Building Digital Trust: The Role of International Standards in Inclusive Digital Transformation

Expanded Summary: Enabling Digital Transformation through International Standards - Official Guidance Document Launch at WSIS 2026

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Session Overview and Context

The session centred on the official launch of a guidance document titled Enabling Digital Transformation through International Standards, produced by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in partnership with the UK's Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Digital Access Programme . Hosted at WSIS 2026 in Geneva, the event brought together a panel of speakers representing a range of institutional perspectives: Nahyun Kim of BSI (who introduced herself during the session as "Nayeon"), who chaired the session; Idongesit Udoh, FCDO Digital Advisor for Nigeria, referred to informally as "ID" or "Heidi" by other speakers throughout the session; Jennifer Bisset of BSI, who presented the guidance document in detail; Penny Thairu of the Central Bank of Kenya, joining remotely from Nairobi; and Abubakar Mahmud of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, joining remotely from Abuja . The session was framed as both a product launch and a celebration of four years of collaborative work, with Kim noting that the partnership had expanded a standards-led digitalisation toolkit across six countries - Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Indonesia, and Vietnam - and that the resulting publication captures the lessons learned and key recommendations from that experience .

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The FCDO's Perspective: Trust, Standards, and Inclusive Digital Transformation

Idongesit Udoh opened the substantive discussion by conveying greetings from Alexandra Lusrati, Head of Digital Development at FCDO, who was unable to attend due to travel commitments . He framed the launch not merely as the release of a publication but as the affirmation of a central idea: that "digital transformation succeeds not simply because technology exists but because people trust it" . This statement established the philosophical foundation for the entire session, reframing digital transformation as a fundamentally human-centred and governance-focused endeavour rather than a purely technical or infrastructural one.

Udoh elaborated on the FCDO's approach to digital development, emphasising that it encompasses building trust, managing risk, strengthening institutions, promoting inclusion, and ensuring that innovation delivers benefits for everyone . He situated this approach within the UK's Digital Development Strategy 2024 to 2030 and the UK's Digital Access Programme, through which the FCDO works with partner countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to strengthen digital foundations . He also highlighted the FCDO's close partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to advance digital inclusion and meaningful connectivity globally .

Turning to the broader context, Udoh acknowledged that while digital technologies are creating extraordinary opportunities for economic growth, innovation, public service delivery, and social inclusion, rapid digitalisation also brings new challenges around cybersecurity, privacy, data governance, interoperability, and the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence . For what he termed "growth economies" - developing and emerging economies - the challenge is not simply adopting digital technologies but ensuring that those technologies are implemented in ways that are trusted, secure, resilient, and sustainable . This, he argued, is precisely where international standards play such an important role, providing "practical, globally recognised frameworks that help governments, businesses, and institutions to manage this risk, promote interoperability, and build confidence in digital systems" .

Udoh made a particularly significant argument by positioning standards not only as development tools but as economic enablers. By promoting interoperability, transparency, and trust, standards help create conditions for investment, innovation, and cross-border digital trade, enabling countries to participate more effectively in regional and global markets and creating opportunities for mutual growth . In this sense, he argued, standards do not simply help developing economies catch up but help create stronger, more connected digital economies that benefit everyone . He concluded by affirming that the BSI-FCDO partnership had tested whether standards could become a practical tool for development and economic growth, and that "the answer has been a resounding yes" .

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The Guidance Document: Structure, Origins, and Key Findings

Jennifer Bisset of BSI provided a detailed account of the guidance document's origins, structure, and intended audience. She began by noting that while BSI is well known as the UK's national standards body and member of ISO and IEC, its role in international development and trade - including partnerships with development banks, UN agencies, and support for national standards bodies in emerging economies - is less widely understood . She explained that BSI had been working in partnership with the FCDO through the Digital Access Programme, engaging not only with policymakers but also with businesses and regulators across the six partner countries . A key and somewhat unexpected finding from this engagement was that when BSI began working with policymakers and regulators, "what they wanted to talk about was trustworthiness" rather than standards per se - asking questions such as how to make digital identity systems more credible to citizens and how to ensure that digital services would actually work . This organic demand for trust-focused frameworks shaped the entire programme and explains why the session was titled "Building Trust Through International Standards" .

Bisset also acknowledged that the programme evolved significantly over its four-year lifespan. BSI initially focused narrowly on digital trade, beginning with a pilot project in Kenya, but received clear feedback from policymakers to broaden the scope beyond trade . Similarly, while the toolkit initially targeted key areas such as cybersecurity, data governance, digital identity, privacy, interoperability, and cloud services, the AI standards landscape was not sufficiently mature at the outset to be included; as that landscape developed, AI governance was subsequently incorporated into the toolkit . These admissions of early missteps and adaptive learning lent credibility to the programme's findings and demonstrated a genuine responsiveness to partner country needs.

