Africa Source II will be an eight day hands-on workshop aimed at building the technical skills of those working with NGOs on the
continent. It will take place in one of the most beautiful parts of
the Kalangala Island on Victoria Lake during the beginning of January 2006.
 
Africa Source II will bring together more than 100 NGOs and NGO  technology support professionals working at the local level across the region, together with a handful of field leaders from Africa, Europe, North America and Asia. Africa Source II will be a free and open source software (FOSS) event. It's primary goal will be to increase the practical use of FOSS desktop applications and tools amongst the non profit sector in Africa.
 
Specifically, Africa Source II will focus on how Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) can be integrated into the mission-critical work of NGO's. We will be bringing together nearly 100 NGO Support Professionals and NGO Staff from across Africa to learn new skills, exchange tips, and share experiences. All participants will have a history of work with service and advocacy NGOs, educational organisations, NGO resource centres, community centres and health information organisations.
 
Participants with a range of experience will learn from one another about how FOSS can help make their NGO's more efficient, build capacity and assure that they are complying with software licensing laws. They will be given an opportunity to develop their understanding of FOSS, including exploring the challenges and the future potential of FOSS adoption. There will be a range of sessions for participants to take part in and will include:
 
      * How to help NGO's plan for, migrate to and adopt FOSS applications
      * How to use FOSS applications to handle information, publish
        content using citizen's media tools and engage constituency
      * How FOSS can increase accessibility through localization,
        translation into local language and dialects
 
During these sessions participants will get an opportunity to learn
from peers about how FOSS has impacted their work through case studies and skill shares. The workshops will be lead by a range of facilitators from the respective region with strong experience in deploying free and open source solutions and of working in the non-profit sector. They will be joined by a handful of others with relevant experiences from developing and transition countries, as well as a select number of leaders in from specific fields
 
The camp will focus on learning by doing, rather than by listening.
We aim for a "workshop vibe" as opposed to a "conference vibe"; we hope that elements like the location, shared housing, and the nature of the sessions keep the energy level high and the interest in active participation over passive learning strong. Like other source events, Africa Source II will be intentionally designed to foster community building, this creates an atmosphere conducive to learning, but more importantly is essential if longer term relationships are to be built.
 
 Building on the previous Africa Source event (Namibia, March 2004), which brought together African FOSS developers working in the social sector, Africa Source II will work at the next level to bring together those working at the complimentary intermediary level. Besides new ideas, skills and contacts that participants will gain they will also leave the workshop equipped with an event specific version of NGO-in-a-box, a collection of Free and Open Source Software that will be relevant to their work.
 
The Association for Progressive Communication APC (regional network),  Fantsuam Foundation (Nigeria), Schoolnet Africa (regional network), Translate.org.za, WOUGNET (Uganda), Aspiration (USA) and The Tactical Technology Collective (the Netherlands) will collaborate to organise the content of the workshop and to build strong relationships between the participants. The project partners are committed to examining the
challenges of implementing FOSS in the African context, stretching its potential to fit the needs on the ground, and building local capacities to realise this. Our local partners there are East African Center for Open Source (EACOSS), Linux Solutions and WOUGNET.
 
We are able to organise Africa Source II thanks to generous support from  IDRC - The International Development Research Centre (http://www.idrc.ca/), OSI - Open Society Institute Information Program (http://www.soros.org/initiatives/information) and OSISA Open Society Initiative for South Africa (http://www.osisa.org/).
 
 Previous source events have taken place in Croatia - September 2003, Namibia - March 2004 and India - February 2005. As well as in Middle East & Northern Africa future source events will take place in Central Asia (http://www.tacticaltech.org/fossroad) and Middle East. Interaction and learning between these regional events is facilitated through the exchange of project models and individual expertise.
 
For more information please visit http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource2
 
 We are now accepting applications! The deadline for sending in
 applications is October 15th, 2005. Please find the form here
 http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource2/applications
 
Participants will be selected by the Advisory Group based on their interest and experiences. There will be a small registration fee for the event. A limited number of travel and registration fee scholarships will be available and may be applied for on application. If you would like to receive an application form or have any questions please write to africasource2@tacticaltech.org