We are all reeling from the Mosque tragedy on the 15th of March and many in the Canterbury tech community have been asking how they can help the Muslim families and community. CMCT reached out to Canterbury Tech asking for help to implement information systems for their fast evolving projects.

CMCT has identified 4 general projects that require IT expertise:

1. Donations: WhatsApp  CMCT contact: Mazharuddin Syed Ahmed. CRM systems are being identified to track and distribute donations.   As these discussions progress, support for configuring, securing, and porting will become clearer. Likely skills needed: CRM, security, data migration, QA, API, IT system management.
2. Social media and web site: WhatsApp CMCT contact: Mazharuddin Syed Ahmed. CMCT wants to upgrade its website and social media presence. They are looking for expertise to create and maintain a web page and to set up and configure social media tools. Ara Design school has already said they will contribute web design work. Likely skills needed: web design, testing,  implementation and support, social media skills,
3. Database and Help desk: WhatsApp  CMCT contact: Mazharuddin Syed Ahmed. Many people are offering assistance to the Christchurch Muslim community and they have many ongoing needs. These requests and needs are currently being tracked ad-hoc using spreadsheets.  A database of requests, needs and support already provided is needed. A bonus would be a help desk system so offers of help and requests for help can be reliably tracked and progressed. Likely skills needed: Help desk design and implementation, database expertise, security. This project may benefit from an interface to support requestors, support offerors and maybe “case workers” as we are likely to establish some liaison roles.
4. General discussion around IT support. WhatsApp CMCT contact: Mazharuddin Syed Ahmed. This group is for non-project specific IT discussions among CMCT and the Canterbury IT helpers.

If you would like to know more or contribute, please join one of Whatsapp groups.  Please identify yourself and your organisation when you sign in.

Each project has a CMCT team and CMCT project manager.  These projects are in a state of flux and IT needs are urgent. If you would like to help and you have suitable skills and experience, the Whatsapp channels are a simple way to contact CMCT, in a way that does not overburden CMCT volunteers. CMCT is managing the projects and will use WhatsApp to manage the volunteers concerned and any follow on.

THANK YOU!