What is Digital Public Infrastructure?
When COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation globally, it highlighted the difference between strong and weak digital infrastructure. Countries have a narrow window to ensure they have digital networks that safely and efficiently deliver economic opportunities and social services to all residents. This is digital public infrastructure.
Read: Explainers and examples
Digital IDs are an effective tool against poverty. A global solution is making them available to millions.
By Kanwaljit Singh, Ph.D.
Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Why digital public infrastructure matters
By Thao Hong
Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Statement from Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman: Why we need digital infrastructure
Watch: DPI in action
A story of digital banking in India-and a young woman's promising career path
Harnessing digital technology for public good:An indian CTO's story
Financial independence through last mile service delivery
Digital banking is helping women to unlock their full potential
Ways we’re working to expand DPI
At this critical time, the global financing community and countries must come together to invest in DPI and build inclusive, resilient economies. We’re leading the charge by funding programs that create and grow the critical digital financial infrastructure needed to serve everyone, especially the poor.
Inclusive Financial Systems
Our goal is to expand access to digital financial services so the poorest people around the globe can build security and prosperity for their communities.
View program
DPI initiatives we support
We partner with technical assistance programs, such as AfricaNenda and the World Bank’s ID4D initiative, so countries can underpin their DPI with appropriate regulations and safeguards.
The World Bank: Identification for Development
The World Bank’s ID4D Initiative is a global leading organization advocating for ID systems to be based on a robust set of principles, including privacy by design, security, user control, safeguarding data privacy, and protecting user rights through a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework.
Visit partnerAfricaNenda: Accelerating inclusive payment systems
AfricaNenda provides technical support to expand the broader pipeline of fundable, instant, and inclusive payment system projects with the aim to achieve universal financial inclusion on the continent by 2030.
Visit partnerMojaloop Foundation
Mojaloop open source software lowers the cost to build, maintain, and modify inclusive instant payment systems (IIPS) that bring affordable, connected digital financial services to anyone with access to a mobile phone.
Visit partnerMOSIP
The Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP) is a robust, scalable, and inclusive platform on which national foundational IDs are built and configured in an efficient and cost effective way.
Visit partnerCo-Develop
Co-Develop accelerates the adoption of digital public infrastructure in a way that is inclusive, safe, and equitable.
Visit partnerDigital Public Goods Alliance
The Digital Public Goods Alliance aims to unlock the potential of open-source technologies for a more equitable world.
Visit partnerDigital Impact Alliance
The Digital Impact Alliance aims to connect people with evidence to build the digital tools that work for society.
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Global Findex 2021: How digital wages empower Bangladeshi women
The Bangladeshi government’s quick action to pay garment workers digitally during the pandemic led to enormous dividends for women workers—and demonstrated the power of financial inclusion to improve women’s lives.
By Snigdha Ali
Program Officer, Inclusive Financial Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Banking on the future of women
Poverty is not a single fact or condition, but rather a collection of them: a lack of financial assets, a lack of access to property, and a lack of voice in one's community.
By Sarah Hendriks
Director, Programme, Policy and Intergovernmental Division, UN Women
Where Digital Payments, Even for a 10-Cent Chai, Are Colossal in Scale
India’s homegrown instant payment system has remade commerce and pulled millions into the formal economy.
(The New York Times)
The Case for Investing in Digital Public Infrastructure
In India, investment in digital public infrastructure (DPI) has transformed how the country does business and how its citizens interact with their government.
(Harvard Business Review)