Attachment 10 - USAID Digital Strategy.pdf

DIGITAL

STRATEGY

2020–2024

Photos on cover, (clockwise): d.light; Jack Gordon, USAID; Riaz Jahanpour, USAID

Today, many of us take for granted our access to digital technology like smartphones and the Internet. They have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives and increasingly our default way of communicating, learning, and doing business.

We should remember, however, that four billion people in developing countries still do not have access to the Internet, including a staggering 93 percent of households in the least-developed nations. Further exacerbating the situation, the gender digital divide continues to grow. Women are, on average, 14 percent less likely to own mobile phones than their male counterparts, and 43 percent less likely to engage online.

Digital technology’s profound potential is tempered by the looming threats posed by authoritarian governments and malevolent actors who use digital tools to suppress political dissent and other individual freedoms while also limiting competition in the marketplace. Across these two, at times incongruent, digital worlds, we must be steadfast in ensuring we do not leave behind the poor and marginalized.

I am pleased to share with you the first U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Digital Strategy, an Agency-wide vision for the responsible use of digital technology in development and humanitarian work.

Building on decades of leadership in digital development, the Strategy outlines USAID’s deliberate and holistic commitment to strengthen open, inclusive, and secure digital ecosystems in each country in which we work. These digital ecosystems are transforming how people worldwide gain access to information, goods, services, and opportunities; in today’s world, a country cannot achieve self-reliance without them.

The field of international development is not immune to the digital changes around us, and, as the premier development donor, we at USAID have a responsibility—to U.S. taxpayers, to the communities we serve, and to ourselves—to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the digital age. This is central to USAID’s mission to end the need for foreign assistance, but we cannot do it alone. We ask our partners and colleagues around the world to engage with us.

I am confident that, through collaboration, ingenuity, shared values, and collective experience, the future of our digital world will be bright for all.

Ambassador Mark Andrew Green USAID Administrator

ADMINISTRATOR’S MESSAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The USAID Digital Strategy is the result of significant contributions from across USAID and our partner community, including implementing organizations, governments, donors, civil society and the private sector. The Strategy would not have been possible without the dedicated leadership and support of Harry Bader, Acting Executive Director for the U.S. Global Development Lab, and Gloria Steele, Acting Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia. The Strategy benefited from the guidance of Christopher Burns, the Director for the Center for Digital Development in the U.S. Global Development Lab, and was the product of contributions made by over 130 colleagues from 19 bureaus and independent offices and 25 missions, who participated in the Strategy’s development as members of the Working Group and Advisory Group. The Strategy was written by a Drafting Team, led by Aubra Anthony (U.S. Global Development Lab), with drafters from multiple bureaus: Adam Kaplan and Amy Malessa in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance;

Paul Fekete in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment; Adele Waugaman in the Bureau for Global Health;

Irena Sargsyan from the Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning;

and John O’Bryan in the U.S. Global Development Lab.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

CONTENTS

01 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

02 DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE

USAID’s Vision

Realizing Benefits: Digital as an Enabling Force For Development

Accounting for Risks: A Need for Safeguarding in Digital Ecosystems

Why Digital Requires Us to Refine Our Approach to Development

03 GUIDING PRACTICES

04 STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK: FOSTERING AN INCLUSIVE DIGITAL FUTURE

Strategic Objective 1

Strategic Objective 2

05 CONCLUSION

06 ANNEXES

Annex I: Detailed Strategic Framework

Annex II: USAID Digital Strategy Implementation Initiatives

Annex III: Glossary

Annex IV: Principles for Digital Development

ENDNOTES

2 STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK: FOSTERING AN INCLUSIVE DIGITAL FUTURE Photo: Riaz Jahanpour, USAID

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Countries around the world are in the midst of a historic digital transition. The rapid development and adoption of digital technology are transforming industries, governments, economies, and societies. Digital ecosystems—the stakeholders, systems, and enabling environments that together empower people and communities to use digital technology to gain access to services, engage with each other, or pursue economic opportunities— hold immense potential to help people live freer, healthier, more prosperous lives. These ecosystems can help drive economic empowerment and financial inclusion, advance national security, support accountability and transparency in governance, introduce new and innovative health solutions, and make development and humanitarian assistance more efficient and effective.

Digital transformation comes with the risk of increasing inequality, repression, and instability. Malign actors capture digital infrastructure to advance divisive messaging, crime, and illicit finance. Despite the global prevalence of mobile phones and the Internet, the reality in many communities does not yet reflect the potential of a digital ecosystem that drives sustainable and equitable growth. Vulnerable or marginalized groups often find themselves excluded from the digital ecosystem because of inadequate infrastructure or a lack of affordable or relevant products, services, and content; or because political, social, environmental, or economic factors inhibit equitable uptake.

