Digital transformation and the futures of civic space to 2030

Digital transformation is rapidly altering civic space, challenging the ways in which members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and other providers of development co-operation strive to promote an enabling environment for civil society to contribute to sustainable development. This paper aims to support DAC members and other providers of development co-operation to integrate the implications of a range of plausible futures of civic space into positive policy action today. To this end, it provides an overview of the variables (i.e. current trends, drivers of change and uncertainties) that may determine the trajectory of civic space in the context of digital transformation; identifies four plausible futures that emerge from four different logical interactions of these variables - that could materialise over a ten-year horizon and be fully realised by 2030; and draws policy implications to support DAC members and other providers in designing development cooperation policies that best leverage the opportunities that digital transformation offers while mitigating its risks.