Data and Development | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Washington, DC Office

The data-driven economy holds tremendous potential for countries in the Global South. The digital transformation helps businesses and governments provide better services; it empowers people with new tools for democratic participation and income generation. Data also plays a crucial role in development cooperation as a foundation for measuring progress and for designing policies.

At the same time, the digital economy enables surveillance and creates new risks for individuals whose personal data fuels these virtual products and services. It challenges traditional economic sectors and threatens a variety of jobs, exacerbating inequalities and injustices.

In our work on Data & Development, we promote a vision for global digital governance that supports the interests of countries with emerging and developing economies. We aim to offer solutions for how these countries can strike the right balance between innovation and regulation – and how they can manage cross-border data flows while maintaining a level of local control.

As part of this project, we aim to inform and connect policymakers, academics and civil society in digital governance debates, with a special focus on amplifying voices from the Global South.

How can Technology fix social problems?

Coding for a Better World

Transatlantic Media Fellowship

A new alliance of programmers, wealthy tech companies, and NGOs is forming to tackle global problems such as poverty, hunger, and climate change. But making a difference in people’s real lives is not quite that simple.

By Marc Winkelmann

Data and the Global South: Key Issues for Inclusive Digital Development

by Geraldine de Bastion and Sreekanth Mukku

Data and the Global South: Key Issues for Inclusive Digital Development

Publication

This paper lays out the predominant debates on data as a development issue. The authors discuss issues of access and connectivity as well as digital governance, and they sketch policy pathways for a fair, just and inclusive digital transformation.

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The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Washington, DC and Konnektiv hosted an online discussion on perspectives on digital sovereignty in the Global South with Geraldine de Bastion, one of the authors of "Data and the Global South: Key Issues for Inclusive Digital Development," and others.