As the world faces the worst economic recession in eight decades due to COVID-19, countries have expanded social protection, leveraging digital financial services. With that, the need for ensuring that everyone can verify their identity in order to access such services and benefits has never been more urgent. Instead of being built merely for administrative purposes, digital ID systems are increasingly seen as an opportunity to accelerate development by connecting marginalised communities to vital public services and social benefits. Likewise, the ability to share data in a secure and privacy-sensitive manner is important for being able to reliably validate or exclude the eligibility of beneficiaries.

Put simply, the countries that already had in place these foundational digital public infrastructures – digital payments systems, digital ID, and trusted data ecosystems – have been better equipped to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. The same can be said for the delivery of vaccines, for which the same tools have been used by those countries to more efficiently and equitably roll out one of the most critical mass vaccination campaigns for generations.

With this, there are lessons to be learned and optimism for the challenges that lay ahead. The borderlessness of COVID-19 has helped spark global agreement that the world needs to be better prepared for future pandemics. Utilising inclusive digital public infrastructure is one key way to do that.

In our previous blog on how to strengthen the digital public goods ecosystem, we described the need for sustainable core funding for foundational digital public goods as generic state of the art solutions. In this sequel, we want to drive attention to the need for providing comprehensive technical assistance for countries to assess, pilot, deploy, and manage these technologies. 

What technical assistance means in the context of implementing foundational digital public infrastructure

Countries are at different points in their journey to digitising services. Laying a digital foundation is a monumental task, often requiring moving away from antiquated, sometimes paper based systems. In many cases these are greenfield circumstances – where there are no legacy systems to build from. In this scenario, foundational systems can be the most complex given the expertise and time needed to implement them. That’s why support requires a multi-faceted approach that reflects the needs of each country. 

Enabled by sustained funding, support to countries can have the greatest impact when it is holistic and optimised to achieve good principles and practices. Design of these digital public infrastructures to maximise inclusion, trust, and developmental impact requires support of the broader enabling environment including institutional and legal frameworks (especially data protection and cybersecurity), end-user engagement, capacity building, and assessment of appropriate technologies, among others. In the context of digital public goods – often a new approach for many government actors – there is a need for a mindset shift in terms of how systems are conceived: not as vendor-supported products but as country-owned platforms.

International development partners are increasingly more active in supporting the digitisation of services. This, combined with the urgent need for foundational digital public infrastructure, has led to a surge in demand for timely technical assistance that is context-appropriate and based on best practices.

For instance, the World Bank has two multi-sectoral initiatives to help countries realise the transformational potential of digital ID and G2P ecosystems: Identification for Development (ID4D) (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Government, French Government, and Omidyar Network) and G2Px (Digitizing Government-to-Person Payments) (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). The cohesive approach of these sister initiatives harnesses the power of combining the foundational digital public infrastructures (or ‘digital stack’) for maximising a variety of development outcomes, from financial inclusion and effective delivery of social assistance to women’s economic empowerment and digital transformation, while mitigating the exclusion, data protection, and technology lock-in risks.

Over the last couple of years, ID4D significantly increased its technical assistance engagement with more than 30 countries. In the midst of the pandemic, G2Px also quickly scaled up to provide technical assistance to 35 countries that were facing the challenge of how to leverage digital technology to deliver social assistance payments effectively and safely in the context of the pandemic. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has similarly seen significant increases in country demand for broader digital transformation support, with 20 developing countries requesting such assistance. Guided by an inclusive digital transformation framework, UNDP has supported national governments to conduct digital readiness assessments for identifying gaps and priorities, developing national digital strategies, advising on the design of agencies that would drive the national effort of digital transformation beyond individual ministries, as well as suggesting global solutions (including DPGs) and partners, while strengthening local governments and ecosystems. 

The case for open source solutions and open standards

Countries must be supported in their efforts to rapidly deploy and adapt digital public goods to meet their relevant infrastructure needs. The alternative – pursuing proprietary options – may not be conducive at the speed and scale needed. Additionally they may lack localisable features, and lock countries to singular vendors and particular technologies. Many ID projects have faced vendor lock-in, preventing implementing governments from achieving interoperability or modifying or adding functionalities without significant change request fees. This leads to low country ownership, weak results, and often the need for these projects to start again and thus deal with difficult legacy challenges.

