Roughly 52 percent of the world remains offline. With the internet shouldering more of the global economy — as well as education, agriculture, healthcare, and government services — the world’s unconnected are being left further and further behind. The risk of creating a “Fourth World” is very present.

In every village in India, residents can get Nike shoes delivered by Amazon ... but the lady who is making the beautiful sari in an Indian village can’t put it on the Internet to sell to people in other countries.

The world’s unconnected need connectivity now, and, just as importantly, they need the knowhow to use it — or “digital literacy.” The great promise of internet inclusion from a development standpoint lies in empowering the newly connected to leverage the internet to create, think, and do in their own contexts, and to help accelerate their economic growth and well-being.

The contributions of development professionals from around the globe are needed to ensure digital literacy programs are implemented in parallel with efforts to connect the world’s unconnected. Put simply, it’s not enough to have the internet — people need to be able to use it too, and development professionals can help.

Read the source article on digital literacy by Melissa Sassi and Stephen Wyber at Devex International Development