For the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), reflecting on 2020 actually begins with our roots – the 2019 United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation report calling for the establishment of a broad, multi-stakeholder alliance, to facilitate access to and use of digital public goods. In December 2019 the DPGA was launched to answer that call, which meant kicking off 2020 with a lot of momentum.

Throughout 2020 significant steps were taken to support and accelerate the discovery and development of digital public goods that tackle real world challenges. We started the year off with two main goals, (1) establishing the foundations of the DPGA as a strategic entity with the potential for long-term impact and sustainability and, (2) to produce valuable outputs with immediate utility for the DPG ecosystem.

With these two goals in mind, and strengthened by the June 2020 Roadmap on Digital Cooperation, the DPGA achieved significant milestones in 2020.  Here is an overview of our top four achievements: 

1. Defining Digital Public Goods

The DPGA coordinated with other stakeholders to provide input to the definition of digital public goods that was published by the UN Secretary-General in the 2020 Roadmap. This definition contributes to a universal understanding of what constitutes a digital public good, laying the groundwork for how the DPGA can support open projects.

Building off this momentum, the DPGA thereafter operationalised the digital public goods definition into the DPG Standard, a set of nine indicators that comprise a comprehensive and shared assessment criteria for identifying projects as digital public goods. This standard is itself an open project and has benefited from several iterations. The DPGA is thankful to the communities and individuals that have helped support its development by contributing their thoughts and endorsements including CHAOSS, Creative Commons, DIAL, and Mozilla. The DPG Standard has also been featured by the Open Source Observatory and opensource.org.

2. Launching the DPG Registry

The DPGA mission includes promoting the discovery of digital public goods. To that end, in 2020 the DPGA significantly evolved the DPG Registry, which started as a prototype in early 2019. Today, the DPG Registry contains 471 nominated projects, and 20 verified digital public goods that have been assessed against the DPG Standard.

Our work relies on the ethos of open source. So, in December 2020 we launched a community sourcing experiment asking for public participation to review nominated open projects against the DPG Standard with the ultimate goal of distributing and expediting the process of determining if a project qualifies as a digital public good. This experiment will run through January 2021 and has already had engagement from teachers, students, tech practitioners, and many more. We continue to invite public participation in the experiment at validate.digitalpublicgoods.net.

3. Engaging Experts in Sector Specific Communities

In 2020 the DPGA began facilitating Communities of Practice (CoPs). CoPs convene thematic experts with the aim of identifying, assessing and  advancing high-impact potential projects that work towards the attainment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Thus far, CoPs have focused on technologies for enhancing Early Grade Reading skills, Financial Inclusion, Digital Health, and Climate Change Adaptation. These groups include more than 60 experts from 40+ different institutions including NGOs, governments, think tanks, international banks, and funders.

In 2020 the CoPs began making an impact. In November, we released a paper on the relationship between digital public infrastructures (DPIs) and DPGs, and the particular relevance of their intersection for driving financial inclusion. In addition, an assessment of nine early grade reading projects was completed. 2021 will take the efforts of the CoPs even further.

4. Launching Country Engagement Pilots

Eager to document and share learnings that can help facilitate the impactful implementation of digital public goods, in late 2020, the DPGA developed an initial approach for piloting country engagements in low- and middle-income countries. In 2021 we will begin deploying short-term pilot activities in partnership with DPGA co-founders.

No 2020 year-in-review would be complete without a reflection on the challenges we all faced as a result of the global pandemic. While COVID-19 brought near-insurmountable challenges, it also illustrated how digital technologies can both create and prevent inequities, ultimately highlighting the need for countries to accelerate digital transformation. The need for quality digital public goods that are accessible, adaptable, and deployable is clearer than ever.

The increasing awareness of COVID-19’s long-term economic impact added urgency to international conversations about digital public infrastructures, sparking new energy and interest in understanding, assessing, and promoting digital public goods with the potential for countries to deploy as part of their  digital foundations.

In 2021 we hope to capitalise on our early successes and build on the momentum in the DPG ecosystem. There is more clarity now than ever before on the urgency of digital transformation and we have a unique opportunity to scale up international cooperation around digital public goods. 

Read more about our year in review here.

To learn more about the Digital Public Goods Alliance:
Join our mailing list.
Follow us on Twitter @DPGAlliance.
Nominate digital public goods through this form.
Participate in the community sourcing experiment.

