Africa Source II, January 8-15, 2006, Kalangala, Uganda

Africa Source II is Africa's premier Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
specialised hands on skills development event focused on the Non
Governmental Organisation (NGO) sector. Bringing together over 120 NGO
support professionals, staff and software experts, the participants will
examine how information technologies and FOSS can strategically impact and
build civil society organisations on the continent.

Participants will learn how FOSS can help to increase access to vital
information for their communities, along with providing inexpensive and
efficient ICT infrastructure in non-profit organizations. They will also
have a perfect opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of FOSS,
explore the challenges and future potential of its applications.

Sessions will focus on:
-- How to help NGO's plan and implement FOSS applications in order to
increase their capacity
-- How to use FOSS applications to handle information, publish content
using citizen's media tools and engage supporters
-- How FOSS can increase accessibility through localisation, translation
into local language and dialects

The workshop is to run from January 8th - 15th 2006 at Pearl Gardens Beach
located on one of the world's best kept
secrets, Kalangala Island in Lake Victoria, Uganda.

It shall be graced by the presence of Mr. Mark Shuttleworth, from South Africa,
the first African to go to space and a leading entrepreneur. He is the brain
behind many ICT initiatives in South Africa and is a respected philanthropist.

Collaboration to organise the content of the workshop is between an
unprecedented group of organisations focused on technology use in the NGO
sector that work internationally, regionally and locally; The Association
for Progressive Communication APC (regional network), Fantsuam Foundation
(Nigeria), Schoolnet Africa (regional network), Translate.org.za, Women of
Uganda Network - WOUGNET (Uganda), Linux Solutions (Uganda), Creative Commons
South Africa, Aspiration (US) and The Tactical Technology Collective (the
Netherlands). 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.
Local implementation partners are Linux Solutions, WOUGNET and East
African Center for Open Source (EACOSS).

Africa Source II is possible thanks to the support from: the Open Society
Institute Information Program, the International Development Research
Centre (IDRC), OSISA - Open Society Initiative for South Africa, Hivos,
and InWent.

Previous Source events took place in Croatia - September 2003, Namibia -
March 2004 and India - February 2005. Future source events are planned for
Central Asia and Middle East. These events have been an integral part of a
growing global movement on integrating FOSS with civil society
organisations in the developing world.

http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource2 [2]

Local Contacts:

Lunghabo Wire James
Tel: 256 71 726609
Email: [email protected] [3]

Daphine Kakonge
Office: Plot 53 Kira Road
Tel: +256-41-532035
Fax: +256-41-530474
Email: [email protected] [4]