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An important effort to close the digital gender gap

Announcement
Fornebu
4 minute read

Telenor and Plan International Norway have entered into an agreement to continue their partnership to empower societies by promoting digital inclusion and building skills for the digital future. The goal is to help close the digital gender gap and give children and young people, particularly girls, the skillsets they need to thrive in a digital future.

Since 2018, Telenor and Plan International have been working together to reduce digital inequalities across geographies where both organisations are active. By combining Telenor’s expertise in mobile communications with Plan’s local presence, innovative programmes and focus on girls’ rights, Telenor and Plan will drive for increased gender equality. Key to this effort is helping children and young people acquire the skills to include the digitally excluded, impart skills to excel in the future, and ensure a safe online experience for all.

“We are very pleased to extend the important partnership with Telenor with three more years. Together we help provide girls with the basic digital skills they need to safely unlock the potential that the Internet offers," says Kari Helene Partapuoli, National Director Plan International Norway.

Plan Int. and Telenor
Remain focused: Kari Helene Partapuoli, National Director Plan International Norway, and Cecilie Heuch, EVP and Head of Telenor Group People commit on behalf of their respective organisations to continue the joint effort to close the digital gender gap.

“Through our global partnership we have a common ambition to reduce inequalities globally, by developing the digital skills of children and young people, and with a special focus on the inclusion of girls. Together, we are working to make sure that the technology contributes to reduce rather than increase inequalities. This is hugely important to children, and in particular the girls that Plan wants to reach,” Partapuoli adds.

“At Telenor, we have seen at first-hand how our partnership with Plan International has helped make a difference. We are therefore very pleased that we have now agreed to also work together for the coming period. Plan recognizes the opportunities that modern communications technology can bring, and like us at Telenor they want to see those opportunities become available to all. We trust that together with Plan International, we can achieve our collective mission of enabling children and youth, especially girls, in our markets to develop skills for a safe and promising digital future,” says Cecilie Heuch, Executive Vice President and Head of Group People.

Plan Int. and Telenor
Cecilie Heuch, EVP and Head of Telenor Group People and Håkon Bruaset Kjøl, SVP and Head of External Relations in Telenor Asia, marked the continuation of Plan International and Telenor's partnership at Telenor's HQ at Fornebu, Norway on 8 March 2022.

Since 2018:

  • Students and teachers have acquired new digital skills and insight into how to stay safe online. This includes training in how to tackle online harassment, how to master digital technology on a day-today basis, and how to be good digital citizens.

  • We have worked alongside education authorities to ensure that these skillsets become part of the regular curriculum for children and young people. We have also made teaching materials available to students and teachers through Telenor’s extensive communications campaigns.

  • Young people, and especially girls, have been given the opportunity to learn how to develop their own technology, with a special focus on social challenges and digital citizenship.

Media contact:

Eilif Swensen

Head of Communications

Plan International Norge

Media contact

David Fidjeland

Director, Media Relations

Telenor Group