Principles for Digital Development by The Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL)
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Principles for Digital Development by The Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL)
The Principles for Digital Development are nine living guidelines that are designed to help integrate best practices into our new 4IR Foruth Industrial Revolution driven technology-enabled world and related programs and are intended to be updated and refined over time to enable society and organisations.
These Nine Principles for Digital Development are:
Principles for Digital Development
Design With the User
Understand the Existing Ecosystem
Design for Scale
Build for Sustainability
Be Data Driven
Use Open Standards, Open Data, Open Source, and Open Innovation
Reuse and Improve
Address Privacy & Security
Be Collaborative
The Nine Principles for Digital Development include guidance for every phase of the project life cycle. These are part of an ongoing effort among development practitioners to share knowledge and support continuous learning.
The Digital Principles were created in a community-driven effort, the result of many lessons learned through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in development projects.
In an article by Dinis Guarda in intelligenthq.com Digital Transformation: How to Be a Business in a Time of 4IR AI Blockchain Fintech "According to a World Bank Study there are over 400 to 500 million SMEs & startups in the world and this number continues to grow. But as John Chambers, from Cisco System pointed out, “at least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.” Growth in our era of disruptive technologies is being willing to ‘change, learn and relearn’ even if what these businesses knew previously brought them success. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, thus, is not about new Tech Apps or new technologies, it is about change relearn and keep transforming."
As the use of technology – from mobile phones and tablets to computers and UAVs – increases globally, so does their use in international development. More and more, technology is being integrated into service delivery across sectors such as education, health, agriculture, finance, and humanitarian assistance, amongst others.While these technologies have the potential to increase efficiency, cost effectiveness and impact across these sectors, there are still major barriers to ensure that their impact is fully realized. The Principles for Digital Development are a tool to help realize that full potential of ICTs. They offer nine specific best practices, each with a set of guiding questions, resources, and project lifecycle applications that will help you implement the Principles on your project.The goal of the Digital Principles is to use the hard-won knowledge of the community to make all of our projects better. As you learn new lessons through your own experiences, we hope that you will share them to help move everyone forward.
All are encouraged to use them. From Principle to Practice:
Implementing the Principles for Digital Development opens a culmination of rich and detailed discussions about these Principles by more than 500 individuals representing over 100 organizations working in international development.
The report and research around these principles captures experiences, insights, and questions and presents a set of recommendations about how organisations can chart a path forward in digital development.
In the late 2000s, donors and implementing organizations began to recognize that digital development programs were fragmented, uncoordinated, siloed, and struggled to scale or sustain themselves in the long term. To address these challenges, global organisations such as Gates Foundation, other donors and implementers began discussing how to understand and share best practices in the use of ICT tools in international development.
These conversations led to multiple principlaes such as the UNICEF Innovation Principles of 2009, the Greentree Principles of 2010, and the UK Design Principles, amongst others.The Nine Principles for Digital Development are an attempt to unify those previous principles and create a community of practice for those who work in digital development. The Digital Principles were first created in consultation with organizations such as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the UN’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Who else is actively working on digital development? How can organisations reach them?
There are thousands of people and orang using ICTs for development around the world. The ICT4D community has over 800 members with a wide range of experience, including funders, implementers, government officials, and others. We invite you to join the community and explore the resources others have shared, ask a question, or share a useful tool.
