Can UNICEF’s Push to Connect 500,000 African Schools Finally Bridge the Digital Divide?

“Africans know the problems, they have the solutions, they have the motivation, they just need the opportunity.”

Julie Wang, African Development Professional

In a bold attempt to narrow the world’s most entrenched digital divide, UNICEF has unveiled a sweeping initiative: connecting 500,000 schools across Africa to the internet by 2030. Framed as both a procurement strategy and a development mandate, the plan aims to reduce infrastructure costs and pool demand across nations, inviting global suppliers, philanthropic donors, and the private sector to rethink what’s possible for connectivity on the continent.

If successful, the program could transform education access for tens of millions of students, many of whom live in areas where digital tools remain out of reach. If it fails, however, it risks repeating the cycle of high-profile investments that fall short of real change, and widening the gap between global ambition and local outcomes. The initiative enters a landscape riddled with long-standing obstacles, including unreliable infrastructure, limited energy access, and past initiatives that faltered before reaching scale.

The timing reflects both pressure and potential. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of school systems unprepared for remote learning. At the same time, shifting global funding patterns and renewed interest in education equity have created space for bold, coordinated action.

Whether this effort succeeds will depend not just on technology, but on timing, trust, and long-term vision. After years of fragmented approaches, is this finally the moment when global coordination can meet local need?

We spoke with a development professional with expertise in Africa to better understand the situation, potential challenges and opportunities for success in making meaningful impact.

Julie Wang is a development professional who has worked on issues pertinent to Africa, focusing on public health, digital inclusion, and localized economic and agricultural development.

Her experience includes fieldwork in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, and Tanzania. She received her master’s in international economics and African studies and her master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Connecting schools to the internet has long been part of the international development agenda, but past efforts have rarely achieved sustainable, system-wide change. This time, however, UNICEF is advancing a procurement strategy that aims to centralize demand across the continent, creating economies of scale and lowering per-unit costs for infrastructure. The initiative signals a shift from one-off projects toward a regional model that could reshape how connectivity is delivered and maintained.

According to Julie Wang, a development practitioner with extensive experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, the timing of this renewed focus is no coincidence. “There’s always been talk about how Africa can leapfrog technologically, precisely because it doesn’t have to rebuild outdated infrastructure,” she said. “But I think what’s driving this now is what we saw after Covid. School closures made it clear just how vulnerable education systems were without digital tools.”

Wang also noted that shifting geopolitical dynamics may be quietly influencing the pace of action. “I suspect this may be moving forward more quickly due to the looming threat of the U.S. government cutting support to UN agencies.” In this light, accelerating large-scale progress could help safeguard donor confidence at a moment of heightened scrutiny.

This convergence of political urgency, post-pandemic lessons, and demand-driven design may offer something previous attempts lacked: coordination. If governments, suppliers, and communities can align behind a shared structure, UNICEF’s model could transition from stopgap interventions to lasting systems of access, particularly for regions that have historically been left behind.

Delivering internet access to half a million schools will require more than laying cables or deploying wireless hubs. In many remote and underserved parts of Africa, the fundamental logistics of getting equipment to schools remain a formidable challenge.

“Ensuring the roads are good enough to transport the goods, doing last-mile delivery of the hardware, those are big obstacles,” said Julie Wang, who has worked on development projects in rural areas across Sub-Saharan Africa. But logistics are only the start. Once devices or infrastructure are installed, another layer of complexity emerges: maintaining them.

In rural communities, access to spare parts is limited and skilled technicians are often concentrated in urban centers. “There tends to be internal migration away from rural areas to cities because that’s where the jobs are,” Wang explained. “So having people locally who can repair computers or maintain internet systems is critical.” Without a stable support system, donated equipment can deteriorate within months, leaving schools worse off than before.

Reliable energy is another missing link. Schools that lack electricity or depend on diesel generators face steep operational costs, especially as fuel prices rise. “In places like Malawi and Burundi, I’ve seen fuel shortages and long queues at gas stations,” Wang noted. “Even when schools have generators, the cost of running them can be unsustainable.” This makes consistent digital access a fragile proposition, particularly in off-grid areas.

Weather and geography can compound the risk. In flood-prone regions or areas vulnerable to landslides, infrastructure can be damaged seasonally, requiring repeated repairs that may not be accounted for in initial budgets.

