Global Development Network Launches Program to Support Local Researchers Studying Digital Public Infrastructure
Researchers studying digital transformation and its ability to streamline access to public and private services have been able to demonstrate its substantial potential for positive human and economic impact. Building a research base is important to help policymakers understand the value of investing in digital transformation as well as the potential opportunities and pitfalls
of various design approaches. However, too often research opportunities and funding go to institutions and research leads with a global focus rather than those more proximate to the communities and projects being evaluated.
Global Development Network (GDN) in partnership with Co-Develop recently launched a new program seeking to support local researchers studying DPI rollouts in their countries. They will engage their strong network of partnerships across Africa, the Middle East, South and East Asia, Asia-Pacific, LAC, and Oceania, bringing local researchers into a larger conversation that allows a global-local idea exchange. Through this dialogue and assembling a scientific committee on DPI measurement, GDN will provide technical assistance to researchers measuring the social and economic impacts of DPI.
The project will also spur pilot projects to measure DPI in three countries. The initial focus of the work will be supporting local researchers in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Benin with local researchers in the following institutions: the Ethiopian Economics Association, the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling, and the African Center for Equitable Development. Researchers will engage with GDN’s scientific committee and each other as they build programs of work that will measure a variety of overlapping DPI use cases:
National ID
E-government services
Digital payments
Tax administration
GDN brings its world-renowned reputation for high quality research and commitment to sustainably supporting local research ecosystems to this project. Our partnership will also include presentations of findings at several events including the World Bank Annual Meetings and upcoming DPI Summit. If you’re a researcher studying DPI deployments or a policymaker interested in learning how to engage your community, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us at info@codevelop.fund to get involved.