OpenGov Mesh
EXPLORATORY · PRE-PILOT Manifesto Spec Somalia

Onboarding · From decision to live exchange

Bring the Mesh to your country.

Five gates. Each one binary. We don't take you past a gate you haven't passed — and we'd rather decline a pilot than under-resource one.

Adoption isn't a procurement. It's a staged partnership under a bilateral pilot agreement: political alignment first, then a legal mandate, then a working pilot, then production on your own national infrastructure — and finally federation with a neighbour.

Start at G0. It needs a sponsor and three agencies, not budget or legislation.

See the five gates Begin a pre-pilot conversation

The adoption path · Five gates

Each gate is binary. Passed, or not.

A sponsor government and UNCTAD evaluate jointly at every gate. None is skipped — failure at one is information, not embarrassment.

  1. G0

    Political alignment

    1–3 months

    A named executive sponsor at minister or permanent-secretary level, a written ministerial commitment, and three pilot agencies identified.

    Sponsor readiness · the country selects the agencies, UNCTAD does not

  2. G1

    Legal mandate

    1–2 months · often parallel to G0

    A memorandum of understanding between the three pilot agencies authorising data exchange under the Mesh, signed by the executive sponsor. No legislation required in the pilot phase.

    Sponsor readiness · an MoU, not an act of parliament

  3. G2

    Pilot deployment

    3–6 months

    The Mesh deployed in a sandbox with the three agencies, and at least one cross-agency operation running end to end — with real citizen consent.

    Implementation readiness · the Tšepo flow, working

  4. G3

    Production operation

    6–12 months after G2

    Out of the sandbox and onto national infrastructure. The national CA operator takes the Trust Plane root, and your operational team runs the Mesh without UNCTAD direct intervention.

    Implementation readiness · the root becomes sovereign

  5. G4

    Federation

    6–18 months after G3

    A bilateral cross-signing established with at least one neighbouring country's Mesh, and one cross-border operation running end to end.

    Depends on the partner country's readiness · no continental institution to join

The bilateral pilot agreement

What we bring. What you commit.

A pilot is offered under a bilateral agreement that names the obligations on each side. Nothing hidden, nothing assumed.

UNCTAD provides

  • The reference implementation — source, Docker images, deployment scripts — under the pre-pilot licence.
  • The full specification in your working language(s).
  • A two-person engagement team for the pilot, funded by UNCTAD, with remote support and at least two on-site missions.
  • Training for your operational team — minimum five engineers and two operators — across the Trust, Transport, and Observability planes.
  • Co-publication of the pilot evaluation report.

The sponsor commits

  • A named executive sponsor (minister / PS) accountable for political progression.
  • A named operational owner — typically the head of the national computing centre — accountable for continuous operation.
  • A legal mandate (an MoU) for at least three pilot agencies. You choose them.
  • A root-CA operator to hold the Trust Plane root in production.
  • Infrastructure — roughly two VMs (4-core / 8 GB) plus three 1-core / 1 GB sidecars.
  • A public co-communication at the pilot's conclusion, if it meets its acceptance criteria.

The indicative envelope

Six months. Three agencies. Roughly USD 250–400K.

All-inclusive, settled in the bilateral agreement — covering one synchronous and one asynchronous cross-agency operation, one USSD consent flow, and the federation primitive demonstrated against a second, mocked country.

Of this, UNCTAD typically funds 60–70% from its own resources or partner-donor pooled funds. You cover infrastructure, civil-servant time, and the legal and operational mandate.

The Mesh cannot succeed in a pilot significantly below this band. We'd rather decline a pilot than under-resource it.

  • USD 250–400KAll-inclusive six-month envelope
  • 60–70%Typical UNCTAD funding share
  • ~USD 500Monthly cloud compute
  • 2 + 3VMs plus per-agency sidecars

G4 · Federation

The last gate connects you to your neighbours.

Two Meshes publish their roots and cross-sign each other. That's the whole ceremony — no consortium to join, no central authority.

Federation is bilateral by design: the data-sharing agreement two countries would need anyway, plus a cross-signature. It fits the political reality of AfCFTA's ratification far better than any centrally-governed alternative — which is exactly why it sits at the end of the path, not the start. Sovereignty first; connection when you're ready.

Why the gates are binary

We have no interest in deployments that don't work.

The worst possible outcome for the Mesh as a public good is a high-profile deployment that fails because it launched before its political and operational preconditions were in place. So every gate is a real decision, evaluated jointly.

Failure at G0 or G1 means the sponsor isn't ready. Failure at G2 or G3 means the implementation isn't ready. Either way, we say so — plainly, and early.

A gate failed early is cheaper than a launch failed in public.

Begin

Start at G0. A conversation, then a memorandum.

G0 needs no budget and no legislation — only a sponsor and three agencies. Everything else follows the gates, at the pace your country sets.

This is for ministers and permanent secretaries, national digital-agency leads, and the agency CIOs who would run the first three sidecars. Bring us the political will and the three agencies; we'll bring the rest.

Begin a pre-pilot conversation Read the spec