Regarding the guidance document itself, Bisset explained that it is intended primarily for policymakers, regulators, national standards bodies, development partners, and others involved in digital transformation, with a particular focus on emerging and developing economies, though she noted that many of its lessons are applicable more broadly . The publication is structured around five chapters . The first explores the opportunities and risks of digital transformation, covering themes such as economic growth, inclusion, cybersecurity, privacy, and digital trust . The second explains the role of international standards and how organisations such as the ITU, ISO, and IEC support governance, security, interoperability, and trust . A key learning here was that many policymakers and regulators in partner countries were engaging with technical digital standards but not yet with the governance and trust dimensions, and that many did not understand how standards are developed or how they could participate in and influence the standards-making process . The third chapter demonstrates how standards can support digital transformation across specific sectors, with illustrations drawn from agriculture, e-commerce, education, energy, and healthcare . The fourth chapter - described by Bisset as her favourite - shares practical insights and lessons learned from the toolkit's implementation, including anonymised but real-life case studies . The fifth and final chapter provides what BSI termed a "playbook" for policymakers, designed to help them move from ambition to implementation .

The playbook is built around four core pillars . The first pillar addresses strategic planning, noting that while many countries have strong policies and strategies, coordination between different ministries and agencies remains a persistent challenge, and national standards bodies are often not involved early enough in policy development . The second pillar focuses on using standards to build trust, addressing challenges such as cybersecurity and data governance . The third pillar highlights the importance of strengthening the capabilities and capacities of the broader national quality infrastructure - encompassing not just standards bodies but also conformity assessment, testing, measurement, and metrology - and notes that the programme has established "digital champions" in each of the participating countries . The fourth pillar emphasises the importance of monitoring and measuring impact, drawing on the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle at the heart of ISO 9001 .

Bisset noted that she had tested the document's relevance by consulting AI chatbots, asking whether people she had met at WSIS would benefit from the publication - a memorable and practical illustration of the document's real-world orientation. The answer was consistently yes for policymakers, regulators, national standards bodies, and institutions involved in promoting trustworthy digital transformation . She also candidly acknowledged the difficulty of communicating the value of standards as a policy tool, both domestically and internationally, expressing appreciation that the UK government has come to understand this message .

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Kenya's Experience: Standards Bridging Regulatory Gaps in Digital Finance

Penny Thairu of the Central Bank of Kenya offered a practitioner's perspective on how international standards have supported Kenya's rapidly evolving digital financial services sector. She began by contextualising Kenya's digital landscape, noting that the country is known as the "Silicon Savannah of Africa" and has achieved financial inclusion of approximately 85% of its citizens, including previously unbanked populations, through pioneering innovations such as M-Pesa . However, she noted that as digital financial services evolved beyond basic payments to encompass digital lending, fintech platforms, digital wallets, AI-enabled services, and non-bank payment service providers, regulators faced the critical question of how to encourage innovation while safeguarding consumers, maintaining trust, and ensuring financial system resilience .

Thairu explained that international standards have helped bridge regulatory gaps by providing globally recognised frameworks that regulators can use to manage emerging risks even before specific regulations have been fully developed - a particularly important function given that "tech development always precedes regulation" . Rather than requiring regulators to address every new technology individually, standards have provided common principles and practical guidance for governance, security, interoperability, resilience, and risk management . She confirmed that the BSI standards-led digitalisation toolkit has helped build regulatory capability in Kenya across key areas including interoperability, consumer protection, cybersecurity, and AI governance . She concluded by explicitly crediting Udoh - referring to him by his informal name "Heidi" - for the trust framing she echoed in her closing remarks, stating that "financial innovation has succeeded because of what Heidi has talked about, trust in the system and standards have enabled this trust in our ecosystem" .

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Nigeria's Experience: Privacy by Design, Interoperability, and AI Governance

Abubakar Mahmud of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) provided a rich account of how standards-based frameworks are being applied in Nigeria's data protection and digital governance context. He began by challenging the common perception of data protection regulators as obstacles to innovation, stating that the NDPC "view our role entirely different" and believes in enabling innovation rather than stifling it . He referenced the theme of the Network for African Data Protection Authorities conference hosted in Nigeria - "balancing innovation and tradition" - as evidence of this philosophy, noting the importance of reassuring innovators and disruptors that regulators are not stumbling blocks to the innovation ecosystem . He then offered a memorable articulation of the relationship between trust and sustainable digital economies: "you cannot build a sustainable digital economy by shifting sand. You need a bedrock of trust. That is where standard-based frameworks change the game" .

