Tech for Social Good // Activating Developers
DPG Open Source Community Manager Program
Work with a DPG
GitHub Tech for Social Good is introducing a new Open Source (OS) Community Manager Program to support seven digital public goods (DPGs*):
Uli
Browser extension and tech tools for relief and collective response against online gender-based violence on social media in India.
Open Terms Archive
Empower users and regulators by recording, publicly archiving, and making readable every change to the terms of digital services.
Chayn
Supports survivors of gender-based violence with free, multilingual, online resources such as video courses, step-by-step guides and webchat.
OpenFisca
Write Rules as Code: model legislation, build apps to help citizens and businesses understand it, assess regulations and design reforms.
Uwazi
A flexible open source database application to organise information, with a focus on document and digital asset management. Supporting hundreds of human rights organizations globally.
if-me.org
A free, open source mental health communication platform for marginalized communities, including refugee and immigrant communities of color. The app is translated into 13+ languages.
What are DPGs?
Digital public goods (DPG) describes open source software, open data, open AI models, open standards, or open content that adhere to the DPG Standard. DPGs may help protect countries from vendor lock-in, facilitate local capacity building, and break down innovation silos by facilitating connection and reuse of existing systems.
Read more: DPG Background | DPG Maintainer Guidance
Why OS community managers?
Creating, growing, and maintaining external contributor communities is critical to the long-term sustainability of DPGs. However, DPG maintainers face considerable challenges because it is too time consuming to find, vet and onboard potential contributors.
Program overview
One OS community manager will be selected for each DPG.* GitHub hopes to engage all or some of these OS community managers from the social sector, and match their subject matter expertise to an area the DPG is addressing. For example, matching someone with a public health background to a DPG that is used in vaccine distribution management.
GitHub and the DPG’s maintainers will screen and select the OS community managers. Following a free training program GitHub will provide, the OS community manager is anticipated to work part-time for six months with the DPG maintainer. The exact number of working hours will be mutually agreed upon between the OS community managers and the DPGs. We are also partnering with The ReadME Project to amplify the story of DPGs and OS community managers, with the aim of encouraging individuals and organizations to provide financial support through GitHub Sponsors. The selected OS community managers will be considered volunteers and, subject to funding, may receive a small stipend.
*As of March 16, 2023, if-me.org, Uwazi, and OpenFisca are certified DPGs. The others are planning to become DPGs.
Program Timeline
Why Apply?
- Acquire or strengthen in-demand skills in the tech industry
- Contribute to innovative solutions addressing the world’s most pressing issues
- Deepen connections in open source communities
Note that all applicants must agree to the application terms and conditions.
Open source for social good
We published two reports on the impact of open source software in the social sector. Click to read more below.
Application Criteria
All candidates will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- Exposure to or an interest in open source software, preferably related to the SDGs
- Knowledge of working with Git / GitHub or willingness to learn
- Excellent communicator in written and spoken English
- Excellent facilitation skills and the ability to encourage participation
- Strong organizational skills
- Experience working the social sector, such as for the United Nations, an INGO or another non-profit organization that is aligned with the SDGs
- Collaborative spirit, enjoys working with diverse and global teams
DPG-Specific Criteria
Uli
- Able to read and write in one or more Indian language (preferred)
- Subject matter expertise in gender-based violence (preferred)
- Experience with social media, Slack, email management, events planning
Open Terms Archive
- Technical documentation skills
- Knowledge or willingness to learn how to manage GitHub pull requests
- Interest in defending internet user rights
- Bonus points for understanding the notion of jurisdiction in digital services, for example, if you know what the acronyms such as GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD mean
- Experience working in a fully remote setting
Chayn
- Keep technical documentation up to date
- Be able to run/start tech projects that volunteers will be working on
- Be able to answer technical questions from volunteers
- Bonus for: Typescript, React
Open Fisca
- Interest for technical digital infrastructure beyond user-facing products
- Experience working in a fully remote setting
- Bonus points for knowing Python
- Bonus points for being proficient in written French
- Interest in legislation
Uwazi
- Experience with documentation and/or digital asset management
- Subject matter expertise in human rights (preferred)
if-me.org
- Ability to manage new contributor onboarding
- Background in UX design (preferred)
- Subject matter expertise in mental health in different global contexts (preferred)
Social Income
- Assign issues and coordinate code reviews
- Ability to find and connect with software developers by skill e.g. experience using React or Flutter
- Ensure effective team collaboration
- General repository maintenance
- Subject matter expertise in unconditional cash transfers (preferred)
Applications close on April 10, 2023.
Contact us
If you would like to learn more about our programming, partner with us, or get in touch, contact our team today.
Email GitHub Social Impact