Technology shapes the way we live, communicate, and access opportunities. Unfortunately, sometimes it can also reinforce the very inequalities it promises to solve. As digital tools grow more powerful, the question of who controls the technology—and who benefits from it—has never been more urgent.

At Social Income, our mission is to redistribute wealth through direct, recurring cash transfers to vulnerable groups in the Global South. But our work is also rooted in the democratization of knowledge, code, and tools. That’s why we’ve chosen to build Social Income using open source technology from day one.

This decision is about more than just transparency: we believe it’s fundamental to build a system to which anyone, anywhere, can contribute, and which anyone, anywhere, can understand and adapt. This results in a system that resists centralization and prioritizes equity at every level, including the technology that runs it.

Why We Chose Open Source

The digital infrastructure behind Social Income is built openly and collaboratively on GitHub. The values of the open source community align with our own: transparency, shared ownership, and inclusion. Anyone can audit our code, suggest improvements, or reuse components to build their own version of what we’ve done.

In this sense, we see open source not only as a technical framework, but as an ethical one. It allows us to be accountable to the people we serve, to lower the barrier to innovation, and to ensure that no one has to start from scratch, when building systems for dignity and justice.

Equality in Opportunity Starts with Open Access

Inequality doesn’t begin with money, it begins with access to knowledge, to opportunity, and to tools. Closed, proprietary systems often replicate the same dynamics of exclusion that define the global economy: only a few hold the power to shape the structures, while the rest depend on them.

That’s why open source is so powerful in a global development context. We create room for local ownership and adaptation by choosing to make our systems public and adaptable. A small NGO in West Africa shouldn’t have to hire a Silicon Valley team to build a transparent cash delivery system.

This is one of the reasons why Somaha Foundation decided to support us with a four years core grant to scale up our operations.

Tech for Good, Built with the Right Intentions

The term “tech for good” is used often, but too rarely questioned. Technology can only be good if it’s inclusive, accountable, and accessible to those it claims to support. At Social Income, we don’t see technology as a solution in itself, but as a tool for redistribution and empowerment.

By relying ourselves on other open source tools—and contributing to them —we ensure that our technology serves our mission, not the other way around. This also allows us to maintain lean operations, focus on delivering the highest possible share of funds directly to recipients, and stay adaptable to changing local needs.

Building in the Open is a Commitment

In choosing open source, we are investing in a future that belongs to everyone. Every line of code we write, every system we design, and every improvement we make is public by default. 

Open source is a public commons, and it thrives through participation, transparency, and a shared sense of purpose.

Do you want to help us in this approach to build ethically and transparently, and to create systems that can be freely used by all? 

Join our amazing team of volunteers: get in touch with us today!

Open source developers in the 2025 coding retreat in Alpenhof in Appenzell, Switzerland.