Connect Africa Summit: postal networks must be a partner of choice
A UPU paper published for the Connect Africa Summit, which opened today in
Kigali (Rwanda), states that a postal network linked to other providers of infrastructure and network services would contribute to economic development and bring relief to poor and unconnected people.
More than 80 pct of post offices in Sub-Saharan Africa located in small- and medium-sized cities and rural areas, where 80 pct of the population lives. In his paper called Connecting the “unconnected” in Sub-Saharan Africa: postal networks can leverage access to infrastructure services, economist José Anson says that digital connectivity alone is not enough to trigger local, national or global trade. Physical connectivity is also essential in order to seize the opportunities brought by greater access to information through digital communication technologies.
“If digital and physical connectivity is to reduce poverty, then partnerships between networks must be closely examined so that the resources needed to provide infrastructure services in many small and medium-sized cities as well as rural areas are better shared, and the unit costs of delivering these services considerably reduced. Connecting networks such as the post, water, power, telecommunication and other utilities in peripheral regions is very likely to trigger unexpected economic efficiency gains.”
In Brazil, letter carriers read electricity meters, and prepare bills and collect payments on behalf of electricity companies. The Brazilian postal network has also facilitated access to basic financial services by teaming up with a private bank to create subsidiaries in isolated communities without any access to banking services.
The UPU has made Africa a priority. The continent was the first to benefit from a Regional Development Plan, a new tool developed by the UPU International Bureau as part of its efforts to regionalize activities to take advantage of the globalization of exchanges and contribute to the achievement of the UN Millennium Goals for Development.
