Code for All Newsletter — March 2022

> Welcome 

Our thoughts are with the ongoing crisis unfolding in Ukraine ????????. We’re heartbroken and appalled by this massive humanitarian crisis. In the past weeks, we have also seen our member organizations and the tech community coming together to find ways to use their skills to hopefully help Ukrainians affected. How can we help? Each of us can support and provide help through different charitable organizations.

> Code for All Updates

1. We’re happy to announce our next Civic Tech + Civil Society Exchange — Public Participation Guide: Experimenting with Context by OpenUp. Stay tuned for updates on this project!

2. Code for All is teaming up with DemocracyLab to engage the global tech-for-good community during the 48 HOUR EARTH DAY hackathon on April 21st – 23rd.  Our planet has never needed us more than it does right now. Click the event link to submit your project and/or RSVP!

3. We are excited to be launching the Civic Tech + SDGs series. Join our Inaugural Event: Forging Friendship: Civic Tech <> SDGs on March 24th. Codeando México, Code for Pakistan, and Sinar Project will join speakers from the UN and other international organizations to discuss their work, ideas and collaborations.

> Member Updates 

Here find updates from a handful of our 30+ member organizations.

Tech community is responding to Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis ????????

→ Code for Romania ????????

Has activated its War Task Force mechanism in order to provide help for the refugees arriving at Romania’s borders from Ukraine. In less than 72 hours, we delivered Dopomoha.ro, a platform available in Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Romanian, as well as two new platforms included in Dopomoha: Un Acoperiș (eng: One Roof) and Sprijin de Urgență (eng: Emergency Support), both with the purpose of managing all the resources gathered in Romania for the Ukrainian refugees.

→ Code for America ????????

Code for America’s annual Summit is happening in May and will be hybrid this year! In other news, we also just announced our new vision for the Code for America Network – read it here!

→ Code for Australia  ????????

We’re working on a range of new products – it’s all very exciting! Our Infoxchange Fellows are finishing up their project to help service providers find help for their clients, watch a demo here.

→ Code for Germany ????????

Participated in the international Open Data Day on March 5th. Volunteers across the country hosted online workshops and panels to foster learning and discussion between government, private sector, researchers, and interested individuals.

→ Code for Japan  ???????? 

We launched our new program “Civic Tech Challenge”, which takes up social issues as themes and prototypes them with contributors from all over Japan. In the first phase, we will focus on the topics of child-rearing and household chores.

→ Code for Pakistan ???????? 

Held an International Women’s Day Summit in Islamabad on March 8th with knowledge-building sessions for Fellows & Interns on personal branding, query optimization, startup ecosystem & innovative solutions. We had DeafTawk as an inclusivity partner doing live sign language at the event.

→ mySociety ????????

We have new interim leadership! By chance rather than explicit design, we’re also now a woman-led and woman-majority organisation for the first time in mySociety’s history. Meanwhile, the second TICTeC Surgery looked at how we can all make our tech more accessible to everyone.

→ Open Data Kosovo ????????

Is a member of the National Coordinating Committee for Kosovo’s membership in the international initiative for Open Government Partnership (OGP). On March 8th, we organized and hosted the first public debate in the Municipality of Prishtina to discuss the priorities, challenges, and opportunities for open government.

> ⏰ 5 Minutes With Esther Semo

Head of Communications & Community at Code for Australia

Here’s a sneak peek of our monthly series of brief conversations with grassroots activists, creative technologists, and change-makers, premiered by Code for Australia’s Esther Semo. Here’s a sneak peak. Find the full conversation here.

What are the biggest civic tech challenges in Australia?

Our vision as an organization is that by 2030, Australia will have a world-class digital government, and it’s our vision for a reason… we aren’t there yet. There are a number of public sector challenges that prohibit this as a reality currently. Many of these challenges have to do with ways of working and how products and services are designed and built, which is why at Code for Australia we put such a focus on capability building.

> Job & Opportunities

This is where we share current job opportunities we’ve found within and around the network. 

• Code for Pakistan: Social Media & Website Coordinator
• Code for America: Senior Service Designer, User Experience Designer, Senior Qualitative UX Researcher, Software Engineering Manager, and more!
• mySociety: TICTeC Labs programme

> Events around the world

This is where we share upcoming events within the civic tech realm. 

• [March 24] Forging Friendship: Civic Tech <> SDGs
• [April 21 – 23] 48 Hour Earth Day Hackaton

> Listening & Reading Room

Here’s a list of some of the latest articles and podcasts that we recommend. Find a nice spot, grab your ???? and tune in:

• Talking About a More Digital Government: Episode 7 — Women in Digital & Technology.
• How To Use the Twitter API to collect Tweet data
• Data: A superpower, or a super pain?
• The Visualizations of The Tension Between Russia and Ukraine

> That’s all folks! 

If you wish to connect with our member organizations or are interested in giving a hand with a particular project, please get in touch with us – we’d love to hear from you! Find us on Slack (@sofia, @lorin, @mar, @nonso).

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Until next month — keep up the good work!

Team Code for All