UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and Southern Voice launches a report on how the digital world has impacted on the Global South and provides recommendations on how to harness technology to amplify participation in governance processes. 
 
The rapid increase of users on social media platforms has shifted political debates and communication channels between citizens and states. While a decade ago governments may have tried to connect to citizens through their own platforms, now, many do so through social media. But what has been created? A deepening or widening of democracy? Or maybe just an illusion of democracy? States have quickly learnt how to monitor, influence and even weaponize digital platforms.  

As the world fell into an increased digital reliance with the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, it became clear that while digitalization can connect people, expand businesses and provide services to those geographically out of reach, it can also polarise communities, spread misinformation and incite violence. The manipulation of digital technologies for various political motivations is continually reinforcing the lesson that innovation in itself has no value; its value comes instead from how people use it. 
 
This report explores how the digital world has impacted the Global South, putting the rights of users and their participation in governance processes at the centre of the conversation. We can’t roll back time or innovation, but we can work towards a world where it works for democracy and human rights, and not against them.

The report has been developed in the context of the UNDP Tech for Democracy project which is funded by the Government of Denmark. It was prepared by Rahul Verma and Shantanu Kulshreshtha from the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, in collaboration with Southern Voice and UNDP Oslo Governance Centre. For more information, contact Research Advisor, Simon Alexis Finley: simon.finley@undp.org