Targeted at any UNDP colleague involved in drafting or reviewing project documents, the guide is structured around the official project document template. Throughout the text, it promotes key principles such as considering digital thinking from the problem analysis stage, carefully and justifiably selecting digital solutions, and designing for sustainable implementation. Rather than assuming that every project must be digital, the guide encourages a thorough evaluation of the relevance of technologies and data as inputs to enhance impacts, without imposing predetermined solutions.

The guide also introduces methodological tools such as Digital Output Markers and new templates for Digital Project Quality Assurance (Digital Project QA), enabling evaluation of the extent to which an output relies on digital technology or contributes to inclusive digital transformation. It also provides criteria for promoting best practices in managing the digital solution lifecycle, from design and implementation to sustainability, data governance, and potential scalability, promoting open standards and digital public goods.

This tool adopts a holistic and integrative approach, covering aspects such as structural digital gap analysis, the need for inclusive data governance, the promotion of enabling digital ecosystems, and the integration of gender perspectives into digital transformation. Lastly, this document is a minimum viable version in constant improvement, fueled by collective learning within UNDP’s global network of digital advocates.

Through this guide, UNDP advances its commitment to amplifying development outcomes through digitally-enabled programming, ensuring that the opportunities of digital transformation benefit everyone, leaving no one behind.

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