Code for All Dispatch — September 2019 Edition
Our monthly newsletter is one of the ways we keep up with each other and share resources, funding opportunities and challenges. Now, we’re opening it up to our wider community.
👋 Hello civic tech friends,
Welcome to your September update from Code for All! I can’t believe we are nearing the tail end of the year already, but looking back it has been an incredibly full and productive year for many of us.
I’m excited and also sad to say this is the last newsletter I’ll be writing on behalf of Code for All, as I step down from communications lead at the end of September. It’s been an amazing adventure, and working with a community of change-makers from all over the world has been humbling to say the least. Thank you for all your support, ideas and energy!
I’ll still be part of the network through Code for Australia, I’ll just be hanging up my Code for All hat, instead spending more time on my new project.
- Grace
⏰ Sixty Minute Sprint
Where you’ll find the stuff that’s most pressing for the network, which won’t ever be more than an hour of your time, total.
- We’ve had an overwhelming amount of folks apply for the Communications Lead position & we will be closing applications at the end of today. Have a read of the position description and see if you might know someone this could be perfect for.
- Make sure you have the upcoming board meeting flagged in your diary. There are two options: 10–11:30am or 4–5:30pm GMT, Wednesday 4th September. If you haven’t got an invite, ping your representative, or Kelly on Slack [members only]
- We’re also doing a quick retro in advance of the board call to surface some of our wins and some areas for improvement. Please take 10 minutes to complete it if you haven’t done so yet [members only]
👪 Code for All Updates
- Kelly is officially onboard and absolutely killing it. If you haven’t had a chance to connect with her yet, reach out and say hello!
- We wrote a summary about the things we’ve achieved so far with NED. We don’t want to make any advance announcements, but we’ll know in about a week’s time if our application for another year of funding has been successful. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
- We’re working on preparing the next round of peer learning sessions. Tell us what you want to know here. We’re also experimenting with a communications working group in a few days time! Let me know if you’d like to join us and we’ll loop you in.
📰 Member Updates
- Code for Pakistan 🇵🇰 Fellowship team have been working on developing their MVPs while also undergoing training and mentorship sessions. For better insight, these MVPs are regularly being tested with Government departments and other stakeholders.
- Code for Australia 🇦🇺 are in the process of becoming a B Corp (what is that?) and are learning lots about what being a “good” organisation looks like through a number of different lenses. If you’re interested in carbon calculations or staff engagement surveys, reach out to Grace to chat more! Or check out the slides from our recent Open House.
- Open Data Kosovo 🇽🇰 has continued sharing its co-working opportunities and has received new members. Furthermore, it has updated its co-working website which is now here.
- Code For Germany 🇩🇪 is currently working on a sample catalogue for Open Data in German municipalities. The catalogue shall give an overview of all potentially available datasets for all 11000 German municipalities. Germany’s strong federal structure makes this increasingly difficult. The catalogue will be accompanied by a study and a policy brief for political decision makers showcasing high potential datasets and easy ways to get started.
- Code For Hungary / K-Monitor 🇭🇺 is testing the beta version of the Hotel Oligarch web application, a map based database listing hotels and restaurants owned by politically exposed persons in Hungary and abroad. The application will be released in September.
- Code for Canada 🇨🇦 is still basking in the glow of their 2019 Showcase, which brought civic tech and digital government leaders together from across Canada (you can check out all the speakers and presentations here). The team has also finished recruitment for their fourth fellowship cohort; it was their most successful recruitment ever, with 340 people applying to be a fellow.
- Code for NL 🇳🇱 is trying out a new model for programmes. We collaborate with government organisations and let them make use of our brand and channels for communicating show cases, events, and knowledge. In return, they provide topical content and community management. This new approach makes the collaborations very lightweight for Code for NL, as we now only need to help strategically. Our first two such programmes are ‘NL design systems’ and ‘AI with Impact’. Please reach out to Johan Groenen on Slack for more information.
- Contributors of g0v 🇹🇼 have hosted sessions and presented projects at COSCUP, Taiwan’s largest open-source conference. g0v-jothon, a g0v community task force in charge of hosting g0v hackathons (and the g0v Civic Tech Prototype Grant), is busy organizing a special edition hackathon that will take place on September 7th, inside Taipei City Council. On August 29, g0v-jothon moved into its new, independent office inside NPO Hub Taipei.
- Code for Japan 🇯🇵 dispatched 2 fellows to local governments in June. In this fellowship program, these corporate employees have been working on the themes of public relations and operational reform. 50 people have been dispatched to local governments.
- Codeando Mexico and Slashroots Foundation 🇲🇽 🇯🇲 are continuing work to establish a Digital Citizen Engagement program and community of practice inside the Code for All community, with initial talks happening via webinars in that past few weeks. Catch up on notes here or continue the conversation on Slack in the #citizen-engagement channel.
Reps — remember to add what you’re working on to the next edition here [members only] in a few weeks time!
🔭 Funding Opportunities
This is where we share opportunities we’ve stumbled upon lately.
- [Europe] EU Commission — Unleashing Creativity for European Industry, Regions and Society
- [Mexico] EU Commission — Equal Opportunities for Young People
- [Global] Minor Foundation — Increasing political support for cutting green house gas emissions
- [DRC] Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund — Call for Proposals
- [Africa] Africa-China Reporting Project — Reporting grants and workshop on digital identity, data & technology in Africa 2019
- [Global] Action — new and ongoing citizen science projects related to any form of pollution
- [Global] Muste Institute — Social Justice Fund
- [Kenya] Uraia Trust — Call for Proposals
🐰 That’s all folks!
If you’re hungry for more, here’s how you can find out what Code for All is working on and get involved.
- If you want to see what Code for All are working on, head over to Trello for our working notes [members only] or drop an idea for us here [members only].
- Our weekly planning calls and monthly retros are open for any to dial into to observe and provide feedback. Let us know if you want to join us and we’ll send you an invite (just hit reply to let us know).
- Or read through and leave feedback on our latest ExCo minutes from 13th August [members only] and 27th August [members only]. The current ExCo members are g0v, Codeando México and Slashroots.
To get in touch with Code for All and tell us what you’ve been up to, hit reply to this email, find us on Slack (@kelly and @grace).
Lastly — if there’s someone from your organisation who’s not getting these updates, but should be, you can subscribe them here.
Until next month — keep up the good work!
Team Code for All
(Kelly & Grace)
If you want these to land in your inbox directly, you can subscribe here. Dispatches are usually dispatched on the first Tuesday of the month.
If you have any suggestions or opportunities to share, my inbox is always open (well, until the end of September) or you can find me on Slack (@grace) anytime.