On the other hand, digital public goods provide the ability to establish a digital foundation based on more easily integrated, interoperable and adaptable solutions. They can also enhance country sovereignty and long-term sustainability. By being able to see ‘under the hood’ staff can understand the technology they are using. Growing a country’s internal capacity can ensure software can be built and maintained locally or with less dependence on external suppliers. Beyond that, it can help foster competition in local implementation and customisation, and stimulate the local information technology market.

The way forward for country technical assistance

Together with sustainable core funding for generic technologies, increased technical assistance which enables countries to successfully deploy these solutions is needed to unlock the broad potential of digital public goods to help address today’s most urgent global challenges.

The next blog in our series on financing needs in the DPG ecosystem will expand the conversation from assisting countries to deploy DPGs, to enabling countries to deploy, create, manage, and iterate digital solutions to address future needs.

We would like to share our deepest gratitude with the advocates, owners, and maintainers who have made this possible by submitting nominations to the registry. These nominations account for an incredibly diverse set of open source software, open data, open AI models, open standards and open content tackling real world issues – everything from sustainable farming to healthcare, from digital identity to vaccine coordination. 

People submit nominations to the registry for a variety of reasons including discoverability, recognition, and support. But, don’t take our word for it. Take it from the nominators themselves: 

Tor-Einar Skog, Senior Adviser at NIBIO shared that, “I’m proud to contribute software to help reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals”. NIBIO are creators of the open, online, free of charge forecast and information software for integrated management of pests, diseases and weeds, VIPS (now a digital public good).

Or, Pedro Reynolds-Cuellar, an educator and nominator who shared that, “[a]s with several other tools I used, I always thought about them as something people should have free access to. In the era of software, the idea of commons and communal benefit from the tools at our disposal takes a new meaning. In my mind, these nominations are an effort to bring forward tools that can benefit us all to a space where they can be found and highlighted.”

And, Martin Bedouret a developer from Cboard, a free web application for children and adults with speech and language impairments that facilitates communication with pictures and text-to-speech, who saw nominating their work as an opportunity to reach their goal by increasing the possibility for it to be found. “We want to reach many countries, and especially developing countries. The nomination will help us with this goal, as the platform is open and well prepared for international collaboration, we need visibility in order to reach out to collaborators and people who need a voice to communicate!”

Nominees, their creators, advocates and maintainers are at the core of everything we do. So, thank you for helping us reach this milestone! 

While we’re thrilled to have gotten this far together, this is not the final destination. In fact, we are just getting started. Our ambition is for the DPG Registry to include hundreds, even thousands, more open nominees that advance the sustainable development goals. 

Why nominate to the DPG Registry

Nomination is the first step towards being recognised as a digital public good. Once a nomination is submitted, it is reviewed against the DPG Standard, a baseline of 9-indicators that serve as a minimum standard that all digital public goods must meet.

So, what is the value in submitting a nomination to the DPG Registry? 

1) Discoverability 

Nominations and DPGs alike can be found on the DPG Registry. As an added bonus, the DPG Registry is partially compiled from, and feeds back into, partner systems like the Catalog of Digital Solutions maintained by the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL). This method of cross-pollination enhances discoverability and accelerates the likelihood of a nominee being found and adopted by organizations and governments looking for innovative solutions.

2) Support for adoptability 

Digital public goods have clear documentation, open licenses, and follow standards and best practices that make them easy to adopt. We support nominees working to meet these standards. When nominating to the DPG Registry, projects can utilize DPG Resources, a set of curated tools that assist them in becoming a digital public good. Additionally, our technical team helps nominees navigate which documentation or requirements are needed to ensure they not only meet the standard, but even surpass it. 

3) Development impact

It has been said that open source will be at the core of future international development efforts. We couldn’t agree more. As part of the digital transformation unfolding globally, governments and development agencies are reframing approaches to international development with a focus on creating and adapting open source projects. Submitting a nomination to become a digital public good signals alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a commitment to making an impact. DPGs are a part of a growing network committed to open source principles that also respect privacy, strive to “do no harm”, and help attain the SDGs. 

