Amid the push to instrumentalise digital public infrastructure (DPI) initiatives for national development and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in political forums such as the Global Digital Compact, the Indian, Brazillian and South African G20 Presidencies, digital inequality has frequently been cited as both a hindrance to their success and a challenge the initiatives themselves should address. However, this report demonstrates that the complexity of the challenges posed by unequal access and use of digital technologies is often misrepresented or under-researched, resulting in a limited understanding of how the approach can realistically either address or exacerbate inequalities.
DPI tools – such as foundation digital ID systems, digital payments, and data exchange tools – have the potential to expand access to government services and unleash a wide range of social and economic benefits in both the public and private sectors. However, on the African continent, known for its diversity and stark socio-economic inequality, there is a great need to distinguish between varying levels of access and digital development before DPI systems can adequately connect, scale, and interoperate across such heterogeneous contexts.
Addressing these complexities using Research ICT Africa’s demand-side After Access data (2022a), this report identifies and explores the relationship between DPI and inequality by providing a comprehensive empirical and analytical understanding of inequality. In keeping with the popular assessment that a central differentiator of DPI from other forms of infrastructure is the foundation of data, the report approaches analysis and recommendations through the lens of data governance. It finds that key challenges in these complexities have less to do with traditional ‘negative’ data rights (the rights to be free from various forms of interference) and more with positive rights, such as access and empowerment. Rather than attempting to expand upon existing data governance policy frameworks as they pertain to DPI, the report instead explores how positive data governance may be conceptualised and evolved to encompass and enable such access and empowerment amid highly unequal regions.
