TV White Space Partnership in the Danajon Reef — a public-private partnership between Microsoft, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Philippines' Department of Science and Technology’s Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources — piloted, for the first time in the Philippines, a new technology that taps unused television broadcast frequencies (“TV White Space”) to extend high-speed, wireless Internet access to remote parts of the country.
“We are delighted to partner with Concordia and the U.S. Department of State Secretary’s Office of Global Partnerships to present the second annual P3 Impact Award,” said Darden Professor Mary Margaret Frank, academic director of the Darden Institute for Business in Society. “The TV White Space partnership is a perfect example of the creative and impactful solutions that can result when multiple sectors work together collaboratively.”
Under this partnership, USAID tested the use of TV White Space to enable a mobile, online system to formally register fisherfolk in Bohol. The Bohol province was previously one of the most biodiverse and productive marine areas in the Philippines, but extreme overfishing over the past five decades has decreased the fish population by 90 percent. Registering the fisherfolk provides the information necessary to create a plan for sustainable fishery use, not only critical to the survival of the marine life, but also to the human populations depending on them. Registration is a key step toward sustainable fisheries management, and allows fisherfolk to access vital government services, including health care, insurance and poverty alleviation funds.
Since TV White Space connectivity was established in April 2014, over 16,000 fisherfolk have been registered in the pilot municipalities, with almost 4,000 of those registrants exclusively registered through TV White Space technology. As a result, government counterparts have begun to use this new registration data to design and deploy better fisheries management interventions.
The partnership has also provided free Internet access for 20,000 Philippines citizens who previously did not have any. Because entire communities now have access to high-speed Internet, public institutions such as medical clinics and schools are able to provide improved services. Following these successes, the government has expanded the use of TV White Space to other locations in the Philippines to support its goal of providing wireless Internet access to 99 percent of its population.
"Today's global challenges require a coordinated approach,” said Natalie Pregibon, Director of Research at Concordia. “When sectors work together by aligning interests and leveraging their respective strengths, the impact is not only substantial, it is also sustainable.”
“The P3 Impact Award is meant to recognize the best existing partnerships and inspire others to use the power of partnerships as a mechanism to affect change in communities anywhere in the world,” said Andrew O’Brien, Special Representative for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State. “We believe that partnerships allow us to do more together than we can do alone, and hope others can learn from the example set by the TV White Space Partnership in engaging diverse stakeholders in their goals.”
TV White Space Partnership in the Danajon Reef is highlighted in a special edition of the Darden School’s thought-leadership publication Darden Ideas to Action, provided at the Concordia Summit. The publication features leading practices and actionable insights from the TV White Space partnership and four additional P3 Impact Award finalists. It will also be used to develop teaching cases and other materials to share and advance best practices with other public-private partnerships around the world.
The additional award finalists included: Partners in Food Solutions-TechnoServe Alliance, The Nature Conservancy-Dow Chemical Company Collaboration, Madagascar: Improving Water and Sanitation Services to Low-Income Communities and U.S. Global Development Lab’s Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship (PACE) Initiative and VilCap Investments: Catalyzing Investment to Democratize Global Entrepreneurship. The winner and finalists received international recognition at the Concordia Summit. As the winner, TV White Space Partnership in the Danajon Reef will also receive a full scholarship to attend a week-long Darden Executive Education course.
About the University of Virginia Darden School of BusinessThe University of Virginia Darden School of Business delivers the world’s best business education experience to prepare entrepreneurial, global and responsible leaders through its MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs. Darden’s top-ranked faculty is renowned for teaching excellence and advances practical business knowledge through research. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
About the Darden Institute for Business in SocietyThe Institute for Business in Society, established at the Darden School in 2011, prepares leaders to positively impact society through business. The institute advances thought leadership and innovative practices through research, teaching, programs and convening events.
About ConcordiaConcordia is a platform for leaders who are passionate about public-private partnerships (P3s). Through convenings and research, Concordia raises the visibility of public-private partnerships and demonstrates how they can be used to help solve the world’s most pressing problems. Held in New York City, the Concordia Summit is an annual event that brings together the world's most influential government, business, and nonprofit leaders to discuss urgent global issues.
About the U.S. Department of State Secretary’s Office of Global PartnershipsThe Secretary’s Office of Global Partnerships (S/GP) at the U.S. Department of State is the entry point for collaboration between the U.S. Department of State, the public and private sectors, and civil society. S/GP aims to strengthen and deepen U.S. diplomacy and development around the world by building and promoting public-private partnerships that leverage the creativity, innovation, and core business resources of partners for greater impact. S/GP works with partners across sectors, industries, and borders to promote economic growth and opportunity; to invest in the wellbeing of people from all walks of life; and to make democracy serve every citizen more effectively and justly.
Press ContactSophie ZunzDirector of Media RelationsDarden School of BusinessUniversity of [email protected] +1-434-924-7502+1-917-202-7540
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