Digital@UNGA Awards: Projects reaching people

A community health platform spanning 24 countries, a mobile one-stop shop for government services, a system that releases emergency funds before floods strike, and a tool that flags fraudulent job offers were among the projects recognized this year in United Nations-led awards recognizing digital innovation that improves people’s lives.

The projects were honoured on 21 September in New York at the latest Digital@UNGA Awards organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Finalists representing over 40 countries emerged from more than 1,500 submissions from around the world.

The four winning initiatives span healthcare, public services, disaster preparedness and online safety.

The Digital Inclusion award recognizes initiatives that expand access to digital technologies, connectivity, digital skills and online participation, particularly for underserved communities.

This year’s winner, the Community Health Toolkit, equips community health workers with offline-first applications running on low-cost Android phones in local languages.

The platform, stewarded by the US-based non-profit Medic, supports more than 182,000 health workers across 24 countries, who used it to deliver 263 million care activities in 2025. Eight governments have adopted the toolkit as national infrastructure. In Kenya, it underpins the national community health information system across all 47 counties, while in Nepal the Ministry of Health and Population now covers more than 90 per cent of operating costs.

The Digital Government award recognizes governments and public institutions using digital technologies to improve public services.