The Principles for Digital Development are nine living guidelines that are designed to help integrate best practices into technology-enabled programs and are intended to be updated and refined over time. They include guidance for every phase of the project life cycle, and they are part of an ongoing effort among development practitioners to share knowledge and support continuous learning.
The Principles for Digital Development were developed in a community-driven effort, the result of many lessons learned using information and communication technologies (ICTs) in development projects. They 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, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Health Organization (WHO). Hundreds of development agencies have endorsed the principles. Read more about them in the links below:
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Design With the User
Designing a successful initiative means first identifying users’ needs. User-centered design starts with getting to know the people you are designing for through conversation, observation and co-creation. Information gathered through this engagement leads to building, testing and redesigning tools until they effectively meet user needs.
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Understand the Existing Ecosystem
Well-designed initiatives and digital tools consider the particular structures and needs that exist in each country, region and community. Ecosystems are defined by the culture, gender norms, political environment, economy, technology infrastructure and other factors that can affect an individual’s ability to access and use a technology or to participate in an initiative.
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Design for Scale
Designing for scale means thinking beyond the pilot and making choices that will enable widespread adoption later, as well as determining what will be affordable and usable by a whole country or region, rather than by a few pilot communities. By designing for scale from the beginning, your initiative can be expanded more easily to new users, markets, regions or countries if the initiative meets user needs and has local impact.
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Build for Sustainability
Building sustainable programs, platforms and digital tools is essential to maintain user and stakeholder support, as well as to maximize long-term impact. A program built for sustainability is more likely to be embedded into policies, daily practices and user workflow.
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Be Data Driven
When an initiative is data driven, quality information is available to the right people when they need it, and they are using those data to take action. Examples of the types of data that can be collected to inform decision making include surveillance, research, operations, project management and data from secondary sources collected outside of the program.
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Use Open Standards, Open Data, Open Source, and Open Innovation
An open approach to digital development can help to increase collaboration in the digital development community and avoid duplicating work that has already been done. What being “open” means for your initiative will depend on practical and technical constraints, security and privacy concerns, and the dynamics of the people and networks in your space.
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Reuse and Improve
Instead of starting from scratch, programs that “reuse and improve” look for ways to adapt and enhance existing products, resources and approaches. Start by identifying relevant methods, standards, software platforms, technology tools and digital content that have already been tried and tested.
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Address Privacy & Security
Responsible practices include considering the sensitivities around the data organizations have collected, being transparent about how data will be collected and used, minimizing the amount of personal identifiable and sensitive information collected, creating and implementing security policies that protect data and uphold individuals’ privacy and dignity, and creating an end-of-life policy for post-project data management.
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Be Collaborative
Being collaborative means sharing information, insights, strategies and resources across projects, organizations and sectors, leading to increased efficiency and impact. By collaborating, those working in digital development and beyond can pool their resources and expertise not only to benefit each initiative but also to strengthen the global community.
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