Who we are

GovStack harnesses the power of a global network and is led by: 

GovStack is a lighthouse project of the German Digital Strategy

Our Vision and Mission

Our vision: Everyone can access government services using trusted digital technologies that fit their lives and needs. 

Our mission: To empower public and private organizations to make the most of the digital world by providing them with the tools and knowledge needed to successfully scale the digitalization of public services. 

Why We Exist 

GovStack aims to break down the barriers to building sustainable digital infrastructure and help governments create human-centered digital services that empower individuals and improve well-being.  

The Problem We Solve

Governments struggle to achieve true digital transformation. Often, they reinvent the wheel when developing digital services. Instead of reusing existing tools and international best practices, they develop new products or rely on third parties to build a one-time solution. 

The GovStack approach provides a win for government technology decision-makers and stakeholders by providing open-source technology, technical specifications for digital services, and implementation support across government sectors – and helps solve just some of the challenges outlined below.

Coordination

Problems in coordination commonly occur in aligning ICT ministry work with that of other agencies. 

Silos

Siloed investments and duplicative efforts by development partners promote fragmented digital governance and create silos.  

Funding

Challenges in procuring and implementing affordable IT solutions persist, as do challenges in creating the necessary capital to invest in ICT infrastructure projects.  

Scaling

Huge challenges exist in adapting and investing in projects at scale, particularly around the rollout of physical ICT infrastructure, and the deployment and use of common data platforms. 

How We Work

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board counsels GovStack on its strategic direction. It is made up of strategic partners who bring a diverse and representative set of perspectives on e-government.   

The board includes members from Donor and International Organizations, Civil Society, Private Sector, Researchers and Country Governments, all united by their passion for digital transformation.

Governance Committee

The Governance Committee consists of representatives of GovStack’s founding partners and is responsible for the implementation of GovStack’s mission. The Committee works in conjunction with the Product and Technical committees. 

Read more about the Governance Committee on the GovStack Wiki. 

Product Committee

The Product Committee is made up of key implementation, technical, and technology partners. The team manages the roadmap and requirements for GovStack’s use cases, workflows, and building blocks. The committee is responsible for defining what GovStack works on while the technical committee focuses on how to accomplish the prioritized tasks. 

Read more about the Product Committee on the GovStack Wiki. 

Technical Committee

The Technical Committee processes technical decisions and recommendations needed to advance GovStack. This concerns everything from building block specifications (GovSpecs) to the implementation of demo use cases in our Sandbox (GovTest).  

Read more about the Technical Committee on the GovStack Wiki, and how to get engaged 

Building Block Working Groups

The Building Block Working Groups consist of subject-matter experts on each building block functionality and are a mix of individual experts, representatives from partners, private sector companies, or country governments. There is one group per identified building block, with a designated product owner leading each group.

Learn more about how to get engaged. 

Country Community

The Country Community is made of key partners for the regional implementation ofGovStack into country-level digital transformation strategies. The members share experiences and knowledge on digitalization of government services with other stakeholders within the GovStack community.

