Here is the Government’s Plan for Digital Pakistan

Former Google Executive and the head of Digital Pakistan vision, Tania Aidrus, has finally shared the details of her ambitious plan to uplift Pakistan through digitalization.

In a tweet earlier today, Tania shared the underpinnings of the program, giving a roadmap of how she and her team plans to achieve Digital Pakistan goals.

The 5 key areas of the program are as follows:

1. Access & Connectivity
2. Digital Infrastructure
3. eGovernment
4. Digital Skills & Training
5. Innovation and Entrepreneurship

As a mission-driven initiative, Digital Pakistan’s focus is primarily on ensuring that desirable outcomes are achieved. Specifically, this means that Digital Pakistan’s success should primarily be measured on whether such outcomes are actually achieved; the concrete implementing body and method is secondary.

Key Principles

The 4 key principles of the Digital Pakistan initiative have been set out as follows:

1. #shaamil – Responsible and inclusive access to information and technologies is a fundamental right.
   • Affordable access to hardware devices such as low-end smartphones
   • Universal data access such as connectivity in remote areas
   • Affordable data access such as mobile subscription plans
   • Free flow of information
2. #hunarmand – 21st-century skills to reap the benefits of technology
   • Digital literacy and how to operate devices
   • Skills for digitally enable jobs such as home-based selling of goods via social commerce
3. #pehchaan – Simplify interactions between citizens, government, and the broader economy.
   • Development of a ‘Pakistan Stack’ as technology and data infrastructure connecting these different spheres
   • Using digital technologies for easier and more transparent public expenditures, tax collections as well as prevention of tax evasion
   • Driving towards the ‘Ask only once’ principle i.e. aim to ensure that citizens, institutions, and companies only have to provide certain standard information to the authorities and administrations once
4. #digitaljugarus – An inclusive digital revolution must be an economic boon for all.
   • Fostering mass employment creation through digital platforms like marketplaces, freelancing communities or ride-hailing companies
   • Creating an appropriate legal, financial and regulatory environment for technology startups to flourish
   • Be the conduit for linking local digital skills supply with global demand in areas with high global demand like machine learning or python

Key Areas of Work

The digital revolution will have the work key areas of work:

1. Channeling of and representing the Digital Pakistan Movement
2. Information dissemination
3. Policy advancement or intervention
4. Technology development
5. Build bridges and facilitating dialogue between citizens, government, local and international players

“We plan on treating these as living and breathing, so something that will continue to evolve”, Tania said in her post.

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