Nepal Government Framework

[ashiishme]

Hello Ask Buddie Community,
I am excited to announce a new initiative from Ask Buddie "Nepal Government Framework".🇳🇵

🌟 What Is This About?

Government websites in Nepal faces critical issues:

• Security vulnerabilities due to poor maintenance, lack of updates, and frequent hacks of government websites.
• Poor user experience making government services hard to access and frustrating for citizens.
• Scalability issues with inefficient, outdated systems that can’t adapt to growing demands.

We aim to solve these with an open-source framework designed to address these issues.

🎯 Our Vision:

To create an open-source framework:

• Secure by design with proactive security measures to prevent vulnerabilities.
• User-centric design for improved accessibility & efficiency.
• Scalable & flexible to integrate with existing systems & support future growth.
• Continuous community support to ensure long-term improvements.

🚧 Challenges:

• Government adoption due to legal, bureaucratic hurdles, and the transition for government staff.
• Support for legacy system integration & secure handling of sensitive data.
• Framework sustainability concerns due to a limited number of contributors.
• Scalability challenges as developing a solution alone isn’t sufficient to handle high volume of traffic.

🔄 Circle of Influence & Control:

✅ Circle of Control:

• Framework development, security & updates.
• User experience design & accessibility.
• Scalable architecture for new features.
• Community support for improvements.
• Integration support for existing system.

🟠 Circle of Influence:

• Encourage government to adapt the framework through partnership.
• Build strong community together with government to support framework growth.
• Provide guidelines/share knowledge on handling scalability issues.

❌ Circle of Concern:

• Government bureaucracy & legal mandates.
• Data migration policies and handling of sensitive information.
• Adaptation by government staff & departments.

💡 How You Can Contribute:

• Share your thoughts on the challenges mentioned above.
• Suggest framework architecture, security practices, and UX improvements.
• Join as a developer, security expert, UX designer, or policy enthusiast.
• Help us navigate the adoption process with government agencies.

💬 Let’s Discuss (open questions):

• What potential roadblocks do you foresee?
• How can we design a framework that’s both secure and scalable?
• Any recommendations for framework structure, integration strategies, or open-source best practices?

These are some questions we can start with but feel free to drop more questions and it will be listed here.

Please consider the above vision, problem, challenges, circle of influence when adding your thoughts.

Your feedback will shape the future of this project. Let’s collaborate to build something impactful for Nepal! 🇳🇵

[ashiishme]

Today's event slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bIP_X7Nz59AyOJwTyej78Impc5U0eSpZtH6MSJZNewg/edit?usp=sharing

[SatyaRajAwasth1]

Well and also open to contribute, discuss...

Already there are a lot of systems implemented by the government from the local government to the federal government. As well a lot are under development (already bid holding done) And as much info there were processes on the government taking the sole responsibility of the source code of systems that governmental organizations are using till now. Large amount of budget already have been used for deploying those systems, training employees and citizens to use the system.

• Also there are a lot of systems already implemented by the government of other countries and similar bureaucratic structures ,

So my concern is building a completely new architecture / system should not be our primary agenda as citizens along being open source contributors, we can and should focus on either open sourcing the source codes that government already have implemented and work on top of them,

Or we can work on top of existing open source projects that are hosted by other countries and similar.

If none of them work, we all know the way (hitting enter key not pressing 😁)

What's your call on it?

[ashiishme]

Yes our primary goal is not to start from scratch. We will use the existing project and built on top of it. The project will be tailored to fit the government needs.

open sourcing the source codes that government already have implemented and work on top of them

I am not sure if this can be possible but we will use other existing open source project and build the framework for the government.

[RupeshBhandari]

I second this. If there are robust framework no need to build from scratch.

