more responsibility and better working conditions.
A group of workers wrote to President Biden, seeing their meeting with Ruto as an opportunity to express their concerns. They say the content moderation and artificial intelligence work they do, for very little pay, is mentally and physically harmful and can be compared to “modern slavery.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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