## Technology-Driven Development ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [Technology-Driven Development](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/technology-driven-development-lawson) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/technology-driven-development-lawson/index.md) - [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/technology-driven-development-lawson/index.json) - [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/technology-driven-development-lawson/bundle-manifest.json) ## Bibliographic details - Authors: ADAM BEHSUDI - Published: March 2, 2022 --- ### Overview - Togo used an innovative digital payment initiative, Novissi, to provide financial assistance during the pandemic. - Interview subject: Cina Lawson, Togo’s minister of digital economy and transformation; interviewer: Adam Behsudi. - Key framing: digitalization is central to Togo’s growth and development and to delivering fiscal policy and social protection. ### Novissi payment program: design and outcomes - Total disbursed: $34 million to more than 920,000 vulnerable people—about one-fourth of the adult population. - Launch and rollout speed: - Launched April 8, 2020, eight days after the health emergency was declared by the president. - Platform fully developed in-house and operational in 10 days. - Within one week after launch, disbursed social assistance to about 450,000 people. - Delivery mechanics: - 100 percent digital cash transfer program with no face-to-face contact from registration to eligibility assessment and cash payment. - Payout speed: cash transfers reached mobile money accounts in less than two minutes once declared eligible. - Platform functions without internet using USSD (unstructured supplementary service data); users register by dialling the USSD shortcode *855#. - Targeting and technical features: - Leverages artificial intelligence (AI), satellite imagery, cell phone metadata, and machine learning to improve beneficiary targeting. - AI targeting led by the government of Togo with technical support from Innovations for Poverty Action and Center for Effective Global Action researchers. - A $10 million grant from GiveDirectly supported 140,000 people. - Gender sensitivity: - Women receive about 15 percent more cash than men. ### Rationale and socioeconomic context - Poverty and labor context: - More than 50 percent of the population still lives in extreme poverty. - About 80 percent works in the informal sector on day-to-day jobs that cannot be done from home. - Policy imperative: prevent a rise in the national poverty rate by supporting informal workers and vulnerable households. ### Digital infrastructure, access, and leapfrogging - Argument: leapfrogging is necessary to provide African solutions to African problems. - Institutional development: creation of Agence Togo Digital to recruit skills, ensure interoperable government systems, and enhance data value. - Internet and mobile penetration: - Mobile internet penetration rate reached 63 percent in 2020, compared to barely 13 percent five or six years ago. - Affordability and coverage: - Connectivity prices have fallen while high-speed fixed and mobile internet have been extended across the country, enabling broader participation in the digital economy. ### Togo Digital 2025: strategic goals and projects - Strategic ambition: become a logistics and services hub for the western region of Africa and transform the economy with digital technologies at the core. - Project integration: - Three-fourths of Togolese development road map projects for 2025 have a digital component and are part of the national strategy Togo Digital 2025. - Specific aims: - 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 the transformation of the economy and make Togo a digital hub with an ecosystem of innovation and start-ups. ### Digitalization and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - Claim: The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without digitalization. - Global poverty 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. - Strategic view: mobile technologies, big data, machine learning, and digital public infrastructures enable timely, effective digital aid; policymakers must adopt robust approaches to address global issues exacerbated by COVID-19, climate change, conflicts, and natural disasters. *F&D Magazine, "Technology-Driven Development," Adam Behsudi, March 2022.* --- ## Content in this bundle - **في خندق العمل** - [في خندق العمل (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ar/trenches.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [في خندق العمل (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ar/trenches.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **La technologie, moteur du développement** - [La technologie, moteur du développement (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/fr/trenches.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [La technologie, moteur du développement (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/fr/trenches.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **trenches** - [trenches (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ru/trenches.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [trenches (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/ru/trenches.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Desarrollo a base de tecnología ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022** - [Desarrollo a base de tecnología ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/sp/trenches.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Desarrollo a base de tecnología ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2022 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/sp/trenches.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Technology-Driven Development** - [Technology-Driven Development (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/trenches.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Technology-Driven Development (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/trenches.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **科技驱动发展** - [科技驱动发展 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/zh/behsudi-trenches.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [科技驱动发展 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/zh/behsudi-trenches.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/technology-driven-development-lawson_