Reliable internet access is the backbone of modern education. Beyond offering access to basic knowledge, reliable internet enhances research and personalized learning capabilities and creates the opportunity for cross-cultural exchange and knowledge-sharing, the eLearning Institute says. But hundreds of millions of people cannot reap these benefits, even today. In northeast Africa alone, almost 450 million people don’t have internet access. Imagine that as you read this on your phone or laptop. But that is changing, thanks to Intelsat and Academy-Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker’s Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI). Their new partnership is delivering high-speed satellite internet access to WPDI Community Learning Centers in conflict-affected regions across Africa and transforming lives by creating “digital bridges to education” in these conflict-affected regions.
Whitaker, an internationally known actor and humanitarian, has quietly been working to help those in conflict zones like South Sudan and Uganda since 2012. During the announcement of the WPDI/Intelsat partnership, Whitaker shared his experience growing up in South Central Los Angeles when the Crips and the Bloods gangs first came into being was instrumental in his approach at WPDI.
“I saw how conflict can rob a person of spirit. I saw how these gangs were affecting my community. I also saw how conflict affected my cousin Charles. He went to Vietnam; when he came back, he was a different person without a lot of spirit,” Whitaker shared.
These experiences gave Whitaker the germ of an idea for helping people in conflict zones, which he continues today through WPDI and his work as a UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation.
John-Philippe Gillet, SVP of Global Sales Media and Networks at Intelsat, told Today’s Modern Educator that through the WPDI and Intelsat partnership, communities now have a place to gather, connect, create learning opportunities, train for jobs and more at seven WPDI Community Learning Centers in South Sudan and three in Uganda.
The work Intelsat is doing in these countries is similar to what the company has done in other areas, such as Mali and the Republic of Palau, that also do not have the critical infrastructure needed to support reliable high-speed internet connectivity.
“Satellites level the educational playing field for everyone, but the added beauty of what Forest Whitaker is doing through his organization is providing an environment around the connectivity in which people can access the information that is now available because of the connectivity,” Gillett said.
Gillett, whose prior role at Intelsat was to oversee the satellite company’s work in Africa, said that war or terrorism has destroyed the terrestrial network in South Sudan and other African countries. As a result, they need additional services alongside basic connectivity.
“I am very passionate about this, because when you destroy a country’s terrestrial network, you can use that to take control,” Gillett explained. “Flip it the other way – by giving them a way to connect, you can create opportunities for people.”
As he explained, satellite connectivity is imperative to the WPDI Community Learning Centers in Sudan and Uganda. Intelsat is going beyond creating connectivity, however, by equipping the centers with reliable internet for the next three years.
“In addition to connecting these centers, we are leveraging our local teams to support the installations with solar panels to make sure the centers have electricity all the time.
By doing projects such as these, we are providing communities with fast, reliable connectivity for the first time ever,” Gillett said. “It is nice to work on something that is narrowing digital inequality, especially in a conflict zone.”
According to Caroline Descombris, WPDI executive director, the organization works closely with local communities to design the centers to ensure they meet the unique needs of that community while they offer essential tools needed for expanded educational opportunities, as well as entrepreneurship and peace-building initiatives.
“We are trying to help the communities where we work to pull down the barriers that create lack of access to education,” said Descombris. “We work with the local actors and communities in remote areas where there is no digital infrastructure and partner with companies like Intelsat to bring added value.
“With the communities, we design the type of training that makes sense for them, so our centers are really considered places of resilience and sustainability where we offer vocational and business training and entrepreneurship skills,” she continued.
Descombris also said they are hoping to turn connectivity into resilience by continuing a program they have held in the past that connects children in Africa with children in Los Angeles.
“With strong and reliable connectivity, we hope to continue a program when we have primary and secondary school children coming to the Community Learning Centers and connecting with classrooms of kids in LA,” she said. “The children were sharing their experiences and were amazed at what each other was going through in their lives. It was a chance to enrich the lives of the children in both areas.”
This type of cross-cultural exchange helps children “develop a more comprehensive awareness of world concerns,” according to the eLearning Institute. The internet – and the digital bridge created by connectivity from partners like Intelsat – make it possible for WPDI to offer these types of exchanges and help children to gain a worldwide viewpoint and set them up for success where they are through education, skills training and a focus on peace.
Learn more about how Intelsat and Forest Whitaker are changing lives through satellite connectivity.