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International

We are fortunate in Geneva to have the “Reshaping ourselves to meet the needs
International Telecommunication Union’ the
United Nations specialized IT and Telecom and challenges of an ever-more digital
agency. This is a high-tech area that many world will ensure that we continue to
people have little knowledge about. Dorren deliver real value to our members for
Bogodan-Martin is a forward-looking,
inclusive, and globally recognized leader with many decades to come.”
30 years of experience in the Information
and Communication Technologies (ICT)
sector, government relations, and multilateral arm of ITU into a modern, fit-for-purpose
organizations. She has nearly 28 years with organization optimized to better serve the
the International Telecommunication Union government and private sector members of
(ITU). Over the years IT has become ingrained ITU’s Development Sector (ITU-D).
in our daily lives, and we were curious to know
more about this field. We had a chance to meet Our fast-evolving digital landscape offers so
with Mrs Bogodan-Martin, who despite her many new opportunities for collaboration and
busy schedule, took the time to answer our partnership. Reshaping ourselves to meet the
questions. needs and challenges of an ever-more digital
world will ensure that we continue to deliver
Q: You are currently the Director of real value to our members for many decades
BDT. What do you consider your main to come.
achievements in your tenure?
I’ve been really privileged to work with so Q: We are living in a strange time of
many outstanding teams over the years – so I pandemic, where a virus has changed our
would say there’s such a lot to choose from. lives. The Internet and telecommunications
have become more and more important in
If I had to pick just a few things, I’m very our society. Are we heading towards a new
proud of what we’ve achieved with our social order?
Global Symposium for Regulators, which Post-pandemic, no-one in highly connected
was an event I pioneered more than 20 years nations can imagine life without digital
ago. With effective digital market regulation access.
now so critical to inclusion and uptake,
the ability for regulators to get together to Yet the latest ITU data shows that 2.9 billion
“Post-pandemic, no-one in highly share experiences, best practice and ongoing people – or 37% of the world’s population

connected nations can imagine life problems has proved extremely effective in – remain totally shut out of the online
optimizing frameworks and accelerating world. What’s more, 96% of those offline live
without digital access.” digital transformation in countries right in the world’s low-income countries.
around the world. So, I’m delighted that our
GSR has gone from strength to strength to That means that while digital technologies
become the must-attend annual event for the were able to help mitigate the full impact of the
Interview with global ICT regulatory community. pandemic on individuals, communities, and
economies in countries with near-ubiquitous
Mrs Doreen Bogdan-Martin I’m also enormously proud of our EQUALS access to fast, affordable connectivity, those

Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau partnership community for digital gender living in parts of the world with poor, expensive
equality, which in just a few short years or even non-existent access to digital resources
has grown to more than 100 organizations have been increasingly left behind.
spanning 115 countries worldwide.
ITU data shows that 800 million users came
At the corporate level, since I took up the online since 2019 – a strong surge in uptake that
helm of the Telecommunication Development indicates just how vital digital access became
Bureau (BDT), I’ve also been working very during the pandemic. For marginalized
hard to reshape the development-focused communities in both rich and poor countries

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