Request for expression of interest to manage a sub-regional node of the International Open Source Network
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We are looking for three partners to manage three sub-regional nodes in the Asia-Pacific region. These nodes can possibly be called ‘IOSN South Asia’, ‘IOSN ASEAN+3’, and ‘IOSN Pacific Island Countries’. The list of countries that would fall under each sub-regional node and which are, therefore, eligible to submit an expression of interest is given below.
Ideally, we are looking for a government agency, academic institution or civil society organization with a proven track record in Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) development, research, deployment, and advocacy. The candidate organization must be able to internalize sub-regional needs and priorities in FOSS and design and implement a programme that is truly needs-based.
Primary Research Focus: The sub-regional nodes will undertake research activities in three primary focus areas, namely, Open Content, Open Standards and Open Source. This could be accomplished via the establishment of research teams or “cells” within each sub-regional facility. Besides a small core staff, these teams/cells could include volunteers and/or consultants who will collaborate across a wide spectrum of activities such as data collection, research, analysis, authoring and review. We believe this will encourage other institutions from the public and volunteer sectors to undertake serious research into various aspects and implications of FOSS for the developing world. The primary focus of research for each sub-region could be:
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IOSN South Asia -- Open Content
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IOSN ASEAN +3 -- OpenStandards
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IOSN Pacific Island Countries -- Open Source
Secondary Research Focus: Apart from the primary research focus area mentioned above, each sub-regional node could also conduct research on specific areas of FOSS application where either software or human resources are unavailable in the Asia-Pacific region. Many of these focus areas were identified during the first Free/Open Source Software Asia Pacific (FOSSAP) consultation held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2004.
IOSN has already produced some research outputs in connection with a few areas such as Localization. But additional concerted and specialized research is required in, for example, e-Learning; health; finance; e-governance; geographic information system (GIS); and multimedia. Perhaps the proposed sub-regional centres could focus as follows:
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IOSN South Asia -- e-Learning
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IOSN ASEAN+3 -- Health, Finance and e-Governance
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IOSN Pacific Island Countries -- GIS, Earth Science, and Multimedia Imaging and Publishing
IOSN Portal: The IOSN portal <http://www.iosn.net> serves as a comprehensive, online resource centre providing information on FOSS, FOSS news, wikis, blogs, and online discussion forums, and acts as a means for the FOSS community to collaborate and interact. It is co-managed by IOSN and FOSS advocates throughout the region and all three sub-regional nodes will partake in its management in the areas of their expertise and specialization.
Each selected sub-regional node will be designated as a UNDP-APDIP Centre of Excellence on FOSS.
UNDP-APDIP will provide seed financing, incubation services for 12-18 months, initial hosting services for the IOSN portal, as well as official affiliation with UNDP-APDIP. Each sub-regional node will also receive overall guidance, support and management assistance by IOSN and UNDP-APDIP in delivering its activities.
Information concerning IOSN, is provided here and can also be found at http://www.iosn.net.
Expressions of interest are treated confidentially and should be sent no later than 10 October 2005 by email to the manager of IOSN, Mr. Sunil Abraham, at <sunil@apdip.net> and include the following information in no more than 16 pages:
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A brief profile of your organization, including vision, objectives, programmes, projects, activities and a brief summary of achievements. Also include key data regarding infrastructure and human resources and annex the legal act/statutes establishing your organization. Finally, include key financial information such as sources of funding and financial sustainability. (Maximum 3 pages)
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A description of your institutional expertise/experience with regard to FOSS, along with brief (8-10 lines) description of each major FOSS-related project/programme undertaken so far. (Maximum 4 pages)
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A description of your linkages and connections with government agencies, civil society organizations, academic organizations, GNU/Linux User Groups, Free Software Foundations and other FOSS researchers and practitioners. (Maximum 2 pages)
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The ideas and expectations you would bring to the implementation and future development of the information service, the resources your organization would be able to contribute in the medium- and long-term, and a suggested time-frame for transitioning the service, including management of the IOSN portal for the sub-region, and in making it sustainable. (Maximum 6 pages)
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A brief profile of the individual that would lead this effort in your organization and any other possible members of the team. (Maximum 1 page)
NOTE: Expressions of interest will be entertained only from institutions and not individuals. We will acknowledge receipt of all expressions of interest by email but contact only those organizations we take further interest in.
List of Countries for
List of Countries for ASEAN +3
Democratic People's Republic of
List of Countries for the Pacific
Last modified 2005-10-05 02:10 PM
