In May 2025, the United Nations Digital Technology Network adopted a new set of Open Source Principles. These principles provide guidelines to promote collaboration and the adoption of open-source technologies for digital projects within the UN and globally, and they're all about open, secure and inclusive global digital collaboration. Read more about Joomla's endorsement of the Open Source Principles!

Open Source is shifting and expanding beyond just the code; the ecosystem is vibrant, based on collaboration, transparency, and shared innovation, and affects almost everything,  from global software infrastructure to local community initiatives. But we should keep in mind that every ecosystem needs effective governance to thrive. In other words, it needs structure, clear pathways, and a shared understanding of how things work.

On June 10, 2025, Joomla endorsed the United Nations Open Source Principles (United Nations, 2025).

The UN Open Source Principles are:

Open by default: Making Open Source the standard approach for projects.

Contribute back: Encouraging active participation in the Open Source ecosystem.

Secure by design: Making security a priority in all software projects.

Foster inclusive participation and community building: Enabling and facilitating diverse and inclusive contributions.

Design for reusability: Designing projects to be interoperable across various platforms and ecosystems.

Provide documentation: Providing thorough documentation for end-users, integrators and developers.

RISE (recognize, incentivize, support and empower): Empowering individuals and communities to actively participate.

Sustain and scale: Supporting the development of solutions that meet the evolving needs of the UN system and beyond.

How does each of these principles directly relate to the governance of an open-source project like Joomla? (You can read below Joomla's endorsement of the United Nations Open Source Principles, the product of a collaborative community effort.)

Joomla, one of the world’s most trusted open-source content management systems, has, since its foundation in 2005 embodied the core values now reflected in the UN Open Source Principles and in doing so, demonstrates a deep and ongoing alignment with them, empowering millions of websites globally, while fostering innovation and digital inclusion. More specifically:

Open by Default:

From its inception, Joomla has embraced openness. The entirety of Joomla’s source code is openly licensed under the GNU General Public License (Joomla Project, n.d.-i). Joomla’s primary code repositories are entirely public on GitHub (Joomla Project, n.d.-e). Significant development discussions, issue tracking, and decision-making are all transparent and open to community scrutiny and participation. Additionally, every new Joomla release is supported by a strong and transparent release plan.

Joomla’s policy has always been particularly encouraging to its community of developers, helping them license their extensions under the GNU General Public License or any other compatible license.

Contribute Back:

Joomla’s project culture promotes active participation in the open-source ecosystem. As an example, Joomla’s developer and contributor communities thrive through Joomla’s GitHub (Joomla Project, n.d.-d) organisation, volunteer portal (Joomla Project, n.d.-h), and global events. Additionally, Joomla actively supports a healthy ecosystem by contributing improvements and bug fixes to the third-party open source libraries it uses. 

Secure by Design:

Joomla places the highest priority on security through a dedicated Security Strike Team (Joomla Project, 2024c) that proactively monitors, addresses, and transparently discloses vulnerabilities. Security is embedded into Joomla’s software development lifecycle and disseminated to Joomla’s community via advisories, best practices, and educational resources.

Foster Inclusive Participation and Community Building:

With contributors and community members from over seventy countries and official translations in more than sixty-one languages in version 5 (the latest version branch) (Joomla Project, n.d.-f), Joomla is genuinely global. Joomla nurtures inclusion through initiatives like Joomla User Groups (Joomla Project, n.d.-g), mentorship, outreach, and a robust Code of Conduct (Joomla Project, 2024a). The Joomla Academy (Joomla Project, n.d.-a) is being developed to provide free and accessible training, helping people of all backgrounds become effective open-source contributors and digital creators.

Joomla is committed to achieving the highest standards of accessibility in its development. A dedicated accessibility team develops the content management system to meet the WCAG AA standard. 

Design for Reusability:

Joomla is designed to be modular and interoperable, supporting extensibility via its broad Extension Directory (Joomla Project, n.d.-c). Joomla’s APIs and core architecture encourage integration and re-use, enabling governments, NGOs, and enterprises to tailor Joomla to their needs.

Provide Documentation:

Joomla’s official documentation (Joomla Project, n.d.-b) is open, collaboratively maintained, and freely available to all users, integrators, and developers. The documentation is provided in multiple languages to ensure knowledge is accessible to Joomla’s global audience.