Even in classrooms, digital inclusion hinges on ratios and resources: “Student-teacher ratios tend to be very high, and you need enough devices to make the experience meaningful,” said Wang. Drawing from her work on a nursing and midwifery training project in Ghana, she highlighted how students often lacked access to basic tools for practical learning. “It’s about more than just giving one computer to a school. If a class has 100 students and only one device, no one really benefits.”

As UNICEF’s plan rolls out, these layered realities suggest that infrastructure, while foundational, is only part of the equation. Without investment in maintenance, energy, human capital, and equitable classroom access, connectivity risks becoming a symbol of progress without delivering its substance.

While installing internet access is a critical first step, sustainability depends on whether connected schools are embedded in an ecosystem that can support and maintain them. Without energy, local capacity, and a long-term service model, digital infrastructure can become obsolete before its potential is realized.

One promising avenue lies in building local energy solutions alongside connectivity. “There’s a growing number of small enterprises in the renewable energy sector that are providing mini grids or micro grids to communities,” said Julie Wang. These solar-powered systems provide a more stable and scalable energy source than fuel-based generators, often accompanied by built-in economic benefits. “What’s interesting is that these companies usually hire local people for maintenance and operations. So they’re not only delivering electricity, they’re creating jobs and skills within the community.”

This kind of integrated development can also support longer-term digital inclusion. If schools are connected to microgrids, nearby businesses and homes may benefit as well, building local economies around consistent energy access. Over time, this could support the emergence of IT repair shops, digital service providers, and other small enterprises essential to maintaining functional infrastructure.

Wang emphasized that many communities already have small-scale tech support, particularly for mobile phones, but distance remains an issue. “It’s one thing to have a shop in a nearby town. It’s another thing entirely when that’s still several hours away from the school.” In such cases, even basic repairs or troubleshooting can mean long delays, higher costs, and extended downtime for essential learning tools. Without decentralized, school-adjacent tech support, the digital divide risks being replaced by a maintenance divide.

The lesson is clear: real impact requires more than equipment. It calls for investment in people, infrastructure, and localized economic systems that can sustain digital access. By aligning school connectivity with broader development goals, initiatives like UNICEF’s can plant the seeds of long-term transformation, provided the ecosystem is built to grow with it.

For connectivity efforts to deliver lasting educational outcomes, infrastructure must be supported by policy alignment, financial coordination, and curricular relevance. Achieving that requires more than goodwill—it demands clear incentives and shared accountability among governments, donors, and the private sector.

Julie Wang emphasized the importance of building a business case for long-term engagement. “You don’t want to deliver devices that ultimately break down and then there’s no one there to fix it,” she said. Sustainable investment depends on aligning commercial viability with development goals. In the energy space, for example, microgrid operators often work closely with communities to assess needs and viability before building systems, and then train locals to maintain them. A similar approach could be applied to the provision of education technology services.

Public-private partnerships can also help address cost barriers, particularly in procurement. Wang noted that in some countries, basic digital tools can be prohibitively expensive due to trade barriers or limited supply. “We heard from a partner in Burundi who struggled to find an affordable camera to support communications work,” she said. “Meanwhile, in places like Kenya, where there’s more infrastructure and vendor presence, it can be easier to source what’s needed. But that kind of access is not evenly distributed across the continent.” Finding affordable equipment remains a persistent challenge, especially in markets with limited supply chains.

At the institutional level, investment in teacher training and curriculum reform is just as critical as hardware. Digital access alone will not improve outcomes unless schools know how to integrate it into instruction. “Curricula need to actually incorporate internet use in a way that’s helpful to students,” Wang said. That includes preparing youth not just for exams, but for the digital economy they are expected to enter.

UNICEF’s plan to connect 500,000 African schools to the internet by 2030 reflects an urgent global ambition, but its success will depend on whether that ambition is grounded in local systems, skills, and infrastructure. Real impact will not be measured in procurement numbers or kilometers of cable, but in classrooms where students have power, support, and meaningful digital access.

As Julie Wang puts it, “Africans know the problems, they have the solutions, they have the motivation, they just need the opportunity.” Creating that opportunity requires more than connection. It requires a long-term commitment to inclusion, coordination, and the ecosystems that enable learning to thrive.

Ultimately, UNICEF’s work must also recognize that the most effective solutions will not be engineered from afar, but in collaboration with people at home They will emerge from communities that understand their own challenges and are empowered to design, maintain, and evolve the tools they need. For global ambitions to succeed, local leadership cannot be an afterthought it must be the foundation to creating meaningful and lasting impact.