500 and counting

It has been a year since we launched the DPG Registry, a repository that houses nominees and digital public goods. We are thrilled to announce this week that we have reached a milestone — 500 nominations! 

We would like to share our deepest gratitude with the advocates, owners, and maintainers who have made this possible by submitting nominations to the registry. These nominations account for an incredibly diverse set of open source software, open data, open AI models, open standards and open content tackling real world issues – everything from sustainable farming to healthcare, from digital identity to vaccine coordination. 

People submit nominations to the registry for a variety of reasons including discoverability, recognition, and support. But, don’t take our word for it. Take it from the nominators themselves: 

Tor-Einar Skog, Senior Adviser at NIBIO shared that, “I’m proud to contribute software to help reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals”. NIBIO are creators of the open, online, free of charge forecast and information software for integrated management of pests, diseases and weeds, VIPS (now a digital public good).

Or, Pedro Reynolds-Cuellar, an educator and nominator who shared that, “[a]s with several other tools I used, I always thought about them as something people should have free access to. In the era of software, the idea of commons and communal benefit from the tools at our disposal takes a new meaning. In my mind, these nominations are an effort to bring forward tools that can benefit us all to a space where they can be found and highlighted.”

And, Martin Bedouret a developer from Cboard, a free web application for children and adults with speech and language impairments that facilitates communication with pictures and text-to-speech, who saw nominating their work as an opportunity to reach their goal by increasing the possibility for it to be found. “We want to reach many countries, and especially developing countries. The nomination will help us with this goal, as the platform is open and well prepared for international collaboration, we need visibility in order to reach out to collaborators and people who need a voice to communicate!”

Nominees, their creators, advocates and maintainers are at the core of everything we do. So, thank you for helping us reach this milestone! 

While we’re thrilled to have gotten this far together, this is not the final destination. In fact, we are just getting started. Our ambition is for the DPG Registry to include hundreds, even thousands, more open nominees that advance the sustainable development goals. 

Why nominate to the DPG Registry

Nomination is the first step towards being recognised as a digital public good. Once a nomination is submitted, it is reviewed against the DPG Standard, a baseline of 9-indicators that serve as a minimum standard that all digital public goods must meet.

So, what is the value in submitting a nomination to the DPG Registry? 

1) Discoverability 

Nominations and DPGs alike can be found on the DPG Registry. As an added bonus, the DPG Registry is partially compiled from, and feeds back into, partner systems like the Catalog of Digital Solutions maintained by the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL). This method of cross-pollination enhances discoverability and accelerates the likelihood of a nominee being found and adopted by organizations and governments looking for innovative solutions.

2) Support for adoptability 

Digital public goods have clear documentation, open licenses, and follow standards and best practices that make them easy to adopt. We support nominees working to meet these standards. When nominating to the DPG Registry, projects can utilize DPG Resources, a set of curated tools that assist them in becoming a digital public good. Additionally, our technical team helps nominees navigate which documentation or requirements are needed to ensure they not only meet the standard, but even surpass it. 

3) Development impact

It has been said that open source will be at the core of future international development efforts. We couldn’t agree more. As part of the digital transformation unfolding globally, governments and development agencies are reframing approaches to international development with a focus on creating and adapting open source projects. Submitting a nomination to become a digital public good signals alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a commitment to making an impact. DPGs are a part of a growing network committed to open source principles that also respect privacy, strive to “do no harm”, and help attain the SDGs. 

4) Becoming a Digital Public Good

And finally, becoming a nominee is the first step toward being reviewed against the DPG Standard, and – if found to meet that standard – confirmed as a digital public good. Becoming a DPG provides exposure to development organizations including UNICEF and members of our communities of practice who review projects with high-impact potential so they can receive the support needed to be adopted by governments globally. 

Our ambition is to fill important gaps, ensure interoperability and avoid vendor lock-in to foster a flourishing ecosystem of digital public goods. Submitting a nomination is the first step to achieving this goal. Please consider submitting a nomination, and be part of even larger milestones yet to come!