Digital Development

The Digital Development Global Practice works with governments in developing countries to build the foundations for inclusive and responsible digital transformation, including their transition to digital economies, governments, and societies.

Digital technologies are at the forefront of development and provide a unique opportunity for countries to accelerate economic growth and connect citizens to services and jobs. In times of crisis—from natural disasters to pandemics such as the one the world experienced with COVID-19—digital technologies keep people, governments, and businesses connected. They enable innovative solutions to complex development challenges and help deliver digital banking and telemedicine services.

Yet in 2022, nearly 3 billion people remain offline, the vast majority without access are concentrated in developing countries. And the usage gap remains a challenge. Close to half (43 percent) of the world's population were not using mobile internet last year, despite living in areas with mobile broadband coverage.

Our work focuses on addressing constraints to digital inclusion and transformation, around key pillars including inclusive access to fast, reliable, safe, and affordable internet. Across the World Bank Group, we seek to stimulate demand for digital applications, digital skills, and digital platforms to support governments, business, and individuals to participate more fully in the digital economy.  

Fostering digital inclusion is of paramount importance. One billion people in the world cannot prove their identity which limits their access to digital services and opportunities. The gender gap persists; women remain 7 percent less likely than men to own a mobile phone and are 16 percent less likely to use mobile internet. This means that there are still 264 million fewer women than men accessing mobile internet.  The share of internet users in urban areas is twice as high as in rural areas, and at the end of 2021, 71 percent of the world’s younger population aged 15-24 was using the internet, compared with 57 percent of all other age groups. Estimates are that with 60 percent of global GDP expected to rely on digital communication technologies in 2022, vulnerable populations in both developing and developed countries who are unable to connect to or use digital technologies risk being left behind in the post-pandemic recovery, leading to potentially heavier knock-on effects.

Digital technologies can also transform markets and economic opportunities.  Digitalization of public sector operations and services, together with development of digital industries and jobs helps drive socio-economic development. Research has shown how mobile technology significantly drove GDP in the 2000–2017 period – a 10% increase in mobile adoption boosted GDP by 0.5 percent to 1.2 percent.

What will it take for countries to reap the benefits of digitalization, and participate fully in the global digital economy?

• Closing the global digital divide: Even as new technologies spread rapidly around the world, billions of people have still never used the internet.  
• Preparing for the jobs of tomorrow: Innovation is radically changing the nature of work: new jobs are emerging, others are evolving. To compete in the digital economy, countries will need to prioritize education and build the digital skills of their workforce while creating efficient safety nets to support those transitions.
• Developing secure, reliable digital systems: As the world is going digital, strengthening capacity in areas like cybersecurity and personal data protection has become more important than ever.

Last Updated: Oct 06, 2022

The World Bank provides an extensive range of services and solutions to make sure client countries can harness the power of digital development.

Our activities in the sector are based on an ecosystem approach for digital transformation built on collaborative efforts across the World Bank Group and focusing on key elements which, combined, form the basis for strong, inclusive and responsible digital transformation for economies, governments, and societies. Areas of focus include:

• Digital Data Infrastructure and Platforms: Maximizing the social and economic value of data by encouraging private investment in data infrastructure and services, strengthening data governance, and developing of integrated public sector data management infrastructure, platforms, and analytics capabilities.
• Broadband Connectivity and Access: Promoting universal access to fast, affordable, and resilient connectivity through effective telecommunications policy and regulation, stimulating broadband infrastructure investment, and boosting digital literacy and access to internet-connected devices to promote use.
• Digital for Climate: Reducing the environmental footprint and strengthening the climate resilience of digital infrastructure and systems, and using digital technologies, business models and data to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and support climate resilience and across other sectors.
• Digital Trust and Safeguards: Building trust in usage of digital platforms and services among people, governments, and businesses by strengthening data privacy protections, raising cyber awareness and building capacity to protect critical infrastructure and systems from threats.
• ICT Industry Development: Boosting economic growth and creating jobs by encouraging investment in domestic and export-oriented digital/technology and related services industries and facilitating partnerships to develop skills trainings and job placement programs tailored to market demand. 

Building the foundations of the digital economy requires capacity in multiple other fields, including finance, private sector development, education, labor, and social protection, among others. As a result, the digital agenda mobilizes a wide variety of experts throughout the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA.

While multidisciplinary collaboration is essential to the success of digital development itself, it also creates opportunities to integrate cutting-edge digital solutions across sectors — whether it be using geospatial analysis to improve disaster risk management, deploying sensors to monitor crops remotely, or using big data from mobile devices to design better public transport networks.

