Sharad
Sapara, Director of UNICEF’s Innovation Centre and Christian de Faria, MD &
CEO, Airtel Africa exchange contracts at a signing ceremony.
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UNICEF and Airtel
have entered into a partnership agreement to expand their collaboration across
17 countries in Africa.
The partnership aims
at improving Africa’s population access to health and education-related
information whilst pushing forward various innovative projects supported by
UNICEF.
The agreement allows
UNICEF to tap into Airtel’s mobile services to make health, education and
youth-focused content available to Airtel customers across the 17 African
countries. Through improved connectivity, more Africans will have free access
to mobile applications and services developed by UNICEF, such as eduTrac, mTrac
and U-report.
Speaking on the
partnership, Christian de Faria, Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa
commented; “Airtel is committed to providing innovative solutions that overcome
access and quality challenges around the delivery of services. Our partnership
with UNICEF provides an opportunity to deploy mHealth innovations that can
support healthcare systems and provide helpful education-related information.”
The partnership
covers 17 countries in Africa – in Eastern and Southern Africa: Kenya, Malawi,
Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia; and in West and
Central Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria
and Sierra Leone.
“Access to
information is a basic human right, and is fundamental to UNICEF’s innovation
agenda,” said Sharad Sapara, Director of UNICEF’s Innovation Centre based in
Nairobi. “Without access to information children and young people are stifled
and cannot make the right decisions on matters concerning them. By improving
connectivity, this partnership has the potential to empower millions of African
children and youth with information and opportunities to help them become
agents of change in their societies.”
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