Despite the Internet’s critical role in education, livelihoods, and civic participation, more than 2.6 billion of the world’s population remains offline. This deep digital divide reinforces existing inequalities, especially for women, rural communities, and low-income groups. Access alone is not enough; meaningful digital inclusion also requires affordability, relevant skills, and locally grounded support systems.
The Internet Society Foundation’s Strengthening Communities/Improving Lives and Livelihoods (SCILLS) grant program, launched in 2020, was created to help close this gap. Working in targeted countries within the Africa, Asia and Latin America regions, the identified countries that is Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, and Senegal, SCILLS supports community-led initiatives that equip underserved groups particularly women, youth, indigenous people, displaced populations, and persons with disabilities with digital skills linked to economic and education opportunities.
With more than USD $10 million invested in 49 projects, the program has reached more than 9,000 learners and helped over 6,600 youth apply their skills to generate income. All projects are locally tailored, gender-responsive, and designed in partnership with grassroots organizations to ensure cultural relevance, community ownership, and long-term sustainability.
After four years of program implementation, we wanted to pause and reflect. We knew SCILLS was creating meaningful impact, our partners and participants have shared powerful stories of doors opened and lives transformed. But we wanted to go beyond individual stories to understand the broader picture: What’s working? What challenges are emerging? And how can we improve? Most importantly, what lessons can we take forward to support the Internet Society 2030 Strategy?
To answer these questions, we commissioned an independent evaluation firm in 2024, Triangle Global LTD, to assess how and to what extent SCILLS is advancing digital inclusion, education, and economic empowerment in underserved communities, while also informing how best to position our grant-making in support of Internet Society’s strategic priorities for 2030.
For us, this evaluation was more than a review of results, it was an opportunity to listen deeply, reflect honestly, and improve intentionally. We wanted insights to help us ensure that SCILLS continues to reflect the needs and priorities of the communities it serves, while laying the groundwork for scaling and sustaining impact in the years ahead.
This is the executive summary, which presents the key findings, lessons, and recommendations from the evaluation in more detail, offering a clear picture of SCILLS’s achievements to date and the opportunities ahead.
What We Learned
The evaluation reinforced several important lessons that will guide the future of SCILLS and Internet Society 2030 strategy:
- Flexibility is a strength. The program’s adaptable design allows grantees to respond to local needs, while co-locating grantees (concentrating grantees in a limited number of countries) fosters collaboration, shared problem-solving, and mutual support. This flexibility not only makes the program more relevant, but it also allows for stronger local partnerships and peer networks contributing directly to Internet Society 2030’s vision of mobilized communities by strengthening grassroots connections, and meaningful access by ensuring solutions respond to real community needs.
- Connectivity, affordability, and access to devices, shape success. SCILLS projects are most effective when these three factors already exist in some form, though their quality and availability vary greatly. At the same time, both partners and communities have shown strong interest-and clear demand-for expanding digital skills training even in regions where connectivity, affordability, and device access are limited. While SCILLS itself cannot resolve all infrastructure challenges, it can help address barriers and connect with Internet Society’s broader connectivity efforts. In doing so, it advances Internet Society 2030’s vision of meaningful access by ensuring digital skills go hand-in-hand with affordable, reliable connectivity.
“When we do the selection process, during registration we ask if applicants have Internet access and if they have their own computer. Thanks to some allies, we sometimes donate computers to those in need. We maintain a very close, one-to-one accompaniment with students through a co-trainer, and if we see that connectivity or tools are at risk of causing a dropout, we look for a way to donate Internet access during training. We always try to ensure that they have the tools to be able to connect, and if they don’t or need additional support during training, we remain very alert to the risks of dropout.”
– Group interview with IT trainers and teachers in Colombia
- Digital safety emerged as a critical pillar of SCILLS. The evaluation showed that many participants entered the program with limited awareness of online risks, leaving them vulnerable to fraud and unsafe practices. SCILLS addressed these gaps through tailored training on phishing, fraud, account protection, and secure digital behaviors. Learners reported significant changes in confidence and practice, such as refusing suspicious calls or safeguarding personal data. By building digital trust alongside technical expertise, SCILLS ensures that participants not only gain access to online opportunities but could engage safely, responsibly, and sustainably. By embedding digital trust alongside technical skills, SCILLS advances Internet Society’s 2030 Strategic goals for a safe and secure Internet, ensuring that communities can engage online not just effectively, but responsibly and sustainably.
