MOSIP and UN DPI: Secure, Inclusive Digital Infrastructure

Published Date : 7/18/2025 

The United Nations’ DPI Safeguards Initiative has released 259 recommendations to guide the development of secure and inclusive digital public infrastructure. MOSIP, a leading open-source platform, highlights its robust testing and risk management practices to meet these guidelines. 

The United Nations’ DPI Safeguards Initiative has released 259 recommendations designed to guide regulators, advocates, donors, technology providers, and governments in building digital public infrastructure (DPI) that is secure, inclusive, practical, and adaptable. As DPI becomes central to everyday interactions, especially through national-scale platforms such as digital identity, foundational systems must perform reliably under complex real-world conditions. The initiative emphasizes that, much like a city’s plumbing, these digital systems derive their strength from stability, resilience, and unobtrusive reliability.

To achieve this, the UN calls for evidence-backed development, rigorous testing protocols, and proactive risk mitigation at every stage of the infrastructure lifecycle. To this end, MOSIP (Modular Open Source Identification Platform) has highlighted how it has been built to meet diverse government needs while prioritizing long-term sustainability, scalability, and security.

Effective quality assurance not only catches bugs early but also drives down costs and enhances user satisfaction by ensuring consistent performance across varied use cases over the long term. By running more than 25,000 test cases, including over 13,000 automated tests each day, MOSIP receives immediate feedback on any issues. Automation complements manual testing for complex scenarios, while security and performance assessments guard against vulnerabilities and ensure the platform can scale without interruption.

The platform’s testing regime extends to dedicated environments that replicate production conditions, configuration-based trials to validate flexibility, and critical “go/no-go” decision points before releases. Continuous analysis of test outcomes informs improvements and supports ongoing optimization. Recognizing the global reach of DPI, MOSIP also conducts multilingual testing, mobile-device trials across diverse hardware and network settings, and persona-based evaluations that reflect the needs of children, rural residents, people with disabilities, system administrators, and frontline operators. Even “virtual country” simulations are used to ensure the system can adapt to different legal and cultural contexts without failure.

By spotlighting these practices alongside its comprehensive recommendations, the UN’s Safeguards Initiative aims to help DPI implementers worldwide deliver public infrastructure that truly works for people, enabling secure, inclusive, and reliable digital services at a national scale. MOSIP has the full blog post on its testing practices and proactive risk management available here. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS): 

Q: What is the UN DPI Safeguards Initiative?

A: The UN DPI Safeguards Initiative is a set of 259 recommendations designed to guide the development of secure, inclusive, practical, and adaptable digital public infrastructure (DPI). It aims to ensure that digital systems are reliable and resilient.

Q: What is MOSIP?

A: MOSIP (Modular Open Source Identification Platform) is an open-source platform designed to meet diverse government needs while prioritizing long-term sustainability, scalability, and security. It is used to build digital identity systems.

Q: Why is rigorous testing important for digital public infrastructure?

A: Rigorous testing is crucial for digital public infrastructure to catch bugs early, reduce costs, enhance user satisfaction, and ensure consistent performance across varied use cases over the long term.

Q: How does MOSIP ensure the reliability of its platform?

A: MOSIP ensures reliability through extensive testing, including over 25,000 test cases, automated tests, security assessments, and performance evaluations. It also conducts multilingual testing and persona-based evaluations to meet diverse needs.

Q: What is the role of the UN DPI Safeguards Initiative in global digital infrastructure?

A: The UN DPI Safeguards Initiative plays a crucial role in guiding the development of global digital infrastructure by providing comprehensive recommendations and best practices to ensure secure, inclusive, and reliable digital services. 

More Related Topics :