Digital for Development (D4D): Strategic note for the

This document lays out the strategic policy on ‘Digital for Development’ (D4D) for the Belgian development cooperation. It describes the vision and the strategic priorities of the policy, how they can be implemented, which partnerships should be established or strengthened, and how the policy will be strategically managed. It is embedded in the comprehensive approach of the Belgian development policy and should be realized through collaboration between the different local, Belgian and international development actors.

The data revolution and digital transformation which is moving forward at a fast pace in all world regions has provided numerous, but thus far unequally distributed benefits for development. The Belgian D4D policy therefore does not consider digitalization as a goal in itself, but as a crosscutting enabler to achieve better results for more people who are in need. Digitalization will transform the Belgian development and humanitarian assistance to increase our impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our main role will be to connect the different actors on the ground to promote the exchange of knowledge and to foster innovative partnerships. Our approach will be guided by the two overarching principles of ‘Putting people first’ and ‘Do no harm’.

The strategic priorities of the policy are threefold:

Better use of (big) data, drawn from traditional and innovative sources: data are indispensable for setting up and monitoring any development intervention, as well as for measuring the realization of the SDGs and increasing public authorities’ accountability. The Belgian development cooperation will invest in the tools and policies needed to use real-time (big) data to produce actionable insights for development actors, and thus to increase their impact. Equal attention will be given to ‘open data’, freely accessible to the public, to promote good governance and facilitate humanitarian relief and development, natural resource management and disaster risk reduction.
Digital for inclusive societies: the Belgian development cooperation will use the potential of digitalization to both maximize the number of beneficiaries of an intervention and to lower the threshold for vulnerable groups to enjoy democratic rights, to have equal access to basic services, to participate in public life, and to be financially and economically included in society.
Digital for inclusive and sustainable economic growth: in line with its policy priority to promote sustainable inclusive economic growth, the Belgian development cooperation will deliberately support interventions that turn digitalization into a positive force to create (self-)employment and to promote socially responsible entrepreneurship