Digital solutions are technical tools or IT systems, such as applications used for digital learning management or for summarising, analysing and evaluating data that improve overviews and planning. In development cooperation they can enhance projects’ efficiency, reach and impact.
Digital solutions for greater efficacy
How digital applications help in facilitating access, early identification of challenges, and more targeted use of development measures, thus making our work more effective and more sustainable.
Advantages of digital solutions
Digital applications enhance the impact of international cooperation projects because they
- Potentially reach more people
- Raise efficiency
- Improve data quality, e.g. when data is recorded and checked digitally instead of manually
- Provide a better understanding of reality through data and thus improve steering
- Create structures that can be used in the long term
- Enable effective monitoring and fact-based decision-making.
Reflecting reality
Data can help us gain a realistic picture of the situation, instead of relying on feelings. Data that has been well selected and processed can reveal discrepancies and bottlenecks before they become noticeable, or can be used to improve project planning. Analyses and reports based on data enable us to take informed decisions. They can also help in early detection of risks and discrepancies, so that countermeasures can be taken.
As monitoring systems, digital tools can support efficient project management, for example, or the steering of the course of a project. All the project stakeholders can see the current progress, tasks and responsibilities, which makes for greater transparency. Schedules, resources and budgets can be recorded accurately and adjusted, which facilitates planning. They allow rapid adjustments when undesired effects occur or desired effects fail to materialise. This makes development initiatives considerably more efficient.
Water and resource management
Agriculture
Humanitarian aid
Responding to crises
Economic development and employment
Education
Medicine
Financial inclusion
Supply chains and logistics
Governance and transparency
We support partners in applying digital solutions to make their measures more effective. We use data to analyse the actual challenges correctly and address them effectively, and to monitor project progress. To enhance sustainability, we prefer to use open source solutions and open data.
Practical application
In Jordan, where water is scarce, representatives from ministries, the private sector and the water industry work with GIZ in the field of business intelligence. The objectives are better monitoring and more efficient management of the available water resources, and the earliest possible detection of bottlenecks and other problems, to guarantee water quality and availability. It is necessary to take the right precautions and prevent water from being polluted and wasted. To this end, improvements are made to digital measuring stations and the evaluations based on them. Local people are trained so they can interpret the figures better and take appropriate action.
The many other examples include digital systems for improved land management, warning systems to protect people, and the traceability of raw materials from extraction to final sale, to avoid bringing raw materials that have been extracted either illegally or under inhumane conditions onto the market.
Insights
This project focuses on the following GIZ work priorities:
The project contributes to these Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations: