Inclusion Economics team secures funding to expand research-policy work for more inclusive digital transformation
Yale Inclusion Economics researchers were recently awarded $3.5 million by the Gates Foundation in a new investment that will expand the evidence base on pathways to promote women as agents in the digital economy and encourage evidence-based programming.
Digital connectivity has increasingly become essential to access economic opportunity and government services. Yet, large gender gaps in device access and internet use persist across much of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, despite rapid spread of smartphones. Our team of researchers from Inclusion Economics at Yale University has spent years rigorously researching levers to promote women’s digital inclusion, evaluating programs focused on addressing device affordability and digital skills training and women-centered use cases.
Inclusion Economics at Yale University recently received a $3.5 million investment from the Gates Foundation, funding a four-year project focused on rigorously generating new evidence on potential pathways to gender-inclusive digital economies and encouraging evidence-based policy and practice within digital ecosystems. This work builds on a framework developed through earlier research conducted by the Inclusion Economics network in Kenya, while expanding the team’s research and collaborator engagement to additional countries in the region.