Context
The digital transformation has triggered profound transformation processes, not only in developed and emerging countries, but in developing countries as well. Digital technologies enable the establishment of new forms of organizations, companies and cooperations. Digital technologies and their application shape political, civil and economic processes to a great extent. They affect the interrelation between states, societies and economies; furthermore they also question existing norms, values and structures. The digital transformation also changes the way development cooperation is being carried out and enables innovative implementation modes. The digitalisation of processes can enhance effectivity and efficiency of projects and foster transparency and accountability. Information and communication technologies (ICT) provide particularly new chances and methods for an effective development policy and development cooperation (e.g. new forms of education, innovative partnerships with private sector and civil society and better communication with relevant target groups and partners). Hence, the speed and rapid spread of digital technologies challenge existing structures in which development cooperation projects operate. However, development cooperation has not yet enough capacity and knowledge in order to fully reap the benefits of the digital transformation.
Objective
Approaches and methods of digitalisation for sustainable development are being integrated in development cooperation to an increasing extent.
Approach
The sector project operates within three areas of activity.
Area of activity 1 is aiming to strengthen the positioning of the Federal Ministry for economic cooperation and development (BMZ) on a national, European and international level. This comprises strategic consulting of BMZ, in particular through contributions on "digitalisation for sustainable development" in relevant processes (e.g. the Digital Agenda, Agenda 2030, European Union, G20, Worldbank etc.). Products include position papers, strategy papers, reports, speeches, presentations and events on specific topics.
The focus of activity 2 is the development of mainstreaming products for the implementation of the "Digital Agenda" of BMZ. The main products here are manuals, trainings, studies, capacity building concepts and methods for portfolio management.
Area of activity 3 is aiming at the conception of developmentally relevant pilot measures in collaboration with private sector and civil society.
Impact
ICT are usually integrated fundamentally into develop-
ment processes as methods and instruments as a way to
attain goals more effectively. Accordingly, in many cases
there is no way of extrapolating their direct impact.
Determining the level of access to ICTs is insuf¬ficient,
because it contains no information, for example, about how
the quality of health will improve, or how many new jobs
will arise as a result. However, the following projects show the potential which digital technologies can bring to development cooperation: In Uganda, a special app has brought more ef¬ficiency to value chain management and thereby lowered the administrative costs faced by the
coffee-grower’s organisation by 11 percent. Another example for efficiency comes from Bangladesh where an
administrative software is facilitating healthcare provision and health monitoring at 15,000 facilities and making it
more simple and effective. ICT can also yield new employment prospects: Under an initiative called M-Developer, 8,000 people in Tunisia have been trained to develop apps.