OpenGovAfrica Community managers
This guide outlines what must be in place before community managers begin managing the OpenGov Africa community on Discord. The goal is to create a structured, welcoming, and productive environment that encourages participation and collaboration.
A successful community requires three foundational layers:
- Infrastructure – The server structure and channels
- Governance – Roles, rules, and moderation systems
- Engagement – Activities and participation mechanisms
Community managers should ensure these elements are implemented when inviting members to join.
The Discord server should be organized so that members can easily understand where to go and what to do.
These channels should be read-only and contain key information.
#welcome#about-opengov-africa#community-guidelines#announcements#events
Purpose
- Introduce the mission of OpenGov Africa
- Explain what the community is about
- Provide important updates and announcements
These channels allow members to interact and ask questions.
#welcome-and-rules#general#announcements#resources
Purpose
- Encourage conversation
- Allow members to share thoughts and suggestions
- Provide space for questions and community interaction
These channels should be restricted to internal coordination.
Examples:
#community-managers#operations-project-program-management#marketing-general
Purpose
- Coordinate internal activities
- Discuss moderation issues
- Manage operational tasks
Roles help organize the community and define responsibilities.
- Admin
- Project Leads
- Moderator
- Contributor
- Research Volunteer
- Developer
- Designer
- Community Member
- Observer
Purpose
Roles help assign responsibilities, manage permissions, and organize contributors.
Clear guidelines help maintain a healthy and respectful community.
Guidelines should address:
- Respectful communication
- No harassment or discrimination
- No spam
- No misinformation
- Moderation processes
The guidelines should be published and pinned in #community-guidelines.
New members should quickly understand how to participate.
- Member joins the server
- Member reads the
#welcome-and-ruleschannel - Member reviews the community guidelines
- Member introduces themselves in their core team channel
Members can be encouraged to share:
- Their country
- Their skills
- Their interest in open governance
- The link to their github
This is a good example of a complete introduction
PM team: Hi everyone 👋
I introduced myself on this channel yesterday, but I think I accidentally deleted the message since I can’t find it. So here it goes again 😊
My name is Scholastica, joining from Nigeria. I signed up to contribute as a Project/Program Management volunteer.
My skills include project management, task tracking systems, team coordination, reporting, documentation, and research.
Happy to be here! GitHub: https://github.com/scholarpat
Marketing Team Hello Everyone, my name is Abiode Edith. I'm excited to be in the Marketing team. My interest lies in video creation, editing as well as content writing. Sub-team is Video Creation. Thank you!
Community managers should establish a clear moderation structure.
- Moderator roles
- Reporting process for issues
- Warning system for rule violations
A community requires regular activity to remain healthy.
Community managers should organize consistent engagement activities.
Weekly Discussions
Example topic:
What government data should be public in your country?
Contributor Check-ins
Short updates from contributors on what they are working on.
Open Governance Conversations
Discussions on transparency, governance, and public accountability.
Project Work Sessions
Collaborative sessions where volunteers work on projects together. This is coordinated with the projects team.
Community managers should track indicators that show the health of the community.
Examples:
- Number of new members
- Number of active members
- Messages per week
- Number of contributors working on projects
- Volunteer retention rate
These metrics help evaluate community growth and participation.
Community processes should be documented so the community can scale.
Important documents include:
- Community onboarding guide
- Moderator handbook
- Contributor guide
- Project contribution instructions
A healthy open-source or civic-tech community typically follows this pattern: