A community of Digital Relays to facilitate digital inclusion of the most vulnerable in Benin

Emmaüs Connect and Sonagnon are launching a joint project to promote digital inclusion in Benin. The project aims to build the capacity of local organizations to become Digital Relays, capable of supporting the most digitally excluded groups: women, young people and people living in rural areas.

Three main types of action will be tested via three Digital Relay profiles, to identify those with the greatest impact and prepare for a national roll-out. In concrete terms, Emmaüs Connect and Sonagnon will support :

• 5 "Relais Numériques Ruraux" (rural digital relays) run by local shopkeepers in rural areas, offering 3,000 residents occasional support in their daily use of Beninese e-services;
• 1 Relais Numérique Mobile (mobile digital relay) managed by Sonagnon in Sô-Ava, via a connected dugout canoe that will travel to schools that are difficult to access to create digital pathways and facilitate the socio-professional integration of 300 young people;
• 1 Relais Numérique Coopérative Économique, managed by the Association des Femmes Amies in Womey, which will support 100 women in using digital technology as an economic gas pedal, to strengthen income-generating activities and autonomy.