An increasing number of countries are taking a digital public infrastructure (or DPI) approach to digital transformation. Yet, considering that every country is at a different stage of digital transformation – all with a confluence of existing digital systems, policies, and regulations – the path forward is rarely clear.

As part of its G20 agenda, South Africa is committed to amplifying DPI on the African continent and helping other countries learn from its own experience drafting its domestic DPI roadmap. To this end, the government has encouraged DIAL, alongside the AfricaNenda Foundation, the Better Than Cash Alliance, and CDPI to develop this DPI Roadmap Playbook.

A DPI Roadmap is a critical tool to define priority objectives and use cases, gain alignment among key stakeholders, and shape the national digital strategy. This first release of the DPI Roadmap Playbook is a step-by-step guide that helps countries to build a customized DPI roadmap that meets their own unique needs.

The playbook details the roadmap process, covering potential trade-offs and decision points, and providing useful and actionable insights. It presents good practices; strategies to achieve intra-governmental alignment in decision-making; and outlines the key steps to defining the priorities, milestones, and timelines to achieve DPI policy goals. Importantly, the Roadmap Playbook accommodates countries at different stages of DPI planning and implementation, citing examples of diverse countries that have embarked on this DPI journey, including India, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana.

To strengthen the next iteration of the Playbook, we invite countries to pilot its use, share their experiences, and collaborate in refining the tool to help us ensure it remains responsive, relevant, and grounded in practical realities. We will release the next version - improved by country feedback - at the DPI Summit in November 2025.