Our mission
Unlocking the Promise of Tech for Social Good
The last years have taught us 3 important lessons.
The first is that we live in a time of systemic crises. Democracy is on the retreat, humanitarian emergencies are proliferating around the world and the existential threat of climate change is exponentially showing its claws. As a collective effect of these crises larger chunks of the world population are becoming vulnerable.
The second is that these crises are significantly different from the ones before because their causes, their manifestations and their effects are global in nature. They all ignore national borders and can only be solved through global action and coordination.
The third is that if we are to solve these crises we have to weaponize technology for social good. From combatting disinformation to monitoring elections and from providing safe housing for refugees to enabling access to healthcare for the vulnerable, the last few years have proved without a doubt that good technology deployed in a timely fashion saves lives.
But isolated efforts cannot solve global problems. That is why we have an urgent need to develop a global civic infrastructure to tackle the major challenges of our time.
Because the Infrastructure for Good is built, maintained and deployed in the public interest in order to serve the vulnerable, its elements are open source to ensure equal access, public scrutiny and sustainability.
Shared Infrastructure
The application of the Share&Reuse Principle by creating and centrally maintaining a digital infrastructure which can be deployed to multiple stakeholders and across different geographies. In this way we avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts and we dramatically reduce costs, while creating fewer vulnerabilities and increased sustainability in the long run. Most importantly, this strategic approach ensures interoperability and common standards by default. The mission of Commit Global is to consolidate, maintain and ensure free and equal access to all relevant parties to this shared digital infrastructure.
Common Infrastructure
Some of the elements of the Infrastructure for Good are used by multiple stakeholders intervening on a given topic with topical central coordination from one or more of the participating stakeholders. The mission of Commit Global is to consolidate, maintain, deploy and administer this common digital infrastructure in cooperation with the coordinating stakeholders.
Our objectives
Make sure vital open source digital tools are up to standard and do not die out.
Integrate tech for social good efforts from around the world into a coherent Civic Infrastructure that responds timely to critical global issues.
Ensure equal availability of Civic infrastructure around the world.
Guarantee equal access of CSOs and affected populations from around the world to the Civic Infrastructure.
Christopher Worman
Co-Founder, Chief Partnership & Strategy Officer ConnectHumanity.Fund
Too often we struggle to rebuild or repurpose tools after a disaster. With increasing challenges to climate, democracy, natural disasters, etc, if we can do better, we should. Commit Global can by maintaining the shared Civic Infrastructures people need - that we all may need - as the challenges increase in our poly-crisis world.
Our values
Who we help
Civic Tech Makers
By taking the crippling burden of maintenance off their shoulders we ensure they can focus on the community and innovative side of their work. We also ensure that no organization that has built a vital piece of technology for social good will ever have to take the hard decision to discontinue that tool due to lack of capacity. Most importantly, we ensure that the vital tools they created get to help as many people as possible around the globe.
CSOs
Civil society works tirelessly to make the world better for all of us. Equipping civil society, no matter its size or geography, with the Civic Infrastructure they need will hugely grow their capacity to help. Be it digital case management systems for the chronically ill, to communications for the vulnerable or sensors to collect better data, technology can help solve global problems and we want to make sure that those on the frontline of making our world better have access to it.
Regular people
It is always all about the end beneficiary. Well built and deployed technology can save lives and act as an impact multiplier. We make sure that the vital digital tools from around the world are consolidated into a coherent Civic Infrastructure that helps civil society organizations intervene much more impactfully. This translates into better, safer and more efficient services that reach exponentially more people on the ground changing their lives for the better.
Funders
Billions of USD have been spent globally in the last decade on building technology for social good. Despite producing some amazing tools, the impact of this investment is lagging behind expectations and potential due to two blindspots: the crushing cost of maintenance and lack of global consolidation mechanisms. The model of Commit Global sets to strategically solve these issues and by doing so salvage, preserve and scale the best results of this investment.
Find out more about Commit Global
Discover our story and how we work to maintain the critical Civic Infrastructure designed and developed by civic tech makers, in order to provide support for civil society organizations and vulnerable populations around the world.