Now more than ever, as the global development community works to deliver life-saving assistance and relay crucial information in the face of the pandemic of COVID-19, the role of digital technology is undeniable. Teachers deliver lessons remotely to homebound classes; health care workers diagnose patients via telemedicine to minimize their risk of exposure; and people worldwide seek out online information about the pandemic’s impact on their lives and livelihoods. Across all of these activities, digital technology is what allows us to remain connected even while physical distancing requires us to be apart. It is more important than ever for USAID to help communities be resilient in the face of threats like this global pandemic, by ensuring all countries have robust digital ecosystems that are open, inclusive, secure, and of benefit to all.

In light of this, The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Digital Strategy (2020-2024) will position the Agency to advance our mission—to end the need for foreign assistance—through digitally supported programming that fosters the Journey to Self-Reliance in our partner countries and maximizes the benefits, while managing the risks that digital technology introduces into the lives of the communities we serve.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

In this Strategy, we use the term “digital technology” not only to describe a type of technology but also to refer to the platforms, processes, and range of technologies that underpin modern information and communications technologies (ICT), including the Internet and mobile-phone platforms, as well as advanced data infrastructure and analytic approaches.

4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

GOAL OF THE USAID DIGITAL STRATEGY: To achieve and sustain open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystems that contribute to broad-based, measurable development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes and increase self-reliance in emerging market countries.

The Digital Strategy centers around two core, mutually reinforcing objectives:

⊲ Improve measurable development and humanitarian assistance outcomes through the responsible use of digital technology in USAID’s programming; and

⊲ Strengthen the openness, inclusiveness, and security of country-level digital ecosystems.

These objectives, and USAID’s approach to achieving them, support the goals and principles outlined in key policy documents, including the USAID Policy Framework; the Department of State-USAID Joint Strategic Plan; and the U.S.

National Cyber, National Security, and Counterterrorism Strategies.

USAID will work to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of foreign assistance through the consistent and responsible use of digital technology in our development and humanitarian programming. Through our programmatic investments, USAID will work to strengthen the critical components of digital ecosystems that enable sustainable growth in a digital age: a sound enabling environment and policy commitment; robust and resilient digital infrastructure;

capable digital service providers and workforce; and, ultimately, empowered end-users of digitally enabled services.

As we become a more responsive, field-oriented Agency that fosters self-reliance around the globe, USAID must consider the capacities and commitment in the countries where we work in order to capitalize on the opportunities and address the risks inherent in digital systems. USAID’s investments in country-level digital infrastructure and systems must lead to sustainable ownership and management by local governments, citizens, and the private sector. Where capacity is lacking, we can build our partners’ technical capabilities to oversee these systems and responsibly leverage the data they produce to inform their own decisions. Where commitment is low, USAID can empower and equip civil society and the private sector to navigate complex and rapidly evolving digital ecosystems and hold governments accountable. For communities to achieve self-reliance in the digital age, open, inclusive, and secure digital ecosystems that preserve and protect the rights and agency of individuals are critical. The proper use, understanding, and application of technology is a development imperative.

USAID will take a multipronged approach, implemented under the leadership and authorities granted to various Operating Units (OUs) within the Agency to achieve the objectives of the Digital Strategy. Close consultation and collaboration with governments, civil society, the private sector, and local communities in countries where we work will guide this approach.

We will work to develop the tools and resources necessary to provide effective development and humanitarian assistance in a digital age; we will build capacity to better navigate the unique opportunities and risks that digital technology presents across USAID’s Program Cycle; we will accelerate the transition to a default position of leveraging digital technology responsibly and appropriately in our programming; and we will invest in our significant human capital to continue to build the USAID of tomorrow.

DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

A “digital ecosystem” comprises the stakeholders, systems, and enabling environments that together empower people and communities to use digital technology to gain access to services, engage with each other, or pursue economic opportunities. See Annex III:

Glossary for examples of the critical components of a digital ecosystem.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

USAID will work with U.S. Government interagency partners and coordinate with interagency initiatives to implement the objectives of the Digital Strategy; address challenges and capitalize on opportunities in countries in which we work; and maximize positive outcomes across development, humanitarian, security, health, and human-rights efforts.

Implementation of the Digital Strategy will start in a subset of target countries and extend to all USAID OUs over its five-year span. The launch of the Digital Strategy will shepherd the creation of a Digital Learning Agenda to promote collaborative exploration of the highest-impact pathways for inclusive, sustainable growth of digital ecosystems. Following the Strategy’s launch, USAID will release dedicated guidance and training materials to support our Missions and Bureaus throughout implementation, as well as a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan that will enable us to evaluate the Strategy’s impact over the next five years to ensure continual learning and adaptation in a rapidly evolving digital age.

The USAID Digital Strategy is a development policy document focused on the promotion of secure, open, and inclusive country-level digital ecosystems and the programmatic use of digital technology in the Agency’s development and humanitarian assistance, which we commonly refer to as “digital development.” While the Digital Strategy primarily focuses on enhancing USAID’s programmatic activities, the partnership and leadership of USAID’s operational components are crucial to executing the Strategy, including the Bureau for Management (e.g., the Office of the Chief Information Officer [M/CIO] and the Office of Acquisition and Assistance [M/OAA]); the Office of Human Capital and Talent Management (HCTM);

and the Office of the General Counsel (GC).

