Open Source Zambia
ZISI Executive Summary
The planned Zambia Institute for Software Innovation (ZISI) is intended to promote advanced study in the development and application of open source software in Zambia. A small core staff plus occasional visiting Fellows will provide intensive tuition to (initially) up to 10 students at a time. Students will be required to use, adapt and contribute to existing open source projects in order to make the Zambian software sector an active participant in the global open source software community rather than merely a passive consumer – and to find innovative ways to make money from their software. Students will be supported in this through financial assistance to attend international software conferences. In addition, the computing and internet facilities of ZISI and the expertise of staff and students will be made available to the local community in order to promote basic computer literacy.
The Institute will earn some revenue from its activities, but will require ongoing funding for its major expenses. We are actively seeking funding from international development organisations, regional and national bodies and private businesses. Funding requirements are expected to be in the region of $220 000 per year for five years in the first instance, after an initial sum of $2500 to set up the project.
ZISI Proposal (latest version) (PDF, 793 KB)
Version 1.0 of proposal (ODT, 69.2 KB)
Version 0.9 of proposal (ODT, 54.3 KB)
Other information