“I am doing business online, so cyber security is really important for me. I learned a lot about cyber security from the training. As most of our transactions are done through mobile financial services, so sometimes fraud people call us and act as the agent and try to steal our money. They talk very nicely. I didn’t understand before this. I believed them. Even if someone called me and asked me about the OTP code for my account, I would have given the code to them. But now, I am more aware of this thing. I don’t talk with them. I disconnect the call. But before, I talked to them and thought they are important people.”
– In-depth interview with female participant in Bangladesh
- Communities of practice matter. Grantee gatherings are essential for fostering peer learning, adaptability, and innovation. For program participants, the cohort model helps build confidence and strengthens their ability to engage online. The SCILLS team conducted seven grantee gatherings.
- Policy engagement amplifies impact. National government involvement through supportive policies, investment in connectivity, and local networking can help scale results from the community to the national level. By linking community impact to broader systems, SCILLS advances Internet Society 2030’s vision of favorable policy environments that expand digital inclusion at scale.
“Most of the local actors we worked with, such as libraries, schools, and other educational institutions, have shown great interest. After seeing the benefits of the program, they have continued organizing training sessions and even requesting our assistance. While we can’t always accommodate every request due to other commitments, we maintain collaboration with them on new projects in the digital field.”
– From key informant interview with project staff from Senegal
- Digital empowerment transforms women’s roles. Access to digital platforms boosted women’s visibility, confidence, and income, reshaping household roles and community perceptions. Women leveraged tools like Facebook, TikTok, Google Maps, and WhatsApp to grow businesses, gain independence, and in some cases-such as in Senegal achieve national recognition. These stories show how meaningful access is not just about getting online, but about creating real opportunities for social and economic empowerment directly advancing Internet Society 2030’s vision of meaningful access that aims at changing people’s lives.
- In Senegal, a participant gained national recognition through her TikTok-based sales and media coverage, highlighting how the program empowered women to take control of their financial futures. These transformations illustrate pathways to empowerment that go beyond economic outcomes, as women gained self-esteem and overcame initial fears associated with using smartphones. For many, the program opened pathways to independence, both financially and personally, as they gained control over their digital and financial lives. Here is an excerpt from an interview with one of our SCILLS’s partners in Senegal:
“I’d like to share a quick success story from yesterday. One of the program beneficiaries, who wasn’t very visible online initially, has now significantly developed her activities thanks to the program. Yesterday, a media group traveled all the way from Dakar to meet her. This is a highly followed media group in Senegal. This woman had become known through her activities on social media, despite initially not being very active online. Through platforms like TikTok, she started promoting and selling her products. The media group came to highlight her success, showcasing the positive impact of this program and its methodology.”
– From key informant Interview with project staff in Senegal
- Embedding digital skills into national education systems ensures scale. SCILLS partnered with Ministries of Education to integrate digital skills into school curricula, ensuring long-term reach. In Bangladesh, its content was embedded into government teacher training, reaching over 50,000 educators. In Ghana and Colombia, schools adopted SCILLS tools for daily lessons, creating models for wider rollout. Beyond classrooms, participants shared skills with peers and family, showing how local champions sustain impact after the program ends. This work advances Internet Society 2030’s vision of favorable policy environments and meaningful access that aim at changing people’s lives, by ensuring digital empowerment reaches entire education systems and communities.
“Now that it is integrated, it’s owned by the government at the same time. The content that we are producing for the school children, it’s targeted for 4000, but we will be integrating this on our YouTube platforms and our television shows. Children all over the country will also be able to see this content.”
– From group interview with project staff in Bangladesh
“And I think that just to add to all this, I’ll go back to the alignment with the national curriculum. That’s when we align the project with a national curriculum. This is also sustainability, because it’s not looking at a territory, at a very specific context. We create something that can work in Brazil as a whole, so these displacements, this expansion, this capillarity becomes easier to achieve as well.”
– From group interview with project staff in Brazil
- Measurement needs more rigor. While the program’s flexible design is a strength, it makes impact evaluation more complex. Strengthening monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems will be critical for capturing results across diverse contexts. Future cycles will introduce a core set of shared indicators, including measures for online safety and connectivity built to align with Internet Society 2030 strategy.