Report

Why Digital Public Infrastructure matters for children

Priority use cases, technology building blocks and safeguards

Imran (11). WASA Colony, Sayedabad, Dhaka. 30 May 2021. Eleven-year-old Imran Hossain works at a paper recycling shop in Dhaka making paper bags. Imran lives with his parents and two younger brothers in a house in the densely packed Wasa Colony (urban slum) in Sayedabad, Dhaka. Their one room shelter is made of corrugated metal. The home consists of one bed, a storage rack, a table and an old TV. The Wasa Colony is home to one thousand families, often living in challenging, unsanitary conditions. — UNICEF

Highlights

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) matters for children because it increasingly shapes how they access essential services—from birth registration to health care, education, and social protection. Yet too often, the way DPI is built determines whether children are included or left behind.

This first report in UNICEF’s DPI for Children series examines where DPI can deliver the greatest impact for children today. Drawing on a global workshop convened by UNICEF and the Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure (CDPI), it highlights priority use cases, emerging insights, safeguards and the enabling technology building blocks needed to ensure DPI is inclusive, rights‑respecting, and safe by design.

It provides a practical entry point for policymakers and practitioners committed to making DPI work for every child.