## Technology-Driven Development

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Technology-Driven Development](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/trenches.pdf)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/trenches.pdf.md)
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### Novissi program: scope and impact
- Distributed $34 million to more than 920,000 vulnerable people—about one-fourth of the adult population—during the pandemic.
- Reached about 450,000 people within one week after launch.
- Targeted populations where more than 50 percent of the population still lives in extreme poverty and about 80 percent works in the informal sector.

### Design features and technical innovations
- Rapid rollout: launched April 8, 2020, only eight days after the health emergency was declared; platform fully developed in-house and operational in 10 days.
- Fully digital cash transfer program with no face-to-face contact from registration to assessment to cash payment.
- Near-instant payouts: recipients received cash transfers on their mobile money accounts in less than two minutes once declared eligible.
- Works without internet: enrollment and payment via low-tech mobile technologies (USSD), e.g., dialing *855# on a mobile phone.
- Advanced targeting: leverages artificial intelligence (AI), satellite imagery, cell phone metadata, and machine learning to improve beneficiary targeting.
- Partnerships and support: technical support from Innovations for Poverty Action and Center for Effective Global Action researchers; a $10 million grant from GiveDirectly to support 140,000 people.
- Gender sensitivity: women receive about 15 percent more cash than men.

### Digital infrastructure, access, and inclusion
- Mobile internet penetration rate reached 63 percent in 2020, compared to barely 13 percent five or six years ago.
- Rapid expansion of 3G and 4G networks across the country.
- Connectivity prices have fallen as high-speed fixed and mobile internet are extended nationwide.
- Objective: broaden access to high-speed internet and mobile devices so more of the population can participate in the digital economy.

### Institutional and strategic initiatives
- Creation of Agence Togo Digital to recruit skills, lead digital transformation, ensure interoperability of government systems, and enhance data value.
- National strategy: Togo Digital 2025 integrates digital components into three-fourths of Togolese development road map projects for 2025.
- Key aims under Togo Digital 2025:
  - Provide all citizens and residents above age five with a biometric ID and easy and cost-effective access to high-speed internet and mobile devices.
  - Digitalize public and social services, and all government-to-citizen and citizen-to-government payments.
  - Accelerate economic transformation and make Togo a digital hub with an ecosystem of innovation and start-ups.

### Role of digitalization for development and policy implications
- Digital technologies (mobile technologies, big data, machine learning, and digital public infrastructures) are presented as essential to deliver timely and effective digital aid and to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Cited global context: according to the World Bank, about 690 million people live on less than $1.90 a day; more than 50 percent of the world’s most vulnerable people live in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Policymaker responsibilities highlighted:
  - Build inclusive, transparent, and cybersecure digital public infrastructure aligned with data privacy regulatory frameworks.
  - Use nontraditional data sources to generate policy-relevant insights where traditional social registries are limited.
  - Treat digital technologies as essential tools for resilience against COVID-19, climate change, conflicts, and natural disasters that threaten poverty alleviation progress.

_Interview with Cina Lawson, minister of digital economy and transformation of Togo; edited for length and clarity._

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/trenches.pdf_