Community

This community of practice (CoP) for DPI measurement aims to bring together practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to collaboratively develop more nuanced, context-sensitive approaches to DPI assessment and evaluation.

The next session is July 16, 12:00 BST (midday) on the theme of Trust, Safety and Security.

We meet via Zoom. Register here to attend.

Goals

The DPI Measurement CoP brings together the diverse stakeholder community around DPI to develop a common language and shared practices for effective measurement. At its core, the CoP seeks to:

• Strengthen collective expertise in DPI measurement through regular knowledge sharing
• Address key research questions relevant to building measurement frameworks for DPI assessment and evaluation
• Contribute to ongoing governance and research initiatives (including the Universal DPI Safeguards Working Group, G20 DEWG outputs, DPI Map)

Previous Sessions

Session 4 - Addressing Safety and Security in Digital Public Infrastructure

• Safety and Security Measurement Requires New Frameworks: Current DPI measurement approaches inadequately capture security and resilience needs. Effectively addressing this challenge will require new frameworks that account for the full life cycle of public infrastructure.
• Governance Challenges Exceed Technical Solutions: Real-world implementation reveals that regulatory frameworks, institutional mandates, and cross-agency coordination present greater barriers than technical security controls.
• Operational Principles Must Bridge High-Level Values: Translating broadly agreed principles like “security by design” into measurable, operational frameworks remains a critical gap requiring evidence-based approaches and real-world case studies.
• Capacity Building Enables Informed Risk Decisions: Creating “intelligent customers” who can make informed security decisions is essential for sustainable DPI deployment, requiring frameworks that translate technical concepts into actionable governance choices.

See the session notes for more detail.

Session 3 - Measuring Gender Inclusion

How do you measure success when the metrics themselves might be part of the problem? This question anchored the third Community of Practice session on DPI Measurement convened by the IIPP’s Digital team on June 16 2025, as researchers from APTI Institute and Data Privacy Brazil presented findings that challenge conventional wisdom about digital infrastructure impact.

See the session notes for more detail.

Session 2 - Measuring Interoperability

Measuring What Matters: Insights on DPI Interoperability from Global Experts

• Standards-Interoperability Relationship is Contextual: As systems mature and ecosystems need to connect, explicit standards become essential for maintaining interoperability at scale. Effective DPI measurement approaches must work to assess different maturity stages and prioritise real-world outcomes over rigid compliance metrics.
• Testing as Research: Creating empirical tests that directly measure system compatibility provides more usable metrics than theoretical assessments. Real-world compatibility tests offer a way to transform abstract interoperability standards into measurable outcomes that reflect actual user experiences.
• Compliance with Purpose: Interoperability should be measured against its ability to deliver tangible value rather than technical compliance. Measurement frameworks should prioritize service continuity, reduced transaction costs, and cross-border functionality over standards adherence.
• Interoperability is Multidimensional: Effective measurement must consider technical, syntactic, semantic, and legal dimensions of interoperability. Each dimension presents unique challenges and requires different assessment approaches to capture both capabilities and limitations.

See the session notes for more detail.

Session 1 - Inclusion

There is an increasing need to make transparent how DPI embodies the normative values it claims to represent. Inclusion stands at the heart of this challenge, offering a litmus test for whether DPI can achieve population-scale outcomes while preserving public values.

The session brought together researchers, policymakers, technical providers, and civil society representatives to explore a critical question: how can we effectively measure whether DPI systems are genuinely inclusive in both design and impact?

Project spotlight: Inclusivity Pulse for DPI (Co-Develop, Dalberg)

Blog: Deconstructing inclusion in DPI: Lessons from measuring real-world DPI deployments (IIPP)

See the session notes for more detail.

Session 0 - Launch

The introductory session highlighted the importance of measuring Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) effectiveness, inclusivity, and impact through both individual and collective goals within the Community of Practice (CoP) for DPI Measurement⁠⁠.

Framework: A framework for conceptualising and measuring DPI (IIPP)

See the session notes for more detail.

How to participate?

1. Review the published resources on DPI measurement
2. Use this 2-minute form to submit a session proposal. Describe a topic you want to discuss, elaborating on why it’s relevant to the goals of this community.
3. Register for the DPI Map newsletter to receive updates on upcoming sessions.