Source: www.wougnet.org

During the recent ICT Policy and Civil Society Workshop in Addis Ababa held
between 6th and 8th November 2002, the need for developing a framework for Open
Source solutions emerged strongly. Consequently, WOUGNET along with other Civil
Society Organisations from all over Africa unanimously resolved to create an
interim civil society task force on Open Source software to be called 'Open
Source Task Force for Africa - OSTA'. The overall goal of the taskforce is to
bring together individuals and organizations working on Open Source in Africa
and consequently seek mandate to establish the 'Open Source Foundation for
Africa'.

The mandate of the interim taskforce is to put in place mechanisms and
activities that will, among others, lead to,
a) Advocacy for the use and implementation of Open Source solutions at the
regional, national and local level.
b) Creation of a clearinghouse or knowledge factory/resources, database of
local expertise, website, CD-ROM, brochures, etc.
c) Building localized/Africanized capacity to work on software development.
For more information, visit http://www.wougnet.org/ICTpolicy/opensource.html

A first step in this direction is the creation of a knowledge database of
individuals and organisations interested in and/or working on Open Source
solutions. As a member of the interim taskforce, WOUGNET is therefore requesting
those interested in being a part of this database to complete and send the
following form to [email protected] as soon as possible.

Regards,

Dorothy

_________________

Open Source in Africa Form

1) Name:

2) Country:

3) Email address:

4) Which one of the following best applies to you?
a) I do not use/know about Open Source software, and would like to learn about
it.
b) I use Open Source software.
c) I have technical expertise in providing/supporting Open Source software
solutions

[[ Please send completed form to [email protected] ]]