UNGA Special: Safeguarding Digital Public Infrastructure, SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda and Digitalizing Governance
Edition #29 Fresh off the back of UNGA, we look at how the summit's events have shaped - and were shaped by - the digital government landscape...
Since our last post, the 78th UN General Assembly has taken place in New York. Technology - in every sense and in every area of development - was front and center of much of the event, exploring its potential and debating its regulation. With ITU’s latest estimation that technology can directly benefit 70% of the SDGs, all eyes were on how digital can be used to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges. This week, we look at three of the major reports on digital coming out of the UN, discussing what it means for digital government.
Elsewhere, Australia has formed a new AI in Government Taskforce, the EU is calling for more avenues for political participation, and the quest for Gen AI use in policymaking seems to have broken new ground with “Policy Synth”.
Our main stories this week:
Universal Safeguards for Digital Public Infrastructure
SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda
The AI in Government Taskforce: examining the use and governance of AI by the APS
Don’t forget to check out our GovTech news in brief, the theory behind the practice and upcoming GovTech events.
Universal Safeguards for Digital Public Infrastructure - United Nations
Since Covid-19, when countries were able to use DPI for everything from disbursing cash handouts to deploying contact tracing mechanisms, the benefits of DPI have been clear. As their use becomes more widespread, the UN has launched a consultation to explore their responsible design and application.
As DPI becomes more important, the stakes of its design and creation get higher, including permutations for digital exclusion and surveillance. The Universal Safeguards for DPI attempts to derisk these processes.
The UN has launched a consultation and co-creation agenda for these safeguards that will take place over the next twelve months, to be presented at the Summit of the Future in September 2024.
The initiative will also attempt to develop a knowledge base of in-country experiences, lessons from failures and successes, and frameworks for implementation.
Our Take: Also this week, the Digital Impact Alliance has released this piece on funding DPI. It highlights the importance of funding the ecosystems around a product, from citizen engagement to intra-government coordination and planning. This is especially important when it comes to last-mile delivery, and working with marginalized groups, those cross-sections of society that the new UN initiative seems most tailored to.
In a separate event this week, countries and foundations pledged $400 million to support digital public infrastructure.
SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda - UNDP
The new SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda aims to demonstrate, with the help of real-world examples, how game-changing digital solutions can accelerate progress for at least 70% of the 169 SDG targets.
The agenda showcases 34 digital solutions - two for each SDG - chosen for their positive impact and their potential for scalability, replicability and global relevance.
Digital technologies can play three main roles in achieving the SDGs, the paper argues: as a core channel for the delivery of vital services; providing data and insights to achieve particular goals; and as a catalyst for wider progress.
However, the agenda notes, digital solutions are not a panacea. Data from ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index shows a wide gap between developing and developed countries when it comes to managing the risks related to digital technologies and clear regional gaps around information sharing & capacity development between countries.
Our Take: In amongst the techno-positivity, the paper makes an important callout of the dangers of concentrating digital innovation in the hands of the few, in a world where 85% of the world’s patents are registered by just 5 countries. Digital government - as a field in which countries outside of the “usual suspects” are able to lead - is an important example of how things can be done differently with more equitable international lesson-learning.
The AI in Government Taskforce: examining the use and governance of AI by the APS - Australian Digital Transformation Agency
The Australian government has formed a taskforce of 18 secondees from 11 Public Service agencies to explore the safe and responsible use of AI by the Australian Public Service (APS).
The taskforce will work day-to-day on whole-of-government AI application, policies, standards and guidance. This will involve consulting widely across the APS to develop cross-governmental approaches to governance, risk management, skills & capability, technical use and preparedness.
The Taskforce will operate for up to 5 months, delivering a package of work that includes an update to the interim guidance on government use of Gen AI platforms published back in July.
GovTech News in Brief
A shared vision for technology and governance - UNDP
A second major UNDP paper surrounding UNGA looked at the relationship between technologies and democracy, considering both the “governance of digitalization” and “digitalization for governance”.
Exploring the Japanese government’s theory of design - Japan Digital Agency
This conversation with the Japan Digital Agency’s Service Design and Communications team explores user-centered design beyond a technical perspective, looking at how org. structure and a communications hub have provided a spine to Japan’s design efforts.
Undertaking Gov.UK’s largest software infrastructure project - Nila Patel, Gov.UK
GDS’s account of changing the operating system (OS) of Gov.UK, the UK’s one-stop-shop for digital government services, is a lesson in user-testing and project management.
EU Parliament pushes for more participatory tools for Europeans - Silvia Ellena, Euractiv
The EU has adopted a report calling for the increased use of a broad range of participatory tools, including the creation of a European agora, an annual “structured participation mechanism” composed of citizens deliberating on the EU’s priorities for the year ahead and providing input for the Commission’s work plan.
Citizens Foundation Policy Synth is officially launched - Citizens Foundation
The platform promises to combine the best of human and AI-driven participatory democracy by using AI to generate a set of subproblems and proposed solutions to a policy problem.
Foundations first- realizing the potential of open data - Louise Meikleham, Scottish Government
Scotland's Open Government Action Plan aims to maximize government data’s value for use and reuse, with initiatives including a data discovery tool, a data maturity program, and a community of practice for data standards & open data.
The latest trends in digital participation and civic engagement - Federico Plantera, Digital Government Podcast
Dmytro Khutkyy chats about the changing trends in digital participation, particularly a shift towards social media, highlighting outstanding examples in Estonia and Ireland.
2023 Report on the State of the digital decade - European Commission
Mirroring UNGA’s pause for reflection on the SDGs, the EU’s report considers the progress of European countries and the Union as a whole towards achieving its digital targets by 2030.
Singapore’s GovCash’s use of facial recognition tech wins accolades - Yogesh Hirdaramani, GovInsider
Singapore's Central Provident Fund (CPF) has won an award for its GovCash initiative, which allows unbanked citizens to withdraw government benefits in cash from OCBC ATMs using a unique payment reference number and facial recognition technology.
The Theory Behind the Practice
Tomorrow’s democracy is open source - Nils Gilman and Ben Cerveny, Noema
Gilman and Cerveny argue that digital democracy can lower the barriers for political participation, engaging those who lack the time or inclination to get involved in the usual democratic processes.
Upcoming GovTech Events
Public Sector Day Singapore - GovInsider
GovInsider’s event promises to help civil servants discover how technology can transform public delivery.
The annual conference of public sector innovators returns in Canada and online at the beginning of November
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