UPDATE: Mozilla Service Week is complete but volunteers are still needed

Mozilla Service Week is now complete but the need for Mifos volunteers still continues - see current volunteer projects! 

Read the inspiring stories our volunteers shared about how they're helping to transform technology for microfinance:

• Jesus Fernandez-Munoz - IT, Translations, and Poverty Alleviation
• Udai Gupta - Helping the World by Doing his Part
• Johan Hilding - Mifos, an Opportunity to Make a Difference
• Kay Chau - Call to Action to Help End Poverty!

The Call to Action

Volunteer with the Mifos Initiative during Mozilla Service Week from September 14 to September 21 to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world use technology to empower the poor to lift themselves out of poverty. Mifos is an open-source web-based information technology platform which allows MFIs to manage their loan portfolios and track their clients' progress out of poverty in one centralized place. Leveraging the power of the web, Mifos enables MFIs to rapidly grow and more effectively deliver financial services to the poor.

There are many ways to contribute your time and skills during Mozilla Service Week to advance the Mifos platform - from helping MFIs save on IT costs while opening new branches, to making Mifos accessible to MFIs of all languages around the globe, you can help Mifos in the fight against global poverty.

What is Mozilla Service Week?

Mozilla Service Week is a week-long event in which Mozilla is motivating individuals to step up and make a difference by using the Web to better their community. Mozilla Service Week is based on the belief that everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a good experience when they're online. By utilizing their community's generosity and talents for writing, designing, programming, developing, and all-around technical and Internet know-how, they believe we can make the Web a better place for everyone. To learn more about Mozilla Service Week please visit their FAQ section.

What is Mifos?

Mifos is an open source web-based management information system (MIS) purpose-built by the Grameen Foundation to provide greater operational efficiency and robust real-time business intelligence enabling MFIs to broaden the scale and impact of financial services to the poor. Leveraging the power of a global online community of technology professionals and microfinance practitioners, our platform can be adopted, supported, and extended with far-reaching innovation worldwide.

To learn ways to join our global online community, enabling MFIs to use technology strategically to serve the poor, please visit our volunteer project listings on mifos.org and idealist.org. Ways to get involved include:

Fix outstanding firefox bugs in Mifos – MFIs across our community worldwide are clamoring to use Firefox as the browser in which to run the Mifos software. For our customer, Grameen Koota, serving more than 265,000 clients across 90 branches in Bangalore, India, they’re already running linux-based servers and are ready to switch all their branch PCs to fully linux-based systems running Firefox for the thousands of dollars it would save them in software costs. We have a limited number of outstanding Firefox bugs to be fixed before its fully supported by Mifos and MFIs can benefit from the cost savings of open source technology.
Build the Mifos acceptance test framework - Because of the lack of extensive automated testing in Mifos, it can take up a month to test a new version of Mifos. If we have a full suite of automated acceptance tests, we can test Mifos in less time, focus on more complex testing, release to the community faster, and ultimately better serve the MFI's who will use Mifos to manage their client's loan portfolios. Help us do this by building our Mifos automated acceptance test framework.
Translate our documentation to cultivate our communities in China and Latin America – Mifos is an open platform guided by a global community – to date, the participation across China and Latin America in our initiative has been limited by the language barrier. Our most basic documentation to adopt the platform and partake in our community has yet to be translated into Spanish and Chinese. Play your role in helping web-based technology be available worldwide and help with these translations.

While we encourage you to volunteer and participate during Mozilla Service Week from Sept 14 to Sept 21, the Mifos community is always open and in need of your support.

As you contribute to Mifos and help build technology to break the cycle of poverty, please register for Mozilla Service Week and tell your personal story about the impact your contributions will have on the Mozilla Service Week web portal. Your contribution, no matter how small will have transformation impact, please pledge the hours you’ve dedicated so the whole world can see the cumulative contributions of volunteers during Mozilla Service Week.