Digital Principles
The 9 digital development principles were developed by the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL), a global alliance funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in collaboration with a range of partners and stakeholders
The principles were developed in response to a growing recognition of the need for a more user-centered, collaborative, and sustainable approach to digital development. They were informed by a broad range of inputs, including feedback from stakeholders, existing best practices and standards, and emerging trends and technologies.
The principles were first launched in 2015 and have since been widely adopted and used by a range of organizations and initiatives involved in digital development. They serve as a framework for guiding the design, development, and deployment of digital solutions that are effective, equitable, and sustainable.
The 9 digital development principles are:
- Design with the user: This principle emphasizes the importance of designing digital solutions with the user in mind, taking into account their needs, preferences, and capabilities.
- Understand the ecosystem: This principle highlights the importance of understanding the broader social, economic, and political context in which digital solutions are being developed and deployed.
- Design for scale: This principle stresses the importance of designing digital solutions that can be scaled up to reach large numbers of users and have a significant impact.
- Build for sustainability: This principle emphasizes the importance of building digital solutions that are sustainable over the long term, both from a financial and environmental perspective.
- Be data-driven: This principle emphasizes the importance of using data to inform decision-making and improve the effectiveness of digital solutions.
- Use open standards, open data, open source, and open innovation: This principle highlights the importance of using open standards, open data, open source software, and open innovation to promote collaboration, interoperability, and transparency.
- Reuse and improve: This principle stresses the importance of reusing and improving existing digital solutions and platforms, rather than starting from scratch.
- Address privacy and security: This principle emphasizes the importance of addressing privacy and security concerns when developing digital solutions, to protect the rights and interests of users.
- Be collaborative: This principle stresses the importance of collaboration and partnership between stakeholders in the development and deployment of digital solutions, including users, government agencies, civil society organizations, and private sector actors.
