📚Participation Guide for Members

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📚 GitHub Participation Guide

Welcome & Purpose

This guide exists to help members confidently engage in the OpenCRVS Country Collective and make the most of the community.

The vision of the Collective is to establish an active, engaged, and value-driven network of countries that:

• Contribute directly to the OpenCRVS product vision, roadmap, and development.
• Learn from one another and collaborate to address shared challenges in civil registration.
• Establish bilateral and multilateral relationships for long-term benefits.

Every member’s participation strengthens both the Collective and OpenCRVS. By contributing your questions, experiences, and ideas, you are shaping the future of digital civil registration and ensuring that OpenCRVS continues to respond to the real needs of countries.

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Getting Started

Follow these quick steps to set up your GitHub account and join the OpenCRVS Country Collective. Whether on desktop or mobile, it only takes a few minutes to get started and begin contributing.

✅ Step 1: Create a GitHub account

• Desktop: To sign up, go to: https://github.com/signup
• Mobile: Download the GitHub app from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android), then open the app and tap "Sign Up"

✅ Step 2: Join the Discussions

• Visit: https://github.com/opencrvs/opencrvs-core/discussions

✅ Step 3: Introduce Yourself

• In the Welcome Discussion thread, reply with your name, role, country, and one thing you hope to gain from this community.

✅ Step 4: Share your Username

• Once you’ve created your account, share your GitHub username in the Community Collective WhatsApp group so we can welcome you.

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How to Participate

You can engage in several ways:

• Start a Discussion → Ask a question, suggest a feature, or raise a challenge.
• Reply to Discussions → Share your perspective, solutions, or additional details.
• React / Upvote → Use 👍 or ❤️ to show support for ideas or feedback.
• Follow Categories → Stay updated on topics you care about.

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Discussion Categories

Here’s where to post different types of contributions:

🚀 Feature Requests – Suggest new features or improvements.
🏯 Functional Q&A – Ask about workflows, processes, or functional usage.
🛰️ OpenCRVS News & Events – Announcements, events, and updates.
🆘 Support Requests – Report bugs and request help (include steps/screenshots if possible).
🐙 Technical Q&A – For developers and technical experts to share knowledge.

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Tips for Meaningful Engagement

Here’s what to think about to ensure you are engaging in a meaningful way:

🔍 Search first before posting — your question may already be answered.
📝 Be clear in your posts — add context, examples, or screenshots.
🤝 Engage with peers — comment on posts from other countries.
🌟 Share your experiences — both successes and challenges help others learn.

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Templates To Use When Posting

To make discussions useful and easy to follow, use these templates when posting:

🚀 Feature Requests

Use this template to suggest a new feature or improvement:

• Title: Clear name for the feature (e.g., “Offline Registration Mode for Remote Areas”)
• Problem: What challenge does this feature solve?
• Proposed Solution: Describe your idea or request.
• Benefits: Who will benefit and how?
• Additional Context: Screenshots, examples, or references.

🏯 Functional Q&A

Use this template to ask a question about business/functional processes:

• Title: Your question in a short phrase (e.g., “How to handle late registration for adults?”)
• Question: Write your question clearly.
• Context: Why you’re asking (e.g., your country’s process or scenario).
• What You’ve Tried: Any approaches you’ve already considered.

🆘 Support Requests (Bugs/Issues)

Use this template to report a problem or bug:

• Title: Short description of the issue (e.g., “Error when submitting birth form”).
• Steps to Reproduce: List the steps you followed.
• Expected Behavior: What you thought should happen.
• Actual Behavior: What actually happened (error messages, screenshots).
• Environment: Browser, device, or version if relevant.

🐙 Technical Q&A

Use this template for technical/development-related questions:

• Title: Clear summary of the technical issue (e.g., “API timeout when syncing records”).
• Question/Problem: Explain the issue in detail.
• Environment: Server, OS, or version details.
• Code/Logs: Include error messages or snippets (if possible).
• What You’ve Tried: Solutions or steps already attempted.

🌍 Country Experiences

Use this template to share a success story, challenge, or lesson learned:

Title: Descriptive title (e.g., “Improving Registration Coverage in Rural Districts”).
Background: Country or region context.
Challenge: What issue were you addressing?
Approach: What did you do?
Outcome: What was the result?
Key Learning: What can other countries learn from your experience?

🛰️ News and Events

Note

This category is managed by moderators and admins of the Country Collective only.

• Members will not need to post here.
• It will be used to share official announcements, updates, and details of upcoming events.

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📌 Your voice matters. Together we can build stronger civil registration systems and shape the future of OpenCRVS.