Chapter Leads OnBoarding Guide

Introductory guide to the OSCA Chapters Program for new chapter leads.

Open Source Community Africa (OSCA) is an inclusive community created in 2018 for open-source lovers, enthusiasts, advocates, and experts within Africa. As a community, we intend to help integrate the act of open-source contribution to African developers whilst strongly advocating the movement of free and open-source software.

Our goal is to increase the rate of credible contributions by African software developers, designers, writers, and everyone involved in the sphere of technology to open-source projects both locally and globally, changing Africans' perception from just the billion users to the NEXT BILLION CREATORS.

As an OSCA Chapter Lead, you represent a global network of open-source enthusiasts, and you are responsible for growing and supporting a vibrant local OSCA community in Africa.

Chapter Lead Responsibilities

As an OSCA chapter lead in the program, we expect you to:

• Abide by our community code of conduct.

• Lead an engaged communication channel for your chapter.

• Host events (offline or online) that align with OSCA’s goal.

• Teach and support your community members to contribute to and build open-source projects that solve social problems or any problem around them.

• Measure and report all activities you organize and engage in.

• Promote Open Source Community Africa in your chapter.

• Share updates, feedback, event details, and more as may be requested by the Community Managers to keep them abreast of the amazing work you are doing in your chapter.

Recommended Practices

Successful leads ensure that the local community they lead embodies OSCA’s core mission and goals. We strongly recommend doing the following as a Chapter Lead:

1️⃣ Promote Open Source and Open Source Community Africa in your City

• Evangelize OSCA programs and activities within your local tech community.

• Share updates about your chapter through your different social media channels (Discord, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.)

• Act as a mentor to your community members, connecting them to opportunities, and identifying partnerships.

2️⃣ Lead an Engaged Communication Channel for Your Chapter

• Keep track of all your community members' counts and demographics.

• Promote ongoing discussions and knowledge sharing.

• Post content and helpful resources about open-source frequently.

• Understand your community members’ interests and create activities around them.

3️⃣ Host Events and Activities

• Teach and support your community members to contribute to and build open-source projects that solve social problems or any problem around them.

• Plan a physical or virtual event as outlined in the community calendar to avoid being blacklisted.

• Invite local or global speakers with experience in the covered topics.

• Communicate and partner with local communities, tech hubs, and organizations.

• Host any activity (meetup, webinar, workshop, hackathon, project, etc.) that supports your community's open-source education needs.

4️⃣ Coordinate with OSCA’s Community Managers

• Participate in the monthly community calls with your community manager.

• If you need to take any action and you're unsure if it's acceptable, please ensure to run the idea through your community manager for approval before proceeding.

• Coordinate with the Open Source Community Africa for support in planning your event (scope, promotion, etc.).

• Submit event reports after every meetup/event you organize for your local community.

Chapter Leads Hub

As an OSCA Chapter Lead, you will use the private Chapter Leads Hub GitHub repository for:

• Discussing and planning chapter activities.

• Requesting help, support, or materials from Open Source Community Africa.

• Tracking and talking about the activities you are organizing.

• Exploring the design assets, expenses guide, and sponsorship guide.

• Anything else a Chapter Lead needs to be successful.

Kindly read all the guides (design, sponsorship, expenses, and budget) and other resources, as outlined in the README.

Approved Services

You can create an account for your chapter on the following approved services using your official Gmail address and naming convention as instructed below.

• Gmail

• X (Twitter)

• WhatsApp groups

• Telegram groups

• GitHub individual account or organization

• GitLab individual account or organization

Please note that you're not allowed to create an account for your chapter on any platform or service other than the ones mentioned in this guide. If you need anything else or when in doubt, kindly reach out to your community managers for help before doing anything.

Social Media

As an OSCA lead, you represent us and our values, and we implore you not to use any hate speech on social media. Instead, find below guides to follow while interacting with members of your community:

1. Create a Gmail address for your chapter (e.g., [e-mail]). You will use this email to sign up for other approved services and to send emails to members of your community/event attendees.

2. Create an X (Twitter) account for your chapter and customize the account.

3. Ensure that the account name always starts with OSCA followed by the chapter name (e.g., OSCA Nairobi), and the handle should be OSCA (in lowercase) followed by the chapter name (e.g., @oscanairobi or @osca_nairobi).

4. Upon creating a social account for your chapter, kindly copy, edit, and use this for your chapter’s bio: "A budding @osca_hq community of open-source advocates and contributors in [Chapter’s city, State, Country Flag]."

5. Always tag @osca_hq when creating awareness about your events or initiatives.

6. Use the hashtags like #OSCAUyo. That is, #OSCA[City of your chapter].

7. When giving out information, ensure that it is from a reliable source.

8. Do not post negative information about OSCA or its affiliates or partners.

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Thank you for coming this far. We wish you all the best as you begin this new journey. Cheers! 🧡