DPGxYouth: A generation in charge of their digital future
Digital Public Goods - Where digital sovereignty and digital upskilling and hope for a better digital future intersect.
What are DPGs?
Open-source software, open data, open AI systems, and open content collections that adhere to privacy and other applicable best practices, do no harm by design, and are of high relevance for attainment of SDGs. The concept of Digital Public Goods is mandated and supported by the SG's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.
Any Digital Public Good must be Open Source.
Why does it matter?
FAST FORWARD FROM THE PAST
At the end of the XIX century, Western world-dominating countries claimed ownership over dozens of nations under the premise that they had no sovereignty, skills and resources to properly manage their own affairs. At the beginning of the XXI century, we are facing a digital version of this process.
Global South Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI: a country's technology infrastructure for the public) is often outsourced to foreign companies. Therefore:
The Global South is declined ownership and power to have their own technology manage regional DPI
Profit – not regional public good – is often point of departure for countries' DPI.
Outside technology extracts, analyzes, and owns the Global South user data for profit and market
Instead of South-South digital cooperation, foreign actors erect digital borders
Solutions are built by engineers who have no first-hand knowledge of local contexts and challenges
Youth, the future generation who will use and maintain these infrastructures, aren't part of the equation
We’re doing away with the past. DPGs fast forward digital development towards equity. We're building a generation in charge of their own digital future.
Why does it matter to young people?
By outsourcing digital architecture to foreign actors, we're excluding today's youth from taking control of their own digital destiny. We’re also depriving them from:
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Employment opportunities
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Rationale for skill development
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Sense of hope and purpose that they can bring meaningful change to their region
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