Launching the Global Open-Source Policies & Practices Survey

Today the DPGA Secretariat, in coordination with twenty-four organisations, is launching the Global Open Source Policies & Practices Survey. Directed at governments and organizations, this survey aims to significantly improve understanding of the current landscape of open-source policies, principles, and frameworks among governments and organizations.

In February of this year, the DPGA announced the Calls for Collaborative Action to mobilise support and catalyse efforts around a set of high-impact topics for unlocking the potential of digital public goods. This included a call for governments and organisations to create, use, and support open-source-first policies, principles, and frameworks — and to share them openly, along with learnings and best practices on how to develop, adopt, and implement them.

In response to this call, twenty-four organisations — including country governments, public agencies, multilateral institutions, civil society organisations, and others listed below— have co-created and launched a global survey to map the current landscape of open-source software policies, principles, and frameworks across governments and organizations.

This effort will help surface common challenges and highlight promising approaches to support the broader and more effective adoption of open-source-first practices.

The survey results will help those across the open-source ecosystem better understand the specific barriers governments face — and identify ways to address them. While all personal information will remain confidential, the DPGA will share aggregate findings publicly to equip stakeholders with the insights needed to overcome challenges and adopt emerging best practices.

The survey is open to any individual working for a government or organisation who can provide insight into the use of open-source policies, principles, and frameworks — including where none currently exist.

Take or share the survey to help advance open-source policies and practices globally.

Many thanks to the following organisations for collaborating to shape this effort and drive the creation of the survey: Agesic (Government of Uruguay), CivicActions, Creative Commons, Digital Public Goods Alliance Secretariat, Digital Square at PATH, the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) of Sierra Leone, eGov Foundation, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), GitHub, the Government of the Dominican Republic, the Government of Ethiopia, GIZ (Government of Germany), the Inter-American Development Bank, ITS Rio, Smart Zambia, the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), Norad (Government of Norway), Open Future, Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Source Initiative, OpenForum Europe, UNDP, UNICEF, UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (UNOICT)