Research: open source software in India, Kenya, Egypt, and Mexico | The GitHub Blog

For the past 3.5 years, GitHub Tech for Social Good has explored the intersection of open source software (OSS) in the social sector. In April 2020, we published our first research report on the topic, which focused on OSS that was built in high-income countries, like the United States. We learned of key challenges the social sector faces when building or using OSS, such as budgeting for required labor costs, creating sustainability with limited funding, and finding volunteer support. We shifted our geographic focus for our new report. Many of the OSS that the social sector builds, including digital public goods, are deployed in low- and middle-income countries. In order for us to encourage inclusive design and development, we needed to understand more about OSS communities and the challenges they face in these countries. We selected four low- and middle-income countries that have strong tech ecosystems: India, Kenya, Egypt, and Mexico. Alongside our research partner, OBI Digital, our OSS research project connected us with 53 experts and 578 survey responses.