Series Part 3: Meet our Co-Founder, Sierra Leone
This is the third in a four-part series featuring exciting work from the Co-Founders of the Digital Public Goods Alliance. This week we’re featuring Sierra Leone.
If you missed it, check out Part 1 on iSPIRT or Part 2 on Norway.
| Sierra Leone Sierra Leone’s Directorate of Science, Technology & Innovation (DSTI) has highlighted how youth empowerment, economic reform and health infrastructure can open up regional possibilities. Like iSPIRT, Sierra Leone is leading by example, creating a virtuous cycle driven by their four pillars (Data for Decision Making, Service Delivery & Citizen Engagement, Data Systems & Technology Design, and Ecosystem Strengthening) that serve as a foundation to turn Sierra Leone into an innovation and entrepreneurship hub, that other developing countries can emulate. |
The DSTI in particular is playing a key role by engaging private sector and university communities to help build the technology that makes the implementation of digital public goods possible. This comes from an understanding that, in order for DPGs to evolve at scale and with a lower barrier to entry, there needs to be a supportive ecosystem built up that addresses questions of resourcing and intellectual property.
Sierra Leone is also setting an example by documenting their progress and lessons learned. DSTI gathers data to support policy and decision-making in the public interest and makes relevant data gathered throughout the process publicly available.
| Each member of the current Interim Strategy Group (ISG) – consisting of iSPIRT, Norway, Sierra Leone and UNICEF – brings their own areas of expertise and interest to the DPGA which makes it stronger and more diverse in its reach and potential impact. As the DPGA is built out over time, membership will expand and change to include more stakeholders. |
| Since its launch, the DPGA has been working to identify, support and promote digital public goods to implement recommendation 1B from the June 2019 Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation. |
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Only by working together can we make this happen. The Digital Public Goods Alliance is, itself an open project, and we seek engagement and support from any governments, businesses, civil society, technology providers, donors, and experts wishing to help us achieve our aim.
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