Code for GovTech: Driving population-scale impact through open source contributions

Code for GovTech (C4GT) is an initiative that enables development and long term maintenance of open-source products that are creating population scale social impact–DPGs and beyond–by facilitating pathways for young talent to contribute to these products through community building. We have a strong community of over 20k students and working professionals on discord.

Population-scale technology impacting billions globally has Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) at its core, which, when well-designed and implemented, helps countries achieve their priorities and accelerate Sustainable Development Goals. Examples of DPI include Aadhar, CoWIN, and BHIM. Powering DPI are Digital Public Goods (DPGs)—open-source building blocks that are interoperable, modular and scalable.

The talk will be focused on C4GT’s Dedicated Mentoring Program (DMP) and DPG State of the Community Report (DPG SCoRe). C4GT has conducted three rounds of DMP since 2022 where selected students and working professionals get an opportunity to contribute to critical tech building blocks under the guidance of a dedicated mentor.

In addition to running multiple programs for contributors and DPG builder organisations, C4GT has launched the DPG State of the Community Report (DPG SCoRe) which provides valuable insights into successful community building.

During the lightning talk, the team will provide an overview of C4GT and DMP 2025, diving into the selection process, the potential to drive population-scale impact and success stories. Also, key insights from the DPG SCoRe report would be shared.

Key Takeaways:

In this talk the contributors will:

1) Understand the foundational principles that define DPGs and DPI and how they hold the potential to impact billions

2) Explore DMP 2025, through which interested contributors can support the development and long-term maintenance of these open source tech building blocks

3) Gain the community building insights and best practices from the DPG SCoRe 2024.