On July 26, the Equitable Origin team held a working meeting with the Vice Minister of Telecommunications, Felix Chang, and the undersecretaries David Hurtado of Promotion of the Information Society and Digital Economy, and Paul Alberto Meza of Telecommunications and Postal Affairs. .
The objective of the meeting was to present the connectivity pilot project promoted by Equitable Origin, Inveneo and FEPNASH-ZCH to find possible spaces for collaboration and scalability of the initiative in other disconnected communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
The Vice Minister congratulated and thanked Equitable Origin and CEFO Indígena for their work in these remote areas and for contributing to closing the digital divide. Likewise, he mentioned that under his direction, the Vice Ministry of Telecommunications has been promoting several initiatives, among which is the project «Amazon Meeting Points 2022» to be launched during the month of August. However, he also acknowledged that it has not been possible to unify efforts with other government sectors to promote a global strategy to achieve 100% connected users in the Amazon. Each Ministry has its own initiative and this causes an overlapping of projects.
Yadira Ocoguaje, a Siekopai leader, highlighted the urgency of having this important service in the Siekopai communities of the northern Amazon. During the pandemic, the lack of access to this service meant a significant delay in the education of the children of these communities. The leader stressed that it is important to pay attention to the long-term effect that this will have on the development of skills and access to job opportunities of the Siekopai nationality.
For his part, the Director of CEFO, Joaquín Wray, pointed out the importance of linking connectivity initiatives with educational and digital literacy programs such as those promoted by CEFO Indígena in its pilot project in Mancolona, Mexico. This was an important point of synergy between Equitable Origin and the Ministry of Telecommunications who committed to continue exchanging information to establish a collaborative roadmap.