Digital technology is increasingly playing an enabling role in social and public sector efforts to accelerate progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. As these Digital Public Goods (DPGs) are increasingly deployed, open source licensing has been widely embraced by countries, the UN system, and international NGOs to avoid vendor lock-in, enable global adoption, while allowing local actors to innovate. Dedication to the use of open source software has been reinforced by the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation in its stated support for “broad and multi-stakeholder participation in global efforts to facilitate the creation and sharing of digital public goods -- open source software [+data, models, standards, content] … of high relevance for attainment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals”.
Foundational to the Chief Digital Office’s strategy, this course provides tools for UNDP and their partners to incorporate Digital Public Goods into their programing.
The long-term financial sustainability of Digital Public Goods is of critical importance when incorporating their creation or use in programme design. This course will introduce the concept of DPGs to UNDP practitioners and provide guidance on things to consider when designing a programme with a digital component.