If you missed it, check out the rest of the series featuring iSPIRT, Norway and Sierra Leone. And, for more on the DPGA follow us on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

UNICEF 

UNICEF is a proud co-lead of the UN Secretary General’s The Age of Digital Interdependence recommendations around universal connectivity (1A) and digital public goods (1B).

UNICEF co-founded the Digital Public Goods Alliance as a result of recommendation 1B’s call for a “broad multi-stakeholder alliance, involving the UN, to create a platform for sharing digital public goods”. This work aims to make open source solutions more accessible to governments and to help them scale. UNICEF and other DPGA partners are working directly with national governments, UN agencies, and others who are looking for open source solutions to deploy in their countries. 

UNICEF brings a track record of sourcing, investing in, and supporting open source solutions to the DPGA. They do so through the UNICEF Venture Fund which provides start-ups in developing and emerging markets with equity-free seed funding. They’ve also done cutting edge work that leverages blockchain technology to provide investments in cryptocurrency, creating innovative financing models that incentivise and encourage the creation of open-source digital public goods. Finally, UNICEF has been a leader within the DPGA in identifying and connecting with Pathfinder countries and leveraging their experience incentivizing positive grassroots impacts through digital tokens.

UNICEF is actively working to address underlying barriers that currently limit access to digital public goods. UNICEF’s Giga project, anchored in recommendation 1A, sets the goal of providing connectivity to every school in the world and every young person with information, opportunity and choice – including through increased access to DPGs. According to the ITU, some 3.6 billion people in the world do not have access to the internet. That lack of access means exclusion, fewer resources to learn and to grow, and limited opportunities for the most vulnerable children and youth to fulfill their potential. 

Read more about the work of UNICEF’s Office of Innovation on their website.

Each member of the current Interim Strategy Group (ISG) — consisting of iSPIRT, Norway, Sierra Leone and UNICEF — brings their own areas of expertise and interest to the DPGA which makes it stronger and more diverse in its reach and potential impact. As the DPGA is built out over time, membership will expand and change to include more stakeholders.

Since its launch, the Digital Public Goods Alliance — an initiative co-founded by iSPIRT, Sierra Leone, The Government of Norway and UNICEF — has been working to identify, support and promote digital public goods to implement recommendation 1B from the June 2019 Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation. 

Get Involved

Only by working together can we make this happen. The Digital Public Goods Alliance is, itself an open project, and we seek engagement and support from any governments, businesses, civil society, technology providers, donors, and experts wishing to help us achieve our aim.

Learn more about the Digital Public Goods Alliance on our website.

Stay on top of DPGA news and updates by joining our newsletter.

Nominate digital public goods through this form.

Last week we kicked off a four part series. In each part, we will share exciting work from one of the Co-Founders of the Digital Public Goods Alliance. This week we’re featuring Norway.

If you missed Part 1 on iSPIRT last week, you can see it here.

As we said last week, one of the fundamental strengths of the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) is its decentralized, yet coordinated structure. Each member of the current Interim Strategy Group (ISG) – consisting of iSPIRT, Norway, Sierra Leone and UNICEF – brings their own areas of expertise and interest to the DPGA which makes it stronger and more diverse in its reach and potential impact. As the DPGA is built out over time, membership will expand and change to include more stakeholders. In this four part series, we’re pleased to offer a snapshot of the exciting work being led by each of the current ISG members. This week we focus on Norway. 

Norway

Norway believes in the deployment of digital public goods as a means to help countries accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and is a proud champion and co-founder of the DPGA together with the government of Sierra Leone, UNICEF and iSPIRT.

Their work funds high-impact digital public goods in several sectors including health, early grade reading, climate and weather services, and plant pest management. 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Norway has worked on expanding existing digital public goods in both the health and education sectors. One example is DHIS2, an open source, web-based software platform for data collection, management, and analysis, used by governments and NGOs in more than 100 countries. Starting with a pilot in Sri Lanka, more than 30 countries have deployed standardized DHIS2 COVID-19 surveillance digital data packages since the pandemic began. 

Norway has also seen a rapid scale up in the use of the Global Digital Library platform for openly licensed early grade reading resources, and together with ADEA and UNESCO are also supporting a number of countries in translating early grade reading books into local languages, and fast-tracking the availability of learning resources.

