Section 5 | RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS A problem-driven political economy analysis seeks to surface the informal, invisible, and often extralegal ways politics and business get done in any given context in order to make actionable rather than aspirational recommendations to address the problem under study. It seeks to identify “best fits” rather than “best practices” to make recommendations that are both technically and politically feasible.274 As detailed in the preceding sections, the political economy of the gender digital divide in Myanmar today contains many complex and intertwined foundational factors, institutional rules of the game, and key players jockeying for influence—and, doubtless, additional internal power dynamics and resource flows within stakeholder relationships that are not easily detectable to outside researchers. As a result, it is entirely possible that technically reasonable recommendations to address the gender digital divide may ultimately be unsuccessful. Therefore, informed by the analysis undertaken in this study, the section below presents a list of recommendations that are both technically and politically feasible, and thus more likely to result in progress by finding local champions and overcoming potential spoilers. The recommendations are organized along the three components of the gender digital divide: access, skills, and benefits. The icons indicate which stakeholders are involved. STAKEHOLDERS Efforts to reduce barriers to meaningful access to ICT and internet for rural, ethnic, and very poor populations should also accommodate the specific needs Government and priorities of women and girls. A key finding is that access to ICTs in Myanmar at the aggregate level is more strongly associated with non-gender-related aspects of digital disparities such as geography and age. Civil Society Lack of reliable and affordable access is primarily a barrier for the 17 percent of households that do not own a phone.275 While gender-based differences in access do exist for this group, the key stakeholders currently expanding “last mile” connectivity in isolated and/or conflictaffected areas and for the very poor are incentivized to maximize territorial and population- Private Sector based ICT coverage, not gender equality. Pragmatically, the recommendations hinge upon this interest. Prioritize Equitable Access in Ongoing Infrastructure Investments: The ICT Sector Working Group should serve as a focal point to develop high-level government capacity to Donors ensure equitable access for all, most urgently to champion the expansion of policy language in the draft Universal Service Fund (USF) strategy and draft ICT Master Plan 2016–2020 to reflect the needs of vulnerable groups as well as underserved geographies and market Cammack, Field Guide: USAID Applied Political Economy Analysis. According to research from 2016, 83 percent of households and 61 percent of individuals over age fifteen owned a mobile phone. Phone sharing is common within households, and women are twice as likely to use a shared device. Galpaya et al., Mobile Phones, Internet, Information and Knowledge. 274 275 Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment | 87