Publication: Digital Public Works: Leveraging Digital Technology to Modernize the Design and Delivery of Public Works
Loading...
Published
2025-11-30
ISSN
Date
2025-12-11
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Rapid advances in digital technology are transforming how people learn, work and access public services. At the same time, digital skills and work experience are increasingly important for economic inclusion and jobs. This shift presents both opportunities and challenges for social protection systems, including public works programs (PWPs), which have traditionally focused on low-skill jobs and physical infrastructure. Digital PWPs offer an innovative response that leverages the spread of digital technology and integrates digital work and tools into PWPs. Participants may, for example, use mobile phones to map infrastructure, digitize public records, or collect data for local planning, gaining digital work experience while creating valuable digital public assets. By enabling remote, flexible, and non-physical work, digital PWPs can expand the reach and relevance of conventional PWPs. The brief outlines their key features, potential benefits and challenges.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Stöterau, Jonathan; Bucik, Marko. 2025. Digital Public Works: Leveraging Digital Technology to Modernize the Design and Delivery of Public Works. Social Protection & Jobs Policy & Technical Note; No. 26-04. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/44064 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Overview Brief on Innovations in Public Works: Rethinking Public Works for Jobs and Skills in a Changing World(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-30)Public works programs (PWPs) have long been a common choice to protect people in need by providing temporary jobs and income. They promise more than a paycheck: They offer dignity, visible community investments, and the prospect of long-term progress. But today’s world is changing fast. Climate, digital transformation, and shifting demographics are forcing us to rethink how economies can sustainably grow and create employment. Conventional PWPs, often centered on short-term, low-skilled infrastructure jobs are struggling to respond. They typically provide immediate relief but often do not generate sustained benefits. A new generation of PWPs is emerging to do more. These programs introduce innovations that improve how social policy is implemented, while supporting economic development that is inclusive, sustainable, and jobs-focused. This brief summarizes the report Innovations in Public Works: Rethinking Public Works for Jobs and Skills in a Changing World, examining new approaches that are reshaping PWPs and highlighting the opportunities and challenges they present.Publication Innovations in Public Works: Rethinking Public Works for Jobs and Skills in a Changing World(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-12-05)Public works programs (PWPs) have long been a common choice to protect people in need by providing temporary jobs and income. They promise more than a paycheck: They offer dignity, visible community investments, and the prospect of long-term progress. But today’s world is changing fast. Climate, digital transformation, and shifting demographics are forcing us to rethink how economies can sustainably grow and create employment. Conventional PWPs—often centered on short-term, low-skilled infrastructure jobs—are struggling to respond. They typically provide immediate relief but often do not generate sustained benefits. A new generation of PWPs is emerging to do more and do better, improving how social policy is implemented and delivering broader and lasting benefits. The report Innovations in Public Works: Rethinking Public Works for Jobs and Skills in a Changing World examines a set of PWPs that represent three innovative approaches: • Green PWPs that focus on environmental sustainability and climate action. They build assets that protect ecosystems, mitigate climate risks, and boost community resilience. • Digital PWPs that focus on digital transformation. They create digital assets, build digital skills, and support the digitalization of public services and decision-making. • Care-providing PWPs that focus on unmet care needs and reducing women’s care burden. They provide community care, build care-specific skills, and enable women to work. The report reviews the design and implementation options introduced by these new approaches—focusing on new types of assets, forms of work, and delivery models—and highlights the opportunities and challenges they present. It shows that these innovations can better protect people, while supporting economic development that is inclusive, sustainable, and jobs-focused. The report is accompanied by additional materials, which include case studies of the public works programs reviewed, a brief 4-page summary of the report, and technical notes on green, digital, and care-providing PWPs, as well as on gender-smart public works.Publication Green Public Works: Leveraging Public Works to Address Climate and Environmental Challenges(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-30)As climate and environmental challenges increasingly threaten livelihoods worldwide, some countries are turning to public works programs (PWPs) to confront them. This has given rise to “green public works”—PWPs that combine social assistance with environmental and climate objectives, such as protecting ecosystems and strengthening household and community resilience. Drawing on a review of twelve green PWPs, this note outlines their innovative features, including new types of assets and activities such as water infrastructure upgrades, protection against natural disasters and ecosystems restoration. It concludes by highlighting the benefits and challenges of green PWPs and ways to address them.Publication Public Works That Provide Care Services: Enhancing Women's Economic Opportunities, Boosting Human Capital, and Building Skills for the Care Economy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-30)Women around the world face a heavier care burden than men, restricting their participation in the labor force. At the same time, the shortage of quality, accessible, and affordable care services undermines human development and well-being. Limited investment in early childhood care and education reduces children’s learning and future earnings potential. Similarly, inadequate elderly care undermines health, independence, and well-being among older adults. Investing in care is, therefore, important not only for closing gender gaps but also for boosting human capital outcomes. It also makes a compelling economic case for investment, given the care economy’s potential to drive growth and create jobs in the context of ongoing demographic shifts. This note discusses how public works programs (PWPs) may reduce care burden, increase the provision of care services for those in need, and build skills for the care economy. Drawing on examples of World Bank-supported PWPs that provide childcare, the note explores how such programs can be designed and implemented, and what potential benefits and challenges early evidence reveals.Publication Connecting to Work : How Information and Communication Technologies Could Help Expand Employment Opportunities(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-09)Information and communication technology (ICT) has grown as a sector and now employs millions of people worldwide. The proliferation of ICTs has also helped digitize how people find and do work. The world will need to create over 600 million jobs by 2030 for unemployment to remain at current levels. ICT-enabled employment may help address some of this problem both by creating jobs in the ICT sector and by helping to make labor markets more inclusive, innovative, flexible, and transparent. What can governments do to prepare for these changes and maximize employment opportunities? This paper is a first step in an effort by the World Bank to understand how ICTs are shaping, changing, and transforming labor markets. It explores how governments and other stakeholders might respond to leverage the growth of ICTs to help increase employment opportunities. This paper is structured as follows: section 1 serves as an introduction; section 2 defines the scope, focusing on the types of employment opportunities due to ICT as a sector and as a tool; section 3 considers the impact of the ICT sector on software programming, IT services, and telecommunications; section 4 describes how ICTs as tools empower and include more workers in labor markets; section 5 analyzes the challenges and risks that appear alongside these opportunities; section 6 discusses human capital, infrastructure, financial, regulatory, and social systems that will enable ICT in employment; and section 7 identifies strategic themes for governments to consider as they maximize the gains from ICT's increasing role in the world of work.