Section 2 | FOUNDATIONAL FACTORS research,118 key informants and focus group participants consistently describe a situation in which expanded access to technology has not led to a corresponding increase in digital skills. The overwhelming majority of those who now enjoy access to ICTs are underutilizing these technologies’ potential to create and consume relevant information and services. This is especially true of female users. Figure 8: Reliance on Formal ICT Training, by Gender Women Men 29% 71% Figure 9: Reliance on Informal ICT Training, by Gender Women Men 38% 62% There are several reasons for this. First, ICT users in Myanmar have access to a limited range of ICT hardware and digital training. Recent public-private initiatives to equip schools119 and libraries120 with technology have focused on mobile tablets; cyber cafes and telecenters121 with public-access computers are primarily available in urban areas. One key informant, a businessman who has provided hardware, connectivity, and ICT training for teachers in a rural primary school in the Delta region, stated that most rural children had GSMA and LIRNEasia, Mobile Phones, Internet and Gender in Myanmar; IREX, Why Young Women Need Digital Skills Now to Participate in Myanmar’s Information Society (Washington, DC: IREX, 2016). 119 In 2016, Connect to Learn equipped thirty-one schools and provided ICT training to 155 teachers and approximately 21,000 students in a partnership among DfID, UNESCO, Ericcson, Qualcomm, Columbia University, and the Ministry of Education. 120 From 2015 to 2016, Beyond Access Myanmar equipped ninety libraries and provided ICT training to 88 librarians. Those librarians trained an additional 470 librarians and approximately 175,000 patrons with funding from BMGF, Ooredoo, and the Dariu Foundation. 121 MIDO has established sixty-two telecenters for local entrepreneurs with funding from Telenor and plans to build 200 more by 2018. 118 Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment | 39

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