Relief Applications

GIZ - GovStack Website Redesign

Redesigned and rebuilt the GovStack platform from the ground up, migrating to GDPR-compliant European infrastructure, modernizing the WordPress stack with Docker microservices, and transforming a static site into a dynamic hub for government digital transformation.

Client
GIZ
When
Since May 2025
Team
3+
Services
App development
Technologies
WordPress, Caddy, MariaDB, phpMyAdmin, Bedrock (Roots.io), GitHub Actions
Industry
Government
SDGs
16. Peace, justice and strong institutions
Client website
giz.de

The GovStack initiative provides a comprehensive, open-source toolbox for governments undergoing digital transformation. Historically, the project's website had become too static and failed to reflect the growing number of activities, initiatives, and community work. This a key requirement was to completely redesign the website to be more dynamic, enhance communication with stakeholders, and ensure strict compliance with European GDPR and data privacy standards.

Our approach began with a user-centered discovery phase, where the design team performed multiple workshops with the client to deeply understand their needs, key user journeys, and pain points. This foundational work informed a modular web development strategy. Critically, we addressed the requirement to transition the infrastructure from Pantheon to a European-based hosting solution, specifically plusserver, which presented limitations. This necessitated a complete overhaul of the development and deployment environment to meet GIZ’s operational and compliance needs.

We provided end-to-end consulting and development services, focusing on modernizing the entire platform architecture. This included establishing a new, robust CI/CD pipeline and deployment workflow built around multiple microservices in Docker (including Caddy, MariaDB, Wordpress PHP, and phpMyAdmin). This complex system included separate processes for DB backups and file backups. We adapted the entire application to the Bedrock architecture for a cleaner, modern WordPress setup and integrated a dedicated GitHub Deploy Action to ensure automated, reliable, and compliant European deployment via the restrictive plusserver environment.

The challenge

  • GDPR & Hosting Compliance: Mandatory migration of the previously Pantheon-hosted project to a European infrastructure (plusserver) while ensuring full GDPR compliance.
  • PlusServer Limitations: The chosen European host, plusserver, proved to be very limiting, requiring a non-standard and custom-built solution for the development and deployment pipeline.
  • Site Stagnation: Transforming a static website into a dynamic, progressive content-discovery platform to showcase the volume of GovStack activities.
  • Feature Clarity: Clarifying the need for a 'Logo Wall' section and determining the scope for new features like the Community Calendar and World Map display options.

What we did

  • Custom Microservices Pipeline: Designed and built a new CI/CD pipeline with multiple microservices in Docker (Caddy, MariaDB, Wordpress PHP, phpMyAdmin) to manage the application stack, overcoming the limitations of the new European hosting environment (plusserver).
  • Automated Backups: Implemented robust and separate processes for both DB backups and File Backups within the new pipeline.
  • Modern Architecture Adoption: Adapted the entire application to the Bedrock (Roots.io) structure for a more modern, maintainable, and version-controllable WordPress installation.
  • CI/CD Integration: Created a dedicated GitHub Deploy Action to automate and manage deployments directly to the plusserver infrastructure.
  • GovMarket Enhancements: Implemented randomization of software listing display order to ensure neutrality.
GovStack Website Redesign, GIZ: screen 1 GovStack Website Redesign, GIZ: screen 2 GovStack Website Redesign, GIZ: screen 3 GovStack Website Redesign, GIZ: screen 4 GovStack Website Redesign, GIZ: screen 5 GovStack Website Redesign, GIZ: screen 6

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