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Uganda Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-10)The Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Uganda examines the interplay between climate change and development. It presents how addressing climate change can support achieving the goals in Uganda’s Vision 2040 and Ten-Fold Growth Strategy, and help propel the country to upper-middle-income status. Uganda is the 14th most vulnerable nation to climate change, yet it is 163rd in readiness to address these risks, facing threats such as droughts and floods. The report highlights that, of the poorest households exposed to climate change, 80 percent already experience income loss from climate shocks. GDP could also drop by up to 3.1 percent by 2050 without additional climate action. Climate change poses numerous challenges, including increased variability in crop yields, potential internal climate migration of 12 million people by 2050, notable drop in labor productivity due to heat stress, increased health risks from waterborne diseases and malaria, and exposure of the country’s physical infrastructure to extreme climate events. To combat these challenges, the report recommends transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient growth path by implementing four multisectoral intervention packages. These include boosting resilience through jobs for youth and services for the poor; promoting resilient and productive agriculture and natural resources with lower GHG emissions; developing climate-responsive energy, transport, and digital infrastructure; and fostering planned and climate-positive urbanization. Additionally, the report calls for whole-of-economy measures that strengthen governance of climate action, enhance preparedness for climate hazards including through improved early warning systems, operationalization of the national climate finance strategy, and incentivizing private sector participation. By implementing these intervention packages and whole-of-economy measures, Uganda can lower its risk to climate change and achieve sustainable economic growth.Publication Gabon Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-01)Gabon has a unique opportunity to drive inclusive growth, reduce poverty, and build a resilient post-oil economy, with climate action accelerating progress toward these goals. The country’s main development challenge is achieving higher growth and poverty reduction, as stronger growth is needed regardless of projected climate shocks to create jobs, raise living standards, and enable a viable post-oil economy. While pursuing growth-promoting economic reforms, climate action that prioritizes people must remain central to its development pathway. However, climate change risks exacerbating poverty and regional inequalities in a country already facing long-term challenges in expanding economic opportunities and basic public services, especially in rural areas. Climate shifts compound these challenges, making stronger private sector-led growth driven by reforms essential for resilience, diversification, job creation, and poverty reduction, though targeted investments in adaptation will still be required to mitigate climate shocks. Using a whole-of-economy approach, the Gabon Country Climate Development Report (CCDR) estimates that climate change impacts could result in GDP losses of 3.5 to 5.3 percent per year through 2050 compared to a business-as-usual baseline trajectory.Publication Kyrgyz Republic Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-03)This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) on the Kyrgyz Republic aims to support the country’s development goals amid a changing climate. The CCDR considers two policy scenarios up to 2050: the business-as-usual (BAU) and high-growth scenarios. As it quantifies the likely impacts of climate change on the Kyrgyz economy between now and 2050, the report highlights key government actions to best prepare for and adapt to climate impacts (referred to as “with adaptation” measures), with a particular focus on the time horizon up to 2030. The CCDR also outlines a path to net zero emissions by 2050 (referred to as “with mitigation” measures, “decarbonization,” or, simply, “net zero 2050”), highlighting associated development co-benefits.Publication Jobs in a Changing Climate: Insights from World Bank Group Country Climate and Development Reports Covering 93 Economies(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-05)The World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs) provide a crosscutting look at how countries’ development prospects, and the job opportunities they offer to their people, can be threatened by climate impacts and supported by climate policies. Climate change and policies affect jobs through impacts on productivity, energy and material efficiency, and physical, human, and natural capital. They can also transform employment opportunities, especially through complementary measures that help workers and firms adapt to and benefit from new technologies and production practices. Prepared by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), CCDRs integrate country perspectives, climate science and economic modeling, private sector information, and policy analysis to assess how countries can successfully grow and develop their economies and create jobs despite increasing climate risks and while achieving their climate objectives and commitments. Each CCDR starts from the country’s development priorities, opportunities, and challenges, and is developed in close consultation with governments, businesses, and civil society, ensuring the recommendations reflect national priorities. By combining evidence on adaptation, resilience, and emissions pathways, CCDRs highlight where climate action can reinforce development and job creation, and where targeted policies are needed to manage risks and smooth labor market transitions. Taken together, these elements can help create local jobs, ensure economic transitions are just and inclusive, and equip workers and firms to navigate the disruptions and opportunities of a changing climate and changing technologies.Publication Togo Economic Update, August 2025: Boosting Growth and Restoring Fiscal Space in Uncertain Times(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-28)Togo’s economic trajectory in recent years has been shaped by both resilient performance and emerging vulnerabilities. The 2025 Economic Update underscores the urgency of restoring fiscal space and implementing strategic structural reforms to sustain private sector-led growth and job creation. Through an integrated analysis in two chapters, the report presents a nuanced narrative of the country’s macroeconomic outlook and delineates actionable policy paths to foster inclusive, sustainable development.