Open Source, Shared Capability
How communities can build digital systems they understand, shape and sustain—and how CONVERGENCE aims to help
A school needs dependable learning tools. A public agency needs services people can access. A community organization needs to manage information without losing control of it.
Buying software addresses only part of the challenge.
People also need the knowledge, resources and authority to operate those systems, improve them and change direction when circumstances change.
That is digital capability. And open source can help communities build it.
Through CONVERGENCE, Mobilized News is bringing these questions into a shared conversation with a practical purpose: turn knowledge about open technology into resources communities can use.
The central question: How do we make open-source digital public infrastructure understandable, adoptable, sustainable and useful for the communities that need it most?
The big idea
Open technology becomes valuable when people can put it to work.
That requires more than publishing code. It requires clear explanations, accessible services, capable local teams, dependable support and accountable decisions.
Three ideas, in everyday language
- Open source: Software whose license allows people to access its underlying code, use it, modify it and redistribute it under specified conditions. Publicly visible code alone does not meet the definition.
- Digital public infrastructure, or DPI: Foundational digital systems that support services across society, such as identity verification, payments and secure information exchange. Open source can help build these systems; their public value also depends on governance, funding and institutional responsibilities.
- Community digital capability: The practical ability to choose, use, maintain and improve technology—and hold its operators accountable.
The opportunity: Combine reusable technology with the skills and institutions needed to serve people over time.
1. Build capability alongside the software
Living example: DHIS2 and the HISP network
DHIS2 is an open-source information platform widely used in public health. Its supporting HISP network works with ministries and other local partners on implementation, customization, maintenance and training.
Organizations operate their own DHIS2 systems, while local and regional support helps develop the ability to manage them.
What matters: The software travels with opportunities to build knowledge.
A public institution gains more control when its staff understand the system, documentation is available and support can come from multiple qualified providers.
The practical lesson: Include training, knowledge transfer and operational documentation in the implementation budget from the beginning.
2. Give open-source collaboration an institutional home
An Open Source Program Office, usually called an OSPO, coordinates how an organization uses, develops and contributes to open-source software.
It can help departments evaluate tools, understand licenses, coordinate security responsibilities, share improvements and collaborate with outside communities.
Living example: The European Commission’s OSPO
The Commission established its OSPO in 2020. The office also manages code.europa.eu, a platform for open-source collaboration involving European institutions, developers and organizations.
What matters: Someone has responsibility for making collaboration workable.
For a smaller city, school network or nonprofit, the starting point could be a designated coordinator and a shared working group. The essential ingredients are a clear mandate, staff time and access to relevant expertise.
The practical lesson: Assign responsibility for open-source stewardship before expecting it to happen consistently.
3. Build infrastructure around public needs
Living example: X-Road
X-Road is open-source software for exchanging information between organizations. Estonia and Finland have collaborated on its development and operate their own environments using the technology. Their cooperation includes arrangements for cross-border information exchange.
It illustrates how shared technology can support different institutions without requiring every organization to use an identical internal system.
What matters: Technical connections need clear rules about access, responsibility and legitimate use.
Open-source software does not mean personal information should be public. Institutions still need to determine what information is necessary, who may access it and how misuse or errors can be challenged.
The UN’s Universal DPI Safeguards Framework provides guidance for addressing risks and building safer, more inclusive infrastructure.
The practical lesson: Evaluate infrastructure by whether people can obtain services safely and fairly—including when a digital process fails.
4. Let communities adapt the tools
Living example: Moodle’s translation community
Moodle’s AMOS translation system gathers community translations and produces language packages that can be installed on Moodle sites. Contributors help make the learning environment available in different languages.
What matters: Translation creates a meaningful route into technology development for people who do not write software.
Local adaptation also involves teaching practices, cultural expectations, disability access, connectivity and institutional responsibilities.
A system designed around reliable broadband may need substantial changes to work in a place where connections are intermittent.
The practical lesson: Invite local educators, residents, translators and frontline workers into design and testing. Give their contributions recognition and resources.
Make openness sustainable
Open-source projects need ongoing care.
Hosting, maintenance, security updates, documentation, accessibility and user support all require resources. A community can inherit difficult dependencies if only one person understands a heavily customized system.
A responsible adoption plan should therefore include:
- A named service owner: Someone accountable for keeping the service useful and dependable.
- A continuing budget: Funding for operation, upgrades, training and support.
- Support for maintainers: Resources for the shared projects the service depends on.
- A workable exit: Documentation, usable data exports and a tested route to another provider or system.
- Inclusive participation: Clear contribution instructions, respectful community practices and opportunities beyond coding.
Digital sovereignty becomes practical when communities can make informed choices and retain meaningful control. That can include purchasing expert services while keeping the knowledge and options needed to change providers.
Trust grows through experience
Accessible code creates opportunities for scrutiny. Public trust also depends on reliable service, understandable decisions, independent oversight and effective remedies.
People should be able to find out what happened when something goes wrong—and get help correcting it.
Mobilized’s goal is to connect practitioners, public institutions and communities so that discussions lead to useful resources.
The planned outcomes include:
| Planned resource | Practical purpose |
|---|---|
| Open Source for Public Good Action Guide | Explain how to identify needs, assess tools, run pilots and plan ongoing support. |
| Community Digital Sovereignty Toolkit | Help organizations examine control over data, accounts, hosting, contracts and migration options. |
| Digital Public Infrastructure Solutions Map | Connect documented needs with relevant tools, deployments, support networks and implementation requirements. |
| Practical introduction to OSPOs | Explain their responsibilities and how organizations of different sizes can begin. |
| Live and recorded interviews for global distribution | Share experience from builders, maintainers, public servants and community users. |
| Replication pathways | Help cities, agencies, schools, nonprofits, media organizations and civic groups adapt approaches responsibly. |
For these resources to be useful, they need to explain costs, limitations, prerequisites and lessons from failure alongside success.
Recorded conversations can become more accessible through captions, transcripts, translations and concise implementation notes.
The aim is shared learning that leads to informed action.
A starting point for any organization
Choose one service that people find difficult to use.
Bring together its users, frontline staff and technical support. Document the problem. Investigate existing tools and the communities maintaining them.
Then test a manageable improvement with:
- A clear public benefit.
- A responsible team and realistic budget.
- Accessible ways to participate and get help.
- Measures of success that reflect people’s experience.
- A review date and a plan for what happens next.
Share what you learn—including the parts another organization should approach differently.
Why Mobilized is bringing this together
Mobilized News was founded on the belief that a well-informed public is the most powerful and valuable natural resource of all.
Less talking. More doing.
It is essential that communities begin to connect information with the relationships, tools and skills that help people act.
Open-source communities offer an important lesson. Knowledge can become more useful as people examine it, adapt it and contribute improvements.
The measure of progress is what communities become able to do: understand their systems, shape their services, solve problems together and sustain the work.