Learn more how to engage as a country 

Our Advisory Board

Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava
“Elected Director Telecommunication Development Bureau ITU ”
Nele Leosk
GovStack is based on the principles of openness and reusability of digital components. Such philosophy has the potential to break the myth that digitalisation of government services is difficult to achieve. By preventing that digital infrastructure remains in a closed environment, we can cut the time and the resources needed to build digital governments. As the processes needed to digitally transform governments are similar across the globe, I truly believe in the great impact that GovStack Community can have especially for countries in lowincome settings.
Priya Vora
“Digital public infrastructure is not only key to inclusive and effective digital transformation, but a critical instrument to help tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges. GovStack provides the building blocks to realize this vision, offering practical resources and tools to countries around the world as they undertake their digital development journeys.”
Thao Hong
“For over a decade, BMGF has supported country efforts to leverage digital tools to advance financial inclusion. We have learned that well-designed digital public infrastructure – such as interoperable payment and identity systems – can support the development of secure and inclusive digital financial systems.  However, the technical and policy challenges confronting digital infrastructure investments are complex and rapidly evolving.  Against this backdrop, we see great value in finding new ways and opportunities to collaborate among donors, implementors and governments, to build forward better.”
Liv Nordhaug
I believe that digital public goods can play a strong role in accelerating attainment of the SDGs. Strong digital foundations like ID, payments and data exchanges are particularly important for results across all sectors. Governments are increasingly recognizing that national digital sovereignty depends on the ability to manage the digital public infrastructure in an efficient and sustainable way. We align our efforts through the GovStack Community of Practice to further provide access to digital public goods that can be deployed as digital public infrastructure, particularly by low resource countries.
Alessandra Lustrati
“FCDO considers the digital transformation of partner countries’ governments as vital elements of the UK’s broader agenda on inclusive, responsible and sustainable digital development. Against this background, we promote an open and holistic view of possible solutions coming from different stakeholders around the world. In this context, we welcome the development of the GovStack initiative: we believe that it will add value to ongoing digital development work, while also ushering in new approaches, creative solutions and even better coordination amongst different stakeholders in the field of government digital transformation.”
Abhishek Singh
“President & CEO NeGD with additional charge of MD & CEO, Digital India Corporation and CEO Karmayogi Bharat.”
Emilie Hertzberg
In the digitalisation of government services we need to make sure that we do not contribute to fragmentation of the digital ecosystem but rather to something that is scalable and can be used across several sectors. We are hoping that GovStack can be a springboard for leapfrogging government digital transformation and that it can help the digital ecosystem to avoid siloed approaches and costly legacy systems. We are looking forward to see where this Initiative will take us and everything that we are going to learn by contributing to this Advisory Board.
Lacina Koné
Smart Africa is committed to act as a catalyzer for the social and economic development of Africa through the ICT. We believe that one of the key challenges to a vibrant digital economy across Africa is digitized government services and interoperability within governments. However, many African governments, just like many other countries around the world, are facing siloed approaches hindering the progress to deliver public service online. Therefore, we are pleased to support the GovStack initiative and the valuable work done in the ICT ecosystem in coordination with the GovStack partners.
Mei Ling
The digital future we want can only come out of friendship. We must recall the incredible journey of how the internet grew, built by people, built for people. To adaptively evolve GovStack we need to incorporate everyone’s perspective and feedback to anticipate obstacles and adaptively achieve sustainable innovation with our GovStack digital building block approach. Only then can we achieve the people-centered outcomes that are essential for sustainable DPGs and strengthen the global network surrounding digital public infrastructure.
Max Cuvellier
Our mission at GSMA Mobile for Development is to leverage digital technology ‘for good’ and to help the private sector play its role in supporting the development of solutions that address the challenges faced by our societies. We see a strong need for the digital solutions deployed by governments to be truly accessible for all. This is why the work of the GovStack initiative is particularly important and I highly appreciate the opportunity to bring the perspective of the private sector and the mobile industry to this Advisory Board.
Piet Kleffmann
Digitizing Governments is not an end in itself. Digital public services are a prerequisite for future viability, national prosperity and sovereignty of a country. Harnessing the potential of digital technologies may accelerate economic growth and strengthen resilience in a country. We believe in scalable and interoperable open source solutions, customized by governments according to their specifics needs.
Robert Opp
We applaud GovStack’s vision of digital transformation through a whole of government approach. As UNDP accelerates support to member states in digital public goods, we see significant interest among countries to build inclusive and future ready digital foundations that can accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. At UNDP we are committed to helping countries achieve population scale equitable digital ecosystems. We see GovStack as an important forum and we look forward to bringing UNDP’s experiences and insights to developing and implementing digital public goods in low middle income countries.
Tim Wood
“Chief Partnerships Officer, Co-Develop Fund”
Vyjayanti T. Desai
“Vyjayanti Desai leads the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) and Digitizing Government to Person Payments (G2Px) initiative, two global, multi-sectoral initiatives.”
Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava
Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava ITU
Nele Leosk
Nele Leosk Estonia
Priya Vora
Priya Vora DIAL
Thao Hong
Thao Hong BMGF
Liv Nordhaug
Liv Nordhaug DPGA
Alessandra Lustrati
Alessandra Lustrati FCDO
Abhishek Singh
Abhishek Singh India
Emilie Hertzberg
Emilie Hertzberg Sida
Lacina Koné
Lacina Koné Smart Africa
Mei Ling
Mei Ling IEEE
Max Cuvellier
Max Cuvellier GSMA
Piet Kleffmann
Piet Kleffmann KfW
Robert Opp
Robert Opp UNDP
Tim Wood
Tim Wood Co-Develop Initiative
Vyjayanti T. Desai
Vyjayanti T. Desai World Bank ID4D

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