Session
Organizer 1: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 4: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 5: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 6: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 7: Government, African Group
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 4: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 5: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 6: Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Organizer 7: Government, African Group
Speaker 1: Nanjira Sambuli, Technical Community, African Group
Speaker 2: Rahul Matthan, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: Henri Verdier, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Renata Avila, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 5: Liv Marte Nordhaug, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Rahul Matthan, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: Henri Verdier, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Renata Avila, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 5: Liv Marte Nordhaug, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: A 90-minute roundtable is the ideal format for this workshop, allowing for a structured and highly interactive discussion on the complexities of regional DPI approaches and the role of DPGs. This format allows policymakers, technologists, and regional experts to engage equally on dynamic knowledge exchange about cross-regional comparisons of models like IndiaStack, EuroStack, and emerging African and Latin American initiatives. The 90-minute duration allows for a balance of expert insights, interactive discussions, and audience participation without feeling rushed. With breakout discussions, scenario-based exercises, and live polling, the session will actively engage onsite and remote participants, ensuring their voices shape the debate. Given the high relevance of DPI in light of GDC adoption and country digital transformation pririties, we anticipate strong global interest, making this format essential for inclusive, solution-oriented dialogue.
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: A 90-minute roundtable is the ideal format for this workshop, allowing for a structured and highly interactive discussion on the complexities of regional DPI approaches and the role of DPGs. This format allows policymakers, technologists, and regional experts to engage equally on dynamic knowledge exchange about cross-regional comparisons of models like IndiaStack, EuroStack, and emerging African and Latin American initiatives. The 90-minute duration allows for a balance of expert insights, interactive discussions, and audience participation without feeling rushed. With breakout discussions, scenario-based exercises, and live polling, the session will actively engage onsite and remote participants, ensuring their voices shape the debate. Given the high relevance of DPI in light of GDC adoption and country digital transformation pririties, we anticipate strong global interest, making this format essential for inclusive, solution-oriented dialogue.
Policy Question(s)
A) What are main alignment points and differences between various national and regional DPI approaches, as exemplified through IndiaStack, EuroStack, emerging African approaches and specific examples from Brazil?
B) How can digital public goods be built and governed to meet specific national/regional needs, while also enabling broader reusability?
C) What are specific approaches to consider for ensuring that low-income and resource constrained countries and regions strengthen local capacity and agency as part of building and evolving their DPI.
What will participants gain from attending this session? Participants will gain knowledge of different regional approaches to scaling DPI, a topic which is very timely given the recent adoption of the GDC and the multiple ongoing conversations on various national and regional “stack”-approaches among policy makers and academics. The session will yield new insights and co-evolve forward-looking approaches to collaboration around DPGs and other open-source components. In a time of cost cuts and heightened global fragmentation, this will be critical for collaboratively advancing safe, inclusive, and interoperable DPI across all regions, with minimal duplication of efforts and resources. Participants will benefit from concrete examples of digital public goods and governance models. This will help evolve joint knowledge on how to think about context specificity while also facilitating global reusability where possible. As part of this, participants will also be encouraged to consider the adoption of open-source first principles for their own organisations.
