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In 2015, the Internet Governance Forum started a community-driven process to collect concrete stories showcasing successful initiatives which offer potential means of connecting the next billion to the Internet and enabling them to get the best out of it. The output documents from the first three phases are available.

The fourth phase – Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion (CENB IV) specifically focuses on four SDGs:

  • SDG 7: Affordable to reliable and sustainable energy
  • SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  • SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

IFLA believes that libraries are essential partners for development and contribute in important ways to the SDGs. They form an existing funded network that reaches the local level and can be used to deliver inclusive programmes and services, including skills and resources. This in turn boosts literacy, internet usage, and access to research and other information.

As a contribution to the fourth phase of CENB, IFLA and its partners have gathered several stories that highlight the fundamental role libraries play in the connecting the next billion.

These stories  talk about the work of libraries in teaching children how to code or farmers how to navigate the internet to apply for agricultural subsidies, for example. There are also libraries supporting marginalised, homeless and unemployed individuals, offering them the information and skills they need to improve their lives.

Download the document and the detailed stories as a PDF.