But even though technology has opened a wealth of new possibilities for global development, it does not come without risks. Cybersecurity and data protection have become a growing concern. We work closely with client countries to help them implement the infrastructure, tools, and regulations that are necessary to address these challenges. We are also focusing on making sure that digital opportunities are inclusive while also managing risks of exclusion.

Digital development components are increasingly included in projects across diverse sectors including transport, education, health, agriculture, and public sector management.

World Bank interventions in the digital sector are informed by in-depth research and analysis. Recent publications include:

• World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives explores the potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of the poor, while also acknowledging the challenges new approaches to data can mean for individuals, businesses, and societies.
• South Asia's Digital Opportunity looks at the opportunities related to digitalizing the economies, societies and governments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• Using Geospatial Analysis to Overhaul Connectivity Policies explores the policies and interventions needed to expand mobile internet coverage and adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Aligning Data Governance with the Social Contract for Data to Promote Value, Trust, and Equity  provides an overview of the different elements of a data governance framework.
• Government Migration to Cloud Ecosystems  shares how cloud services can offer governments cost savings, capacity to rapidly scale, advanced cybersecurity features, and access to powerful analytical tools for processing big data.
• A Digital Stack for Transforming Service Delivery: ID, Payments, and Data Sharing  presents examples of how countries are reforming institutions, regulations, and processes and building technology and infrastructure to facilitate trust and exchange information, payments, and other resources.
• Digital Economy Country Diagnostics  provide a snapshot of the state of the digital economy in various World Bank client countries for each of the pillars of the Digital Economy for Africa initiative (digital infrastructure, digital public platforms, digital financial services, digital businesses and digital skills), supporting the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy.

In addition to direct financial assistance and analytical work, the World Bank leverages its convening power to pool knowledge and resources from a vast array of public agencies, experts, innovators, private companies, and investors.

The Digital Development Partnership (DDP), administered by the World Bank’s Digital Development Global Practice, brings public and private sector partners together to advance digital solutions and accelerate green, resilient, and inclusive digitalization in developing countries.  As a reflection of the growing demand to support client countries on the cybersecurity agenda, the associated cybersecurity trust fund, as part of the broader DDP umbrella program, was launched in 2021.  

The World Bank Group’s Identification for Development Initiative (ID4D) initiative helps countries build inclusive and trusted identification and civil registration systems to enable all people – including the estimated one billion without any official identification – to exercise their rights and access services. ID4D works across three pillars of country and regional action (providing technical assistance and leveraging World Bank financing), thought leadership (producing knowledge and data on the coverage and quality of systems around the world), and global convening and platforms (supporting global public goods and norms).

Leveraging the same, synergetic, cross-sectoral practice platform of ID4D, the World Bank Group hosts the Government-to-Person payments (G2Px) initiative. This effort focuses on digitizing cash transfers from governments as a means of contributing to the long-term development goals of individual agency, financial inclusion, and women’s economic empowerment. The initiative comes at a crucial time when governments around the world are scaling up social assistance and finding ways to better target and directly transfer funds to individuals. 

The Korea Digital Development Program (KoDi) builds on the experience and best practices of the Republic of Korea, as well as other advanced digital countries, to develop national data ecosystems, spur green digital innovation, and create sizeable economic and social development opportunities in low- and middle-income countries.

In Africa, the World Bank Group is supporting the African Union’s efforts toward the digital transformation of the continent through the Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) in support of the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy 2020-2030. It sets an ambitious and bold vision to digitally connect every individual, business and government in Africa by 2030 and seeks to propel the continent forward and ensure that African countries reap the full benefits of the digital economy.

In the Middle East and North Africa, the MENATECH initiative aims to support countries in accelerating their digital transformation, with a priority focus given to widespread affordable and good quality access to broadband as well as to financial services.

The Digital Economy for Latin America and Caribbean (DE4LAC) supports national authorities in the region in identifying reform and investment prospects to accelerate the transition to an inclusive digital economy. This initiative helps identifying challenges and opportunities to promote widespread access to digital technologies and accelerate digital transformation.

In South Asia, the Digital Economy for South Asia (DE4SA) initiative assesses the development of the digital economy in each country. It identifies policy options to promote digital inclusion, build trust ecosystems, and strengthen institutional capacity to maximize benefits of the digital economy while mitigating the risks. The initiative has informed policy dialogue, technical assistance, and project financing with governments across the region.

And together with the Development Economics team, we are co-leading the Mobility Analytics Task Force, which aims at generating analytics on mobility that were used to inform mitigation policies for preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and can be applied to support work in health, poverty and social protection. The Task Force uses data from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), smartphone applications and data aggregators. We are leveraging our close relationships with telecom operators worldwide in order to facilitate access to their data, which can be used to support more effective development policies and projects.

