Resources

In early 2017 the UK’s Department for International Development’s ICED programme convened a roundtable of UK government departments, investors, NGOs, urban development practitioners and private sector technology and infrastructure services providers. The session explored whether the ‘Smart Cities’ paradigm had relevance for developing country cities, and how the opportunity posed by new digital solutions should […]

Developing countries cannot view the digital transition as a luxury, but as a necessity if cities and countries wish to be a part of the new global economy. To support this transition governments, donors and the private sector each have a role to play, and key actions for each stakeholder group are set out in […]

Developing countries cannot view the digital transition as a luxury, but as a necessity if cities and countries wish to be a part of the new global economy. To support this transition governments, donors and the private sector each have a role to play, with key actions for each stakeholder group as set out in […]

Developing countries cannot view the digital transition as a luxury, but as a necessity if cities and countries wish to be a part of the new global economy. To support this transition governments, donors and the private sector each have a role to play, with key actions for each stakeholder group as set out in […]

Developing countries cannot view the digital transition as a luxury, but as a necessity if cities and countries wish to be a part of the new global economy. To support this transition governments, donors and the private sector each have a role to play, with key actions for each stakeholder group as set out in […]

Digital solutions can improve city government-citizen engagement, promote improved prioritisation of services, support data-driven decision making, enable greater revenue generation, improve viability and delivery of investments, and support asset management.

This paper explores the four key opportunities that developing country governments and donors must consider if they wish to make their urban areas centres of inclusive and sustained economic growth.

This paper sets out the key challenges that digital solutions could address, provides a skeleton theory of change for how digital solutions can address the challenge of poor urban infrastructure, and then explores the four key opportunities that developing country governments and donors must consider if they wish to make their urban areas centres of […]

At a time when the transition commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution is gaining pace, it is important for donors to understand developing economies’ capacities to build and leverage digital. We created this benchmarking tool to support DFID program managers better understand the different topics that are critical towards building a digital economy.

Low levels of access to clean and affordable electricity remain a major barrier to development across much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). About 600m Africans do not have access to electricity. However, in recent years, increasing sales of stand-alone Solar Home Systems (SHS) have offered a solution to many households that might otherwise have waited many […]