Enabling governments to build and sustain digital public infrastructure
by Vikram Sinha & Christine Kim
In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa, Cambodia, Namibia, Bangladesh, Togo, and many other countries were able to leverage digital identity, payment systems, data exchange systems, and more to reach their populations with urgent pandemic aid. These systems collectively make up digital public infrastructure (DPI) and are increasingly crucial capabilities to maintain a well-functioning society.
DPI can be a gamechanger in accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Indeed, thanks in part to the pandemic, demand for DPI is exponentially high. The World Bank’s ID4D group alone is “supporting 49 countries and shaping more than US$1.5B in pipeline or committed financing for the implementation of digital ID and civil registration ecosystems in 35 of them.”
Every country needs DPI, however, governments are often faced with a shortage of technical skills as they begin their DPI journey. This gap affects their ability to design, execute, maintain, monitor, and evaluate progress on these projects at various stages, ultimately impeding their ability to provide high quality digital services for their citizens. As a result, governments often turn to ill-suited solutions that may lack interoperability, are costly, and cause vendor lock-in. DPI becomes more expensive, less effective, and unsustainable - and in worst-case scenarios, doubles down on existing inequities. Governments can spend decades undoing the harms of poorly-built systems.
As a new global fund dedicated to mobilizing resources for DPI, we at Co-Develop are asking the question, “How can we enable governments to build and sustain DPI thoughtfully, with inclusion, safety, and equity baked into system design from the beginning?”
To go about answering this, we partnered with Artha Global, a research, advisory and network facilitation organization that assists governments in the developing world to design, implement, and institutionalize policy frameworks that promote freedom, prosperity, and stability for citizens.
Starting in February 2022, Artha Global conducted semi-structured interviews with over 30 experts and supplemented their primary insights with desk research and landscaping exercises. The experts represented stakeholders across the DPI ecosystem, including open technologies providers, multilateral organizations, government officials, and academic and civil society networks. Through these interviews, we sought to understand a) the technical skills required for DPI projects, skills critical for governments to host in-house vs. outsource, b) the nature of technical support needed by governments, and c) the approaches best suited to meet gaps in technical capabilities.
Here is what we learned through this process:
Many operational roles for development and maintenance of built systems can be outsourced to vendors. Vendors can often supply personnel covering programming, network and security, DevOps, and DPG- or project-specific experience without compromising a government’s longer-term aim of building in-house technical capabilities.
But when it comes to technical strategic talent, governments must have the know-how and ability to exercise control over vendors. Government officials must be equipped to make consequential technical choices that can significantly impact project outcomes. These choices can range from defining the parameters and requirements of systems keeping their desired policy outcomes in mind, and evaluating vendor bids, to midstream course corrections as policy goals evolve. Technical strategic talent (including skills that combine technical knowledge and project management) is thus vital for managing the lifecycle of DPI initiatives and ensuring effective implementation.
Yet governments are often unable to attract or retain talent with skill sets analogous to enterprise architects, chief digital transformation officers, or chief digital information officers. These roles are critical for architecting solutions, defining success criteria, managing vendors, defining procurement specifications, monitoring and evaluating projects, and addressing cybersecurity threats. There is difficulty in hiring and retaining such technical talent in government given better financial incentives in the private sector.
As a result, there is little synergy among the many program roadmaps and solutions created by external consultants and vendors. This leads to a lack of interoperable infrastructure systems and creates a fragmented landscape where every department has its own closed system.
To sum up, our discussions with stakeholders have revealed that engineering capacity within government in areas such as making design and technology decisions in building open, interoperable digital infrastructure, managing vendors, and developing secure systems are emerging as critical needs.
Collectively, we have an opportunity to think about viable and scalable ways in which we can respond. Above all, we must support governments in a manner that respects their sovereignty and enables them to build DPI according to their stated policy goals. Any initiatives should therefore adhere to the following principles:
Local ownership. DPI is a critical national asset, making strategic control and ownership a key concern. Initiatives should be embedded in the regional ecosystem of universities, civil society organizations, or other independent institutions that have earned the trust and respect of relevant stakeholders.
Collaboration, not competition. To avoid redundancy and inefficient use of resources, capitalize on synergies with active and related support initiatives in the region.
Sustainability. Building DPI takes an extended period of time to come to fruition. Aim to help governments create capacity to manage DPI over its lifecycle without mission critical dependence on external support.
Flexibility. Avoid getting boxed into an overly narrow and rigid definition of what DPI is and isn’t. Be flexible enough to offer support and advice to best meet government needs.
And above all, trust. Knitting together the principles above, a demonstrated commitment to being demand-led, locally-owned, collaborative, sustainable, and flexible is essential for generating the trust needed for government and partner buy-in.
With these principles in mind, we are now in the process of mapping out approaches best suited to meet engineering capacity gaps within government. And we welcome your ideas, feedback, and engagement in co-developing potential solutions. Artha Global and Co-Develop certainly do not have all the answers; we are keen to hear from the wider network of experts. Please reach out at info@codevelop.fund - we’d love to hear from you!
In the meantime, stay tuned for updates…