As the DPGA develops, Norway would like to engage other bilateral and philanthropic donors in conversations on how each can best contribute to supporting the global architecture around digital public goods.   

You can find out more about Norway’s commitment to digital public goods by reading their white paper for Digital Transformation and Development Policy or watching this address from Prime Minister Solberg. 

Norway is co-hosting the DPGA and will engage at the forefront of the Climate Adaptation Community of Practice. 

Visit their website or follow Norway on Twitter to learn more.

Since its launch, the Digital Public Goods Alliance — an initiative co-founded by iSPIRT, Sierra Leone, The Government of Norway and UNICEF — has been working to identify, support and promote digital public goods to implement recommendation 1B from the June 2019 Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.  

Get Involved

Only by working together can we make this happen. The Digital Public Goods Alliance is, itself an open project, and we seek engagement and support from any governments, businesses, civil society, technology providers, donors, and experts wishing to help us achieve our aim.

Learn more about the Digital Public Goods Alliance on our website.

Follow our blog, or join our mailing list.

Want to contribute with funding, technology, or expertise? Sign up here. 

Nominate digital public goods through this form.

In our newsletter last week, we kicked off a four part series to introduce the work of the Digital Public Goods Alliance Co-Founders. In each part, we will share exciting work from one of the Co-Founders and in this, our first week we’re featuring iSPIRT.

During the digital public goods roundtable event in mid-September Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, Special Adviser on the Preparations for the Commemoration of the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary, shared that, “The digital world is a decentralized world and that is one of its virtues.” However, there must be some sense of coordination and access to this decentralized system and a unifying platform for digital public goods is a high priority.

One of the fundamental strengths of the Digital Public Goods (DPG) Alliance is its decentralized, yet coordinated structure. Each member of the current Interim Strategy Group (ISG) – consisting of iSPIRT, Norway, Sierra Leone and UNICEF – brings their own areas of expertise and interest to the DPG Alliance which makes it stronger and more diverse in its reach and potential impact.

As the DPG Alliance is built out over time, membership will expand and change to include more stakeholders. In this four part series, we’re pleased to offer a snapshot of the exciting work being led by each of the current ISG members. This week we focus on iSPIRT. 

iSPIRT

iSPIRT (Indian Software Products Industry Round Table) is a non-profit think tank that builds public goods for Indian product startups to thrive and grow. 

India is fast tracking digital development. In the last 10 years alone, over 400 million bank accounts were opened in India while at the same time it built up and delivered one of the most advanced payment systems in the world. All of this is thanks to accessible digital public goods.

Now, the Indian government is working on data empowerment and protection architecture to enable citizens to share their data to get a loan, apply for a visa etc. all in a seamless way via an open credit system. You can read more about it in this paper, prepared by iSPIRT.

Extensive work has also begun in the healthcare sector with the creation of a public health registry that gives people the right to move their health data from one provider to another. As this process becomes standardized, turnaround times in the health care sector will be greatly reduced. 

As a part of the Digital Public Goods Alliance, iSPIRT is leading by example in the Financial Inclusion Community of Practice and can share learnings and best practices from their work with other governments.

Visit their website or follow iSPIRT on Twitter to learn more.

Since its launch, the Digital Public Goods Alliance — an initiative co-founded by iSPIRT, Sierra Leone, The Government of Norway and UNICEF — has been working to identify, support and promote digital public goods to implement recommendation 1B from the June 2019 Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.  

Get Involved

Only by working together can we make this happen. The Digital Public Goods Alliance is, itself an open project, and we seek engagement and support from any governments, businesses, civil society, technology providers, donors, and experts wishing to help us achieve our aim.

Learn more about the Digital Public Goods Alliance on our website.

Follow our blog, or join our mailing list.

Want to contribute with funding, technology, or expertise? Sign up here.

Nominate digital public goods through this form.

The Digital Public Goods Alliance was thrilled to see energy and thoughtful discussion around the vital role digital public goods play in strengthening institutions as well as the importance of joint commitments and innovative partnerships in this field. These changes must leverage open source software, open standards, shared funding models, and new multilateral architecture to help governments deploy next-generation technologies to power their institutions. 

