1.2 History
IMPACT OSS was designed and developed by human rights consultant Mr. Ashley Bowe and data visualisation agency Unfold Data with the help of Mr. Moana Eruera of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission (HRC) who together would later form the IMPACT OSS Group with the mission of advancing the enjoyment of human rights by promoting and developing suitable technologies.
The initial concept for the software that became IMPACT OSS, the open source software behind Sadata, was developed by Mr. Ashley Bowe who was subsequently employed by the Regional Office for the Pacific (ROP) of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to fundraise and project manage the development of the software.
The United Nations Development Program in Samoa and New Zealand Aid generously provided the required resources, allowing a tender to be put out for development services. New Zealand based Unfold Data were the outstanding choice and have since played a substantial role in the history of IMPACT OSS. Not only have they been responsible for all of the development and visual design, they have also contributed significantly to the final concept and data architecture. Further, having previously developed the National Plan of Action (NPA) for the New Zealand HRC, Unfold Data considered New Zealand's specific requirements from the start to allow IMPACT OSS being compatible with and adaptable to the specific needs of different countries.
This allowed the New Zealand HRC to become the final partner in the creation of IMPACT OSS, initially providing in-kind support and later funding the development of the Sustainable Development Goal module and other pending features soon to be released.
IMPACT OSS was thus born in Samoa and New Zealand and is now currently being used as the software platform for Sadata in Samoa and soon also for the future version of the NPA in New Zealand. From the outset it was decided that this innovative software would be released under an open source license - a Pacific global offering to improve implementation and reporting of human rights and the SDGs around the world.
