2021 Digital Public Goods Alliance Report

The Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) recently published its 2021 Annual Report that surmise both the contribution from over 20 organizations working in the digital public goods ecosystem and the work of the DPGA itself. The report highlights these activities, and details some examples of the work done under the DPGA.

The DPGA divides its work into 3 streams – (i) core activities which are driven wholly by the DPGA Secretariat, (ii) coordinated activities driven by stakeholders in partnership or close coordination with the DPGA Secretariat, and (iii) aligned activities driven by stakeholders in alignment with DPG strategic objectives, but independent of the DPGA Secretariat.

In 2021, the DPGA has evolved into a global network with expanding formal memberships and a large group of stakeholders undertaking activities advancing digital public goods.

The common goal shared by all is to accelerate the attainment of the sustainable development goals in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods, the DPGA’s mission.

In August 2021, the DPGA launched a five-year strategy that guides its work around four main objectives in support of the common goal of the alliance.

Some highlights from the annual report

• The World Bank G2Px program provided technical assistance to 34 countries on technical design and implementation of digital G2P payments. 

• The eGov Foundation supported the Government of Jamaica in preparations to roll out COVID-19 vaccine certificates using DIVOC. DIVOC has already been used to generate over 1 billion secure and verifiable vaccination test certificates for COVID-19 in India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. 

• The republics of Estonia, Finland and Iceland continued to extend their efforts beyond their own borders through the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS), a non-profit which supports cross-border components of digital public infrastructure including the DPG, X-Road. 

• Sierra Leone was able to save their citizens a collective $1.94M by implementing Government Services Platforms which utilise USSD and SMS for service delivery. 

• Public Digital researched and wrote a guide for governments and funders, Open Source in Government: Creating the Conditions for Success which aims to help governments use open-source software, including digital public goods, successfully.

• UNICEF and WHO launched the Digital Health Centre of Excellence (DICE) in April. Their work highlights the importance of pre-emergency investments in digital public goods.

Read the full report here