Tech@Fletcher Student Spotlight: An Interview with Sarthak Satapathy, MALD ’23
At Fletcher, Sarthak studies International Development and Technology and International Affairs. He is specifically trying to understand the role of digital public goods and infrastructure in the context of development.
You can read our interview with Sarthak below!
For many, the area of technology for development is a whole new space — can you elaborate on this field and its importance?
The idea of using technology as an enabler for development programs isn’t new. But what has evolved over the years is the way it is approached and framed – so not so much the tools, but the means to organize the tools. My interest is in the latest approach or discourse within the Tech for Development space called the Digital Public Goods (DPG) and Digital Public Infrastructures (DPI). At the outset, it is a new way of approaching Tech4Dev and has made some promising initial strides. It remains to be seen over the next decade of its impact. DPGA defines DPGs as open-source software, open data, open 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). I personally think this definition takes a technology systems view at DPGs, while we have seen they are a larger governance, innovation, and regulatory play as well. DPIs are infrastructures that countries can set up (like digital ID layers, data exchange layers, payments infrastructure) on top of which specific DPGs can be built (like cash transfer programs for flood-hit areas built on base payment infrastructure).
The UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology endorsed the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) for advancing the vision and adoption of DPGs across the countries. Post COVID, many countries are waking up to the need for specific DPGs and DPIs like digital ID systems, government-to-people (G2P) payment systems to deliver social safety net programs, and more. A World Bank report quotes that countries with these systems were able to cover 39% more beneficiaries than countries that didn’t. While a few developing countries have been on this journey for a decade, many multilateral and bilateral efforts like the DPGA are being set up to coordinate and share common DPG knowledge and practices along with funding them. Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) at UN Foundation has launched the DPG Charter to fund projects and research to advance our understanding of DPGs. Similar efforts are being rallied for DPIs like that of CoDevelop Fund, which is a global non-profit fund to invest in digital public infrastructure (DPI) across countries that’s safe, inclusive and equitable.
Over the summer I worked with CoDevelop Fund at UN Foundation to help set up a global non-profit fund to invest in digital public infrastructure (DPI) across countries that’s safe, inclusive and equitable.
What professors and classes at The Fletcher School have helped you shape your research and thesis ideas?
Professor Donner’s class on Technology and Digital Development, along with his mentorship, has been extremely helpful in this journey as he understands the intersection of both these worlds in depth and has been a practitioner in the space himself. My worldview in the Tech4Dev space is largely rooted in the Indian context as I have spent over 5 years working on technology for public education and public healthcare in the country. Professor Donner’s class broadened my perspective to global issues and narratives in the Tech4Dev space through the cases that we discussed in class. Professor Alnoor Ebrahim’s class on Managing NGOs and Social Enterprises also taught me to dissect development programs for my research.
Can you tell us more about the paper you wrote about that class? What is it on, and what are your plans to develop that into a Capstone?
I wrote a paper about a new development in the DPG/DPI universe regarding the shift from platforms to open protocols approach in the Indian e-commerce space. The argument is that we live in a world dominated by big tech platform monopolies that have leveraged open source technology to reach where they are today. Specifically, in the digital commerce space, these platform monopolies dictate rules of the game for small suppliers by locking in their data, and credibility and not letting them easily migrate onto other platforms. These platforms also exclude many microenterprises which don’t have the capacity or supply strength to be onboarded. India is experimenting with open protocols approach to address this issue and create a more open and inclusive digital commerce space. The open protocols will enable interoperabilty in the space and will connect all buyers, and sellers, to a larger network reducing the need to be on specific platforms to buy or sell items. This is akin to what SMTP is to email, where you can send and receive emails across platforms and not be restricted to sending and receiving emails from only Gmail – as a counter-narrative to selling and buying the same thing on Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and more. I also explored the possible ways this open protocols approach could just end up representing a monopoly but in different ways and the other potential gaps in organizing this effort.
This largely fits into my research and attempt to understand the various approaches and discourses within digital public goods (DPG) and infrastructure (DPI) space. My Capstone focuses on exploring the DPI ecosystem and dissecting the various layers that come together to make it happen like governance structures, political economy, open source technology communities, funding pathways, and more. I am also contributing to an effort on building governance frameworks for Digital Legal ID systems. The DPG and DPI space is at a very nascent stage within the larger Tech4Dev universe, and I am looking forward to exploring it with Prof. Donner’s guidance and adding to the discourse currently taking place.
Tell us more about the podcast you are working on!
As part of my paper on open protocols for digital commerce, I reached out to Dr. Pramod Varma who is playing a key role in architecting this experiment in India. He’s also been the Chief Architect of Aadhar (India’s biometric unique identification system), UPI (India’s interoperable payments system), and many things India Stack. Dr. Varma is one of the most influential voices in the world when it comes to DPIs and DPGs and I have been fortunate to have worked with him on India’s education stack DPI. While setting up the discussion, I realized that it would be more impactful if Prof. Donner interviewed Dr. Varma and explored this new open protocols approach within the context of DPG and DPI concepts and learnings from his decade-long experience. It turned out to be over an hour-long engaging discussion between the two, and I felt this could be a great podcast episode for folks who want to understand this upcoming space better.
As part of leading the podcast team at Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, I have been producing podcasts at the intersection of public technology, development, and governance. The conversation between Dr. Varma and Prof. Donner fits in perfectly there, and it has seeded the idea to produce many such fireside chat-esque conversations exploring DPG and DPI concepts. The conversations in this space are fairly new and I hope to contribute to the same. This particular podcast can be found here.
Written by Sophia Warner