PD Sessions: Driving Digital Transformation

Join us for our second PD Session where Elizabeth Stuart (Executive Director at Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and Author) will draw upon popular themes from her new book Driving Digital Transformation: Lessons from Seven Developing Countries.

The event will be hosted by Emily Middleton (Partner, Public Digital) and Blessing Ajimoti (Programme Manager, Public Digital). You’ll be encouraged to ask questions, share experiences and join the discussion.

More details to be added but for now please register for a ticket and join us either in person or on Zoom. Those joining in person are invited to join for drinks after the session.

Biography

Elizabeth Stuart is Executive Director of Digital Pathways at Oxford and previously performed the same role for the Pathways for Prosperity Commission, which was co-chaired by philanthropist Melinda Gates, tech entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa and Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Before joining the Blavatnik School of Government, Elizabeth was director of growth, poverty and inequality at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI); director of policy and research for Save the Children UK; and spent seven years in Washington DC running the Oxfam International office.

Elizabeth was formerly a financial journalist for the Guardian newspaper and BBC. She has an undergraduate degree in modern languages, and masters degrees in literature and politics.

In one country the prime minister pushes for the liberalisation of digital finance as a central pillar of the country’s national strategy, while the central bank almost makes it a criminal offence. In another, the digital minister tries to scupper the very process to support digital transformation that the president has asked them to co-lead. This book gives a ringside seat on seven developing countries’ tumultuous early steps on the part to a reform of the economy (and the government) using technology.

Written by a group of practitioners and academics from Oxford who were at the heart of the process – and in honour of the late Benno Ndulu who led the work – the book foregrounds the voices of policymakers and other participants. It documents and critically assesses efforts to assist a set of governments to kick-start digital transformation, and in doing so, offers lessons for others who want to pursue similar efforts. Beyond that, however, it is also an exposition of the process of policymaking more generally in the 2020s, and offers broad insights into how outsiders can play a sensible role in reform processes in developing and emerging countries.

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