Possible source of funding?
Hi, All:
I came across this today (below) and wonder if there is room in the
OSI's ITC initiative for helping to realize the Debian-NP
distribution(s) and some tailoring of packages to specifically support
open/civil society NGOs.
Not to get hopes up, as a whole Linux distribution may not mesh with
their needs exactly, but on cost-for-quality, utility and
sustainability, Debian has a lot going for it.
I'd like to help sound it out/draft a proposal if we can define a clear
target or two. Is there anyone at SPI who could administer it if a
501c3 status (U.S. charitable corporation) is required?
BK
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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: OSI INFORMATION PROGRAM ICT TOOLSETS
APPLICATION DEADLINE: September 30, 2003
APPLICATION EMAIL: toolsets@osieurope.org
RESULTS ANNOUNCED: December 1, 2003
ABOUT: The Open Society Institute's Information Program is pleased to
issue
a request for project proposals for its ICT Toolsets initiative. This
initiative seeks to advance and support open society principles and
practices by funding the development of software tools designed to meet
the
mission objectives of civil society organizations and actors.
Sectors of interest:
* human rights
* legal services for disadvantaged groups
* NGO support
* independent news media
* anti-corruption
* public health (disease and issue-specific)
Application categories:
* situation/case monitoring (domestic violence, human rights, etc)
* case management
* knowledge management
* advocacy/campaign management
* data mining, analysis, visualization
* collaboration
* metadata management (ontologies, semantic web)
* secure communications or web surveillance/censorship monitoring tools
Excluded sectors and categories:
* administrative tools (e.g. accounting, grant management)
* eGovernment software
* education and training software
Criteria for funded toolsets:
* Proposed toolsets must directly contribute to the social
missions of civil society organizations and initiatives.
Tools developed for commercial applications that can be
adapted to promote the mission objectives of civil society
organizations will be considered.
* A project team may apply for support at any stage of
toolset creation; teams in the process of development are
encouraged to apply for funds to complete and promote their
toolsets.
* Given the wide variety of content management systems
currently available, proposals for these systems will not be
considered unless they respond to a significant, unmet need.
* Project proposals should fall between $50,000 and
$200,000.
* The project proposal should include a support and
sustainability strategy beyond the grant period.
* Both end-user and developer documentation for the software
is required by the end of the grant cycle. Please make sure
to include the time and cost for this in the proposal where
appropriate.
* Each proposal must identify a group of end-users who will
test the software before final release. Proposals should
clearly detail the expected user population, focusing on the
scenarios and circumstances under which the toolset would be
best used.
* Each proposal must include a detailed budget and timeline.
Please be certain to specify appropriate resources for the
software?s completion, full testing, and documentation.
* Open source projects with an active development community
and approved Open Source Initiative licensing are preferred.
* Software must be based on Unicode encoding to support
localization in non-Latin character sets.
* Application development team with prior software
development and implementation experience preferred.
* Projects that encourage standards compliance and
interoperability are preferred. Please be sure to note this
in section four of the proposal if applicable.
* Projects that have additional funding are preferred.
* Toolsets may be desktop, client-server, or peer-to-peer
applications.
Proposal format:
The proposal should be no more than ten pages [2500 words]
and include the following information:
1. Sector of interest and application category
2. Abstract/overview (1-2 paragraphs only)
3. Detailed description of project
4. Description of technology involved
5. Description of user group, including expected location(s) and use
scenarios
6. Description of civil society application for project
7. Description of team, including countries of origin and previous
software
development experience
8. Budget/timeline
9. Co-funders (if any)
Evaluation:
Proposal reviewers will have experience in both software development and
deployment and the civil society environment.
Grant applicants will be notified of decisions no later than December
1st,
2003. Please send all project proposals to toolsets@osieurope.org
by September 30th, 2003.
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