United Nations Children's Fund

Advocating for DPGs to be recognized by the Global Digital Compact (GDC) as key enablers and drivers of equitable, inclusive and just digital transformation and DPI. Creating key advocacy points for and with the DPGA Secretariat and DPGA members, including DPGA Board members, and delivering them to the GDC Co-Facilitators through relevant channels, including the UN GDC Core Group. This activity will continue in 2024 until the approval of the final version of the GDC by the Member States, and past 2024 to monitor, advise on, and participate in the GDC implementation.

Community of Practice on AI (AI CoP) explores the intersection of ethical AI and open source, to inform essential changes to the DPG Standard, determining what constitutes AI systems as DPGs. AI CoP considers complex issues associated with AI development and its democratization (i.e., open-sourcing underlying data and models) and identifying strategies for how responsible open-source AI systems can be DPGs. The output of the AI CoP aims to serve as a guide for updating the DPG Standard for AI systems, a crucial benchmark that defines the qualities and characteristics of DPGs. The overall goal of AI CoP is to establish a framework that guides developers, funders, and implementers in their work on open-source AI, harnesses its potential for positive impact, and ensures that AI DPGs contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable digital transformation and future.

UNICEF is currently running a test with a certified DPG deployed by UNICEF across 60+ countries to understand the modality of DAO for i) retaining a DPG-solution relevance, i.e. collecting on-going feedback not just for technologists but also from other stakeholders such as end users, sponsors, implementing partners, lawyers, domain experts etc; ii) supporting a DPG-solution technical sustainability, i.e. attracting talent who remain interested in contributing their time and effort to the DPG; iii) securing a DPG-solution financial sustainability, i.e. finding new, innovative, reliable and regular sources of funding where the fundraising effort per $ reduces over time. This exploration will continue in 2024, with the goal of adding additional DPGs to the testing pool in the second half of the year. As part of this work stream, UNICEF also engages the Web3 community to provide them with a better context of on-the-ground realities in which UNICEF operates.

UNICEF is convinced that for the digital public infrastructure (DPI) of the future to be viable, inclusive, sustainable, and trusted, two conditions must be met: 1) DPGs are foundational to the DPI architecture; 2) DPG and DPI main users – the current young generation – are resourced and recognized as DPG and DPI co-designers, and future implementers, maintainers, and owners. Through its "DPGs x Youth" work stream UNICEF Country Offices in Ghana, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Brazil engage local social impact tech entrepreneurs and startup ecosystems in building their understanding of, and technical capacity to develop DPGs. UNICEF injects local startup accelerator curricula with extensive DPG element and mentorship, including on alignment with the DPG Standard, alignment with UNICEF programmatic aims, open-source licensing and business models, and more. To date, four DPGs were developed through this program. We will continue this work past 2024 with more COs joining.

In 2024 UNICEF continues to build awareness and capacity about the DPG concept across regional startup ecosystems, to encourage social impact tech innovators to build open-source solutions in support of regional public infrastructures and programmatic results. In 2024 UNICEF will update its DPG Accelerator Guide, as well as expand its collaboration with relevant groups such as AfriLabs and Github's "All in Africa" by adding DPG elements to digital skilling curricula and holding knowledge webinars.

UNICEF’s Venture Fund role is twofold: redirecting global capital flows towards supporting digital transformation solutions from developing and emerging markets; validating which frontier technologies can play significant role in the future global DPG4DPI architecture.  The  Fund invests in early-stage open-source, frontier tech solutions in underserved markets to validate, test & shape tools which can scale to radically improve the lives of children. The Fund has invested in 147 solutions (of which 19 are DPGs) in 86 programme countries. 56 UNICEF COs used Fund-supported solutions and 30 portfolio startups deployed their solution outside their origin country, confirming a demand from governments and UN System COs for open-source solutions and the thesis that DPGs are an integral component to a systemic mitigation of global depravations. In 2024 the Fund will continue sourcing with the focus on climate action,  health and well-being, nutrition, and mental health.

UNICEF's Office of Innovation (Stockholm) and the Digital Center of Excellence (Nairobi) work together to expand organizational knowledge and engagement in DPGs, especially for programmatic use for children and youth. UNICEF’s OOI and DCOE create knowledge materials and interactive sessions that explain concepts of DPGs and DPI to teams at both HQ and Country Office (CO) level. They also introduce 50-in-5 campaign to UNICEF COs, to maximize the potential of the campaign to attract new country members. In 2024 UNICEF coordinated with UNDP to establish a CO-level protocol for UNICEF and UNDP offices to be aware of each other’s DPG work and strengthen regional DPG efforts. UNICEF encourages UN System agencies to engage in this work stream, especially with regards to the CO-level alignment

UNICEF works with several of its Country Offices to support local governments in developing dedicated DPG functions as part of strengthening and sustaining those countries' DPG commitments. In Kazakhstan UNICEF has initiated the “Capacity needs assessment for accelerating and sustaining government’s DPG function”. The main tasks for the assessment (to be finalized in 2024) include mapping of the government structures and sub-structures to provide policy recommendations and unpacking of training gaps among decision makers and professionals working in the digital transformation areas.  In Sierra Leone, UNICEF Country Office supports the development of the DPG governance structure and creation of an overarching framework to capture and monitor all developing or developed DPGs that support or can support the country's infrastructure. A DPG board is set to be created in 2024 for fast, efficient decision making over the DPG Steering Committee.

In 2023 UNICEF developed v.1.0 of DJENGA, a DPG maturity assessment tool. The aim of DJENGA is to provide a quick way to assess the scale readiness and sustainability of software products that aspire to become DPGs, and to recommend product improvements (through an easy-to-use web application). UNICEF launched and tested DJENGA at the 2023 DPGA Annual Meeting. Based on positive feedback and the need for DPG maturity frameworks from product owners, UNICEF will continue the development of DJENGA in 2024, including by adding new indicators, integrating internally with other UNICEF assessment tools, and evolving the web application.

UNICEF recognizes the importance of providing a shortlist of verified and tested DPGs that can be quickly accessed and localized by countries to support their most pressing needs, including in the areas such as health, education, or social protection. In 2024 UNICEF will work with DPGA Secretariat and DPGA members to coordinate the creation of such a list.