#OSWARRAP: Open Systems Strategies linking FOSS & Open Knowledge

 – to strengthen agriculture in Warrap State, South Sudan

Abstract. In many parts of the world new civil societies emerging from shattering conflict and revolution are facing the challenge to (re)construct nothing less than entirely new nations. Urgent calls to define political participation, state identity, economic self-determination, basic freedoms and reconciliation among resolute opponents have transformed seemingly local conflicts into issues of global concern. South Sudan, having gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011 must now tackle these herculean issues of post-conflict development and create a stable and viable democratic state. Agriculture and an extractives industry primarily based on crude oil reserves, form the nascent state’s two pillars of economic and political raison d’être. Considering this scenario in the age of social networks, collaborative enterprise and open technologies the #OSJUBA – Open Sourcing South Sudan Initiative1 is being developed to apply the methodologies of the world’s diverse open source and open knowledge communities in creating rapid and innovative new forms of development in regions of lingering conflict and post-war society. Keywords: Open Source, Post-Conflict Transformation, Agriculture, Open Knowledge, Open Systems, Open Data, South Sudan, ojoVoz, ICT4D, Community, Collaborative Systems, Innovation, Sustainability, Empowerment

Read the full report at OSWARRAP_INTERACT2013_publication1 (PDF)

Adam speaks with Her Excellency, the Governor of Warrap State Ms. Nyandeng Malek Dielic, and Stephen Kovats, founder of the r0g_agency.

Governor Nyandeng is the first female elected governor of one of South Sudan’s 10 federal states and a long-term advocate of women’s rights, education and empowerment. Adam and Stephen talk with her about her thoughts on open systems and open media as she tries to bring one million pastoralists into the 21st century.

Sounds: Kindly lent by Cathode.
Image. Planting the seeds of a better future in South Sudan (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Oxfam)