As new technologies emerge with every passing day, it is nearly impossible to predict what new digital technology will be making headlines in 5 years’ time. Which makes the important work of anticipating and mitigating potential harms very difficult. What resources do we have today to ensure we are prepared for anything that may come our way? And importantly, how can such a resource be adaptable and flexible enough to be relevant across industries, geographies, and cultures?
Enter: The Principles for Digital Development.
These Principles were established by over 200 development practitioners and digital technologists to ensure technology would be implemented in a responsible, effective, and sustainable manner in development work. Since their founding in 2014, they have become a mainstay for those working in digital development and have served as a foundation for other important frameworks and standards, including the USAID Digital Investment Tool and UNDP Digital Standards. Based on the collective knowledge of a global community of experts, these Principles emphasize the actions needed to at minimum do no harm, and at best, to ensure digital initiatives maximize people’s agency and wellbeing.
In 2024, recognizing the rapid evolution of digital technology and drawing lessons from a decade of implementation, we undertook a comprehensive public consultation process to refresh the Principles for the next decade. This process resulted in updated Principles, adapted to our increasingly digital world, with the same sentiment aimed at protecting people, their aspirations and wellbeing. The nine Principles speak directly to the full diversity of individuals and organizations that exert power over the design, deployment, and governance of digital systems and solutions.
With the 2024 refresh behind us, we are taking stock of the first decade of the Principles.
Through analysis of survey data, stakeholder interviews, and implementation case studies, we set out to evaluate the effectiveness of advocacy and support mechanisms for the Principles; document and analyze diverse implementation approaches; assess concrete outcomes; and identify strategic opportunities and recommendations for strengthening the Principles’ future impact.
Our research surfaced several key findings:
Key finding 1: The Principles reached a broad global audience, mainly comprised of NGOs and private sector companies. Survey respondents spanned 18 countries, with notable representation from Germany, Kenya, and the United States. This international scope provides a multi-regional perspective on digital development challenges. Survey data also demonstrates a similarly diverse sectoral composition of endorsers: NGOs (35%) and private sector entities (32%) show the highest representation among active implementers, followed by international organizations and academic institutions (9% each), and government agencies (3%). This multi-sectoral spread underscores the value of flexible, adaptable principles that can transcend traditional organizational boundaries and move beyond the international development sector, to influence government, private companies, and others who exert influence over digital technology.
Key recommendation 1: This data reveals an opportunity to expand and strengthen the sustainability of the Principles. As the Principles move beyond the digital development community and become more relevant to any digital initiative, it will be important to identify and support key evangelists across sectors and geographies. This champion-centered model could leverage the reach and influence of individuals who are putting the Principles into practice in their respective domains.
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Key finding 2: The Principles are as relevant to policy as they are to project implementation. When endorsers integrate the Principles into governance discussions, the Principles can go as far as to influence national policy frameworks – demonstrated in the case of the Kenya Digital Health Act (2023). IntelliSoft – an IT services company and Principles endorser – was a technical partner for the Ministry of Health and infused into the bill principles like designing with the user, establishing people-centered data policies, and creating open and transparent practices. This success in Kenya demonstrates how strong organizational adoption and national engagement can lead to significant policy impact.
Key recommendation 2: This finding highlights an important challenge: despite measuring high engagement, there is a lack of information on overall adoption and its broader impact on people. Measurement frameworks, with sector-specific assessment tools and guidelines for resource-constrained contexts, could support implementers in monitoring and understanding outcomes for people. This could, in turn, help draw the connection between principles, policies, and tangible benefits – and lead to learnings that can be integrated into an iterative design approach.
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Key finding 3: Organizations adapted three proven implementation models with distinct approaches and impacts. Our research reveals three distinct approaches to successful application of the Principles:
- Comprehensive Integration Model: This model is best embodied by GIZ, the German development bank, where the Principles are an anchor point around which they build their programs. This model embeds the Principles deeply into organizational architecture through formal toolkits and processes, creating organization-wide alignment where the Principles inform not just individual projects but entire digital strategies and governance frameworks. Through its funding for external digital transformation projects, GIZ amplifies the Principles beyond their organizational walls.
- Technical Implementation Model: This approach focuses on embedding the Principles directly into technical workflows and product development methodologies. This model ensures all technical decisions are filtered through the Principles, affecting everything from code architecture to client engagement. This model is best embodied by IntelliSoft and its contribution to the Kenya Digital Health Act.
- Funding Alignment Model (Fingo): This model leverages the Principles as a framework for resource allocation decisions. Fingo – an umbrella organization of approximately 260 Finnish NGOs working in development cooperation, sustainable development and global citizenship education, demonstrates this approach through their funding strategy. By requiring organizations applying for funding to demonstrate adherence to the Principles, this model creates powerful incentives for adoption throughout partner ecosystems.
Key recommendation 3: These three implementation models demonstrate how endorsers amplify the impact of the Principles – spreading them to new regions, sectors, ministries, policies, and communities. Drawing from these documented successes, open resources like sector-specific training modules, mentorship programs, and practical implementation toolkits could help others learn from proven approaches to real-world implementation. By sharing learnings and reusing proven strategies, the impact and sustainability of the Principles grow exponentially.
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Key finding 4: Despite these successful models, implementation challenges remain. While these models prove successful, organizations reported facing specific challenges in implementation – most specifically, resource constraints (64%); technical capacity limitations (58%); and contextual adaptation difficulties (52%). Translating the Principles from theory into practice in various contexts often requires dedicated resource investment.
Key recommendation 4: This insight presents a major opportunity for the Principles community. To support successful adoption and implementation, it is necessary to address knowledge and capacity gaps, with specific attention to low-resource environments. Flexible and modular training materials can help support capacity building while resources like sector-specific and region-specific implementation guides could help enhance contextual support.
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Key finding 5: The Principles’ influence extends beyond formal endorsements through undocumented implementation. A critical discovery from the research is the extent of implementation occurring without the stewardship body’s awareness. While formal endorsement metrics show impressive growth to 315 organizations, our interviews revealed substantial “unrecognized integration” – where organizations apply the Principles extensively without visible connection to the formal community.
Key recommendation 5: This unrecognized integration represents both a challenge and an opportunity: while it indicates successful organic adoption, it highlights the need for better mechanisms to capture these success stories and facilitate cross-organizational learning. Building community learning networks as a platform to share best practices and implementation use cases could help encourage the community to pool resources and knowledge.
A call to action for the next decade of the Principles for Digital Development
The evolution of the Digital Principles demonstrates both their adaptability and enduring relevance. Through this analysis, we see a clear path forward for the next decade of the Principles – one that relies on the amplifying force of the global community of technologists, activists, and policymakers across sectors and specialties. We’ve seen how the collective efforts of 315+ endorsing organizations can create massive positive ripple effects throughout the digital ecosystem. And as more and more people interact with digital throughout daily life, spreading awareness about the importance of the Principles is more important than ever.
As a community resource, the Principles are for everyone. We invite any individuals or organizations passionate about the Principles to follow our recommendations and guidance and share, re-use, and improve resources that can support their far-reaching adoption. Visit the Principles Resources page to browse the resources that have been contributed from the community thus far.
Through continued adaptation, learning, and community engagement, the Digital Principles are well-positioned to continue driving responsible, inclusive digital transformation. The challenge lies in building on existing successful models of implementation while ensuring the Principles remain relevant and actionable in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. This evolution will be crucial in ensuring technology serves as an enabler of inclusive progress rather than a driver of digital divides.