[nabin2004]

Just wanted to share some insights: I’ve noticed many government agencies in Nepal and abroad are now adopting Drupal CMS. It’s a great solution for similar challenges— reusable, secure (as highlighted in Drupal’s documentation), efficient and open source. Here’s an example of a website using it (I recognized website from favicon which they forgot to remove, haha): https://musikotmunrukum.gov.np/ .Thought it might be useful for the discussion!

https://ghorahimun.gov.np/en
https://tulsipurmun.gov.np/en

[ashiishme]

Good to know that the Drupal has been adopted by some of the local government 😄. This mean we are on a right track and if we can make our own framework that will fit the need of government, I think they will definitely adopt it in future.

Thank you so much for sharing it. It's a good motivation.

[mpadel78]

Drupal seems to be a choice for government website management. Look at this tutorial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8O1i6HXy2Q

[RupeshBhandari]

Great initiative

[ashiishme]

Drupal seems to be a choice for government website management. Look at this tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8O1i6HXy2Q

This is great, thank you so much for sharing. 🙌

[puncoz]

In 2014-2015, I built a CMS for the government website http://tepc.gov.np (seems like they still have not upgraded their site, and not even ssl certificate 😂). I’m proud to say that it was the best CMS I had ever developed, and even now, a decade later, it remains far simpler and more efficient than most other government websites. At the time, the same CMS was implemented to over 15-20 other government websites, including https://psc.gov.np (still same one almost a decade later 😁).

After that, I didn’t work directly on government websites but involved in development of web applications for Nepal’s government, INGOs, and NGOs.

From my experience, I’ve realized that government officials responsible for managing these websites and applications often lack the technical understanding to differentiate between good and bad solutions. They accept whatever they are given, adapt to it, and rarely raise concerns, even if it’s difficult to use.

Framework we are planning here seems to be designed more for developers rather than end-users (i guess). Therefore, my proposal is to focus on making it developer-friendly, optimizing for faster development, better developer experience, and a feature-rich framework tailored specifically for government websites.

As for features, all government websites require a common set of functionalities. We should focus on streamlining and standardizing those core features.

[ashiishme]

Is it possible for you to share the CMS that you have built? Or atleast list out the features it has? This will help us to setup the foundation for this project.

Also, please list all the common set of functionalities that you know. We want first create a standard and develop the framework based on it.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

[puncoz]

It’s a decade-old CMS and also a property of the company I used to work for, so I can’t share the CMS or account details here. However, I can provide a list of features (as far as I remember) along with other essential features that I think should be included.

Also, I’m a bit unclear about our actual objective, what exactly are we building? It’s great to have this discussion here on GitHub, but would it be possible to set up a discord channel also for instant communication and brainstorming sessions over VC?

[ashiishme]

We already have the Discord server of Ask Buddie. There was also the event hosted last Friday to discuss about this initiative and now we are open for discussion about this project here.

We will have other session in upcoming days. Feel free to join the Discord server. Also, add the Ask Buddie calendar into yours to get the event updates.

[ashiishme]

I have listed initial existing solutions to consider for building a framework for the Government of Nepal. This is a basic comparison, we will evaluate more factors once we define standard processes and required features.

