Making collaboration across contexts possible
We provide the codebase stewardship activities explicitly at ecosystem level. We do not operate at a national or city level. Working at the ecosystem level makes sure that context-specific code or policy does not become a barrier to implementation. Codebase stewardship means making sure that code is reusable across contexts globally.
For local implementations, we collaborate with local implementation partners. With local partners, we can both facilitate effective integration of the codebases in the local context while simultaneously making it easier for others to implement as well.
Providing long term product sustainability
One of the most significant barriers to uptake of open source code is the unpredictable nature of maintainers.
Products in the care of the Foundation for Public Code have long term sustainability. Prospective users can trust there will be packages when they need to update their systems. Future contributors can trust that there will be someone to receive their pull request after the original maintainers have moved on.
We provide this sustainability in the first place by creating strong communities of users and developers that can take ownership of the product. We also provide infrastructure to enable all members of the community to contribute, for example mailing lists and tools for continuous integration testing.
We don’t give a person a fish. We don’t even assume they want to learn fishing. We help them figure out what nourishment they need, and then help them along on that path, regardless if it is becoming a fisher or a farmer.