The International Open Source Network, Tactical Tech, and ICTWatch as well as supporters through The Federal Ministry for Economic Development and InWent, see this event as a crucial piece in their longer-term work with the NGO and SME sector in the region. All four organisations are dedicated to building the NGO and SME sector and are engaged in a large number of initiatives outside of the training context. These range from driving regional localisation initiatives to influencing policy discussions, and from creating guides and toolkits to developing new technology service delivery models for the NGO and SME sector. This event will act as a vehicle for broadening the circle of those involved in such initiatives, as an opportunity to seed future projects, and as a venue for new ideas, opportunities and projects to emerge.

The event is guided by an advisory board of established NGO, SME and FOSS professionals from across the South and South East Asian region. Asia Source is funded by donations from InWEnt, Hivos and APDIP. 

 

Organizers

International Open Source Network – Asia Pacific Development Information Programme www.iosn.net and www.apdip.net

The International Open Source Network (IOSN) is an initiative of APDIP and supported by the International Development Research Centre of Canada. IOSN is a Centre of Excellence for Free/Open Source Software (FOSS), Open Content and Open Standards in the Asia-Pacific region. It is a network with a small secretariat based at the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok and three centres of excellence – IOSN ASEAN+3, IOSN PIC (Pacific Island Countries), and IOSN South Asia, based in Manila, Suva and Chennai respectively. IOSN provides policy and technical advice on FOSS to governments, civil society and the private sector. It produces FOSS awareness and training materials and distributes them under open content licenses. It also organizes awareness raising, training, research and networking initiatives to assist countries in developing a pool of human resources skilled in the use and development of FOSS. IOSN works primarily through its web portal www.iosn.net that is collectively managed by the FOSS community. The www.apdip.net web portal serves as a clearing-house and a platform for knowledge sharing and collaborations.

InWEnt - Capacity Building International, Germany www.inwent.org

InWEnt – Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung (Capacity Building International, Germany) gGmbH stands for the development of human resources and organizations through international cooperation. InWEnt’s training and dialogue services cater to managers, skilled and executive personnel and decision makers from business, politics, administration and civil society throughout the world. Reaching about 55,000 persons per year InWEnt works together with partners in developing, transition and industrialized countries. The Federal Republic of Germany through its Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is InWEnt’s main shareholder.


Through its it@inwent programmes, InWEnt helps multiplying partners in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to provide advanced knowledge in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The key objectives of the programmes are to strengthen IT sectors in various regions of the world, foster key innovations in ICTs for development and use ICTs as enabling tools for poverty reduction. Within its it@foss project, InWEnt supports the development and application of local innovative software solutions and business models based on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the ASEAN region. For more information on it@foss, see www.it-foss.org.

Tactical Technology Collective www.tacticaltech.org

Tactical Tech is an Amsterdam-based NGO working to increase technology use within NGOs in developing and transition countries. Together, its founders have more than ten years of experience encouraging the tactical use of technology by the voluntary and educational sectors. The organisation is dedicated to the goal of demystifying technology for non-profits. As well as running Source events and producing NGO-in-a-Box, TTC provides support and advice to over thirty projects yearly in the areas of alternative access and strategic technology use.

ICT Watch

ICT Watch is a Jakarta based non-profit institution focusing itself to social activities, particularly those related to information and communication technology (Information and Communication Technology–ICT). In performing its activities, ICT Watch synergistically cooperates with parties with similar vision and mission. ICT Watch is established in the beginning of January 2004, by a group of young people sharing their common concern to ICT implementation and empowering in Indonesia. ICT Watch is a registered legal entity under the Centre for ICT Studies Foundation. ICT Watch has worked closely with over 20 association and organisations in Indonesia. It has conducted 4 national seminars and has executed 5 research projects with international partners. It has executed print and television media campaigns and also created a GNU/Linux distribution.
IOSN ASEAN+3 / University of Philippines, Manila, Philippines www.upm.edu.ph
The University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) is one of the seven autonomous universities under the University of the Philippines System. Most of the 12 units that now compose UP Manila, started as independent units decades ago. In 1977, these units were grouped together with the establishment of the Health Sciences Center. In 1979, the Center was elevated to the status of an autonomous university and was renamed University of the Philippines Manila in 1983. UPM has been selected by United Nations Development Programme's Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme to be International Open Source Network – ASEAN + 3.

Aspiration www.aspirationtech.org

Allen Gunn of Aspiration is a long time partner of Tactical Tech's and together they have developed the style and approach to Source events over the past four years. Aspiration connects NGOs with software solutions that help them better carry out their work. They help non-profit organizations to obtain and use the best software to maximize their effectiveness and impact so that they, in turn, can change the world. Aspiration identifies what is available and what is missing in the non-profit and NGO software arena, fostering relationships, delivery systems, and sustainability strategies between NGOs and their technology support organizations around the world. Aspiration Co-Director Allen Gunn is directing agenda design and facilitation at Asia Source, as he has done previously for the Summer Source and Africa Source camps.

Supporters 

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) www.bmz.de/en/ and InWEnt

The BMZ is the core financer and steering sponsor of it@foss, and is the main governmental body commissioning the InWEnt activities. All it@foss activities are integral part of the German development strategy, including the action plan 2015. The BMZ develops the guidelines and the fundamental concepts on which German development policy is based. It lays down the long-term strategies for cooperation with the various actors involved, and defines the rules by which these are translated into practice. Official development assistance (ODA) embraces all technical and financial cooperation projects which are agreed on in contracts entered into with the governments of partner countries. The BMZ commissions the German „implementing organisations“ (GTZ, KfW Development Bank, and InWEnt) to realise these projects.

Hivos www.hivos.nl

Hivos is a non-governmental organisation, rooted in the Netherlands and guided by humanist values, that wants to contribute to a free, fair and sustainable world where citizens, women and men, have equal access to resources, opportunities and markets and can participate actively and equally in decision-making processes that determine their lives, their society and their future.
United Nations Development Programme's Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
United Nations Development Programme's Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) has been supporting the strategic and effective use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for poverty alleviation and sustainable human development since 1997. It created the International Open Source Network (IOSN), which is a Centre of Excellence for Free / Open Source Software in the Asia-Pacific Region. IOSN is also supported by the International Development Research Centre, Canada.