# “We are all in”: speaking for Sierra Leone's tech diaspora at the UN General Assembly

2026-10-16 · Tamba Sheku Lamin

> In September 2026 I spoke at a UN General Assembly side event on Sierra Leone's open-source journey, committing the tech diaspora to share what it takes to run open-source systems at scale.

In September 2026, during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, I spoke at a side event on Sierra Leone's open-source journey. I spoke on behalf of Sierra Leoneans in Technology (SLinT), the diaspora technology community I co-founded and led as its founding president. Sierra Leone's Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation reported the remarks under three words: "We are all in."

## What I committed us to

As the Ministry reported it, the message was simple:

- Sierra Leone's tech diaspora includes people who have deployed open-source systems used by millions, and we are ready to share what that takes.
- That experience is feeding into Sierra Leone's digital public goods pipeline, so that what Sierra Leone builds can also be adopted by other African countries.
- The Government has opened the door. Our side of the bargain is knowledge transfer, a continuing partnership with the Ministry, and giving back.

## Why it is personal

Sierra Leone validated its first open-source software policy for the public sector in November 2025, making open-source tools the default for government digital infrastructure. A policy like that needs people who can deploy, secure and maintain the systems it calls for, and building those people is the work I have done all my career.

I contributed to the Sierra Leone Learning Passport with the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation, UNICEF and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, which reached 50,000+ students. I architected SLOEDP, Sierra Leone's first open election data platform, adopted by the Independent Media Commission and hosted at Njala University. The full record is on my [past-performance page](https://tambalamin.me/past-performance), and the [speaking page](https://tambalamin.me/speaking) lists this and my other talks.

## Where the work continues

This commitment is also the work of my company, [TSL Intelligence Lab](https://tslintelligence.com), where I am founder and [principal consultant](https://tslintelligence.com/principal-consultant). Its research programme on digital public goods for education in West Africa asks what makes a platform adoptable by a ministry or university that cannot pay recurring licence fees, and what it takes for a national system to stay maintained.

If you are working on Sierra Leone's open-source agenda, or a similar one elsewhere in Africa, email [tamba@tambalamin.me](mailto:tamba@tambalamin.me?subject=Digital%20public%20goods).

## Sources

- [Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation, Sierra Leone, on LinkedIn (25 September 2026)](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7509044307471921152/)
- [Ecofin Agency: Sierra Leone validates first open-source software policy at national workshop (19 November 2025)](https://www.ecofinagency.com/news-digital/1911-50622-sierra-leone-validates-first-open-source-software-policy-at-national-workshop)

## Related

- [TSL Intelligence Lab: Sierra Leone's open-source journey at the UN General Assembly](https://tslintelligence.com/insights/sierra-leone-open-source-journey-unga-2026)

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