Bissau, 8 July 2021 - Digital transformation is the key to accelerate progress for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Orange Bissau have signed, on Wednesday, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for digital transformation in Guinea-Bissau. This partnership happens at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of digital transformation and made it essential for the development of any country.

Through the MoU, UNDP and Orange will jointly organize contests and hackathons to encourage digital entrepreneurs and innovation, establish facilities for learning digital skills and provide vocational and entrepreneurial training to the youth and women.

While signing the MoU, José Levy, the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Guinea-Bissau, said that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed fragility due to the lack of digital capacity. He said that UNDP provided the government with the Internet, laptops, and applications to enhance its digital capabilities. The UNDP Deputy Resident Representative also underlined the great potential for digital transformation in the country. He said that digital transformation is fundamental for sustainable socio-economic development. “As a result of our evaluation of the situation, UNDP has created a digital transformation team to innovate the change-making process”, concluded José Levy.

On this occasion, Mr. Brutus Sadou Diakite, the Director-General of Orange Bissau S.A., expressed pleasure to collaborate with UNDP and highlighted the commitment of his company to contribute towards the development of Guinea-Bissau. He said that Orange is one of the big actors of digital transformation in Africa and Europe. It has been working for digital transformation in other countries and remains committed to the same in Guinea-Bissau.

UNDP supports the Government of Guinea-Bissau to embrace digital advancement through capacity building, digital equipment, and technical support. Currently, UNDP is conducting an assessment on the country's digital readiness to identify opportunities and challenges.

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Media contact: Charlotte Alvarenga Alves, UNDP Communications Analyst, Tel +245 955462227; charlotte.alvarenga@undp.org