Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications

Digital Inclusion
Bridging the Education Gap in Bangladesh
An estimated one billion children have had their 
schooling interrupted in some way since the start 
of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a relative lack 
of access to digital technologies compounding 
the effects of the shutdown, Bangladesh’s 
education system faces enormous challenges, 
with more than one million children affected.
Huawei has operated in Bangladesh for more 
than 20 years and is committed to advancing 
digital development in the country. To reduce 
the impact of school closures, Huawei teamed 
up with local company Bijoy Digital and 
UNESCO in July 2020 to launch a two-year 
education project, with the goal of ensuring that 
Bangladeshi children can continue learning from 
home during the pandemic.
Huawei has provided tablets preloaded with Bijoy 
Digital education apps. With animated graphics, 
the apps are designed to be fun to keep students 
interested and engaged. With these apps, children 
can study in the comfort and safety of their own 
homes. Teachers benefit too from being able to 
offer remote help and ensure that children stay 
on track with their studies. The initiative has had a 
positive impact on students and teachers. We plan 
to expand the program to cover more schools and 
benefit more students and teachers.
Bangladeshi child Ariyan Dihan studying at home during the 
pandemic
In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the way we 
study, work, and live was completely redefined; cloud 
offices, online education, and contactless shopping 
became the new normal. During this process, 
connectivity has been driving sustainable development 
in ways we never saw before. The pandemic 
highlighted the digital divide that exists between 
different parts of the world, showing that digital 
inclusion is more necessary and urgent than ever.
To leave no one behind in the digital world, Huawei 
has continued with its TECH4ALL initiative. Over the 
past two years, we have worked with global partners 
such as UN agencies, NGOs, research institutes, 
governments, and customers to promote digital 
inclusion, focusing on four high-impact domains: 
equity and quality in education, environmental 
protection, inclusion and equity in health, and 
balanced development.
As of the end of 2020, Huawei had worked with more 
than 20 partners, such as UNESCO, the International 
Union for Conservation of Nature, and Rainforest 
Connection, and has made solid progress in areas 
such as education, nature conservation, and health. 
Moving forward, we hope that more individuals and 
organizations will join the TECH4ALL initiative to drive 
progress towards the UN’s SDGs.
Technology for Equity and Quality in 
Education
Education is the root of progress, and universal 
education is a defining feature of modernity. Human 
civilization took a great step forward when education 
became a right for every person, and when every 
person began to enjoy its benefits.
However, economic and institutional inequalities mean 
that access to educational resources in certain regions 
is still far below the level enjoyed in the developed 
world. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has 
only exacerbated this gap, undermining education 
equity. To address this challenge, Huawei is working 
with its partners like UNESCO to provide people in 
different regions with equal access to high-quality 
education. In 2020, we rolled out our Skills on Wheels 
and Connecting Schools programs in more than 200 
schools around the world, benefiting more than 60,000 
teachers and students.

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2020 Annual Report
 
       
153
Learning Never Stops at Senegal DigiSchool
COVID-19 changed education everywhere. To ensure 
that students keep learning, UNESCO launched the 
Global Coalition for Education in March 2020.
As a member of the Coalition, Huawei launched the 
DigiSchool project in August 2020, in partnership 
with Senegal’s Ministry of National Education, the 
UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa, and the 
local carrier Sonatel. The project aims to provide 
remote training to local teachers to ensure that 
learning never stops – even during the pandemic. The 
project aims to benefit 20,000 teachers and 100,000 
students in 200 schools. By the end of December 
2020, more than 200 teachers had received training 
in the digital skills required for distance education, 
which helped 15,000 students in over 60 schools.
Technology for Nature Conservation
The natural environment that sustains life on Earth is 
deteriorating. Problems like climate change and rising sea 
levels threaten the survival and well-being of every living 
thing. Governments and the public around the world are 
eager to take action.
Conventional methods of energy conservation, 
emissions reduction, and carbon fixation are already 
“Guardians”: Protecting Forests and Oceans
Huawei and Rainforest Connection (RFCx) are 
working together to use HUAWEI CLOUD AI and 
secondhand Huawei mobile phones to identify 
sounds of illegal logging through a solar-powered 
sound monitoring system deployed in the rainforest. 
Nicknamed the “Guardian”, the system collects 
sound data and uploads it to a cloud server. It 
can run 24/7 even in the extreme temperature, 
humidity, and rainfall. Whenever it detects the 
sounds of illegal logging, such as chainsaws and 
trucks, it immediately sends the location to forest 
rangers so that they can quickly intervene.
Today, Guardians are no longer just used to detect 
sounds of logging in rainforests. In 2020, RFCx and 
Huawei worked together to apply the Guardians 
in new domains. In Greece, we used Guardians to 
monitor sounds of gunshots in nature reserves to 
protect wild antelopes from poachers. In Ireland, 
Guardians are used to identify calls of whales and 
dolphins so that approaching ships can redirect 
their course to avoid disturbing or harming these 
marine species. In Chile, we use Guardians to 
prevent illegal poaching in Nahuelbuta National 
Park and to protect the endangered Darwin’s foxes.
By the end of 2020, Guardians were deployed in 18 
countries across five continents. They have collected 
84 years’ worth of audio, helping local rangers and 
conservationists protect nature and biodiversity.
A teacher learning distance education skills
Huawei, RFCx, and a local organization working to end the 
poaching of Balkan Chamois in Greece’s Northern Pindos 
National Park
past their peak effectiveness, but nature-based 
solutions (NbS) offer a new approach. These solutions 
protect animal habitats like forests and wetlands, 
which helps not only to absorb carbon dioxide from 
the atmosphere, but also to maintain biodiversity. 
Together with environmental organizations and other