Since its inception, the Digital Transformation Centres (DTC) Initiative has provided over 500,000 – or half-a-million – beneficiaries with basic and intermediate digital skills training, with a female participation ratio of 54 per cent. This significant achievement was also an opportunity for the DTC community to look back at the Initiative’s journey and reflect on the progress and results achieved to date. In addition to reaching 500,000 course participants, DTCs were supported to develop their institutional capacities, with more than 700 instructors (26 per cent female) trained across DTC countries.
Through the efforts deployed by ITU, Cisco, and DTCI partners, support was extended for DTCs to provide basic and intermediate digital skills to citizens, organise train-the-trainer programmes, as well as outreach and/or community mobilization activities. In addition to accelerating digital skills provision to the underserved in the DTC countries, the implementation of the DTC Initiative has also translated into establishing and strengthening a global community of practice and fostering the exchange of knowledge and sharing of experiences among DTCs on best practices for reaching the underserved with relevant digital skills courses. Since its launch, the Initiative has seen a growth of the DTC network, as well as an increase in the number of partners supporting the Initiative. A comprehensive 5-year review documenting the impact and highlights of the DTC Initiative was prepared by ITU and will be published soon.