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Good practice

Points Numeriques Communautaires (Community Digital Points)

Benin · Cotonou · See the Benin profile

Benin's government network of 43 subsidised community digital centres and free WiFi hotspots brings internet access, digital training and e-government services to under-served communes nationwide.

43
PNC centres deployed (2020)
43
Communes covered (of 77 nationwide) (2020)
1,000,000+
People reached (government estimate, not independently audited)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Agence des Systemes d'Information et du Numerique (ASIN), Benin Ministry of Digital Economy and Digitalisation, with World Bank support
Period
2018-present
Keywords
connectivity, community access centres, digital literacy, e-government, rural, affordability

Context

Benin's Points Numériques Communautaires (PNC), run by digital agency ASIN under the Ministry of Digital Economy and Digitalisation, pair ten networked computers with free public Wi-Fi and subsidised access (150 CFA/hour) plus digital-literacy training, mostly in commune youth centres.

Results

The first 40 centres opened in August 2019, expanding to 43 across 43 communes by late 2020 — short of the original 77-commune target. A December 2024 World Bank policy note independently corroborates the 43-centre figure and documents the coverage shortfall and concentration in commune administrative seats; the government's 'over one million people reached' figure is a self-reported projection, not an independently audited count.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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