4) Becoming a Digital Public Good

And finally, becoming a nominee is the first step toward being reviewed against the DPG Standard, and – if found to meet that standard – confirmed as a digital public good. Becoming a DPG provides exposure to development organizations including UNICEF and members of our communities of practice who review projects with high-impact potential so they can receive the support needed to be adopted by governments globally. 

Our ambition is to fill important gaps, ensure interoperability and avoid vendor lock-in to foster a flourishing ecosystem of digital public goods. Submitting a nomination is the first step to achieving this goal. Please consider submitting a nomination, and be part of even larger milestones yet to come! 

Pathfinding pilots must adhere to three criteria: 1) include local capacity building for creation of new DPGs, and/or adaptation and implementation of existing DPGs; 2) outcomes of the pilots must adhere to the DPG Standard; and, 3) pilots must be conducted either in direct cooperation with and/or with the endorsement of a relevant government entity.

Some of these pilots are already underway. Below, we showcase the work of digital public goods DHIS2 and DHIS2 for Education as they, with support from Norway, launch pathfinding pilots in The Gambia and Uganda.

DHIS2 – A Digital Public Goods Case Study 

Digital Public Goods Introduction 

Endorsed by the UN Secretary General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, the Digital Public Goods Alliance defines digital public goods (DPGs) as: “open source software, open data, open AI models, open standards and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices, do no harm, and help attain the SDGs.”

When operationalised, DPGs have proven to be much more. They have the ability to connect individuals and communities to vital services, improve data-based decision making capabilities, and build the infrastructure that societies rely on to respond to crises. 

The Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA)’s mission is to aid the discovery, development, use of, and investment in DPGs. Amplifying success stories of DPGs to show their value, and highlighting implementation strategies from around the world is key to accelerating our mission. Strengthening understanding and awareness of DPGs is critical to fostering trust and interest in open source projects, and can help propel adoption. 

One success story is the free and open source platform DHIS2, which is helping to attain the SDG’s in 73 low- and middle-income countries by supporting the management of education and health programs.

Background

From climate change to education, healthcare to transportation, digital public goods have the opportunity to solve some of society’s greatest challenges. This can be exemplified by District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2), an open-source software project first created to identify and address gaps in health data collection. The software has recently expanded to show value not just in the health sector, but in the education sector as well. DHIS2 was developed by the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP) at the University of Oslo (UiO) in collaboration with partners in the Global South. It is shared for download at no cost and its open source software and source code is hosted on Github.

The first version of this software, DHIS, began in 1998-99 fueled by the belief that collecting and layering granular data can help facilitate governments to make informed decisions. Initially, DHIS was developed to track routine monthly data from Primary Health Centers in Cape Town, South Africa.(1) Today, DHIS2 is the world’s largest health management information system (HMIS) platform, used in 73 low- and middle-income countries.(2) An astonishing 2.4 billion people, or 30% of the world’s population, live in countries where DHIS2 is used. 

Over the last decade, DHIS2 has expanded beyond traditional HMIS reporting to include the collection of individual-level data feeding into shared health records including: lab results; disease surveillance; contact tracing and more. Seventy-seven countries and Indian states utilise the DHIS2 Tracker for case-based data entry, and 33 are using the DHIS2 Android app for data capture on mobile devices.(3)(4)

Proving its versatility beyond government ministries, DHIS2 is also used for data management by leading health organizations including Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization (WHO). As a Collaborating Center with WHO, the HISP team at the University of Oslo works with global and country experts to create downloadable standards-based configurations of the software for specific health domains, lowering the barrier to entry for many countries, and improving data quality within and across countries.(5)(6)

Building on the same theory of change developed for expansion in the health sector, DHIS2 is two years into piloting “DHIS2 for Education”. Crucially, DHIS2 for Education builds on the existing DHIS software platform in countries where it is already deployed in the health sector to support the collection, analysis, visualization, and use of individual and aggregate data from institutions of learning.(7) This includes not just health and education data, but socioeconomic indicators as well that can help contextualize the health and education data. 