This Strategy is a complement to the authorities and responsibilities of these operational entities, and the Agency’s Regional and Pillar Bureaus will execute it in partnership with them. The implementation of the Strategy will be consistent with all applicable laws, including, but not limited to, the Clinger- Cohen Act of 1996, Electronic Government (eGov) Act of 2002/The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002, the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act of 2015, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act), and the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency Act.

Photo: KC Nwakalor, USAID

6 DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE

DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE

The world has changed dramatically since USAID’s founding in 1961, and the pace of change is accelerating. Digital technology increasingly pervades daily life. In recent years, the proliferation of digital technology has transformed the ways in which the world’s economies, governments, and people interact and engage with one another.1 Many experts say that we are now on the cusp of a Fourth Industrial Revolution,2 which will touch every industry and upend existing business models, including those that were disrupted just a few years earlier.

Community leaders engage their constituents via popular mobile messaging platforms. Utilities operate and secure power grids and other infrastructure with networked computers and sensors. Transformative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) offer tremendous potential to better tailor goods and services to meet individual needs.

Blockchain-backed start-ups work to tackle intractable problems like corruption, lack of transparency, and unique identification for a global citizenry. Some small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and motivated entrepreneurs are becoming micro-multinationals by opening up their shops and skill sets to online global markets and the burgeoning “gig economy.” a

Whereas mobile phones and the Internet were once limited to wealthy countries, the rapid diffusion of digital technology holds the promise of a new digitally enabled global society, with the potential to spur economic growth, improve development outcomes, transform health delivery, lift millions out of poverty, and ultimately move us closer to ending the need for foreign assistance. For example, expanding the availability of fast Internet in Africa has increased employment levels and average income, especially for high-skilled jobs and workers.3 When properly deployed and regulated, advanced communications networks enable “smart city” applications that could mitigate the negative effects of urban population growth, improve the management of natural resources, and increase agricultural productivity.4

However, these same systems can have undesirable consequences when not developed with respect for the individual rights of users. Authoritarian governments and malign actors can wield digital tools to suppress political dissent, quash individual freedoms, limit competition in the marketplace, or take advantage of individuals who lack digital literacy. On the grounds of analytical support, social engagement, or civil protection, regimes can deploy digital tools as instruments of intimidation, surveillance, theft, and control—effectively silencing, rather than amplifying, critical voices.5 Digital technology has increased the risks young people, women, and religious and ethnic minorities face, through the creation of new platforms that enable bullying, hate speech, sexual abuse, exploitation, victimization, recruitment into trafficking, and radicalization to violence.

Additionally, digitally augmented programming that ignores geographic or gender disparities in the access to, or use of, mobile phones, or whose algorithms fail to correct for bias, could end up failing the most vulnerable or marginalized populations.6

How society evolves in the digital age does not depend only on new technology and innovation, but on non-digital building blocks that make up the digital ecosystem—elements such as domestic and international regulatory environments, political economy, institutional capacity, and individuals’ skills, protections, and agency. While digital ecosystems can, and should, evolve according to market forces, donors such as USAID can help ensure digital ecosystems serve all citizens, especially the most marginalized and vulnerable. American values of inclusion, freedom, and accountability must guide our digital investments. Our role should be to foster a locally owned approach, adapt our approaches to local conditions where necessary and appropriate,b and ensure the foundational ecosystem components and necessary guardrails are in place to guarantee that digital technology benefits and protects all citizens.

a. The “gig economy” is a system in which individuals or organizations engage independent workers on short-term assignments, often via online platforms, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, TaskRabbit, Uber, etc.

b. In certain cases, a desired local approach could run counter to established U.S. policies, like those on cross-border flows of data and data-localization. USAID-funded projects should not support the adoption of digital development schemes that run counter to established U.S. trade and national-security policies.

DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE 7

USAID’S VISION

The vision of the USAID Digital Strategy is to advance progress in communities in our partner countries on their Journeys to Self-Reliance through efficient, effective, and responsible digital initiatives that enhance security and economic prosperity, consistent with the American values of respect for individual rights, freedom of expression, and the promotion of democratic norms and practices.

USAID will work toward two mutually reinforcing strategic objectives:

⊲ Improve measurable development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes through the responsible use of digital technology in our programming; and

⊲ Strengthen the openness, inclusiveness,c and security of country digital ecosystems.

The strategic use of digital technology in USAID’s programming not only should help us achieve our development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes but also strengthen the critical components of the digital ecosystem that help us achieve our own goals and empower all individuals to achieve their own aspirations. USAID’s digital interventions must go beyond the activity level and, when possible, address the systemic gaps and market failures in digital technology that make the need for donor interventions a persistent reality.

