The Digital Public Goods Alliance’s commitment to co-develop digital public infrastructure for an equitable recovery

On August 30th, the DPGA, alongside Rockefeller and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, brought together leaders from around the world to frame an ambitious, truly collaborative agenda for building digital public infrastructure. 

At this event it was announced that the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are joining the DPGA as new members and will also be part of an evolved DPGA board from January 2022. The great expertise and operational presence of these two new members will add tremendous weight to our outreach and impact potential. 

As a follow-up to the event and it’s flagship report, we would like to express our strong commitment to advancing the implementation of good digital public infrastructure (DPI) through digital public goods, particularly in low- and middle-income contexts.

Below are some examples of the most relevant core, coordinated and aligned ongoing activities driven by the DPGA Secretariat and organisations listed in the DPGA 2021 Activity Roadmap:

Ensure that DPGs with potential for deployment as DPI (“DPG4DPI”) are discoverable and accessible

  • Steward the DPG Definition & Standard (DPGA Secretariat)
  • Maintain the DPGA Registry of DPGs (DPGA Secretariat)
  • Data Visualization of DPG Implementations (UNICEF)
    • Future iterations to include mapping of DPG4DPI implementations 
  • Incubating DPGs for Infrastructure in India (iSPIRT)
  • Coordination of Member-Led DPG Sourcing (including DPG4DPI) (DPGA Secretariat)
    • Sourcing EU Funded DPG4DPI (BMZ) 
    • Sourcing Norwegian government managed DPG4DPI (Norad) 
    • Sourcing UNDP supported DPG4DPI (UNDP)
  • GovStack Initiative (ITU/BMZ/DIAL/Estonia)
  • Deliver DPG Operational Toolkit for Governments (UNICEF)

Ensure that DPG4DPI are sustainably funded and managed

  • Direct creation/funding/management of DPGs that are relevant for deployment as DPI (BMZ, Norad, Sierra Leone, UNICEF, UNDP – see Roadmap for details)

Build and share knowledge and networks around DPG4DPI

  • Convene GovStack Community of Practice (GIZ & DPGA Secretariat)
  • Forums and meetings for DPG/DPI knowledge sharing (DPGA Secretariat ) 
    •  including for DPG managers, public sector staff implementing DPGs4DPI, country technical assistance providers, and vendors/systems integrators

Build local vendor capacity

  • Extract & Share Learnings from Member-Led Pathfinding Pilots (DPGA Secretariat – see Roadmap for all Pathfinding Pilots)
    • including to show and inform new models for creating local vendor capacity

Mobilize resources and funding for DPG4DPI

  • Coordination of resource mobilization for DPG4DPI (DPGA Secretariat)
    • DPG4DPI funders collective for government and philanthropic development donors (Norad)
How to join this effort?

As articulated in the August 30 report, we strongly believe that digital public goods are critical for the implementation of good digital public infrastructure. 

The list above highlights just a few of the many relevant activities happening in the ecosystem to support DPGs for DPI. As more organisations join the DPGA and align and coordinate their activities as part of this effort, the DPGA Roadmap will continue to expand. 

If you think your organisation should be considered for participation in the DPGA Activity Roadmap, we encourage you to fill in this form. 

For more information on the initiatives above, please reach out to hello@digitalpublicgoods.net.

– Lucy Harris & Liv Marte Nordhaug, Co-leads, Digital Public Goods Alliance