The AITI-KACE Open Source Resource Centre is to provide information; build technical capacity and conduct research activities on Open Source technologies to constitute a central body of knowledge that will empower governments within the ECOWAS sub-region to utilize the benefits of Open source tools and service as a means of accelerating Socio-Economic Development. The ability to freely and openly access knowledge is one of the fundamental values of Open Source that enable a rapid knowledge economy development.

BACKGROUND

ICTs have been known to improve the efficiency of institutions in all spheres. Substantial improvements can be achieved with appropriate use of technology. In spite of this, the benefits of technology have so far had relatively minor impact in Public services in many countries. The following are some of the reasons that account for this effect:

1. ICT have experienced significant growth only during the last 2 decades. This means that a vast majority of public service professionals who were educated in a technology environment lack the basic skills to use technology, let alone adapt or create to their needs.
2. There is a predominance of closed-source commercial software. These usually do not provide information which will allow for a deeper understanding. At best they only provide information about how to use them. This drastically reduces the adoption rate of technology since the software developer is also not aware of the dynamics of the user environment to create a more suitable system/product.
3. Due to the challenges described in (2), those who risk to buy technology for use often end up not getting the Return Of Investment because the user is unable to understand and adapt the technology (software) to his/her specific dynamics, therefore he/she cannot make effective use of the acquired system.
4. Open source software solves the above mentioned problems by providing an adoption-led market with open and usually free access to source code and documentation. It has however not found significant usage due to: - lesser knowledge about it - little or no marketing machinery to support it - lack of confidence by the users (there is a hype that its difficult to use). For any Government, whether well-resourced or otherwise, Open Source presents the best platform for technology-oriented economic development, yet very little of that has been seen due to some of these factors.

To address these challenges and make software and technology easily usable for public services to help improve service delivery and advance the complexity of service capabilities, we intend to establish an Open Source Resource Centre to help Government and Regional Organizations within ECOWAS in the use of Open Source by: Providing information dissemination to reach a greater majority of users; Developing a network of research activities and institutions in Open Source (Open Source Research Community); Undertaking Free/Libre Open Source Software research within the sub-region; Undertaking Free Open Source Software Assessment for use by Government; Manage Free Open Source Software Research through the Academia; Provide capacity building to help create and maintain Open Source Solutions for Governments and Regional Organizations; Provide Policy Development guideline for Governments and Regional Organizations in Open Standards and Open Source adoption. Collaborate and create partnership with other Open Source Resource Centres to share and exchange experience, expertise and resources and coordinate capacity building events.

ACTIVITIES

The Scope of activities of the Centre will be ECOWAS subregion and principal areas of will include but not limited to the following:

• END USER SKILLS: Office Productivity tools Internet usage Operating System (user)
• BACK OFFICE SOLUTIONS: Mail and collaboration systems Web Portals Intranet and Workflow Systems Document Management Systems Contact Management Systems Online Collaboration (wikis, blogs,forums,lists)
• INFORMATION DISSEMINATION: To develop various formats for Open Source Information Dissemination based on the specific dynamics of the community in question in terms of knowledge consumption. Different media will be used to reach different target groups. These may include: Compact Discs (CD) Materials, Booklets, Video Documentary, Audio Documentary, Involvement of media practitioners and marketers in divulging the Open Source Advantage
• SOFTWARE TESTING & EVALUATION: Help develop software requirements specification templates based on needs assessment. Test software to suit the specific dynamics of the user environment prior to adoption. Test and evaluate software prior to procurement.
• POLICY DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES: Help the development and adoption of Open Standards, and policies for public services and regional organization systems. Help in the development of policies for interoperability and substitutability frameworks for Government and Regional Organizational systems Help the design and development of migration planning and strategies for Government and Regional Organizational Systems.