The Digital Strategy supports the 2018–2022 State-USAID Joint Strategic Plan that calls on the U.S. Department of State and USAID to “[t]ransition nations from assistance recipients to enduring diplomatic, economic, and security partners” (Strategic Objective 3.1).8 As USAID looks forward to the day when foreign assistance is no longer necessary, we must understand the potential for digital technology to accelerate or undermine the Journey to Self-Reliance.

— RESPONSIBLY USE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY — — STRENGTHEN DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS —

OBJECTIVE 1 OBJECTIVE 2

USAID Partners Private Sector Civil Society Partner Governments

Improve measurable development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes through the responsible use of digital technology in USAID’s programming

Strengthen openness, inclusiveness, and security of country digital ecosystems.

TWO MUTUALLY REINFORCING OBJECTIVES

Strong digital ecosystems enable better development programming across sectors, which, in turn, can drive improvements in digital ecosystems. For example, in the Kingdom of Cambodia, USAID’s Development Innovations project helped connect civil society and the technology community to design and use digital solutions to address development challenges. These tech-enabled solutions reached 1.6 million Cambodians and improved government accountability; the protection of natural resources; education; health care; and the preparedness for, and response to, disasters. The project cultivated a diverse community of Cambodian innovators who can design and build technology products to address their own development challenges. By focusing not only on the digital solutions but also on advancing opportunities in technology and entrepreneurship for local innovators, youth, and women, the project has built a pipeline of small businesses that will continue to strengthen and shape Cambodia’s digital ecosystem.7

c. Access, affordability, and adoption are the three principle drivers of digital inclusion. Inclusive digital ecosystems describe systems in which digital infrastructure, technology, and services are not only equally accessible and available to everyone, but that are also affordable to all members of society and designed to account for the cultural, contextual, and other barriers (e.g., gender, language, disabilities, education, etc.) that must be overcome in order to become a regular user of the Internet.

8 DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE

THE DIGITAL JOURNEY TO SELF-RELIANCE

A country’s commitment and capacity to respond to the unique opportunities and challenges posed by the digital age depends upon the ability to become self-reliant. In alignment with existing U.S. policies and frameworks,9 and in cooperation with the U.S. Government interagency, USAID plays an integral role in supporting governments, civil society, the private sector, and local communities along their digital Journeys to Self-Reliance.

USAID must help to strengthen the security and resilience of digital ecosystems in our partner countries, which increasingly will serve as the foundation of open, accountable, and citizen-responsive governance; inclusive development; and economic growth. USAID must provide opportunities to train the workforce of tomorrow in our partner countries and build digital literacy among individuals in the developing world.

USAID recognizes that fostering self-reliance in the digital age means working with all actors in a local system, which includes foreign firms and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Additionally, fostering self-reliance in digital ecosystems means building productive linkages that reach beyond national borders. These cross-border linkages can strengthen the local environment for self-reliance by speeding and spreading innovation; creating access to new markets via digital platforms; and fostering a more secure, trustworthy online environment. Indeed, digital issues often transcend national boundaries. Digital businesses operate in international markets, cyber threats cross borders with ease, and nations depend on a global network of fiber-optic cables. Each country’s Journey to Self-Reliance is linked to a digital ecosystem that is part of a regional or global whole and will benefit from an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable cyberspace.

ADVANCING U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY AND

ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

As stated in the U.S. National Security Strategy, “America’s response to the challenges and opportunities of the cyber era will determine our future prosperity and security.”18 While the economy of the United States becomes increasingly dependent on digital technology, and as Americans rely more heavily on a secure cyberspace, investments in the development of robust, resilient, and secure digital economies become even more crucial to our national security and economic prosperity. Thus, one of the pillars of the U.S. National Cyber Strategy is to “promote an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet,” and to build the cyber capacity of our allies and partners.19

CITIZEN CAPACITY

Thanks to digital tools like mobile money, communities have greater access to financial services and are more stable and self-reliant.

In the Republic of Kenya, the mobile-money system M-PESA has lifted 194,000 households, or two percent of Kenyan households, out of poverty.14

USE OF MOBILE

MONEY SYSTEM IN

KENYA LIFTED

194K

HOUSEHOLDS OUT

OF POVERTY

IN INDONESIA,

VOLUNTEERS QUICKLY

BUILT A WEBSITE

AND DIGITIZED VOTING

TABULATIONS

TO MONITOR/TRACK

CONTESTED ELECTION

RESULT

CIVIL SOCIETY CAPACITY

Digital technology enables civil society to hold government and service-delivery providers accountable.

