Digital Strategy Design Lab (DSDL)

UNDP South-South|Galaxy Knowledge Hub

Digital Strategy Design Lab (DSDL)

Accelerating the digital transformation for effective e-government implementation in Bangladesh

Challenges

Before the implementation of the Digital Strategy Design Lab (DSDL) project, most goverment initiatives in Bangladesh happened on a silo, ad-hoc basis, without standard approaches and methodologies. Government officers faced challenges of adaptability and ownership in the digital service delivery process and were confined to traditional service delivery practices. That often meant service recipients encountered difficulty in accessing government services, and were left out of the service delivery and quality improvement processes. Manual services were also not properly analyzed for digital designing and development and government agencies had inadequate digitization capacity with skilled IT human resources and a lack of proper coordination with the private sector.

Toward a Solution

Launched in 2017, the Digital Strategy Design Lab (DSDL) aimed to support the Government of Bangladesh in achieving its mandate to implement Vision 2021: Digital Bangladesh. Today, DSDL continues to support the achievement Vision 2041: Smart Bangladesh, an ambitious socioeconomic plan to support the country’s transformation into a developed nation by 2041.

Consisting of a 6-7-day resident workshop at each ministry and division of the government of Bangladesh, DSDL has emerged as an innovative, comprehensive, and effective methodology for the digital transformation of government services. The implementation of the initiative begins with an initial analysis of the service of the concerned government agencies, with their subsequent inclusion in a specific service grouping. Each group consists of one team leader from Deputy Secretary/Joint Secretary/Director level, two domain experts who have the knowledge of the relevant services, one IT expert, two service recipients, and one Digital Service analyst or a resource person from a2i. DSDL then supports government organizations in analyzing, designing, and plannning the digital transformation journey with the active participation of the ministries, relevant authorities, stakeholders, service recipients, decision-makers, and technology experts.

To date, 30 ministries, and 150+ govt. service delivery organizations applied this methodology for digitizing 1600+ services – i.e. more than 500+ e-Gov applications complying with the Integrated Service Delivery Platform (ISDP) architecture. DSDL is one of the most popular digitilization methods among ministries of Bangladesh, and runs as a central unit for digital transformation of Government organizations in Bangladesh. The programme has also improved the capacities of government officials to perform manual service analysis, digital service design, and administering digital systems has risen, reducing total time, cost, and visit to avail public services.

Atesting the replicability and adaptability of the DSDL methodology, a2i has recently utilized South-South cooperation to provide digitization support to the Governments of Fiji and the Philippines, and is presently working on the same lines with the Governments of Cambodia, Ghana and Somalia.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Forhad Zahid Shaikh, Chief e-Governance Strategist, Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme

SDG
16 - Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

SUPPORTED BY
Concerned Government Agencies; Aspire to Innovate (a2i)

ABOUT

Disclosures

RESOURCES

Disclosures

ENGAGE

Disclosures

Alliance Application Form

Submit an Expression of Interest and/or Demand Signal. UNOSSC reviews submissions on a rolling basis.

1. Official name of organization / institution / government entity (exclusions to apply) *

2. Country *

3. Region *

4. SDG *

Secondary SDG *

5. Partner category *

6. Website *

7. Brief description of your institution (max. 150 words) *

Name for the Lead *

Title for the Lead *

Email address for the Lead *

Name for the co-lead

Title for the co-lead

Email address for the co-lead

Section 3. Expression of Interest in the Alliance *

Offer expertise, resources, partnership, or collaboration

Demand Signal (Request for cooperation, support, or partnership)

Both (Offering capabilities and expressing demand for collaboration)

Additional information on proposed areas of engagement may be requested through the platform following initial review by the Alliance Secretariat.

Section 4. Due Diligence and Integrity Declaration *

Our organization complies with United Nations values, principles, and ethical standards.

We are not subject to UN sanctions or listed on applicable UN exclusion or ineligibility lists.

We understand that participation in Alliance activities may be subject to due diligence conducted by the Alliance Secretariat, consistent with applicable UN policies.

We acknowledge that engagement under the Alliance does not imply formal membership.

Submission Note:

Submission of this Expression of Interest form does not automatically confer participation in the Alliance.

All submissions will be reviewed by the Alliance Secretariat, including basic eligibility screening and proportionate due diligence, as appropriate.

Participation in Alliance activities is determined based on relevance to articulated cooperation needs, alignment with Alliance principles, and integrity considerations.

Engagement under the Alliance is voluntary, non-binding, and facilitative in nature, and does not constitute funding approval, contractual commitment, or institutional membership.

The Alliance Secretariat may contact submitting entities for additional information or clarification during the review process.

Organization Registration

Authentication & Due Diligence This prototype simulates identity verification, due diligence confirmation, and an authentication step before submission. *

Due diligence declarationWe confirm compliance with UN values, ethical standards, and we are not subject to sanctions/exclusion lists.

First Name *

Last Name *

Email address *

Password *

Confirm Password *

Name of institution / organization *

Country / Region *

Organization Type *

Organization other *

Function / role *

Organization logo *

Maximum file size: 1 GB

I confirm this information is accurate and I agree to be contacted about network participation. *