For those familiar with the Principles for Digital Development (the Principles) during their first decade, you likely noticed one of the biggest changes in the refreshed version of the Principles launched in March 2024. There is no longer a specific principle that states: Use open standards, open data, open source, and open innovation. Why, you may ask? Are these tools less important or less valuable than they were a decade ago?
The answer is emphatically: no. The community consultations that drove the refresh process clearly requested changes to this principle, as it didn’t capture the “why” of these important tools – not because these tools aren’t valued. In fact, the preamble which frames the Principles (another community request) specifically states that open approaches to innovation can support the realization of all nine principles.
Open approaches help policymakers, implementers, and technologists to put the Principles into practice. Here are a few examples.
- Share, reuse, and improve: Open standards, open data, open source, and open innovation are one way to ensure that we collectively iterate on what works, rather than re-creating the wheel. When we fund, design, deploy, and contribute to open source solutions, we are both contributing to work others are using and providing a basis on which others can further innovate. This saves times and money, while also streamlining services for people. For example, building a new module on an open source solution saves money while also allowing government employees and IT staff to continuing using a system they already know (since the underlying system can remain the same), without requiring additional training.
- Design with people: Open approaches to innovation force us to design with people. For example, when we use open source software, young people and entrepreneurs can contribute code back to improve the original product. Furthermore, open data allows such innovators to take data previously locked behind paywalls or within government servers and use it to develop relevant information services for people, whether to improve their health, income, or climate resilience. This is key aspect to creating safe, inclusive, and trusted digital public infrastructure that drives both private sector innovation and real value to people.
The reality is that young people want to be included in decision making, not just to consume what has been prepared by a few, where they don't have any say or options.
An activist in Nairobi, Kenya, as quoted by Chris Szymczak, UNICEF Innovation
- Create open and transparent practices: Through open data, governments and other stakeholders make information available and accessible, fostering trust and enabling citizens to hold them accountable. Furthermore, open source can contribute to transparency by allowing anyone to inspect, audit, and improve the systems that underpin public infrastructure. These approaches are buttressed by open innovation, which encourages governments and organizations to collaborate with external parties to develop new ideas and solutions. In doing so, open innovation fosters a culture of openness and inclusiveness, which can help identify creative solutions to complex governance challenges.
- Anticipate and mitigate harms: By adopting open standards and open source, organizations can ensure that digital systems are interoperable and compatible with a wide range of technologies. This helps to prevent vendor lock-in and promotes competition, which, in turn, encourages the development of robust and secure systems. Additionally, open standards and open source facilitate transparency and collaboration, making it easier to identify and address potential risks or vulnerabilities. Taking this even further, certified digital public goods adhere to privacy laws and best practices, commit to do no harm by design, and include protections from harassment and inappropriate content.
Let’s work together to implement the Principles – and the open approaches that advance them.
These are just four of the nine principles, and yet the wide-ranging applicability and value of these approaches are clear. Through the refresh, the Principles community was clear that they recognize that governments, companies, and implementers want to retain their ability to choose the right tool for any given circumstance; at the same, they also recognize the importance of funding and using open tools and approaches wherever possible to achieve our collective vision of a positive and equitable digital society.
Do you have stories, guidance, or case studies that illustrate how open approaches realize the Principles? Get in touch! The Digital Impact Alliance is encouraging all of those within the community to produce the detailed resources necessary for a diverse ranges of stakeholders working in a variety of sectors to take up the Principles. We’d love for you to contribute. Together, we can build a digital future that works for everyone.