All four DPG Alliance co-founders participated in the event, represented by Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, Minister David Sengeh of Sierra Leone, Sunita Grote from UNICEF, and Tanuj Bhojwani from iSPIRT. Several other stakeholders who are working closely with the Alliance also participated. Collectively, they represent years of expertise in funding open source technologies for the public sector including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Omidyar Network.

A recording of the event is available here.

Event Highlights

The event was very well-organized with highly relevant speakers and fresh insights on many topics related to the importance and promotion of digital public goods. We would like to highlight some of the remarks that we found particularly relevant for the Alliance’s work: 

• New America called for using digital public goods to help build the next generation of digital government platforms and for more public sector technologies being released as open source. Representatives of platforms MOSIP and Mojaloop echoed this commitment to open source.
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation observed that donors have a critical role to play in ensuring the deployment of DPGs protects human rights, and that now is the time to marshall our collective resources. The Rockefeller Foundation supported this, emphasizing how philanthropic capital can be particularly relevant for bridging gaps between public and private funding.
• Taiwanese Minister Audrey Tang recommended building the public’s trust by being fast, fair and fun and letting humour win over rumour.
• Stakeholders like the Omidyar Network who have already taken action as thought leaders and early investors in open source digital public infrastructure, highlighted the need for arriving at a shared understanding of what digital public infrastructure means.
• The Linux Foundation pointed out that the majority of code that the private sector and governments build on is open source, and that what is needed is for governments to understand what the right type of open source software is. 
• Rohini Nilekani emphasized societal platform thinking, and the need to design technologies for the inclusion of all.
• Ried Hoffmann of LinkedIn made recommendations for how to collaborate better with the private sector, and in particular how governments can take the lead by pushing for more open source in public procurement. 
• Finally, the importance of countries being in the driver’s seat to ensure technologies are locally relevant was highlighted by DPG Alliance co-founders Sierra Leone, iSPIRT and UNICEF. This was also reflected in the Open Government Partnership’s reference to co-creation as a method.   

Key Take-Aways 

A key take-away is the timeliness and relevance of the DPG Alliance’s work over the last year to establish a minimum open standard for digital public goods. Through the formulation of a set of precise criteria  – widely consulted on and already endorsed by expert stakeholders across sectors including research, advocacy and technology – this minimum standard will ensure a focus on key safeguards, better coordination and less fragmentation as more stakeholders are looking to source, invest in, and implement digital public goods. We encourage you to assess and endorse the standard, or provide any suggestions for improvements through this GitHub repository.

Second, is the value add that the DPG Alliance’s convening of communities of practice (CoPs) can bring. The CoP for financial inclusion stands out as particularly relevant following Friday’s discussion, as it seeks to identify digital public goods with the potential for implementation as part of a country’s digital public infrastructure (DPI). Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg highlighted the importance of systems for digital identity, civil registration and digital payments in her speech on Norway’s strong support for digital public goods as a co-founder of the DPG Alliance. 

Next Steps: Digital Public Infrastructure  

DPI are technologies that tend to be “horizontals” – they are the rails that other solutions run on top of – and their implementation enables many other solutions and business models to flourish. In its Financial Inclusion CoP, the Digital Public Goods Alliance is seeking to identify the relatively few technologies that both comply with DPG Standard 1.0 and have the characteristics of Digital Public Infrastructure. The resulting shortlisted technologies will thereafter be assessed in more depth on indicators related to their relevance and adoptability for governments in low- and middle-income countries.

We firmly agree with Anne-Marie Slaughter of New America’s final statement to round off the event; “The efficacy has little to do with what was said here today and more to do with how we act in the months and years to come”.

From the Digital Public Goods Alliance’s end we promise to do our part to facilitate the discovery, development, use of and investment in digital public goods by uniting stakeholders around comprehensive standards, engaging experts through communities of practices, and increasing government, developer and public access through a platform of vetted digital public goods. 

Get Involved

Only by working together can we make this happen. The Digital Public Goods Alliance is, itself an open project, and we seek engagement and support from any governments, businesses, civil society, technology providers, donors, and experts wishing to help us achieve our aim.

Learn more about the Digital Public Goods Alliance on our website.

Follow our blog, or join our mailing list.

Want to contribute with funding, technology, or expertise? Sign up here.

Nominate digital public goods through this form or endorse the standard.