Following the highly contested 2014 presidential election in the Republic of Indonesia, a group of volunteers quickly built a website and digitized voting tabulations, many of them handwritten, to enable better monitoring and tracking of the election results and address accusations of vote-rigging.17

GOVERNMENT CAPACITY

The Better Than Cash Alliance reports that the Mexican Government saves $1.27 billion each year through the use of digital payments.13

USE OF DIGITAL PAYMENTS SAVES

THE MEXICAN GOVERMENT

$1.27 B

— EACH YEAR —

OPEN AND ACCOUNTABLE

GOVERNANCE

In Ukraine, the pilot of the USAID-funded e-procurement platform, ProZorro, helped the national government cut costs by 12 percent (which amounted to $1.4 billion by 2018).10 Perceived corruption decreased from 59 percent to 29 percent from 2016–2017, and the percentage of suppliers who are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) went from 24 to 80 percent from 2015 to 2018.11

E-PROCUREMENT

HELPED UKRAINE

CUT COSTS BY

12%

INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

58% feel more independent12

60% say it saves them money

68% of women report feeling safer with a mobile phone

74% say having a mobile phone saves them time

WOMEN IN LOW- AND

MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES SAY:

ECONOMIC POLICY

In the Republic of The Philippines, USAID supported the digital transformation of tax administration, which increased e-filing rates from less than eight percent in 2013 to nearly 80 percent in 2019. This assistance helped the Government of The Philippines generate $3.5 billion in additional tax revenues in 2018.

E-FILING RATES IN

THE PHILIPPINES

INCREASED TO

NEARLY

80%

GENERATING

$3.5 B

IN ADDITIONAL TAX

REVENUES IN 2018

CAPACITY OF THE ECONOMY

By increasing the adoption of mobile phones and fully enabling digital financial services, the Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) of emerging economies could increase by more than $3.5 trillion, or six percent, by 2025.15 E-commerce could increase international trade by up to $2.1 trillion by 2030.16

THE FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES OF HOW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CAN PROMOTE SELF-RELIANCE: THE FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES OF HOW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CAN PROMOTE SELF-RELIANCE:

DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE 9

The USAID Digital Strategy will help the Agency advance U.S. national security and economic prosperity. In support of the U.S. Government’s goals to advance our national security and economic prosperity, USAID will work with governments and the private sector in the countries where we work to promote informed investments in the development of communications infrastructure and digital markets, because networks intrinsically present greater cybersecurity and supply-chain risks as they increase in scale. This is especially urgent as countries increase their Internet connectivity by shifting from 3G and 4G (third-/fourth-generation) to 5G (fifth-generation) communications networks.20 Authoritarian governments’ subsidies to their national champions or state-owned enterprises allows these firms to offer fiber-optic networks and network equipment, including technology used to monitor populations on a mass scale and to restrict citizens’ access to information, on (often deceptively) favorable financial terms. Such malign practices enable authoritarian regimes to dominate the telecommunications industry and control digital tools that can increase censorship and repression—to the disadvantage of the United States, our allies, and our values, which include democracy, market economy, inclusion, rights, freedom, and accountability.

THE DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY AND

CYBERSECURITY PARTNERSHIP (DCCP)

In support of the U.S. Government’s cybersecurity priorities, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched the DCCP in July 2018, a whole-of-Government initiative to promote access to an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet to counter authoritarian influences on communications infrastructure.

The DCCP Interagency Working Group, which USAID and the U.S. Department of State co-chair, supports the development of open communications infrastructure through private-sector engagement; promotes transparent regulatory policies for free, competitive markets; and builds partners’ cybersecurity capacities to address shared threats. DCCP will help the governments and the private sector in our partner countries realize the tremendous economic and social benefits of the digital economy, while creating new commercial opportunities for U.S. and local technology companies.

CITIZEN CAPACITY

Thanks to digital tools like mobile money, communities have greater access to financial services and are more stable and self-reliant.

In the Republic of Kenya, the mobile-money system M-PESA has lifted 194,000 households, or two percent of Kenyan households, out of poverty.14

USE OF MOBILE

MONEY SYSTEM IN

KENYA LIFTED

194K

HOUSEHOLDS OUT

OF POVERTY

IN INDONESIA,

VOLUNTEERS QUICKLY

BUILT A WEBSITE

AND DIGITIZED VOTING

TABULATIONS

TO MONITOR/TRACK

CONTESTED ELECTION

RESULT

CIVIL SOCIETY CAPACITY

Digital technology enables civil society to hold government and service-delivery providers accountable.

Following the highly contested 2014 presidential election in the Republic of Indonesia, a group of volunteers quickly built a website and digitized voting tabulations, many of them handwritten, to enable better monitoring and tracking of the election results and address accusations of vote-rigging.17

GOVERNMENT CAPACITY

The Better Than Cash Alliance reports that the Mexican Government saves $1.27 billion each year through the use of digital payments.13

USE OF DIGITAL PAYMENTS SAVES

THE MEXICAN GOVERMENT

$1.27 B

— EACH YEAR —

OPEN AND ACCOUNTABLE

GOVERNANCE

In Ukraine, the pilot of the USAID-funded e-procurement platform, ProZorro, helped the national government cut costs by 12 percent (which amounted to $1.4 billion by 2018).10 Perceived corruption decreased from 59 percent to 29 percent from 2016–2017, and the percentage of suppliers who are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) went from 24 to 80 percent from 2015 to 2018.11

E-PROCUREMENT

HELPED UKRAINE

CUT COSTS BY

12%

INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

58% feel more independent12

60% say it saves them money

68% of women report feeling safer with a mobile phone

74% say having a mobile phone saves them time

WOMEN IN LOW- AND

MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES SAY:

ECONOMIC POLICY

In the Republic of The Philippines, USAID supported the digital transformation of tax administration, which increased e-filing rates from less than eight percent in 2013 to nearly 80 percent in 2019. This assistance helped the Government of The Philippines generate $3.5 billion in additional tax revenues in 2018.

