All over the world, welfare services are increasingly being provided in digital ways. From e-government initiatives which have introduced software programs, apps, and biometrics to the bureaucratic process, to algorithms and artificial intelligence which are governing social service delivery in novel ways. The development sector, too, has witnessed a digital turn. Outside the purview of the state, companies, social enterprises, non-governmental organizations, and more or less loose coalitions of people have engaged in digital social service provision, such as in the field of healthcare, education, or housing.

In this workshop, we explore the design, implementation, and consequences of digital welfare and development projects in the Global South. We not only hope to reflect on how digitalization is shaping the nature of social services but also on the social relations and power dynamics that emerge from and are embedded in the digital. For example, how do various actors provide, make use of, and engage with new regimes of digital welfare and development? How are digital welfare and development programs being designed, implemented, and adapted by technology designers or policy makers? How do users of digital welfare schemes, who are now faced with chat bots, apps, and portals, relate to the digital? How does digital service delivery shape subjectivities and socialities? And how are social inequalities addressed, alleviated, or perpetuated through digitalized welfare and development?

Program Digitalizing Social Services

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