UNESCO's Internet Universality Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Internet Development

"How the range of Internet issues are integrated within public policy affects matters like equality, inclusiveness, media and journalism, cultural diversity, quality education for all, and the protection of human rights."

The Internet Universality Indicators (IUIs) framework is a set of indicators for assessing how well national stakeholders, including governments, companies and civil society, are doing in ensuring a transparent, technologically neutral, accessible, and affordable internet. Developed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) over a 3-year process of global, open, and inclusive consultations with stakeholders, the framework is intended to help governments and other stakeholders to assess their national internet environments and develop appropriate policy approaches and improvements. The framework is not intended either to provide a basis for scoring national performance or to make comparisons between countries.

UNESCO points out that digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer opportunities for access to information, freedom of expression, human connectivity, technological innovations, and multistakeholder engagement. However, ICTs pose challenges, especially with regard to free expression, privacy, online disinformation, the safety of journalists, transparency, accountability, deepening inequalities, and gender and other divides.

The framework covers key aspects of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.10, which calls for public access to information and fundamental freedoms. In this way, UNESCO claims, the indicators can contribute to achieving key objectives that impact other SDGs. The IUIs also assess a wide range of issues related to freedom of expression and media development, thus updating and complementing UNESCO's Media Development Indicators (MDIs), Journalists' Safety Indicators, and Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media.

The research instrument contains 303 indicators (109 identified as core ones), distributed under 6 categories, 25 themes, and 124 questions that cover the categories of ROAM - Rights, Openness, Accessibility, and Multistakeholder participation - as well as 79 contextual and cross-cutting indicators to address gender equality and the needs of children and young people, economic dimensions, trust and security, and legal and ethical aspects of the internet. Together, these form the ROAM-X framework.

Having detailed the consultation process, the publication presents the ROAM-X indicators and provides sources and means of verification that may be used in the assessment of indicators. To facilitate the national assessment of ROAM-X indicators, the publication also includes an implementation guide that sets out 8 steps of the process and concrete deliverables for a national assessment.

Chapter 9 provides guidance concerning sources and means of verification for all the questions and indicators, which fall into 3 categories:

• quantitative indicators, which use data derived from official statistics and other data sources where these are available, such as household surveys, private sector data gathered by internet businesses, and, where necessary, estimation based on reliable parameters and proxies;
• institutional indicators, such as the inclusion of specific principles in constitutional or legal instruments, and the establishment and functioning of implementing agencies or other organisations; and
• qualitative indicators, such as information from focus groups, interviews with informants, and contributions to a consultation process.

In November 2018, the 31st Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) endorsed the voluntary application of the ROAM-X indicators by stakeholders interested in conducting national assessments of internet development. Initial results from the ongoing national assessments were showcased at the upcoming Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Berlin, Germany, on November 25 2019. A number of countries mentioned there is increasing realisation of the importance of digital content creation in local languages, and also of the gender digital divide.

UNESCO programme specialist Xianhong Hu said that the lessons from the ongoing assessments were that the process should begin with dialogue and build consensus by formulating a multistakeholder advisory board in the country. Similarly, experience with the MDIs suggests that small teams of researchers that bring together diverse experience and perspectives can be particularly effective in drawing out the full range of evidence available. Such teams can work collaboratively in a relatively short space of time, using a variety of sources and approaches, including group discussion within the assessment team itself that draws on its members' diverse experience and perspectives.

The first country to have completed an assessment using the IUIs was Brazil, with the national assessment report published in 2019 (click here to access "Assessing internet development in Brazil: using UNESCO's Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators"). Reports are expected in 2020 from Benin, Senegal, Kenya, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Ecuador. Other countries are at different stages of assessing the IUIs; a further update will be organised during the 2020 IGF.

UNESCO invites Member States, stakeholders, actors, and research teams to express their interest in conducting national assessment of the IUIs in their countries. Feedback can be sent to UNESCOs focal point Xianhong Hu (see above) or to internet.indicators@unesco.org. To keep updated on the future implementation process of the IUIs, stakeholders can sign up to the Internet Universality Community and receive periodic emails.

UNESCO plans to review the indicator framework 5 years after adoption and at 5-yearly intervals thereafter. Such a review will also draw on the experiences and lessons learnt of assessments conducted and completed.