The challenge

Digital transformation is central to public sector reform and improved government performance. Yet many initiatives fall short, often due to insufficient digital capabilities among public sector leaders. To address this gap, governments have introduced digital leadership training programmes, but there is still no rigorous evidence on whether these trainings effectively improve digital transformation outcomes.

Our approach

This project addresses the evidence gap through a large-scale field experiment in Brazil. In partnership with the National School of Public Administration (ENAP) and the Secretary for Digital Government, 1,000 public managers and policy professionals will be randomly assigned to either participate in a digital leadership course or a wait listed control group. Pre and post training surveys will measure changes in digital competencies, leadership abilities, and attitudes. A digital innovation competition will further assess whether participants generate more frequent and higher quality digital innovations than those in the control group.

Why this matters

The findings will offer governments globally rigorous empirical evidence on the effectiveness of digital leadership training as a lever for public sector reform, guiding future investments in digital capacity building.
For more information about the programme, watch the course launch event.