Through these work streams, DHIS2 is directly addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and 4 (Quality Education) which call for the use of data to guide improvement in both health and learning outcomes as well as equitable access to education. It also touches on a number of other SDGs including reducing inequality and eliminating poverty. 

By the Numbers 

• 73 countries use DHIS2 
• 5 countries use DHIS2 for Education
• 2.4 billion people live in places where DHIS2 is used
• 38 countries are using the software to combat COVID-19 

 Innovations 

DHIS2 by the numbers alone is impressive, but that only tells part of the story. DHIS2 is a widely trusted platform that promotes holistic growth and impact by providing innovative solutions, including:

Accessibility

DHIS2 is both physically and financially accessible. It can capture data on computers, tablets and smartphones and most solutions work offline, enabling improved reach in locations with poor connectivity. The platform integrates easily with other software platforms bringing logistics, human resources, grading systems and payroll onto a single dashboard. DHIS2 is free to use aside from the cost of servers and internet connectivity and, because it is open source, it can be accessed and adapted to scenarios in any country. 

Capacity Building 

To ensure holistic, sustainable growth, and to combat brain drain, the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP) has built a community of users and experts in regions where DHIS2 is used through initiatives including the DHIS2 Academy and DHIS2 Community of Practice. As DHIS2 implementation varies based on local context, this also facilitates shared learnings and implementation strategies.

Versatility

“DHIS2 has a modular, layered architecture with a strong and open application programming interface (API).”(8) In practice, this means that native applications can run off of it. Currently, approximately 60 native applications do just that to perform different functions, and software developers can easily build their own external applications on top of DHIS2 making it more adaptable. DHIS2’s API also allows it to exchange data with other software, facilitating interoperability between systems. This agility means that DHIS2 teams can work closely with users or government representatives to explore different needs and scenarios that arise and adapt accordingly.

COVID-19 Response 

DHIS2 has led projects that assist countries and regions responding to COVID-19. It has been evaluated as a leading digital solution for COVID-19 response by Johns Hopkins University, the United State’s Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and Digital Square. Understanding their ability to quickly respond and adapt to growing health concerns, DHIS2 released a digital data package to accelerate case detection, reporting, surveillance and response. 

The package was inspired by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health’s pioneering design of a DHIS2 tracker for COVID-19 which draws on years of DHIS2 collaboration with the WHO on designing standardized packages for key health programs. The tracker is operational in 38 countries and in development in 14 more.(9) In Uganda, for example, local health authorities are transmitting infection results digitally. In Rwanda, the health care system is fully digitalised, allowing data to arrive instantaneously.(10) 

This innovation extends to the education sector as well. DHIS2 for Education uses an educational management information system (EMIS) that layers in health data and will provide long-term and sustainable responses to COVID-19 and other health challenges. One example is school-level vaccination campaigns which can synergize health and education data.

DHIS2 and Digital Public Goods Alliance Pathfinding 

DHIS2 has been reviewed against the Digital Public Goods Standard, qualifying it as a digital public good which can be found on the DPG Registry. 

DHIS2 software is developed in line with the Principles for Digital Development, and it advances the SDGs in a number of ways. DHIS2 for Education is currently being deployed as an EMIS in several countries, facilitating effective communication between health and education programs (for example, vaccination campaigns targeting school-aged children), as well as supporting purely education-related goals like student enrollment and attendance, resource allocation, and infrastructure management. DHIS2 has identified opportunities to address and overcome similar challenges in both the health and education sectors such as data collection, where there is often no common approach to collecting valuable educational system data, such as human resource data for teachers or student’s tests results, that link with district or national systems. You can read more about this initiative here: https://www.dhis2.org/education.

Over the next three years the DHIS2 in Education pilot will be expanded. The pilot will focus on integration and scalable solutions in specific country contexts. It will draw from different regions with varying languages, norms, and traditions which will help shape its ability to respond to different countries with different needs.

