Oxford program to study DPI impact on social, financial inclusion

Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government has announced the establishment of the Oxford Digital Public Infrastructure Research Lab (OxDPI), an initiative dedicated to examining the impact of digital public infrastructure (DPI) on social inclusion and economic well-being in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The program, funded by co-develop and housed within Oxford’s Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE), will first focus its efforts in Ethiopia, where DPI developments are already taking its course.

The project will be headquartered at the University of Oxford and will bring together researchers from across the institution, while also actively collaborating with researchers based in Ethiopia. In countries like Ethiopia, DPI projects are expected to drive inclusion by broadening access to services and fostering economic opportunity.

The OxDPI lab will explore these impacts, starting with Ethiopia’s Fayda digital ID system, which aims to register all residents by 2026.

“Generating systematic evidence on DPI’s impacts in low- and middle-income countries is crucial,” says Professor Stefan Dercon, who will co-direct the lab alongside Dr. Christian Meyer of the Oxford Martin School.

“Our research in Ethiopia and elsewhere will critically examine the transformative potential of digital public infrastructure, while also assessing whether deployments truly advance inclusion or potentially create new forms of exclusion.”

In its inaugural project, the OxDPI lab will work with the Ethiopian government and the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) initiative, focusing on the national ID program (NIDP), and the deployment of the Fayda system, according to a report from CSAE.

The Ethiopia digital ID for inclusion and services project will undergo several updates, including clarifying payment terms for biometric enrollment partners, which include government agencies and state-owned enterprises involved in the project.

“Our aim is to support ‘public good’ activities that not only benefit Oxford’s research but also make it easier for other researchers to study the impacts of Fayda in Ethiopia”, explains Meyer.

“This includes advocating for randomized roll-out designs where feasible and coordinating shared data collection activities that can support studies in various areas, such as financial inclusion, social protection, and public service delivery.”

OxDPI plans to expand its focus beyond Ethiopia to other African nations, including Nigeria and Rwanda, to study the role of DPI in different social and economic contexts.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Ethiopia  |  Fayda  |  financial inclusion  |  Identification for Development (ID4D)  |  social protection  |  University of Oxford