Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Digital nomadism and the future of work: learnings from a case study nomads' destination in the Dominican Republic
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is to explore what the characteristics are for a destination (city, town) to be an attractive spot to the growing digital nomads demographic around the world, and how the Dominican Republic, a country which heavily depends on tourism for economic development, can better prepare to take advantage of the various opportunities presented by this trend.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
The Dominican Republic is one of the most attractive destinations in the Central America and Caribbean region, both in terms of foreign investment and tourism. For decades, the DR has been considered one of the best performing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with an average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of over 5% consistently for more than 25 years in a row. Moreover, given the geographical conditions of half an island in the Caribbean, one of its main service sectors is tourism, which has become a key pillar of the country's economy, with an estimated contribution to GDP of 15% and 16%, respectively, including its indirect impact.
One of the outstanding aspects in relation to tourism and the pandemic was the rise of the phenomenon known as digital nomadism, which refers to people who prefer to work while traveling from one destination to another (hence 'nomads'), whose trades are generally performed digitally and can work from anywhere in the world. With such ease of work, digital nomads seek destinations where they can work and enjoy the place, for a longer period of time than the average stay of foreign tourists visiting the country.
The AccLab at UNDP/DR collaborates with project 00137840 with a process of research and Sensemaking in the field of digital nomadism in Las Terrenas, Samaná province. Primary and secondary information has been collected, especially through qualitative work with nomads and actors in the tourism sector in Las Terrenas, and based on that experience, UNDP has shown the need to create tools for locations with tourist interest and vocation, can be evaluated and know their level of preparation to be an attractive destination for digital nomads.
It is required, therefore, a quantitative and qualitative instrument that can be applied to a destination in order to homogenize a logic of measurement of different variables of interest, allowing decision makers at local and national level, have knowledge tools on what aspects of a destination are relevant to digital nomads, and what level of suitability for this purpose is a destination. This aims to identify opportunities for the country to take advantage of this global trend in which the Dominican Republic can be an important player in the LAC region.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Nomad List Surveys
Statista
McKinsey
UNDP Digital Nomads Scan
Household survey data
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Ethnography
Stakeholder interviews
The AccLab conducted a sensemaking process where key stakeholders were interviewed. In addition, we conducted an participant observation approach to understanding the issue at one of the DR’s top destinations for digital nomads. We also interviewed nomads living in the DR and obtained primary data from them.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The AccLab in DR is aiming to develop a set of knowledge/intelligence tools that can be useful for various stakeholders: 1) an assessment/diagnostic tool for destinations to assess themselves as digital nomad friendly. This is to be applied on a town, city or remote location and obtain a score that indicates which areas a destination needs to improve, and which areas are strong in terms of digital nomads’ preferences; 2) an index that ranks destinations (in-country). In all, our value proposition is that those tools give UNDP a lead in the discussions about the future of work and how the DR is already a potential destination for digital nomads.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
The DR is quickly becoming a digital nomads’ favorite. UNDP’s Digital Nomads Friendly Destination Index provides a great tool for decision makers in both government and private sector to tap into the opportunities of digitalization, tourism and work.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Municipality of Las Terrenas: key public sector partner
ILO: project is implemented by both ILO and UNDP, and they are interested in the theme
Ministry of Tourism: not fully engaged but a key partner of UNDP
Hotel and Restaurants Association: has been key collaborator in providing insights about the industry
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Las Terrenas is a beach town in the northeastern part of the DR. UNDP has been in close collaboration with the Office of the Mayor and a host of stakeholders who have some level of interest in Las Terrenas. Tshe Mayor has given UNDP and the AccLab a green light for conducting the assessment as well as for coming up with potential proposals for making Las Terrenas a more sustainable destination.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
As a destination, how is the DR adapting to the digital nomads' phenomenon and how can it respond from a policy perspective to the challenges and opportunities posed by digital nomadism in key tourist destinations across the country?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
All of those methods provide a rigorous foundation for the CO’s analysis and knowledge products that will be developed and shared with academia, civil society and government.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
While there is a lot of information online about digital nomads, official data sources are scarce. Also, there is limited research from a government/policy standpoint on the trends, challenges and benefits of digital nomadism. Our aim to develop tools that allow us to collect and analyze quality data that can be translated into policy insights.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
Government at the national and municipal levels, given the various benefits of digital nomadism coming into DR destinations for the local economy.
END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.
8Decent work and economic growth
9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
11Sustainable cities and communities
