Digital Economy Kit Implementation

While the Digital Economy Kit process should be owned by a well-positioned government department and have broad government support, an established local implementing partner with strong links to the government and other stakeholders is hired to facilitate the process. Digital Pathways supports both the implementing partner and the government, and provides insights from projects carried out in other countries.

The Kit process consists of 3 steps:

Step 1: Assessment

An in-depth assessment of a country’s current overall digital readiness is undertaken, identifying gaps as well as opportunities for bringing about digital transformation.

➡️   Here the Kit outlines technical concepts to guide analyses and suggests potential national/international data sources that can inform a complete assessment.

Step 2: Dialogues

A round of dialogues involving experts and key players from across government departments, the private sector and civil society is organised, where the trade-offs inherent in laying stronger digital foundations are discussed and potential actions are considered in the context of existing policies and programmes, against the background of the assessment in Step 1. 

➡️   Here the Kit provides guidance on how to structure these multi-stakeholder dialogues and how to include traditionally underrepresented groups.

Step 3: Strategy primer

Building on insights from the previous two steps, a strategy primer for national digital transformation is prepared, which the country can utilise as it crafts policies and initiatives for inclusive development in the digital age.  

➡️   Here the Kit provides guidance on working through trade-offs and a template for the strategy primer.

The Kit suggests 4 analytical pillars around which each stage of the process can be organised:

Infrastructure:

A strong integrated infrastructure that powers and supports digital networks and data flows is crucial for a digital economy to thrive. This pillar focuses on electricity and physical communications infrastructure, as well as foundational digital systems such as identification and payment systems.

People:

This pillar focuses on the skills and capabilities needed for people to prosper in digital economies and evolving labour markets. It also considers the role of social protection systems and how to include sections of society traditionally excluded from digital economies.

Finance:

Inclusive financial intermediation will be critical to ensure that households, businesses and governments are able to take advantage of digital technologies. This includes thinking about demand-side financing for digital hardware and usage; financial services for technology start-ups or firms looking to invest in digital technology; and how governments can raise and allocate funding for digital economy-related initiatives.

Policy & regulation: 

Competition policy, taxation, intellectual property, data standards and interoperability, as well as cybersecurity and data protection all need to be thought through carefully to enable safe and inclusive growth related to the digital economy.