Eradicating Extreme Poverty through Tech-Enabled Solutions

Microsoft Edge and non-profit CHOICE Humanitarian partner together to eradicate extreme poverty through building tools to combat literacy in rural Guatemala. 

In March, I had the honor of participating in what was one of the most formative trips as I transition in between two roles. I had the privilege of going to rural Guatemala, bringing education and literacy to a classroom of women in rural Guatemala. I got to witness first-hand a community interact and encounter technology for the very first time in their lives. It was extremely powerful and I knew, while what we were doing was so rudimentary (simply bringing computers to a village), it was about to empower and transform a community in ways like never before. 

It put into so many things into perspective for me. While technology can already do powerful things and advancing this knowledge-base is important, I realized that the most pressing global issues are not necessarily the most technical. As it turns out, 4 billion people (around 60% of the world) are still not part of the digital economy. And that these people, can benefit tremendously from even the simplest advancements. It made me question: "How do we ensure technology is used to tackle the most important issues we face?" As I transition to a role around driving Social Good in Windows, this immersion experience framed my new mission, one with a greater sense of duty and responsibility, one where I began to see the immense potential that could be released from these untapped, currently inaccessible, communities.       

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