Norway, a founding member of the DPGA, has been a funder of DHIS2 since 1994 and will partner with them to use this extended pilot as one of the key pathfinding cases for the DPGA. Pathfinding pilots help inform the development and roll out of DPGs for future use cases. Supporting this effort is of strategic importance to Norway’s efforts to highlight how DPGs developed for one sector can be relevant for other sectors, and hence help break down silos in international development cooperation.

Conclusion 

DHIS2 exemplifies the power and potential of digital public goods. Not only has it successfully scaled in market, it has done so in a way that brings us closer to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, its development has been holistic and localisable, allowing countries to leverage their existing capacity and expertise. And, DHIS2 has adapted to various sectors and challenges including scaling for COVID-19 response and addressing challenges in education.

From its beginnings in Cape Town, DHIS2 has grown to significantly cover health data and information, and now education. It is this opportunity to break the silos of development, and address challenges holistically, that is particularly interesting to us at the DPGA. Digital public goods like DHIS2 present an opportunity to innovatively address longstanding societal issues. 

Resources

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHIS
(2) https://www.dhis2.org/
(3) https://dhis2.org/tracker/
(4) https://dhis2.org/android-in-action/
(5) https://www.who.int/healthinfo/tools_data_analysis_routine_facility/en/
(6) https://dhis2.org/who/
(7) https://www.dhis2.org/education
(8) https://www.dhis2.org/about
(9) https://www.dhis2.org/in-action
(10) https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/i/qARnOz/fra-husokkupasjon-til-smittejakt-naa-hjelper-et-norsk-verktoey-tre-av-t

Aiding the discovery and development of digital public goods is at the core of everything we do. Which is why we are excited to announce that this week we launched a beta version of DPG Resources, a collection of resources that will support projects on their journey to becoming a digital public good. This is a beta version of the project, so we are actively seeking additional resources to include. If you are aware of any additional resources, please share them via this form. 

In order to become a digital public good, a project must meet the DPG Standard. The DPG Standard is a set of 9 indicators that were developed by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) to operationalise the definition of digital public goods set by the UN Secretary-General in the 2020 Roadmap for Digital Cooperation. Indicators range from open source licensing to relevance to the Sustainable Development Goals. You can read more about the creation of the DPG Standard here. 

DPG Resources aims to become a curated collection of publicly available tools that can help projects meet and surpass the minimum standard. Meeting this minimum standard will increase the discoverability of a project and consequently its ability to make sustainable impact through reuse and adaptation. Going beyond the minimum standard enables projects to embrace the full potential of open source. For this reason, the DPG Resources collection includes resources to help projects go even deeper on areas such as documentation, community development, and child online protection. 

DPG Resources draws on efforts by other prominent open-source stakeholders including GitHub, Linux Foundation, Open Source Initiative (OSI), and many more. By bringing together resources from across the open source community, we seek to highlight the important work that has already been documented, and to provide relevant resources that can help a project maximise their impact. 

Throughout the nomination process, projects are asked to demonstrate their compliance to the indicators in the DPG Standard. Therefore, the navigation of the DPG Resources site includes categorisation based on these indicators and will be built upon over time. DPG Resources also includes an FAQ section that helps individuals navigate the nomination process. 

Feedback on the beta version 

We want to make sure we are providing the tools and resources that are the most useful to projects during the nomination phase. In the spirit of open source, the DPG Resources platform is launching in beta, and asking you to help provide feedback through observation, conversation, and co-creation. Receiving feedback from users as we build, test, and adjust our beta version will help make sure we are supporting projects with the most relevant resources. All feedback or questions regarding this platform are warmly welcomed and much appreciated. Your thoughts on how we can improve can easily be provided through this form.

This is just the beginning

The resources currently available on the DPG Resources site are just the beginning. We want to be constantly evolving by providing new content and links as frequently as possible. If you know of resources that could be relevant to projects working to become digital public goods, you can suggest them by using this submission form.

If you know a project that could qualify as a digital public good, please consider nominating them. 

Have a question about a nominated project? Please reach out to nominations@digitalpublicgoods.net.

To learn more about the Digital Public Goods Alliance:
Join our mailing list.
Follow us on Twitter @DPGAlliance.