Let’s compile a list of open-source platforms and tools for ICT4D (information and communication technologies for development). A list of open-source solutions could help relief and development organizations to discover free platforms and tools, extend existing solutions, and avoid duplicating each other’s work. It could also help organizations avoid getting locked into long-term relationships with individual vendors.
This list does not in any way represent an endorsement of technologies, organizations, or approaches.
For more details about this project, see this blog post.
The list:
- Cybersecurity
- Data collection and analysis
- Humanitarian Aid
- IT infrastructure
- Mapmaking
- Project management
- Satellite imagery
- SMS (short message service)
- Voice services
- Sector-specific tools
- Country- or project-specific tools & deployments
- Create a GitHub account.
- Return to this list and click the pencil icon (next to the trash can).
- Edit the list by adding, deleting, or correcting an item.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page. Describe the change that you've made and click the "Propose file change" button.
- On the next screen, click the "Create pull request" button.
- On the discussion page that appears, click the "Create pull request" button.
- I will review and incorporate the changes.
You may also propose an edit by going to the Issues section, clicking the "New issue" button, and describing the change that you'd like to incorporate in the list.
Please use the following format when submitting an ICT4D platform or tool:
Name of platform or tool
Short description of the platform or tool (one or two sentences)
GitHub: URL
Website: URL
"ActivityInfo is an online humanitarian project monitoring tool, which helps humanitarian organizations to collect, manage, map and analyze indicators. ActivityInfo has been developed to simplify reporting and allow for real time monitoring" (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/bedatadriven/activityinfo
Website: http://www.activityinfo.org/
“KoBoToolbox is a suite of tools for field data collection for use in challenging environments…. Most of our users are people working in humanitarian crises, as well as aid professionals and researchers working in developing countries” (source).
Instructions: http://support.kobotoolbox.org/customer/portal/articles/1691105-using-kobotoolbox-offline
GitHub: https://github.com/kobotoolbox
Website: http://www.kobotoolbox.org/
The goal is to provide a “fast, accurate, cost effective and user-friendly way to collect data using mobile devices.” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/nokiadatagathering
Website: https://www.microsoftdatagathering.net/
“Open Data Kit (ODK) is a free and open-source set of tools which help organizations author, field, and manage mobile data collection solutions” (source).
Source code: https://code.google.com/p/opendatakit/
Website: http://opendatakit.org/
“Ushahidi is a platform that allows information collection, visualization and interactive mapping, allowing anyone to submit information through text messaging using a mobile phone, email or web form” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/ushahidi/Ushahidi_Web
Website: http://www.ushahidi.com/product/ushahidi/
A remote verification and monitoring system in order to track and report on the movement of goods to ensure that the intended beneficiaries receive them. The monitoring system makes use of creative, remote monitoring methods (such as mobile data collection, QR coding and GPS mapping) that integrates with a web application for administration, management and reporting on the status of shipments.
GitHub: https://github.com/theirc/CTS
Website: No public site available, each implementation is unique.
A tool that allows both service providers to register their services online and beneficiaries to both discover those services on a map and give feedback on them.
GitHub: https://github.com/theirc/ServiceInfo
Website: https://github.com/theirc/ServiceInfo
“Imaging software is key to quickly rolling out large numbers of identical machines.... Clonezilla automates a number of complex imaging tasks, and can handle a wide variety of OS and partition types from FAT/FAT32 (Microsoft Windows) to ext3/ext4 (Linux) and more" (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/stevenshiau/clonezilla
Website: http://clonezilla.org/developers/
“A collection of Python and Javascript libraries for creating websites, web manuals and other web applications with ‘offline’ features” (source).
Google Code: https://code.google.com/p/online-offline-ps/
“Initially built as a tool to help support a single project in Haiti, TowerDB has grown to a full-fledged application built to aid in the design and management of large-scale wireless networks” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/inveneo/poundcake
“[A] vector rendering framework for highly customizable and responsive client-side maps” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/mapbox
Website: https://www.mapbox.com/.
“PostGIS is a spatial database extender for PostgreSQL object-relational database. It adds support for geographic objects allowing location queries to be run in SQL” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/postgis/postgis
Website: http://postgis.net/
“A [free and open-source] alternative to ESRI, a popular commercial Geographic Information System software tool, that can be used to load and manipulate data before loading into mapping software” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/qgis/
Website: http://www.qgis.org/en/site/
“Resource Map helps people track their work, resources and results geographically in a collaborative environment accessible from anywhere” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/instedd/resourcemap
Website: http://resourcemap.instedd.org/en
“GONG (Gestión para ONGs) es una aplicación para gestión de ONGs de cooperación, es decir, enfocada para ONGDs (‘D’ de desarrollo)” (source).
Instructions: http://www.redmine.org/guide
Website: https://gong.org.es/
Sigmah is open source software for the shared management of international aid projects. Its flexible and intuitive design allows organizations to structure and continually improve the methodological framework of their activities and thereby improve the Quality and Accountability of their projects. Sigmah is the result of a participatory project run by a group of aid organizations. Using Groupe URD’s expertise and that of our technical and voluntary partners, Steering Cooperative members are able to develop the Sigmah software in order to address expressed needs.
