[{"bbox": [111, 76, 1147, 291], "category": "Text", "text": "Ethiopia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2023 has reached about 6.1%, indicating a slight decrease from previous year. Ethiopia's economic performance is handicapped by macroeconomic fragility, due to policy distortions and unfulfilled market economy reforms. Currently in distress, the country needs debt restructuring to re-gain some fiscal space for development and reconstruction expenditures, to service debt, and to finance imports. A new International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, under negotiation since the COHA, is not yet concluded. Poverty reduction has also slowed amid multiple, often intertwined, shocks of conflict, droughts/floods, and high (40%) food price inflation. Humanitarian aid dependency has been increasing in larger parts of the country lately, while at the same time humanitarian funding is shrinking."}, {"bbox": [111, 295, 1147, 537], "category": "Text", "text": "Digital connectivity, expressed here in terms of internet penetration rate, is among the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa with under 20% of the population in Ethiopia actively using the internet. While the widening poverty gap is more pronounced in rural areas, fast growing urban population increases inequality. Finally human capital remains low, both for gaps in basic and higher education and youth unemployment rate is at 6,4%% (Source: National Labour Force Survey 2021- with data of 2019 excluding Tigray). There is a mismatch between labour market demand and supply of graduates, resulting in 41% of degree holders both from university and TVET colleagues who were not employed within the first year of graduation (Source: Min. of Education, 2019). In addition, 17,5% of youth between 15 and 24 are not in education, employment or training and the proportion of females increases at 24,9% (Source: National LFS 2021- with data of 2019 excluding Tigray)."}, {"bbox": [111, 541, 1147, 728], "category": "Text", "text": "The GoE has as of recently laid out an ambitious policy agenda to transform the country into a diversified and resilient middle-income economy by 2030 (Home Grown Economic Reform Plan 2.0). It is understood that finalisation of this plan is linked to an agreement with the IMF on a support programme. The country's development plan for 2021-2030 includes among its key aspects the need to promote the digital transformation of the country, recognising the need to expand access to ICT infrastructure, promote digital literacy, and harness innovation and technology to improve service delivery and foster economic inclusion. These ambitions are gathered in the GoE's Digital Ethiopia 2025 Strategy – to which this Action aims to contribute."}, {"bbox": [111, 739, 273, 764], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Sectoral context"}, {"bbox": [111, 777, 240, 806], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Digitalisation"}, {"bbox": [111, 816, 1147, 899], "category": "Text", "text": "At continental level, Africa's digital economy has experienced significant growth in recent years, facilitated by increasing internet penetration and mobile phone adoption (incl. the fast appropriation of digital financial services such as mobile money throughout the continent)."}, {"bbox": [111, 908, 1147, 1123], "category": "Text", "text": "By 2022, Africa had over half a billion internet users and over a billion mobile connections across the continent, with the latter representing more than two third of the continents estimated population. These figures underline the potential for digital transformation in Africa, expedited by the continent's young population that drives much of the demand for digital services and online platforms, with e-commerce (USD 29B in sales p.a.) and fintech (USD 490B in transactions p.a.) spearheading said demand. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that the digital economy in Sub-Saharan Africa alone will require 230 million digitally-skilled workers by 2030. This highlights the pressing need to promote the integration of digital skills development across educational institutions and to understand digital skills as a key building block for Africa's digital transformation."}, {"bbox": [111, 1132, 1147, 1375], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite the progress being made, digital gender gaps remain a reality that needs to be considered when designing digital transformation programmes. In Sub-Saharan Africa, women are disproportionately affected by limited access to digital technologies, with 28% of the women use internet compared to 38% of men¹. This digital gender gap extends to mobile phone ownership and usage, limiting women's ability to leverage digital platforms for economic empowerment and social inclusion. Additionally, women are underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) fields and face (cultural/social/financial) barriers in accessing digital skills training and education, exacerbating disparities in employment opportunities in the digital economy and developing financial independence. Addressing the digital gender gap is therefore crucial for unlocking the full potential of Africa's digital economy and achieving gender equality."}, {"bbox": [111, 1384, 1147, 1572], "category": "Text", "text": "Recent data from Central Statistics Authority estimated that about 8 million people in Ethiopia live with some form of disability, among which around 2.2 million people have severe disabilities. There are complex barriers for persons with disabilities to access the Internet and other supporting gadgets such as smartphones. In many developing countries, including Ethiopia, people with disabilities may be unable to have essential products such as mobile phones and Internet connectivity largely due to economic reasons and, to some extent, because of cultural and social factors that create the digital divide between societies². Furthermore, the school infrastructure in most of cases is not adapted to the needs of young persons with disabilities."}, {"bbox": [100, 1617, 966, 1643], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹ https://webfoundation.org/2020/03/the-gender-gap-in-internet-access-using-a-women-centred-method/"}, {"bbox": [100, 1642, 590, 1668], "category": "Footnote", "text": "² https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejhr/article/view/224072"}, {"bbox": [1051, 1667, 1158, 1692], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 28"}]