What are Global Goods

Digital Square Global Goods

Definition

Digital Square Global Goods are digital health tools which are open source FOSS, have no barrier to access for services or available under open content licenses, etc., are supported by an anchor organization/strong community, have a clear governance structures, have been deployed at scale, are used across multiple countries, have demonstrated effectiveness, are designed to be interoperable, and are on a continuum towards sustainability for the tool/service.

Digital Square Global Goods are health-focused digital public goods tools that are impactful, scalable, and adaptable to different countries and contexts. In addition, they have an active focus on becoming more interoperable, deployable, and better serving of low-middle-income country (LMIC) strategies.  Digital Square's definition of global goods addresses the three core properties of global goods: non-rivalry, non-excludability, and worldwide availability, with some variation in the specific requirements which align with the Principles of Digital Development. 

Global goods have the following attributes: 

• Open Source software, freely accessible content/service: Enables free adaptation/adoption by countries to reduce the cost of tool creation and maintenance, giving the country/implementation a choice.

• Aligned to the  Digital Public Goods (DPG) Standard  and are either nominated or registered as DPGs (only relevant to software and content global goods).  

• Strong community and clear governance structure: Ensure that tools are updated to reflect the changing technology and consumer ecosystem and have a growing number of implementers and supporters​.

• Funded by multiple sources: Ensure that digital tools are supported by an ecosystem of funders whose overall commitment remains constant and can meet the needs of the community.

• Deployed at a significant scale: Ensure that tools have the proven functionality, capability, and security to be deployed with minimal risk and have an impact.

• Designed to be interoperable​: Enable digital tools to communicate and share information with each other so that tools can be focused and part of a larger ecosystem.

Global goods are mature digital public goods which are open source (FOSS), have no barrier to access for services or available under open content licenses etc., are supported by an anchor organization/strong community, have a clear governance structures, have been deployed at scale, are used across multiple low middle-income countries, have demonstrated effectiveness, are designed to be interoperable, and are on a continuum towards sustainability for the tool/service.

Global Goods and DPGs

Digital Square Global Goods have a close relationship to DPGs, in that they overlap with many aspects of the DPG Standard. However, the difference stems from the fact that Digital Square Global Goods are focused on SDG 3 (Health and Wellness) and primarily focused on the health domain with a market focus of LMIC settings. Global Goods are also tools with an identified drive towards strengthening the maturity, interoperability, and shelf readiness.

Digital public goods (DPGs) are open source software, open data, open artificial intelligence (AI) models, open standards, and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices, do no harm by design, and help attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). DPGs are covering all of the SDGs.

In short, Digital Square Global Goods can be seen as a collection of DPGs that are focused on health that are impactful, scalable and adaptable to different countries and contexts and have active focuses to become more interoperable, deployable and better serving LMIC settings.

All Digital Square Software Global Goods could be seen as DPGs; but not all DPGs are Global Goods.

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Types of Global Goods

Digital Square Global Goods are digital health tools which are open source (FOSS), have no barrier to access for services or available under open content licenses etc, are supported by an anchor organization/strong community, have a clear governance structures, have been deployed at scale, are used across multiple countries, have demonstrated effectiveness, are designed to be interoperable, and are on a continuum towards sustainability for the tool/service.

There are three types of Global Goods:

• Software: A software tool that is free and open source (FOSS), and used to manage, analyze, or transmit health-related data, with proven utility in several settings.

• Services: A software tool that is used to manage, transmit, or analyze health-related data that can be freely accessed as a software service and adheres to open data principles.

• Content: A resource, toolkit, or data standard that is available under an open license and that is used to improve or analyze health data management and exchange processes.

Software

A mature digital health software global good is software that is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), is supported by a strong community, has a clear governance structure, is funded by multiple sources, has been deployed at significant scale, is used across multiple countries, has demonstrated effectiveness, is designed to be interoperable, and is an emergent standard application.

In summary, a Software Global Good is a mature digital health solution that is:​

• Licensed as free and open source software (FOSS).​
• Supported by a strong community and has a clear governance structure.​
• Funded by multiple sources.​
• Deployed at significant scale
• Used across multiple countries and has demonstrated effectiveness.​
• Designed to be interoperable.​

Service

A mature digital health service global good is service that is freely accessible (having no financial or other barrier to access), is supported by an anchor organization/strong community, have a clear governance structures, is utilized at scale, is used across multiple countries, has demonstrated effectiveness, is designed to be interoperable, and is an emergent standard service.

Content

A mature digital health content global good is a content artifact that is freely accessible (having no financial or other barrier to access) and is published under an open license,  is supported by an anchor organization/strong community, serves a well bounded health domain, is utilized at scale, is used across multiple countries, has demonstrated effectiveness, and is seen as an emergent standard content artifact.

The “Why” behind the aspects of the definition

Open source (software), Freely accessible (service/content)	Be freely adapted/adopted by countries to reduce the cost of tool creation and maintenance. Giving the country / implementation a choice.​
Strong community and clear governance structure​	Ensure that tools are updated to reflect the changing technology and consumer ecosystem and have a growing number of implementers and supporters​
Funded by multiple sources	Ensure that digital tools are supported by an ecosystem of funders whose overall commitment remains constant and can meet the needs of the community.
Deployed at significant scale​	Ensure that tools have the proven functionality, capability, and security, to be deployed with minimal risk and have impact.
Designed to be interoperable	Enable digital tools to communicate and share information with each other so that tools can be focused and part of a larger ecosystem.

Maturity Models

Digital Square has engaged with the digital health community, in particular the Digital Health and Interoperability Working Group of the Health Data Collaborative, in the development of the initial version of the Global Good Maturity Model. Digital Square has since developed additional tools to accommodate each global good type. These Global Good Maturity Models are a set of tools which are aimed at helping stakeholders, investors, innovators and implementers understand the maturity of the tools/services/content to understand how mature the global good is in terms of its development, community and use; and how and where there may be a need for future investment.

Each Global Good Maturity Model provides a summary measure of maturity across the 3 categories of Global Utility, Community, and Software. Each of these areas have key indicators that map to the general definition of a global good. Digital Square has listed the following 3 maturity models that correlate to the 3 types of Global Goods:

• Software Maturity Model (Finalized)

• Content Maturity Model (early draft)

• Service Maturity Model (early draft)

Read more about our Digital Square global goods here

Learn about how global goods differ from digital public goods here