Digital infrastructure for whom? Unpacking ADB and AIIB’s digital push
- NGO Forum on ADB
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
As Asia embraces digital transformation, multilateral development banks like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are accelerating investments in digital infrastructure. These efforts are framed as critical for boosting economic growth, improving public services, and increasing connectivity across the region.
However, a new publication from the Forum Network, Digital Infrastructure Briefer: Looking at ADB and AIIB’s Digital Push, questions whether these digital investments are genuinely serving the needs of local communities—or deepening existing inequalities.
Top-Down Digital Development: Who’s Being Left Behind?
While digital infrastructure is essential for modern economies, ADB and AIIB’s strategies often reflect top-down, technocratic approaches that fail to account for the socio-political complexities on the ground. Large-scale ICT investments frequently lack meaningful consultation with local communities, leading to the marginalization of vulnerable groups and an erosion of trust in public institutions.
The briefer identifies several recurring issues in digital projects supported by ADB and AIIB:
Inadequate consultation with grassroots stakeholders, especially in rural and marginalized communities.
Limited public participation in planning and decision-making processes for ICT infrastructure.
Unequal access, where digital rollouts favor urban centers and leave rural populations further behind.
Privacy and digital rights concerns, due to weak data protection frameworks.
Outsourcing of data collection to private firms without sufficient security or transparency safeguards.
Overlooked gender and ethnic impacts, contributing to further marginalization.
Technological dependency on foreign corporations, raising concerns about long-term digital sovereignty and self-reliance.
These issues are compounded by a growing concern over techno-imperialism—where powerful actors dictate the terms of development, often sidelining community voices in favor of private sector interests and geopolitical agendas.
Advocating for Inclusive and Just Digital Development
The publication offers a set of concrete recommendations to shift development banks toward a more inclusive digital agenda:
Invest in community-based digital literacy programs to empower people to engage with and influence ICT projects.
Ensure participatory project design, including community needs assessments and feedback mechanisms.
Establish independent monitoring bodies to track outcomes and assess risks in real time.
Adopt international digital rights standards, with strong data protection and accountability measures built into every project.
Conduct gender-sensitive and culturally aware impact assessments to avoid harming vulnerable communities.
These recommendations are designed to ensure that digital transformation enhances, rather than undermines, social equity, human rights, and community empowerment.
Forum Network’s Role in Digital Accountability
The Forum Network is closely monitoring digital infrastructure components in loans from ADB, AIIB, the World Bank (WB), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), particularly in sectors such as public health, e-governance, data management, and connectivity.
Through its ongoing campaign, the network has found that many digital projects lack transparency and include minimal provisions for data security. The outsourcing of data collection to private companies—without clearly defined safeguards—raises critical questions about privacy, consent, and control over community data.
In response, the Forum is working to build a robust evidence base, support affected communities, and strengthen alliances with civil society groups, researchers, journalists, and digital rights advocates. This collaborative effort aims to ensure that digital infrastructure is rights-based, inclusive, and accountable to the people it claims to serve.
The Road Ahead: Digital Justice, Not Digital Harm
As the ADB holds its annual meeting, this briefer serves as a timely intervention. It challenges the prevailing development narrative that equates digital expansion with progress—regardless of who is empowered, excluded, or harmed in the process.
If development banks are serious about delivering a just transition, digital infrastructure must be designed with and for communities, grounded in principles of equity, justice, and democratic governance.
📘 Download the full briefer here ⬇️
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