Improving services, empowering people

Digital PublicGoods Charter

There is a growing movement to improve government services and spur innovation using digital public goods. This work is meant to improve outcomes of investments in digital public infrastructure to empower people and improve societies at large. This is too big for anyone to do alone.

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Vision

The Charter for Digital Public Goods (DPG Charter) is contributing to a future in which all countries and regions can build the foundational digital public infrastructure and data systems needed to provide safe, trustworthy and inclusive public and private services at scale. If we are successful, in the long-run, this infrastructure will empower people and communities, spark private sector innovation, and facilitate cross-border collaboration to address urgent global challenges such as hunger, pandemics and climate change.

Objective

The DPG Charter is a multi-stakeholder campaign to align and mobilize diverse stakeholders and initiatives around a compelling shared vision for digital public goods (open-source technologies designed for the public good) and their role in driving safe, trusted and inclusive digital public infrastructure at scale. The DPG Charter is an opportunity to align action and to celebrate how the public and private sectors, including the United Nations, are working together to accelerate the ability of countries to use technology to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Background

In 2022, the DPG Charter vision and commitment framework were finalized, informed by consultations with 100+ individuals working in 20+ countries. These consultations informed the scope and substance of the DPG Charter and identified a number of focus areas and potential gaps that can be addressed through collective action, improving the current and future state of digital public infrastructure.

These efforts are in line with the ambitious digital cooperation agenda championed by the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, and the activities of the Global Digital Compact.

We are striving to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, while dealing with mounting climate disruption, rising inequality and utterly unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. Digital public infrastructure can help solve all these challenges.

Antonio Guterres

Secretary-General of the United Nations

The DPG Charter aligns a diverse set of stakeholders in working toward five outcomes:

  • Products: There is a diverse set of, discoverable, sustainably financed, effectively maintained, and interoperable digital public goods, that effectively meet the needs of countries;
  • Capacity: Governments and local private sector actors are empowered and able to select, plan, regulate, manage, and evolve digital public infrastructure in line with national strategies;
  • Implementation: Countries have sufficient funding, technical capacity, strategies, and processes in place to build and scale end-to-end digital public infrastructure;
  • Safeguards and inclusion: Countries and civil society implement and enforce legal, technical, process-oriented measures to mitigate risks and maximize benefits for all people;
  • Supporting ecosystem: Effective institutions, such as associations, think tanks, and accelerators, are funded and have capacity and authority to coordinate, safeguard, and advance digital public infrastructure and relevant digital public goods.

Approach

The DPG Charter campaign is catalyzing new ideas and raising awareness to expand safe, inclusive, and open digital public infrastructure.

The DPG Charter is now seeking endorsements from government, the private sector, and organizations committed to this vision.

Why endorse the DPG Charter?

Gain high-level visibility of your entity’s dedication to advancing digital public infrastructure, particularly through improving the market for digital public goods.

Access a unique network for collaboration to advance our shared agenda. The DPG Charter prioritizes quality over quantity when seeking endorsements and commitments. When organizations endorse, they gain access to a right-sized network of peers who can provide informal advice and opportunities for formal collaboration.

Accelerate the global movement towards safe, trusted, and inclusive digital infrastructure. Building the global communities necessary to design, govern, and implement digital public goods over time are Herculean feats. They require challenging the status quo, and collaborating on new levels. By joining this movement, your entity is signaling its dedication towards helping to create a digital future that benefits all of society.

We recognise that no individual country or government alone can construct global norms. We must all work to build and maintain inclusive digital ecosystems and promote responsible use of technology. I am urging all our country partners to join us in support of the creation of a Charter for Digital Public Goods, and in support of the vision statement that we are announcing today.

Paloma Adams-Allen

USAID Deputy Administrator, June 1, 2022

Endorsers

The Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) and the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) are co-leading the DPG Charter process. The DPG Charter is also supported by USAID, FCDO, UNDP, and UNICEF.

Digital Public Goods Alliance
Digital Impact Alliance
US Aid
giz
Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung
Uganda Ministry of ICT & National Guidance
Norad
Sweden
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Republic of Rwanda Ministry of ICT & National Guidance
a21 Innovate for all
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
ICT Division Future is here
DSTI
Digital Square
JUMO
mEducation Alliance
thoughtworks
Cenfri
Better Than Cash Alliance
Togo Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation
Jumia
Open Infra
data.org
Africa Digital Rights Hub
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Co-Develop
ODI

News and Events

Transform Africa

26 - 28 April, 2023

The DPG Charter will host a headline event to celebrate DPG Charter endorsements and the impact of their commitment towards achieving our shared vision. The Transform Africa Summit is Africa’s leading annual forum bringing together global and regional leaders from government, business and international organizations to collaborate on new ways of shaping, accelerating and sustaining Africa’s digital revolution.

Stay informed

If you'd like to stay up to date on the DPG Charter process, please sign up below.