"The digital revolution is creating a new human being in a new society, the Information Society, which is not accessible to all people, as in the beginning of time. Today we must either pay to use costly and complex equipment, or remain isolated. The North has both the equipment and the resources to pay for access and utilisation. The South, in its great majority remains excluded from the information era.

The digital gap causes a decrease in opportunities, intellectual and economic poverty, and most of all, it deepens the divide between cultures and civilisations. The North and the South communicate less and less, with an increasing risk of isolation for certain people, especially in Africa. It is paradoxical and ironical that at the end of a process which it has initiated, the continent who invented the alphabet finds itself excluded from universal knowledge.

The concept of digital solidarity proposes a strategy aimed at bridging the digital gap based on voluntary contributions. The actors involved in this solidarity effort are cities and local authorities, civil society, the private sector and nation States. Their action is international, based on a Digital Solidarity Charter and operating through a Digital Solidarity Fund, established thanks to the commitment of Senegal, the City of Geneva, the City of Lyon and the Province of Torino.

The Digital Solidarity Fund aims at providing developing countries with access to a standard Information Society which is within the reach of all people. The South has shown that under certain conditions, it had the capacity to develop successful digital opportunities. The Digital Solidarity Fund must then not only explore North-South exchanges, but also capitalise on South-South cooperation.

The world of today needs unity in diversity, as well as mutual understanding and respect. This is the only way in which we human beings will live up to the other challenges of our existence. We must build an Information Society based on the principles of this deeply rooted belief. "

H.E. Me Abdoulaye Wade

President of the Republic of Senegal
President of the Digital Solidarity Fund Honorary Committee