E-FILING RATES IN

THE PHILIPPINES

INCREASED TO

NEARLY

80%

GENERATING

$3.5 B

IN ADDITIONAL TAX

REVENUES IN 2018

CAPACITY OF THE ECONOMY

By increasing the adoption of mobile phones and fully enabling digital financial services, the Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) of emerging economies could increase by more than $3.5 trillion, or six percent, by 2025.15 E-commerce could increase international trade by up to $2.1 trillion by 2030.16

THE FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES OF HOW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CAN PROMOTE SELF-RELIANCE: THE FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES OF HOW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY CAN PROMOTE SELF-RELIANCE:

10 DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE: REALIZING BENEFITS

REALIZING BENEFITS: DIGITAL AS AN ENABLING

FORCE FOR DEVELOPMENT

Digital technology is transforming the way people gain access to information, goods, and services, which paves the way for improved health, well-being, and livelihoods. Digital technology has enhanced development outcomes and advanced national self-reliance in several ways.

MAKING DEVELOPMENT MORE EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT

⊲ Strengthening government service-delivery systems. During the 2014–2016 Ebola crisis in West Africa, USAID funded a mobile phone-based system to disseminate information from the Liberian Ministry of Health to frontline health workers21 and helped streamline salary payments to health workers by using mobile money.22 In the Republic of Sierra Leone, digitized payments have contributed to saving an estimated 2,000 lives by ensuring community-response workers received their salaries.23

⊲ Saving time and cutting costs. Digital technologies can improve delivery in a range of sectors, including health, humanitarian assistance, and education, to help allocate scarce resources where they are needed most. For example, using a smartphone-based application called eNutrition, health workers in the United Republic of Tanzania tailored treatment to children with severe acute malnutrition based on the child’s past weight, past treatment, and guideline targets. Calculations and guidelines for each child’s case helped virtually eliminate errors, which previously had been as high as 45 percent, within the first three months.24

⊲ Prioritizing investments through geospatial analysis. In the Republic of Uganda, the creation and analysis of geospatial data supported USAID’s Saving Mothers Giving Life program. In just eight weeks, USAID-trained university students digitally mapped the entire transportation network of three Districts in Western Uganda. These mapping data helped model physical accessibility to health care in the region and prioritize the allocation of new facilities. As a result of the improved allocation, maternal mortality in the area declined by at least 30 percent.25 In the Philippines, USAID’s Biodiversity and Watersheds Improved for Stronger Economy and Ecosystem Resilience (B+WISER) program harnessed technology alongside a geographic, data-driven approach to support the national government’s effort to improve the management of natural and environmental resources and mitigate deforestation.d, 26

DRIVING ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT, FINANCIAL INCLUSION,

AND TRADE

⊲ IMPROVING RESILIENCE THROUGH DIGITAL FINANCIAL

SERVICES. Digital financial services can make transactions cheaper, more accessible, more secure, and more transparent, and help the poor weather financial shocks to lead more resilient lives.27 Families who do not use M-Pesa in

d. The Government of the Philippines has adopted and scaled up the technology with its own resources.

Photo: USAID

Photo: Adam Parr, USAID

STRENGTHENING THE

ECOSYSTEM FOR DIGITAL

PAYMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

USAID worked with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Republic of the Philippines) and the country’s financial sector to improve the efficiency, reliability, safety, and interoperability of the system for retail payments and strengthen the national ecosystem for digital payments.

This support has played an important role in the country’s journey to a cash-lite economy. A recent study by the Better Than Cash Alliance found that the Philippines has made significant progress, as the share of digital payments increased from one percent in 2013 to 11 percent in 2018. This translates to a 20-fold increase in the volume of transactions, from a monthly average of 25 million in 2013 to 490 million in 2018. In terms of value, digital-payment transactions quadrupled from a monthly average of $6 billion in 2013 to $24 billion in 2018. 31

Kenya—the largest mobile-money system in the world— suffer a seven-percent drop in consumption when hit with a negative income shock, while the consumption of families who use M-Pesa remains unaffected.28

⊲ Increasing economic activity and reducing barriers to international trade by using digital systems.

The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) is an online platform that provides real-time prices on agricultural products over SMS, telephone hotlines, a website, and traditional media channels. It offers smallholder farmers a fair opportunity to participate in international markets.

