46 l THE CONVERGING TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION AND HUMAN CAPITAL
public policies are put in place and governments address the constraints facing marginalized and poor populations when trying to access services through digital means. The private sector is driving the development of these technologies, primarily motivated by users among the wealthiest households. Although digital public platforms (or public-private platforms) provide one way of leveraging digital technologies for the poor, the barriers to use must be explicitly addressed from the beginning. Among these barriers are first-mile access to digital infrastructure by schools and health centers in poor communities, as well as by women within households, and the availability of local content (especially important in education but also for delivery of health services). Thus design of these platforms must explicitly take into account the conditions and skills of the end-users. Integrated social registries are a powerful way to support the equity agenda in South Asia and build long-term resilience as well as a government’s capacity to use digital platforms to improve service delivery. The COVID-19 experience demonstrated the ability of several South Asian countries to deliver social assistance on a massive scale, building on existing infrastructure and programs. The use of converging technologies, underpinned by AI-enabled data collection and analysis and data-driven decision-making, requires building a strong capacity in the public sector (leadership, vision, and skills), as well as creating the technology and data governance systems and processes that will protect individuals and groups. However, AI-enabled converging technologies could harm people by targeting special groups, undertaking exfiltration of data for other purposes, and posing cybersecurity threats. Their use among children and populations with limited literacy or awareness of the technology must be regulated. A citizen-oriented technology governance system and a regulatory framework and architecture for the use of data are therefore essential to ensuring that the potential for improved service delivery is not misused to reduce voice, agency, and empowerment.
Notes 1. Section 135 of India’s Companies Act 2013 stipulates that companies in India having a net worth of Rs 5 billion (equivalent to around US$69 million) or more during any financial year must formulate a CSR policy and spend at least 2 percent of the average net profit of the company over the three immediately preceding financial years on CSR activities. 2. Including Norad, BMGF, The Global Fund, US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (US PEPFAR). See the DHIS2 Fact Sheet, https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/content.dhis2.org/general /dhis-factsheet.pdf. 3. Through higher education, provincial pilots for maternal and child health, and integration of a geographic information system (GIS) and adoption in 2012. See Manoj et al. (2013).