Source code: https://github.com/sigmah-dev/sigmah
Website: http://www.sigmah.org/
"Libra is an open-source, Landsat-8 imagery browser. It relies on landsat-api and an AngularJS-designed GUI to allow users to browse, sort, and download more than 275 Terabytes of open Landsat imagery" (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/joshtong/open-source-ict4d
Website: https://developmentseed.org/projects/libra/
“FrontlineSMS is a free open source software used by a variety of organizations to distribute and collect information via text messages (SMS). The software can work without an internet connection and with only a cell phone and computer” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/frontlinesms
Website: http://www.frontlinesms.com/
“RapidSMS is a free and open-source framework for rapidly building mobile services for scale” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/RapidSMS/RapidSMS
Website: https://www.rapidsms.org/
“The world's first SMS voter registration system.” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/SmartElect/SmartElect
Website: http://smartelect.com/
“Verboice is a free and open-source tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and run applications that interact via voice, allowing your users to listen and record messages in their own language and dialect or answer questions with a phone keypad” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/instedd/verboice
Website: http://www.ilabsoutheastasia.org/technologies/verboice/
“Solutions for Open Land Administration (SOLA) Project is an open source software system that aims to make computerised cadastre and registration systems more affordable and more sustainable in developing countries” (source).
GitHub
- Registry: https://github.com/SOLA-FAO
- State Land: https://github.com/SOLA-SL-FAO
- Systematic Registration: https://github.com/SOLA-SR-FAO
Website: http://www.flossola.org/
“eXeLearning is an open source content authoring tool that makes it easy to author and share interactive education resources online or offline: content can include text, images, audio, video, multi choice quizzes, fill in the blank, drop down exercises, image galleries and more.“
Source: https://forja.cenatic.es/scm/?group_id=197
Website: http://www.exelearning.net
“Fedena is a free & opensource school management software that has more features than a student information system. Use Fedena to efficiently manage students, teachers, employees, courses & all the system & process related to your institution” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/projectfedena/fedena
Website: http://www.projectfedena.org/
“The OpenEMIS initiative aims to deploy a high-quality Education Management Information System (EMIS) designed to collect and report data on schools, students, teachers and staff” (source).
Google Code: https://code.google.com/p/openemis/
Website: https://www.openemis.org/
“An app for assessing math and reading skills, designed for tablets but works everywhere” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/Tangerine-Community/Tangerine/tree/develop
Website: http://www.tangerinecentral.org/
"An open source mobile learning platform that works offline that supports low cost feature phones, Android devices and PCs."
GitHub: (https://www.github.com/UstadMobile/UstadMobile)
Website: https://www.ustadmobile.com/
“RapidFTR is a versatile open-source mobile phone application and data storage system that… [helps] humanitarian workers collect, sort and share information about unaccompanied and separated children in emergency situations so they can be registered for care services and reunited with their families” (source).
Instructions: http://www.rapidftr.com/developer-info/
GitHub: https://github.com/rapidftr
Website: http://www.rapidftr.com/
“ReliefWeb is a… source [of] authoritative and vetted information about disasters and humanitarian crises. This application combines ReliefWeb's new REST API with a custom-built Twitter timeline-processing script to give authoritative, real-time updates on an occurring disaster” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/reliefweb/disaster-tracker
Website: http://reliefweb.github.io/disaster-tracker/
"Sahana Eden is an Emergency Development Environment—an Open Source framework to rapidly build powerful applications for Emergency Management. It is a web based collaboration tool that addresses the common coordination problems during a disaster from finding missing people, managing aid, managing volunteers, tracking camps effectively between Government groups, the civil society (NGOs) and the victims themselves" (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/flavour/eden
Website: http://eden.sahanafoundation.org/
"Vesuvius is focused on the disaster preparedness and response needs of the medical community, contributing to family reunification and assisting with hospital triage. Vesuvius’s development is led by the US National Library of Medicine as part of the Bethesda Hospitals Emergency Preparedness Partnership to serve area hospitals, medical facilities and jurisdictions with a need to tie intake records with missing/found persons reports submitted by the public" (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/sahana/vesuvius
Website: http://sahanafoundation.org/products/vesuvius/
“CommCare replaces community health workers’ paper registers and flip charts with open-source software that runs on inexpensive phones” (source [PDF]).
GitHub: https://github.com/dimagi
Website: https://www.commcarehq.org/home/
“The global OpenMRS community works together to build [a global] open source enterprise electronic medical record system platform” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/openmrs
Website: http://openmrs.org/
“OpenSIS is a commercial grade, secure, scalable & intuitive Open Source Student Information System from OS4ED" (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/mehulsbhatt/opensis
Website: http://www.opensis.com/home
“Our webapps support groups working for democracy, open government, and citizen rights around the globe. Designed with the needs of civic groups in the developing world in mind, these tools solve some of the most common problems faced by concerned citizens working to improve their societies” (source).
GitHub: https://github.com/nditech
Website: https://www.nditech.org/demtools