High-level representatives from governments, civil society, the private sector, philanthropy, and international organizations came to an agreement at the recently concluded 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly to step up efforts to create safe, trustworthy, and inclusive digital public infrastructure (DPI) in order to create a more sustainable and equitable world.
With an initial $295 million in funding to support the creation and implementation of inclusive DPI, expanding technical assistance, and deeper capacity building, they made a commitment to sharing digital public goods, expertise, and learnings in this regard.
The conference’s theme is “the future of digital cooperation: building resilience through safe, trusted, and inclusive digital public infrastructure.” It is the first significant international gathering aimed at advancing DPI development and use, particularly through the provision of digital public goods (DPGs).
The forum highlighted that as the COVID-19 epidemic approaches its third year, the world is confronted by a number of international issues, including sickness, food insecurity, political unrest, economic instability, and climate change.
As a result, efficient and inclusive DPI, interoperable digital platforms that permit fundamental, societal-wide transactions, like ID systems, digital payments, and trustworthy data exchange, have demonstrated to be a vital mechanism to alter service delivery and boost resilience for upcoming crises.
According to the forum, DPGs—open source software, data, AI models, standards, and content—are quickly becoming into crucial digital cooperation tools that are assisting nations in reducing their learning and acceptance curves as they develop DPI.
“From cash transfers and food distribution to e-commerce and innovative models of education, digital economy, and healthcare delivery, inclusive DPI systems have become critical to enabling meaningful delivery of public and private services and underpinning the achievement of a range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including poverty reduction, financial inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, and climate resilience,” the forum noted.
The event was chaired by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) together with co-hosts including members and partners of the Digital Public Goods Alliance – the Governments of Estonia, Germany, Norway and Sierra Leone, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, Smart Africa, and the World Bank Group. It brought together high-level representatives from these organizations alongside global leaders from the Dominican Republic, India, Mauritania, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Timor Leste, Togo, Ukraine, USA, the European Commission, H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and members of the private sector and civil society to rally behind a compelling shared vision for accelerating the development of and use of DPI and DPGs, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The gathering, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, is an opportunity to put the groundwork in place for an audacious vision of inclusive DPI that leaves no one behind and hastens the achievement of the SDGs.
“There have been dramatic reversals in development, and global policy patterns imply they will remain,” said David Malpass, president of the World Bank Group. A crucial component of our response is digital public infrastructure. Platforms for digital identity, payments, and data exchange have enabled nations to respond with greater efficiency, transparency, speed, and scale, as well as with greater security and privacy. We want a trustworthy, high-quality, and inclusive public infrastructure, readily available, reasonably priced Internet, and the advancement of digital skills in order for the digital transition to be effective.
There isn’t a single SDG that will not be advanced in some way because to digital public infrastructure, according to Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates emphasized that it is remarkable in the field of international development when a focused investment has ramifications in nearly every area of concern to us.
“Due of this, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is working with donors, governments, and other organizations to increase investments in digital public infrastructure. I urge everyone – leaders of countries in a position to build digital public infrastructure and leaders in a position to support it – to recognise the great promise of this moment,” Gates stated.