Improved knowledge about coffee prices reduced traders’ margins by almost half, which meant farmers saw increased revenue.29 Similarly, the USAID-funded Regional Trade and Market Alliance (RTMA) worked with customs and other border-control agencies in Central America to reengineer trade processes to eliminate downtime and improve coordination. This reengineering process was critical to support the implementation of radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tags at two main border crossings.30

SUPPORTING ACCOUNTABILITY AND

TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNANCE

⊲ Reducing waste and fraud in the distribution of public benefits. A trial of smartcard-enabled benefit payments in the Republic of India found that the leakage of funds decreased by 40 percent, and demands for bribes were 47 percent lower for card-users than for those in the control group.32 Overall, the reductions in leakage for the program were an estimated $38.7 million per year—nine times the cost of implementation.33

⊲ Strengthening land-tenure systems. USAID’s Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) initiative has combined innovative technology tools with inclusive, community-based methods to document and formalize the use of land and empower youth.34 MAST maps and documents land tenure in a number of countries, trains local youth to collect and validate land data as empowered “intermediaries,” and is a part of ongoing randomized control trials in the Republic of Zambia and Tanzania. The source code for MAST’s mobile applications and back-end database systems are free and open-source, so the technology is available for the broadest possible adaptation and use.

Photo: B+Wiser

12 DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE: REALIZING BENEFITS

CREATING A PLATFORM FOR INNOVATION

AND INCLUSION

⊲ Providing the economic infrastructure for innovative businesses to offer services to underserved communities. The combination of inexpensive solar panels and mobile-money platforms is enabling pay-as-you go business models for off-grid energy.35 One company, M-Kopa, powers 300,000 homes in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. This technology not only delivers electricity, but also broadens the reach of digital services for savings, credit, and payments.36

⊲ Creating new opportunities for persons with disabilities. Digital reading platforms allow for accessible audio and visual supplements. Since 2011, the USAID-funded All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development has used open competitions to create and scale technological solutions to improve the literacy skills of early-grade learners in developing countries.37 Its Sign On for Literacy prize targets the estimated 25 million deaf children around the world who lack access to education.38 In 2019, the Kenya-based prize finalist, eKitabu, translated Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) into a visual glossary, produced KSL videos for integration into accessible books, and created visual storybooks to introduce KSL to early-grade readers.

⊲ Empowering youth to drive change in their communities. Young entrepreneurs and youth leaders are using digital innovation to help solve development challenges at home and abroad. Across the globe, more than 5,000 student mappers in more than 150 university chapters are generating open-source geospatial data for humanitarian and development use through YouthMappers. The USAID-funded program creates geospatial data for our programs that need them most, while strategically empowering youth to define their world by mapping it.

DELIVERING INFORMATION AND

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS

⊲ Enabling access to data. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a country plagued by chronic electricity shortages, USAID installed 9,000 smart meters, which used the country’s mobile network to relay electricity-usage data back to the utility’s headquarters every 15 seconds. With increased access to data, the distribution company provided better electricity service to more than 120 million people, increased its revenue by $62 million, and reduced losses to the economy by an estimated $180 million.39

⊲ Aiding in the formulation of strategies and the design and implementation of projects and activities by using powerful emerging approaches like machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). In the Republic of Colombia, efforts to increase the crop yields of smallholder farmers have used ML approaches to make recommendations based on historical yield data and updated climate models.40 For efforts to expand access to electricity, computer vision algorithms can map electric grids by picking out electric towers and power lines from satellite images.41 Similar approaches can map road networks to identify underserved regions.42

Photo: USAID

DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE 13

ACCOUNTING FOR RISKS: A NEED FOR

SAFEGUARDING IN DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS

The emergence and adoption of digital technology leads to a multitude of benefits, but it also introduces risks. In an increasingly digital world, communities can find themselves socially or economically marginalized if they choose, for reasons of tradition or cultural preservation, not to opt in to the changing society around them. For those who do opt in, online forms of harassment can exacerbate existing inequalities and conflict dynamics. If left unaddressed, these vulnerabilities can lead to extensive political, social, and economic damage and, ultimately, derail a country’s Journey to Self-Reliance.

THE PERSISTENT DIGITAL DIVIDE

Multiple, stubborn digital divides exist between those who have access to digital products and services and those who do not—between urban and rural communities, indigenous and non-indigenous populations, young and old, male and female, and persons with or without disabilities. These divides are not isolated to the poorest countries, and frequently persist even when national-level access improves. Closing these divides wherever they exist is key to achieving USAID’s goals.

Private-sector investments in digital infrastructure often exclude areas and populations for which the business case cannot be readily justified or the risk is too burdensome. Marginalized populations might require public investment to aggregate demand, lower the cost of market entry, and extend connectivity to previously unreached areas—a role USAID is well-positioned to play through the use of our funds, flexible authorities, partnerships with technology companies, and technical expertise to mitigate risk and to “crowd in” public and private resources.

