PATH endorses the Digital Public Goods Charter
Advancing the use of digital public goods enables countries to build safe, trusted, and inclusive digital public infrastructure at scale, improving outcomes for people.
PATH is pleased to announce its endorsement of the Digital Public Goods Charter (DPG Charter). The multistakeholder DPG Charter campaign aligns and mobilizes diverse stakeholders and initiatives around a compelling shared vision for digital public goods (DPGs). PATH is committed to advancing the use of DPGs in a coordinated effort to deliver solutions that address urgent global challenges such as hunger, pandemics, and climate change.
Co-led by the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) and the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), the DPG Charter will catalyze new ideas and broker new partnerships to drive endorsements and commitments to expand safe, inclusive, and open digital public infrastructure.
Digitalization to address urgent global challenges
DPGs are open-source software, open data, open artificial intelligence models, open architecture, open standards, and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices, do no harm by design, and help attain the Sustainable Development Goals. This definition is operationalized through the DPG Standard, a set of nine indicators that is used to determine whether a solution is a digital public good. Once a solution is recognized as a digital public good, it is discoverable on the DPG Registry.
Digital public infrastructure (DPI) refers to solutions and systems that enable the effective provision of essential society-wide functions and services in the public and private sectors. This consists of digital solutions and systems, including secure digital data exchange, that enable the effective provision of services such as digital health records, cash transfers, and digitalized identification and other civil registration. As countries work to develop, expand, and maintain their DPI, they face many challenges.
When such systems are haphazardly designed, they can contribute to inequity and introduce data privacy issues. When designed intentionally with safety, inclusion, and trust at the core, alongside clear direction from government leaders, DPI systems can provide sustainable benefits to an entire population. Well-designed DPI can help both public and private stakeholders increase equity and provide a scalable, future-ready approach to cross-sectoral digital services.
PATH supports the DPG Charter
PATH partners with countries and communities to strengthen the resilience of health systems through digital transformation and increasing data use. PATH’s Digital Square is a member of the DPGA and promotes the development, adoption, and reuse of digital health global goods, which are mature digital health tools that are adaptable to different countries and contexts, and aligned with the DPG Standard.
We work closely with DPGA to align global goods with the process of becoming a DPG, and to help increase the discoverability and adoption of health solutions. To date, 16 global goods are DPGs and an additional 7 have begun the process to become one.
“Digital public goods provide countries with a good starting point as they embark on their journey of digital transformation by providing access to powerful digital tools to address the greatest challenges they are facing,” said Henry Mwanyika, PATH Digital Health Regional Director in Africa.
On April 27, 2023, PATH and Digital Square will be listed as an endorser of the DPG Charter at the Transform Africa Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We look forward to continuing to advance digital public goods in our current and future projects.