Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the effects of datafication in the context of a government social cash program in Pakistan, and how it affected power relations of actors in the program.

Paper long abstract:

While many social cash programs are digitizing cash transfers in developing countries, there is very little understanding on the effects of datafication on the disbursement process. Hence, the paper examines how the datafication in a government benefits program in Pakistan devolved power and control from centralized state actors to women beneficiaries and other public/private institutions. As datafication enabled beneficiaries' information to be shared with other institutional actors, such collaborative and decentralized procedures shifted the power dynamics of political actors and created new structures of authority in the program. As contribution, the paper sheds light on how the datafication process was perceived as a surveillance mechanism which increased governance through enacting disciplinary processes in the organization. It is also argued how datafication led to empowerment and political inclusion of women by providing them an independent platform to access state and financial services.

Keywords: datafication, political power, digital payments, political inclusion, governance, developing countries, Pakistan