The Human Centric Approach to Digital Transformation, organised as a side event to the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development for the UNECE region, was held online, on 11 March 2024 from 10:00 to 10:45 UCT+1. The event was organised by the UN Digital Transformation Group for Europe and Central Asia, in coordination with Republic of Poland, the Czech Republic, UNECE and ITU.
In the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals, the persistent digital divide remains a significant challenge, hindering progress and impacting 2.6 billion lives globally. As societies and economies increasingly embrace digitalization, it is crucial to place humans at the heart of all aspects of digital development, including design processes and measures. In this context, a special session was proposed to address human-centric digital transformation with the aim of enhancing understanding of human by design digital features. Some discussion points included ensuring accessibility, inclusiveness, protecting privacy and fostering a sense of community and collaboration.
Ongoing digitalization of public services across the UNECE region, such as: digitalization of government services; digitalization of education services; and digitalization of health services, provide a great opportunity to share experiences of diverse stakeholders very often confronted with a similar set of challanges and opportunities derived from the human-centric approach.
This session provided an opportunity for presenting the outcomes of several initiatives in this field carried out by diverse UN agencies and stakeholders. This included the outcomes of the ITU initiative implemented in 2023, in cooperation with Poland and Czech Republic, i.e. Human-Centric Digital Transformation Compendium. A series of concrete examples of human-centric digital transformation projects in Europe within government services, education and health, pinpointing challenges, opportunities, and emerging trends in the field were presented and discussed, facilitating engagement with the audience to explore the topics further.
Insights and recommendations on good practices, will aim to inform future digital development strategies both within the UNECE region and globally, and help advance the various SDGs, particularly related to SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 13 (Climate Action), 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) & 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
