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This proposed Code of Conduct is open to community review until 18:00 UTC 25th April 2025. Feedback can be provided on our General Slack Channel, or directly to Ed Cable (edcable@mifos.org) or David Higgins (dhiggins@mifos.org). Following this consultation period we will publish an updated version. was reviewed by the community between 15-25th April 2025 it is now published as the latest version to be adopted by our community

Introduction

The Mifos Initiative code of conduct applies to all spaces and activities where the Mifos Initiative is present:

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  1. Be open. We invite anyone to participate in our community. We prefer to use public methods of communication for project-related messages, unless discussing something sensitive. This applies to messages for help or project-related support, too; not only is a public support request much more likely to result in an answer to a question, it also makes sure that any the community notices and corrects any inadvertent mistakes people answering the query may make.

  2. Be empathetic, welcoming, friendly, and patient. We work together to resolve conflicts, assume good intentions, and do our best to act in an empathetic fashion. We may all experience some frustration from time to time, but we do not allow frustration to result in a personal attack. A community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. We should be respectful when dealing with other community members as well as with people outside our community.

  3. Be collaborative. Other people will use our work, and we in turn depend on the work of others. When we make something for the benefit of the project, we are willing to explain to others how it works, so they can build on the work to make it even better. Any decision we make will affect users and colleagues, and we take those consequences seriously when making decisions.

  4. Be inquisitive. Nobody knows everything! Asking questions early avoids many problems later, so we encourage questions, although we may redirect them to the appropriate forum. Those who receive a question should be responsive and helpful, within the context of our shared goal of improving Apache project code to improve financial inclusion.

  5. Be careful in the words that we choose. Whether we are participating as professionals or volunteers, we value professionalism in all interactions, and take responsibility for our own speech. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior are not acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:

    1. Violent threats or language directed against another person.

    2. Shouting or raising voice at individuals (whether verbally or in communications (CAPITALISATION))

    3. Sexist, racist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.

    4. Posting sexually explicit or violent material.

    5. Making claims against or maligning other members of the community personally or professionally (if you have a concern raise it through the right channels with evidence for investigation)

    6. Posting (or threatening to post) other people's personally identifying information ("doxing").

    7. Sharing private content, such as emails sent privately or non-publicly, or from unlogged forums such as IRC channel history.

    8. Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.

    9. Unwelcome sexual attention.

    10. Excessive or unnecessary profanity.

    11. Repeated Harassment especially repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.

    12. Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.

  6. Be concise. Keep in mind that, over time, hundreds or thousands of people will read what you write. Writing a short email means people can understand the conversation as efficiently as possible. Short emails should always strive to be empathetic, welcoming, friendly and patient. When a long explanation is necessary, consider adding a summary at the top of the message.Try to bring new ideas to a conversation so that each email adds something unique to the thread, keeping in mind that the rest of the thread still contains the other messages with arguments that have already been made.Try to stay on topic, especially in discussions that are already fairly long.

  7. Step down considerately. Members of every project come and go. When somebody leaves or disengages from the project they should tell people they are leaving and take the proper steps to ensure that others can pick up where they left off. In doing so, they should remain respectful of those who continue to participate in the project and should not misrepresent the project’s goals or achievements. Likewise, community members should respect any individual’s choice to leave the project.

  8. Use of AI appropriately with consideration of Impact. Mifos is still exploring the role of AI, we recognise the value it can give as well as the confusion if not declared. Mifos may update this code of conduct as our experience of AI continues but at the moment we remain Open to the use of AI and recommend where it has been used it is noted as such. We expect our position to be confirmed through the work of our AI for All working groups as well as our work in safeguards

DIVERSITY STATEMENT

Mifos welcomes and encourages participation by everyone. Our mission is inclusion and we should reflect that in our actions. We are committed to being a community that everyone feels good about joining. Although we may not be able to satisfy everyone, we will always work to treat everyone well.

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Mifos commits to re-evaluate this code of conduct within the community at least every 2 years or as needed.

Mifos is still exploring the role of AI, we recognise the value it can give as well as the confusion if not declared. Mifos may update this code of conduct as our experience of AI continues but at the moment we remain Open to the use of AI and recommend where it has been used it is noted as such.

Mifos as an open source project recognises the work of other open source projects in creating their codes of conduct and ours draws upon the content and inspiration of theirs as well as that of the Apache Software Foundation who stewards the Apache Fineract codebase (Code of Conduct for the Apache Software Foundation).