Ericsson and Zain Back U.N. Telecom Project in Nigeria

Ericsson and Zain have joined the Millennium Villages Project, which is run by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Promise and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project has deployed communications services to fight poverty in a largely rural area of Nigeria, pushing some of the poorest regions of the country towards achieving the nationally endorsed UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).


The installation of mobile technology is part of the Millennium Villages Project which is a community-based initiative designed to empower the people of Pampaida in Ikara Local Government Area of Kaduna State of Nigeria. It is helping to improve agricultural production, a foundation of the region's economy, thus reducing poverty. Additional benefits include improving access to health, education and infrastructure, all under the umbrella of achieving the MDGs by 2015.


With the aim of bridging the digital divide and breaking the isolation that hampers development in rural Africa, the Millennium Village Project has a set objective of bringing mobile communication and the internet service to more than half a million people in select villages in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
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