Mahmud identified two primary ways in which standards-based frameworks are transforming Nigeria's digital governance landscape. First, they institutionalise privacy by design, encouraging organisations to embed privacy and security directly into the architecture of technology from the outset rather than treating compliance as an afterthought . Second, they address the significant challenge of interoperability and cross-border data flows. He used the vivid metaphor of a "universal translator" to explain that when Nigeria adopts international standards-based frameworks, "a digital identity system or a fintech platform built in Nigeria can seamlessly and securely interact with systems globally because they share the same DNA of compliance and security" . He further argued that this converts data governance from a regulatory burden into a competitive economic advantage . He also described a recent data governance study trip to Nairobi - which had begun the previous Saturday and lasted approximately one week - undertaken as part of efforts to harmonise regulatory frameworks across African data protection authorities, underscoring the regional dimension of interoperability challenges .

On the specific standards being applied, Mahmud cited ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management Systems) as a core building block for secure digital governance . He also referenced what he described as "ISO IEC 27001, which is the PIMS" - referring to privacy information management systems - as a complement that helps organisations comply with data protection frameworks, though the precise standard number as stated in the transcript was not entirely clear . He cited ISO/IEC 42001 as essential for ensuring the responsible and ethical deployment of AI solutions . He acknowledged that Nigeria has not yet enacted a dedicated AI Act comparable to the EU AI Act, and that the country currently relies on subsidiary legislation - including the NEDDA Act, which captures aspects of AI governance - as well as provisions within the Nigeria Data Protection Act that address automated decision-making rights, giving data subjects the right to object to or seek human intervention in automated data processing . He concluded with a practical example: the implementation of the toolkit in Nigeria has already helped a revenue authority address fragmentation and initiate a strategic plan to integrate siloed internet applications using international standards .

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The Complementary Relationship Between Standards and Regulation

Near the close of the session, an audience member - Paul from the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) - raised a question that crystallised a key challenge implicit throughout the discussion. He observed that "everybody thinks about regulation and laws because that's what people reach for" when addressing emerging technologies, and that "people forget about standards" and "people forget about assurance" . He highlighted the UK's recently published Digital Standards Strategy as evidence of the UK government's commitment to voluntary, industry-led, pro-innovation standards , and asked how the importance and role of standards could be promoted so that governments and wider stakeholders worldwide recognise them alongside regulation .

Jennifer Bisset responded by acknowledging that standards and regulation have "different complementary functions" and are developed at different speeds, noting that "sometimes standards will be too slow or sometimes regulation will be too slow, so that you need different mechanisms" . She emphasised the importance of understanding standards as voluntary rather than mandatory, while noting that each country has its own approach to adopting and applying them . Her core recommendation was to bring standards-makers to the table with regulators so that both sides understand each other's policy objectives and how standards can support them . She noted that standards are developed through a multi-stakeholder, consensus-based process involving industry, academia, policymakers, regulators, and technical experts, and are subject to public consultation, making them a legitimate and inclusive tool . She concluded that "standards need to be understood as an additional tool to support the implementation of regulation" and that "both those institutions have to better understand each other's objectives and then work on partnerships like we have in the UK" .

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Closing Remarks

Nahyun Kim closed the session by thanking all panellists and reiterating the central purpose of the guidance document: to bridge the gap between high-level digital ambition and practical implementation . She noted that the international standards discussed throughout the session are intended to complement rather than contradict regulation, particularly in the context of emerging technologies such as AI . A QR code was made available for attendees to download the guidance document directly , and panellists made themselves available for follow-up engagement after the session .

The session as a whole demonstrated a high degree of consensus across speakers from diverse institutional backgrounds - a UK standards body, a UK government development programme, a UK government department, a central bank regulator, and a data protection authority. All converged on the view that trust is the foundational requirement for successful digital transformation ; that international standards are practical implementation tools rather than documents that "sit on shelves" ; that the primary challenge facing digitally ambitious countries is operationalisation rather than strategy ; and that standards and regulation are complementary rather than competing tools .

Several important issues remained unresolved at the close of the session, including how to systematically promote the role of standards to governments worldwide ; how to address the persistent coordination gap between national standards bodies and policymakers ; how to ensure that the growing AI standards landscape - and subsidiary instruments such as the NEDDA Act - translate into coherent AI governance in countries without dedicated AI legislation ; and how to sustain and scale the capacity-building gains achieved through the toolkit's "digital champions" programme . These open questions point to a rich agenda for future research, policy development, and international collaboration in the field of standards-led digital transformation.