The puzzle
Currently, most DPGs either do not have a community or lack the presence of an active or vibrant one. Community building is treated as an afterthought and deprioritised. However, the experience of open source communities around the world demonstrates that focusing on community-building early on makes the project more vibrant and successful in the long run.
The Context: Understanding the story of Communities
To develop a guide on building communities, Aapti Institute followed a two-pronged approach of ‘learn’ and ‘engage’.
Learn from legacy Open-Source Communities to document best practices relating to community engagement and expansion, which have evolved over the years through trial and error.
Engage with DPG collectives, at varying maturity levels (Beckn and eGov Foundation), to collaboratively and iteratively build roadmaps on how to develop active and sustainable open-source communities. This helped us understand the impetus and challenges encountered by DPG collectives while attempting to build open-source communities.
To build the guide, we also had the opportunity to contribute through two sessions that underscored the need to build vibrant and active communities around DPGs at the Annual DHIS2 Conference 2023. While the Conference was predominantly led by insights shared by technical experts, it was our effort to shed light upon non-technical layers around DPGs - the community around a DPG - which often receives little consideration in conversations related to the DPGs sustainability. Through our sessions, we leveraged the diverse participation at the Conference, to better inform our understanding of building a community - challenges encountered by DPG creators, motivations of community members, and methods to drive and sustain purpose-driven engagement.
These insights were collated into our OSS4DPGs Playbook - a first of its kind resource, curated specially for DPG Funders and Creators looking to sustainably grow and engage with their community. It also serves as a guide for stakeholders in the DPG ecosystem who are considering participating meaningfully in the community.
The Game Play
We propose to conduct a workshop - designed for interactive engagement, in-depth learning, all while being fun! This interactive workshop, which includes an exciting game, is designed to bring to the forefront reflections on a question that Aapti has perpetually encountered through our year-long inquiry on communities - ‘How do we build active, vibrant and sustainable communities around DPGs?’
In this workshop, participants are encouraged to brainstorm pathways to building a community. Our playbook identifies three stages of building a community - mapping stakeholders, unpacking community engagement and understanding community needs. They will be introduced to key challenges at every stage and shall explore specific pathways collaboratively to overcome challenges. Through the card game, they will understand the challenges encountered by DPG creators, motivations of community members, and methods to drive and sustain purpose-driven engagement.
Outcomes and Takeaways:
Participants have a deeper insight into the journey of building communities around DPGs.
Participants are able to better understand the unique set of challenges and also unpack solutions to build a vibrant and active community
Participants will be able to appreciate the role of diverse stakeholders across the lifecycle of community building