WOMENCONNECT CHALLENGE: BRIDGING THE GENDER

DIGITAL DIVIDE

Around 1.7 billion women in low- and middle-income countries do not own mobile phones, and the gap in using the Internet between men and women has grown in recent years.43 In 2018, USAID launched the WomenConnect Challenge to address this gap. With a goal to enable women’s and girls’ access to, and use of, digital technologies, the first call for solutions brought in more than 530 ideas from 89 countries; USAID selected nine organizations to receive $100,000 awards. In the Republic of Mozambique, the development-finance institution GAPI is lowering barriers to women’s mobile access by providing offline Internet browsing, rent-to-own options, and tailored training in micro-entrepreneurship for women by region. Another awardee, AFCHIX, creates opportunities for rural women in the Republics of Kenya, Namibia, and Sénégal and the Kingdom of Morocco to become network engineers and build their own community networks or Internet services. The entrepreneurial and empowerment program helps women establish their own companies, provides important community services, and positions these individuals as role models.

Photo: Securing Water for Food

14 DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE: ACCOUNTING FOR RISKS

At the same time, emerging technologies can pose new challenges to inclusion. Because AI-enabled tools often rely on machine-learning algorithms that use historical data to detect patterns and make predictions, they can reproduce or amplify biases that might be present in those data.44 The February 2019 Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence states, “The United States must foster public trust and confidence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and protect civil liberties, privacy, and American values in their application.”45 Similarly, the Principles on Artificial Intelligence endorsed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), adopted by 42 countries including the United States, stress the importance of human rights and diversity, as well as building safeguards and accountability when designing systems that rely on AI.46 We must balance the adoption of new technologies with a measured assessment of their ethical, fair, and inclusive use in development.47

Similarly, one billion people in the world, mostly from developing countries, lack appropriate means of identification (ID),48 which creates a divide between those who can prove their identity and those who cannot, and excludes large groups from civic participation and access to public services. As we move into a world with increasingly present digital ID systems, we run the risk of further excluding people if these systems are not carefully designed and deployed. Host-country governments or USAID partners must not adopt tools that exacerbate existing inequities, which would harm already-marginalized people and undermine trust in the organizations that deploy these tools, and instead ensure that digital systems and tools equitably benefit affected populations.

THREATS TO INTERNET FREEDOM AND

HUMAN RIGHTS

As articulated in the U.S. National Cyber Strategy, the United States is committed to ensuring the protection and promotion of an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet that represents and safeguards the online exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms—such as freedom of expression, association, religion, and peaceful assembly.49 For many people across the globe, reality does not reflect this ideal state. According to Freedom House, the global state of Internet freedom in 2019 declined for the ninth consecutive year, which presents challenges to democracy worldwide.50 These threats are not new, but they are taking on new forms in a digital age.

One major threat to digital ecosystems is what some have termed digital authoritarianism, in which a repressive government controls the Internet and uses censorship, surveillance, and data/media laws or regulations to restrict or repress freedom of expression, association, religion, and peaceful assembly at scale.51 Authoritarian governments also threaten freedom of expression and movement by encouraging the design and use of online systems for surveillance and social control—for example, by promoting and adopting digital facial-recognition systems that enable the passive identification of citizens and visitors.52 The rise of digital authoritarianism is especially concerning during times of complex emergencies, when lack of access to information can hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Consistent with our Clear Choice Framework and Development Framework for Countering Malign Kremlin Influence, USAID will continue to champion Internet freedom by driving multi-stakeholder conversations related to Internet governance and supporting commitment to Internet freedom and human rights around the globe. Photo: Jim Haylebroek, USAID

DEVELOPMENT IN A DIGITAL AGE: ACCOUNTING FOR RISKS 15

HATE SPEECH AND VIOLENT EXTREMISM

ONLINE

The same digital tools that allow governments, businesses, and civil society to connect efficiently and at scale enable individuals and organizations with hateful or violent ideologies to reach potential followers and recruits. The United States is clear in our commitment to exposing violent extremism online and working with local partners and technology platforms to communicate alternatives.53 This includes implementing programs to counter violent extremism that are focused, tailored, and measurable, as articulated in the USAID Policy on Countering Violent Extremism in Development,54 and an explicit call to understand how to counter violent extremism and hate speech through digital platforms.55

THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE

MISINFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION

ON DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES

Recent events have shown the ability of misinformation and disinformation campaigns to sow distrust and undermine democracy.56 Particularly during periods of political transition, misinformation can create as much harm as disinformation.e

Furthermore, the push to correct misinformation is often a thinly veiled cover for the disinformation efforts of authoritarian or would-be authoritarian governments. As USAID-funded programs work to increase the digital influence of local partners, the Agency must prepare staff and partners to anticipate and respond to coordinated disinformation campaigns against their work.

Both state and non-state actors are adopting efforts…