[{"bbox": [97, 151, 1156, 207], "category": "Text", "text": "education in 2017 and 7% for higher education in 2018⁸. The literacy rate of youth in the age group 15-24 years is currently below 70%, affecting also their capacity to find decent employment⁹."}, {"bbox": [96, 231, 1157, 578], "category": "Text", "text": "In order to unleash the full potential of the youth, Mozambique needs to kick-start its digital transformation. Although the country has made some progress in the digital sector over the last years, it is still a long way from achieving universal broadband access. Internet data tariffs are trending downward thanks to Mozambique's connection to two international undersea links and increased competition in the market. However, internet is still not affordable to the majority of the population that has a low purchasing power. The proportion of individuals using the internet is only 21% compared to an African average of 28% or a world average of 54%. In 2020, 83% of the population lived within reach of a 3G mobile network and 40% within 4G¹⁰. High gender and urban-rural divides persist. Nevertheless, regulatory improvements have nurtured competition in the telecom market, half of the population was using mobile phones in 2021 and mobile broadband penetration has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Between 2021 and 2022, mobile connections saw an increase of 7.7% to 52.5% of the population in January 2022 (GSMA, 2022). Apart from the high cost of internet access and mobile subscriptions, other major constraints to access to digital services in Mozambique are the affordability of internet-enabled devices, digital illiteracy and the low electrification rates (access to energy is a challenge in Mozambique and fundamental to reduce the digital gap)."}, {"bbox": [96, 602, 1157, 870], "category": "Text", "text": "With respect to the regulatory framework, the Government of Mozambique has developed a series of policies and strategies for promoting the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. The Information Society Policy (2018) is the latest and key government document that lays out the vision, mission, objectives, and framework for ICT to become an economic and social vehicle for Mozambicans. The policy aims to leverage ICT to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of Mozambicans, boost the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector and the consequent economic growth, modernisation of the government and the provision of public services towards citizens, as well as improved social justice through increased democracy and transparency of the state. The Information Society Policy is implemented through a Strategic Plan for Information Society (2019-2028) and an Operational Plan for the Information Society. However, digital transformation has been hampered by little investment in connectivity and weak capacities of the government."}, {"bbox": [96, 894, 1157, 1002], "category": "Text", "text": "The COVID-19 pandemic was a revelation to the importance of safe, reliable and robust digital infrastructure, inclusive access to digital technologies, and the need to accelerate digital transformation across sectors. Mozambican firms and government sensed the urgent need to upscale investments in digital connectivity, technologies and services since they had become essential to ensure business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic."}, {"bbox": [96, 1026, 1157, 1264], "category": "Text", "text": "The EU, in line with the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa and in line with the Global Gateway investment package, aims to contribute to harnessing digital technologies and innovation to transform the Mozambican society and economy, generate inclusive economic growth, stimulate job creation and narrow the digital divide. Therefore, the enhancement of digital skills and the strengthening of the Mozambican digital economy ecosystem are key. The fundamentals to ensure progress towards achieving those results are the improvement of the policy and regulatory framework and ensuring access to affordable and accessible digital infrastructure. This action will concentrate first on the policy and regulatory framework, digital public service delivery, digital skills and digital entrepreneurship. Lack of digital infrastructure will be addressed through subsequent actions financed by the Multi-Annual Indicative Plan."}, {"bbox": [85, 1280, 340, 1311], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [96, 1327, 340, 1354], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Short Problem Analysis:"}, {"bbox": [96, 1354, 1157, 1540], "category": "Text", "text": "Although the adoption and effective use of digital technologies have the potential of shaping the Mozambican economy and improving citizens' quality of life, it also introduces new challenges and risks including a growing 'digital divide', risk of cyber-attacks and fraud, threats to privacy, and disruption to markets. A review of the digital state of play in Mozambique indicates a significant gap in the areas of broadband connectivity and affordability, intermediate and advanced digital skills, and the application of ICTs in the delivery of public services. Mozambique still lacks enabling legislation and regulation in data protection, privacy, cybersecurity and frontier technologies and its digital infrastructure is still a long way from achieving broadband universal access, contributing to high gender"}, {"bbox": [85, 1572, 748, 1598], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁸ UNESCO Institute for Statistics (uis.unesco.org). Data as of September 2021."}, {"bbox": [85, 1598, 738, 1623], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹ In: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS?locations=MZ"}, {"bbox": [85, 1622, 629, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ ITU 2019. Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures."}, {"bbox": [1037, 1680, 1144, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 27"}]