Digital innovation for sustainable development: a transformative approach

This paper focuses on the development and implementation of the Community Tablet, an interactive mobile digital unit (IMDU) designed to bridge the digital divide by bringing information and communication technology (ICT) to remote rural areas in developing countries, with a particular focus on hard-to-reach communities. It characterizes this multifaceted technological infrastructure, highlighting the versatility of its design and added value for low-income countries in addressing the main challenges that hinder their development processes: social inequality, poor infrastructure, low standards of public services and a lack of trained teachers in poor-quality public education systems. The paper also introduces the use of digital tools in teaching-learning and service delivery processes with recourse to the IMDU in a new approach characterized by the combination of a wide range of digital and multimedia tools with different types of communication in a method that leads to more impact of development programs. It presents results of selected initiatives implemented in Mozambique, depicts the activities of an awareness campaing and how the IMDU contributes to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The final section discusses the limitations faced in measuring social impact, the rationale for the continuous expansion of both the scope of interventions and geographical coverage, and the comparative advantage of the IMDU as an “all-in-one” model to transform the current scenario of digital innovation for sustainable development in developing countries, particularly in promoting e-governance.