Last Updated: Oct 06, 2022

The Bank helps governments mobilize resources for digital transformation, adopt emerging technologies, and develop better digital regulations and policies. A few examples:

Kosovo now has Europe’s greatest number of high-speed internet subscriptions per household, with internet penetration outpacing leading EU countries. We supported the country’s rural broadband program, which leveraged private capital and brought a digital lifeline to remote locations where it was needed most, including schools, health centers, and homes.

In Cabo Verde, a digital health pass uses blockchain to safely store health certificates and information, including COVID-19 test results and vaccine documentation, while promoting access to other health services.

In Turkey, we supported the COVID-19 emergency response and return-to school activities for students, while setting the IT, educational and institutional foundations for longer-term blended approaches (classroom-on-line) that can support learning in the face of future shocks.

Through improving digital infrastructure in Nicaragua, staff at rural health clinics that were previously offline now have access to the internet and can get immediate answers to urgent questions about patient care, health records, and help in emergencies.

In Sierra Leone, an open-source digital platform is used to collect data on urban canopy coverage in Freetown. These data have been used to develop a machine learning algorithm that helped the city establish a baseline for its ambitious reforestation campaign called Freetown the Treetown.

As part of a country-wide push to close the digital divide in Ghana, a program has helped connect multiple universities and has improved broadband bandwidth for more than 200,000 students and teachers to date. The project also provides grants to young entrepreneurs.

In the Caribbean, we connected homes, schools, government offices, and businesses to each other and the rest or the world.  In 2021 coverage of 3G networks expanded to over 95 percent for populations in Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and nearly 70,000 people were connected to high quality fiber networks, helping to boost economic activities, including tourism.

In Sri Lanka, an emergency response program supported the government to create a digital form submission platform to ease citizens’ ability to make service requests without having to visit government offices. And ongoing policy dialogue focuses on strengthening the trust ecosystem towards secure public service delivery to support an inclusive and resilient recovery.

In Peru, where two out of three women experience intimate partner violence, we are using technology to prevent and respond to gender-based violence —as part our Peru Centralized Emergency Response System project—while improving the efficiency of response to emergencies and help line requests in the metropolitan areas of Lima and Callao.

The World Bank Group’s Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) initiative supports the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy 2020-2030. Its sets an ambitious and bold vision to digitally connect every individual, business and government in Africa by 2030. As part of the initiative, the Bank has conducted more than 35 country digital economy diagnostics to map the strengths and weaknesses of a country’s digital economy and identify challenges and opportunities for future growth. We are also developing action plans for pillars of the digital economy, preparing regional projects to foster digital single markets in East and West Africa and making significant commitment of financial resources for digital economy projects and reform programs.

Through the Digital Development Partnership (DDP), we are building strong partnerships with the private sector to foster the creation and implementation of digital development strategies for our client countries. DDP’s upcoming reports on harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G will address the positive and negative impact of these disruptive technologies.

 In 2021, we established the Korea Digital Development Program (KoDi) to help low- and middle-income countries to accelerate digital transformation that is data-driven, secure, and green. The first year of the program focused on developing a knowledge base for future providing country-specific technical assistance. Several studies distilled Korean best practices, including guides on enhancing the security and resilience of critical information infrastructure and integrating national data ecosystems, as well as case studies on greening the ICT sector, data-based economies, and the potential of trustworthy AI.

A country diagnostic for El Salvador under the World Bank Group’s Digital Economy for Latin America and the Caribbean (DE4LAC) initiative, the first report of a series, provides actionable policy recommendations that would accelerate the pace of El Salvador’s digital transformation and bring the country closer to achieving the vision set forth by the National Digital Agenda 2020-2030. Reports on Colombia, Ecuador, and Jamaica are to follow.

The Identification for Development (ID4D) initiative is supporting more than 50 countries—such as Benin, Gabon, Georgia, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Tonga—to design and implement different types of identification and civil registration systems. The initiative focuses on increasing accessibility, strengthening trust, and realizing the developmental benefits. ID4D has helped the Philippines to design an inclusive and privacy-preserving identification system, in which 72 million Filipinos (or nearly two-thirds of the population) have registered since the beginning of 2021, and is now supporting its use for more beneficiary-centric social protection delivery. In Nigeria, research on barriers faced by women and girls to access identification has led to legal and operational reforms to remove those impediments and improve accessibility. In addition, ID4D is globally-recognized as a thought leader on the agenda, producing knowledge resources for policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers, including the Global ID4D Dataset and ID4D-Findex, which are seminal sources of information on the coverage of identification systems. ID4D has also contributed to digital public goods such as open standards and the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP) and convened 30 organizations to develop the ten Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development, which have become an influential guiding framework on how to mitigate risks and harness the full benefits of identification and civil registration systems.

Last Updated: Oct 06, 2022