USAID and Reliance Foundation join hands to fight gender digital divide in India

Mumbai, August 12, 2020: Under the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has partnered with Reliance Foundation to bridge the gender digital divide in India. The partnership was announced at a W-GDP event on Tuesday, hosted by Deputy Secretary of State of the United States Stephen Biegun and with special guest, Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President of the United States, and Deputy USAID Administrator Bonnie Glick.

The W-GDP Women’s Connect Challenge (WCC) supports private sector-led approaches that close the gender digital divide, expands business opportunities, and empowers women. As part of programme, W-GDP will partner with the Reliance Foundation to create an India-specific expression of the WCC and incorporate the lessons of previous W-GDP WCC Rounds.

On the occasion, Advisor to the US President, Ivanka Trump said, "The W-GDP Fund was created to source and scale the most innovative programs to advance women’s economic empowerment. We are leveraging the resources and expertise of the U.S. government and the private sector so that activities have enduring, deep effects on the communities they reach."

Acting Administrator of USAID John Barsa said, " The W-GDP Fund at USAID is financing innovative solutions to close the economic gap between women and men and help our partners advance on their Journeys to Self Reliance."

At the event, through a virtual video message, Founder and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation Nita M Ambani said, "I am delighted and proud to announce that Reliance Foundation is joining forces with W-GDP, through our partnership with USAID. Together, we shall launch the W-GDP WomenConnect Challenge across India, in the fall of 2020."

In 2016 Reliance launched Jio - a tech ecosystem that has ushered in digital life for 1.3 billion Indians and delivered first-hand a pan-India digital revolution that has transformed lives in ways unimaginable before. Today, Jio is the largest digital services company in India, and the second largest in the world. As many as 120 million Jio users are women, and the number is growing rapidly. This year Reliance Foundation is celebrating its 10-year anniversary, and over the last decade has impacted the lives of 36 million Indians. Together, Jio and Reliance Foundation will make a tremendous contribution to the W-GDP Initiative in India to help bridge the gender digital divide.