Boosting interest in open source in Uganda
First things first, this blog post is going to use the term “open source” a lot. So, we should start by looking at what that term means! Broadly, if something is “open-source” it means its design is publicly available and free to use and adapt. The term can apply to many things, from latrine designs to training curriculums to databases.
This post is about RIL’s efforts, in partnership with Audiopedia Foundation, to address two open-source related issues, kickstart the Ugandan open-source ecosystem and create partnerships. The first issue was that within Uganda there’s not much knowledge or understanding of open source or how it can be used, especially to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The second issue was that many people already successfully working with open source often don’t know how to connect with those working in the humanitarian and development fields.
The Audiopedia Foundation is a German non-profit organisation and was previously called URIDU. The Foundation created the Audiopedia platform, an open-source audible learning site, and it also supports the Open Source for Equality (OSEQ) initiative. The OSEQ initiative works to bring together software developers, content creators and development organisations to create local open-source ecosystems. The initiative focuses on solutions by women, for women, and on using open-source software to help meet the SDGs for health, education and equality.
Starting around May 2022, RIL and Audiopedia Foundation ran three interactive events in Kampala. These events also included developing interesting case studies of open source in action and running a contribution competition. Through these events it was hoped that existing open-source users and developers would find humanitarian and development actors to partner with and that more people, regardless of their background, would feel more confident to try using open-source software.
In the paragraphs below, we describe the three events so you can not only learn more about what happened and what was achieved, but also get inspired to learn more about open source. We’ve included links to all the organisations mentioned, so after you’ve finished reading here, why not continue to their websites?
The RIL-Audiopedia Foundation (then URIDU) panel at the Global Digital Development Forum
“Combining open-source data and software gives individuals a chance to explore their ideas and bring them to life. ”
Rebecca Nanono of Shetechtive Uganda participating in the brainstorming breakfast
Action-packed OSEQ launch day
On 5 May, to launch the OSEQ initiative in Uganda, RIL hosted a brainstorming breakfast and panel discussion as a side event of the Global Digital Development Forum. The breakfast event was all about information gathering and involved group exercises and discussions on topics such as “What can be done to encourage uptake of open source in Uganda?”. Alongside RIL, the breakfast brainstorming was facilitated by representatives from Startup Uganda, the Open Source Community Africa (OSCA) Kampala Chapter, METS, Tunga and Pollicy. The event was attended by 29 representatives from the tech industry and humanitarian and development actors.
Later in the day, the hybrid panel, moderated by Deborah Aanyu Oduman from OSCA, discussed the topic “How can open-source drive the growth of local digital innovations in Uganda”. The discussion was attended in person by those from the breakfast event and a further 73 joined virtually. You can watch a recording of the discussion here.
The launch day helped confirm the allies for OSEQ in Uganda and gathered needed information and insights to help direct the next steps for the initiative, such as what are the unmet needs and who are the interested stakeholders. The day also gave inspiration to those considering open-source solutions, such as this from Allan Mbabani of OpenStreetMap Uganda: “Combining open-source data and software gives individuals a chance to explore their ideas and bring them to life”.
A day of practical application, innovation and networking
On 6 July, RIL, Audiopedia Foundation and a group of open-source allies (Tunga, Refactory, OSCA Kampala Chapter and Startup Uganda) ran a three-part event focused on the practical applications of open source, showing what’s possible and looking at the how’s and whys of open source. The event started with a presentation of five case studies and talks by other open-source users. This section was followed by an innovation fair, and the day ended with the launch of the Contributhon.
The case studies presented were Open Street Map Uganda, Audiopedia, Simbi, Ustad Mobile and UgandaEMR. Each case study included details of the innovation and why the developer chose to use open-source software. Common reasons mentioned to choose open source were: it is cheaper and it can be more easily adapted to fit the organisation’s and end-users’ needs. You can watch a video of the case studies here.
The speakers at the event were Audiopedia Foundation, OSCA Kampala Chapter, Wikimedia Uganda, Welthungerhilfe, Pumzi Devices and Pollicy. The speakers covered a range of topics including “Improving Uganda's e-services by contributing to FastAPI”, “Creating and improving African content on Wikipedia with refugees” and “Gender equality by design”.
