Rebecca Alban, OpenLMIS Community Manager

Every year the OpenLMIS Community takes the opportunity to bring together OpenLMIS donors, implementers, technology partners, and other thought partners to reflect on the successes and challenges of the past 12 months, and strategize for the coming year. It is an important time for reflection. We aim to learn from what others have accomplished, share ideas for how we can build a more effective product, and convene to improve how we work together as a community. 

This year’s OpenLMIS Community Meeting with take place in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 18-21st. It is a special treat for us to have an annual face-to-face meeting, as the majority of coordination for the OpenLMIS community is done virtually. An overarching topic for this year’s meeting with be ensuring sustainability of OpenLMIS Initiative. This means aligning on how we can adapt as a community to capitalize on new revenue streams, new implementing models, and/or adapt our structure in a way that will allow the community to continue to grow and thrive without a heavy stream of donor dollars pouring in. 

The OpenLMIS Community is fortunate to have an actively engaged group of stakeholders and external consultants who have been pouring lots of time and energy in order to answer these key questions and ensure that OpenLMIS is steered on a path toward sustainability. Details and resource documents related to these discussions can be found here on the OpenLMIS wiki.  We look forward to the OpenLMIS Community Meeting as an opportunity to hear the many community voices and opinions on this topic, and align as a community on our next steps for 2020.