Session
GovStack Initiative – ITU, GIZ, Estonia, DIAL
- Ms. Nele Leosk - Ambassador-at-large for Digital Affairs, Estonian Ministry for Foreign Affairs
- Mr. Gautham Ravichander - Head of Strategy, eGovernment Foundation (Online)
- Ms. Andrea Donath - Head of Programme GovStack, Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
- Ms. Mei Lin Fung - Chair of People Centered Internet and Chair of IEEE’s Technical Committee of Sustainability
- Prof. Josef Noll - Professor at the Department of IT at the University of Oslo, Secretary General at Basic Internet Foundation
Mr. Stephen Odhiambo, Advisor at the GovStack Initiative, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Targets: Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is an enabler for the effective provision of services through government, the private sector and civil society. With resilient DPI, governments can reach citizen more efficiently in times of crisis and markets can unfold their transformative potential. The effect of DPI can thus not be limited to one SDG, but is the foundation for the achievement of a variety of SDGs.
Keynote (5 Minutes) + Panel (30 Minutes) + Questions (10 Minutes)
Background
The last decade has seen a surge in the digitalization of the public and private sector, enabling novel services such as digital cash transfers and tech-led models of education and vaccine delivery. The foundation for the delivery of these novel public services is high-quality Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Proliferating this DPI globally yields the potential to support the attainment of a range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including poverty reduction, financial inclusion, and climate resilience. Unfortunately, countries often reinvent the wheel when digitalising their public sectors. This increases costs globally and leaves the socioeconomic potential of digitalisation untapped for countries with significant budget constraints and less technical resources. Faced with the opportunity to accelerate socioeconomic development through high-quality DPI, the global community needs to find ways to collectively provide these foundations for a high-quality digital public infrastructure.
Introduction
The GovStack initiative was founded to develop a global blueprint all countries can use to build scalable DPI. GovStack aims to unlock global collective action and promotes the sharing of tools and practices instead of constantly reinventing the wheel. The initiative develops an ecosystem of free and open-source tools – so called Digital Public Goods (DPGs) - countries can use for the digitalisation of government services.
The multi-stakeholder initiative was established in 2020 between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), represented by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Estonia, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL). As part of the GovStack’s Horn of Africa Initiative on Digital Government and Cybersecurity (IDGC), the European Commission co-finances GovStack country engagements with Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia. GIZ implements GovSTack also in Ukraine, Egypt and Rwanda.
Objective
Building on the IGF 2022 theme “Resilient Internet for a Shared Sustainable and Common Future”, this Open Forum spotlights how practitioners develop resilient DPI and the cross-sectoral cooperation needed to develop a global blueprint for public sector digitalization.
Using first-hand examples, panelists will discuss how they to develop their eGovernment services and their impact on good and resilient governance. To provide a perspective on how to fully implement the GovStack approach at a global scale, leaders from public, private and civil society sectors will discuss what cross-sectoral cooperation is needed and how this cooperation can be enabled.