After the presentations and talks, the event moved into networking mode and participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas while attending the innovation fair. Stands at the fair were from Simbi, Audiopedia Foundation, Agrishare, OpenStreetMap Uganda, Startup Uganda, Tunga and OSCA Kampala Chapter. The day ended with the official launch of the Contributhon to explain the concept and generate interest.
The day was attended by 78 people from a range of backgrounds, including software developers, and representatives from innovation incubators, NGOs, UN agencies and government.
Participants visiting the Agrishare station at the innovation and networking event
Over 120 people applied to take part in the Contributhon. From these, 40 were selected and 22 went on to
win prizes for their contributions. The participant numbers were limited so that everyone taking part could
receive personal mentorship throughout the challenge. Those using WOM.fm were mentored by experts from Audiopedia Foundation, those working on the book challenge were mentored by the OSCA Kampala Chapter, and leaders from METS mentored those participating in the challenge for UgandaEMR.
As well as being a valuable and inspiring learning and networking experience for the participants, there were also great practical outputs from the Contributhon. Five audio tracks covering health and finance topics in local languages are already available on WOM. These include wom.fm/903/ on women’s health and wom.fm/904/ on finance. Ten books in local Ugandan languages will be added to The Global Digital Library next year, the first books in those languages. The winning out-patient department form is going to be integrated into UgandaEMR and used by health facilities around the county.
A conscientious and collaborative Contributhon
The name Contributhon is a play on the term “hackathon” which refers to a rapid group software engineering event. RIL decided to use the name Contributhon rather than hackathon to reflect the fact that the event was not only about working with digital solutions but also about learning about open-source in a collaborative way and how it can contribute to meeting the SDGs.
The Contributhon was a one-month activity where new and experienced open-source users took part in one of three practical challenges, supported by experts. The outputs of the challenges were linked to at least one of the SDGs and there were prizes available for the best contributions.
The three challenges were: 1) produce localised audio content using WOM.fm (an option for first time open-source users), 2) produce a localised book (see what’s involved) or interactive book using Curious Reader from Curious Learning and 3) create an out-patient department form, using REACT programming language, for UgandaEMR (an option for more experienced users).
The Global Digital Library which hosts books, at different reading levels, created using the Curious Reader software
One of the winning audio tracks playing on WOM.fm.
What was learnt
One of the big learnings for participants in the various OSEQ-related events was, don’t be scared of open-source! While it might be a new concept or approach for you or your organisation, there are practical ways to get started and benefit from open-source’s advantages. As beginners in the Contributhon said, “It’s not that difficult!” and “Everyone can contribute”.
Another learning was that despite open-source use being relatively limited in Uganda at the moment, there is plenty of talent out there. The OSEQ events found people already doing great work with open source and the Contributhon discovered some potential new and keen adopters. The open-source allies mentioned throughout this post are a resource for humanitarian and development actors looking for software solutions that are cheaper to create and manage and easier to localise.
The open-source experts and allies involved in the initiative reminded us all that despite positive events, like those highlighted in this post, there is still more to do to involve women and developers in Africa in the open-source ecosystem. Africa’s contribution to open source globally is at only 1% and only 6% of all open-source contributors worldwide are women.
What’s next?
The events described above aren’t the end of the story, they are just the beginning! RIL’s aim was to enliven the open-source scene and help stakeholders make valuable and lasting connections. As a result of the events, the OSCA Kampala Chapter and Audiopedia Foundation formed a successful partnership and will continue to work together on activities that encourage women to use open source. In other next steps, selected Contributhon participants will continue their learning at the UgandaEMR bootcamp and OSEQ will work with the OSCA Kampala Chapter and Wikimedia Uganda to develop training and other events.
And we hope a next step for you is to continue your learning about using open-source software to help tackle humanitarian and development challenges. As well as the links throughout the text, there are additional useful resources listed below.
Links for further reading
https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source: a good starting place to learn more about open source and its global community
https://training.linuxfoundation.org/training/beginners-guide-open-source-software-development/: free online course for beginners
https://www.refactory.ug/program; different software training options available in Uganda
https://digitalprinciples.org: guidance around applying digital technologies in development programmes
https://github.com/OSEQorg: for more experienced users to access open-source software recommended by OSEQ
https://openmrs.org/: for your curiosity, the software UgandaEMR was based on