Designing infrastructures of care for East Africa's open source movement.
We exist so contributors can create without sacrificing their wellbeing. Our programs bridge funding, mentorship, mental health, and governance support—helping maintainers steward communities with longevity.
We are a community response to the silent attrition of open source maintainers across East Africa. Support & Care convenes organizers, healers, and technologists to craft a new standard for sustained collaboration—one anchored in dignity, shared resources, and joyful making.
Mission & approach
Our mission is to resource developers, maintainers, and stewards with relational, financial, and structural support so East Africa's open source future is community-centered and sustainable.
- Co-create mentorship, residency, and fellowship pathways rooted in contributor wellbeing.
- Fund long-term infrastructure and experiment with regenerative economic models.
- Broker equitable partnerships between global foundations and local chapters.
- Build curricula for governance, documentation, and leadership intentionality.
Care as Strategy
We embed trauma-informed practices, psychosocial support, and sabbatical pathways into every community sprint.
Radical Transparency
Budgets, governance notes, and program data are published open-source to model accountability beyond compliance.
Distributed Power
Chapters co-design priorities, vote on funding allocations, and lead experiments tailored to local realities.
What East African contributors told us.
Listening tours across Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, and Addis Ababa grounded our work in the realities of maintainers, designers, writers, and community strategists.
Fragmented support systems
Developers jump between short-term gigs without access to holistic funding, mentorship, or wellness structures.
Limited visibility
Regional contributors often build in isolation and rarely receive recognition aligned with their impact.
Burnout proliferation
Without intentional care, many maintainers leave projects after high intensity grants or hackathons end.
Policy & governance gaps
Institutions lack playbooks for adopting, sustaining, and valuing open source initiatives in East Africa.
Leadership collective
Our advisory board blends community organizing, technical leadership, and care practice. Every member is accountable to a regional chapter and commits to transparent reporting.
Anita Kamau
Community Governance Lead
Brian Mutesi
Open Source Maintainer
Diana Nambassa
Digital Rights Strategist
Samuel Okello
Engineering Director
Winnie Muthoni
Psychosocial Support Lead
Yonas Kebede
Civic Tech Advisor
A constellation of allied organizations.
We collaborate with coalitions and institutions willing to invest in long-term, care-centered open source ecosystems.