Recognise, Incentivise, Support and Empower (RISE):

In line with principles for encouraging broad participation and alignment, Joomla actively empowers individuals and communities through initiatives that Recognise, Incentivise, Support, and Empower (RISE). For example, through the Joomla Academy (Joomla Project, n.d.-a), Joomla provides structured learning, mentoring, and skill development opportunities. Joomla participates annually in the Google Summer of Code (Joomla Project, 2024b), providing students worldwide with real-world open source experience, support, and recognition. 

Sustain and Scale:

Joomla continuously invests in its modernisation to meet the evolving needs of its users. In this way, Joomla ensures long-term viability and adaptability for diverse organisations, such as several UN agencies and websites for police forces, health organisations, and universities. Joomla’s community-driven governance and financial transparency ensure that Joomla is built to scale and sustain, benefiting both the UN ecosystem and the broader society.

Ultimately, Joomla has deep roots in the open source movement, which inherently makes it a strong adherent of the UN Open Source Principles, and remains committed to aligning its actions to the UN framework by exploring where it can optimise its positive impact and contribution to the global open source community and its users.

(End of Joomla's endorsement of the United Nations Open Source Principles) 

Can the UN Open Source Principles be used as a Blueprint for Better Governance?

Governance in an organisation is paramount. It is the alpha and omega of the entire structure and the root cause of any success or failure. For this reason, putting strong governance, driven by principles, in place has many benefits. Let’s take a moment to look at some of these benefits.

Organisations evolve. Especially in volunteering organisations like Joomla, members change all the time. Making sure that structures are clear helps with the sustainability of the project, and the health and evolution of the organisation, regardless of these changes.

Moreover, transparency and fairness are additional fundamental components of an organisation’s governance that can pave the way for a welcoming and equitable environment. These characteristics help attract new talent and keep existing members engaged. 

Another important element of effective governance is the decision-making process. This must be effective, unbiased, inclusive,  and fast to help the project innovate, evolve, and respond quickly to technological changes and community needs.

Good governance is not only important but also necessary to build confidence among members, developers, users, stakeholders, and the broader community. Putting processes in place for addressing disagreements fairly and efficiently becomes the key to maintaining harmony and benefiting the project and the community.

We need you to join us and help shape the future together

In a volunteering open-source community, governance cannot be just a lifeless, dry set of rules. It should be a process that requires engagement from the community it is serving. For this reason, every member of the Joomla community is invited to learn more about the UN Open Source Principles, engage with Joomla's governance structures, and contribute to the ongoing discussions about Joomla’s future.

 Your active participation is what makes Joomla truly open, truly collaborative, and truly enduring. Together, we can ensure Joomla continues to embody the best of open source, while leading by example in the global digital landscape.

References 

Joomla Project. (n.d.-a). Joomla Academy. Joomla Community Portal. Retrieved June 10, 2025, from https://community.joomla.org/joomla-academy.html

Joomla Project. (n.d.-b). Joomla Documentation. Joomla Documentation. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://docs.joomla.org/

Joomla Project. (n.d.-c). Joomla Extensions Directory. Joomla Extensions Directory. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://extensions.joomla.org/

Joomla Project. (n.d.-d). Joomla [GitHub organisation profile]. GitHub. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://github.com/joomla

Joomla Project. (n.d.-e). joomla/joomla-cms [Repository]. GitHub. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms

Joomla Project. (n.d.-f). Joomla Translations. Joomla Community Portal. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://community.joomla.org/translations.html

Joomla Project. (n.d.-g). Joomla User Groups. Joomla Community Portal. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://community.joomla.org/user-groups.html

Joomla Project. (n.d.-h). Joomla Volunteers Portal. Joomla Volunteers. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://volunteers.joomla.org/

Joomla Project. (n.d.-i). The Joomla Project - The Joomla Licence (GNU GPL). Joomla The CMS. Retrieved June 10, 2025, from https://community.joomla.org/joomla-license.html

Joomla Project. (2024a, January 29). Joomla Code of Conduct. Joomla The CMS. https://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/the-project/code-of-conduct.html

Joomla Project. (2024b, February 8). Google Summer of Code. Joomla Developer Network. Retrieved June 10, 2025, from https://community.joomla.org/gsoc.html

Joomla Project. (2024c, January 10). Joomla Security Strike Team. Joomla Developer Network. Retrieved June 5, 2025, from https://developer.joomla.org/security.html

United Nations. (2025, February 26). The OSI first to endorse the United Nations Open Source Principles. UNITE (United Nations Digital Transformation initiative). Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://unite.un.org/news/osi-first-endorse-united-nations-open-source-principles