SDGs
1. No Poverty
1.4
1.5
2. Zero Hunger
2.a
5. Gender Equality
5.1
5.4
5.6
5.a
5.b
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
8.10
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
9.1
9.3
9.a
9.c
10. Reduced Inequalities
10.2
10.3
10.5
13. Climate Action
13.3
13.b
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
16.10
16.6
16.7
16.8
17. Partnerships for the Goals
17.14
17.16
17.17
17.6
17.9
1.4
1.5
2. Zero Hunger
2.a
5. Gender Equality
5.1
5.4
5.6
5.a
5.b
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
8.10
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
9.1
9.3
9.a
9.c
10. Reduced Inequalities
10.2
10.3
10.5
13. Climate Action
13.3
13.b
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
16.10
16.6
16.7
16.8
17. Partnerships for the Goals
17.14
17.16
17.17
17.6
17.9
Description:
The session will start by highlighting the September 2024 adoption of the Global Digital Compact, where digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) are prominent concepts. It will then dive into existing and emerging national and regional approaches to advancing DPI, including; IndiaStack, EuroStack, as well as African and Latin-American approaches that are evolving. The aim is to explore what are context specific regulatory and design constraints and needs versus what are generic, globally relevant priorities for functionalities as well as globally relevant best practices related to for instance safeguards and inclusion. The session will thereafter look at the role existing and future digital public goods can play in helping provide adoptable and adaptable digital components that meet regional, and - where possible - global needs. The session will explore how to think about sovereignty and local agency and capacity strengthening in relation to these topics. It will deep dive into discussions around how different policy approaches (i.e. open source first principles) and DPG governance models, including digital commons approaches, can help ensure that countries and regions can build, adapt, and evolve technologies based on their own priorities, while continuing to benefit from global digital cooperation. Specific DPGs and open source initiatives will be highlighted to illustrate different examples of the contextually specific versus the globally relevant, and approaches for navigating this duality. The session will bring in highly relevant speakers and experts from different geographies and stakeholder types. These will provide diverse perspectives that will likely stimulate a broad and lively discussion among workshop participants - both in-person and virtually. Given the DPGA secretariat’s role in co-coordinating the 50-in-5 initiative to scale safe, inclusive, and interoperable DPI, we expect significant interest in virtual participation from country representatives that are unable to attend IGF in person.
The session will start by highlighting the September 2024 adoption of the Global Digital Compact, where digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) are prominent concepts. It will then dive into existing and emerging national and regional approaches to advancing DPI, including; IndiaStack, EuroStack, as well as African and Latin-American approaches that are evolving. The aim is to explore what are context specific regulatory and design constraints and needs versus what are generic, globally relevant priorities for functionalities as well as globally relevant best practices related to for instance safeguards and inclusion. The session will thereafter look at the role existing and future digital public goods can play in helping provide adoptable and adaptable digital components that meet regional, and - where possible - global needs. The session will explore how to think about sovereignty and local agency and capacity strengthening in relation to these topics. It will deep dive into discussions around how different policy approaches (i.e. open source first principles) and DPG governance models, including digital commons approaches, can help ensure that countries and regions can build, adapt, and evolve technologies based on their own priorities, while continuing to benefit from global digital cooperation. Specific DPGs and open source initiatives will be highlighted to illustrate different examples of the contextually specific versus the globally relevant, and approaches for navigating this duality. The session will bring in highly relevant speakers and experts from different geographies and stakeholder types. These will provide diverse perspectives that will likely stimulate a broad and lively discussion among workshop participants - both in-person and virtually. Given the DPGA secretariat’s role in co-coordinating the 50-in-5 initiative to scale safe, inclusive, and interoperable DPI, we expect significant interest in virtual participation from country representatives that are unable to attend IGF in person.
Expected Outcomes
This session will lay the groundwork for ongoing efforts to advance regional DPI models and the role of DPGs. The discussions will identify key similarities and differences between national and regional DPI approaches, shaping collaborative policies and best practices.
A follow-up workshop hosted by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) post- IGF2025 will build on these insights, focusing on practical implementation strategies. While the IGF session will highlight context-specific challenges and governance models, the follow-up workshop will delve deeper into actionable steps, including how DPGs can be adapted, governed, and scaled to meet national and regional needs while maintaining global interoperability.
The session’s outcomes will also provide concrete recommendations for low-income and resource-constrained regions to strengthen local capacity and agency in DPI development. These insights will directly support the https://50in5.net/ initiative, helping 50 countries design, launch, and expand DPI components by 2028 with a focus on collaborative and sustainable approaches.
Hybrid Format: Hybrid Moderation: Our online moderator will follow chat discussions, highlight key questions, and ensure remote participants are fully engaged.
Live Polling & Q&A: Using Mentimeter, we’ll collect real-time audience input to map regional DPI priorities, compare functionalities across DPI stacks, and assess key governance challenges.
Scenario-Based Exercise: Small groups will tackle real-world DPI adoption and governance challenges, debating solutions related to open-source principles, sovereignty, and interoperability.
Commitment Wall: Using Miro, participants will share concrete actions they will take post-session, ensuring sustained engagement and accountability.