📊 Existing Framework Comparison

#	Framework	✅ Pros	⚠️ Cons	🖥️ Languages Used
1️⃣	Drupal	👉 High security standards with regular audits and updates 👉 Handles large-scale, high-traffic websites 👉 Flexible content models suitable for complex sites 👉 Built-in multilingual support with strong localization capabilities	👉 Steep learning curve for non-technical users 👉 Requires dedicated developers for customization and maintenance 👉 Complex admin interface that can overwhelm new users	PHP
2️⃣	WordPress	👉 Extremely user-friendly, ideal for non-technical users 👉 Large plugin ecosystem offering extended functionality 👉 Cost-effective for small to medium-sized projects 👉 Fast deployment with ready-to-use themes	👉 Security vulnerabilities if plugins and themes are not regularly updated 👉 Performance issues with a large number of plugins or high traffic 👉 Scalability challenges for large-scale, complex websites	PHP
3️⃣	Strapi	👉 API-first approach (REST & GraphQL), great for headless CMS projects 👉 Lightweight and fast with great developer flexibility 👉 Highly customizable with JavaScript and plugins 👉 Built-in role-based access control and user management	👉 Requires front-end frameworks like React or Vue for rendering UI 👉 Security features need to be configured by developers	JavaScript (Node.js)
4️⃣	TYPO3	👉 Scalable for enterprise-level projects, capable of handling complex websites 👉 Robust multilingual and localization support for international projects 👉 Strong security features	👉 Very steep learning curve and difficult for beginners 👉 High development and maintenance costs due to specialized skills 👉 Smaller community with fewer developers compared to WordPress or Drupal	PHP
5️⃣	Liferay	👉 Best for enterprise and complex web applications 👉 Built-in workflows, permissions, and role-based access management 👉 Strong security	👉 Requires Java expertise 👉 Might be more complicated to implement for our use cases 👉 High development costs and ongoing maintenance due to its complexity	Java
6️⃣	Joomla!	👉 Flexible framework suitable for a wide range of websites 👉 Strong access control with customizable user roles 👉 Built-in multilingual support without needing additional plugins	👉 Steeper learning curve than WordPress, especially for non-developers 👉 Requires lots of manual effort to handle security 👉 Smaller community compared to WordPress, fewer extensions available	PHP
7️⃣	Pimcore	👉 Heavily focused on developer productivity 👉 Has pretty decent documentation and a great community 👉 Rich set of features which might be interesting for this project specifically (like dynamic image thumbnail generation, print pages, multi-language and multi site support, provides an admin interface with rich set of features out of the box, built in role based access control, built in timestamps and versioning of pages, data objects and so on) 👉 Production ready Docker images are provided by the core team	👉 A bit heavy because of all the feature sets 👉 Learning curve is steep for anyone who hasn't worked with Symfony php framework 👉 Admin panel customization (or adding new feature) needs writing code in ancient ExtJS (although they are working on new admin panel with React frontend, but it's still at too early stage)	PHP

---

Feel free to add more ✅ Pros, ⚠️ Cons & your thoughts.

[devsargam]

great initiative. I personally would vouch for something simple like strapi for now. It's not about the technology but about how fast other people can pickup the stack and the ball rolling in the first day itself.

[ashiishme]

Strapi is a good option too but what concerns me more is managing the UI side. We need to build our own templating feature to support different frontend needs which can be a lot of work. Also, we need to consider the standard process of government but let's see.

[aashan10]

Petition for adding Pimcore as a potential option for this project for the following reasons:

Intro

Pimcore is a Master data management/ digital asset management/ user experience management platform built with Symfony and PHP.
It provides a rich set of primitives for managing not only your content, but also your data and digital assets.

Features

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

1. Centralized management of all digital assets (images, videos, documents)
2. Automatic version control and image processing
3. Advanced metadata management and tagging
4. Easy integration of existing assets into cms pages as well as master data

Master Data Management (MDM)

1. Flexible data modeling for complex product structures
2. Multi-language support
3. Advanced import/export capabilities
4. Automated workflow management for product data

Content Management System (CMS)

1. Headless CMS capabilities (with first party extension)
2. Page builder with drag-and-drop interface
3. Multi-site management
4. Personalization options

Framework Features

• Built on Symfony framework
• RESTful API support
• Extensive customization options
• Modular architecture
• Strong caching mechanisms

Commerce Features

• Built-in e-commerce capabilities
• Multi-channel support
• Inventory management
• Pricing rules and promotions

This project is actively maintained and is constantly evolving with a strong community support. I think this is the perfect platform for what this initiative is trying to achieve. Checkout more on https://pimcore.com https://github.com/pimcore/pimcore

[ashiishme]

Thank you so much for sharing it, we can compare all of them together and find one solution. 🎉

[ashiishme]

Hey everyone, we have a guideline from the Government of Nepal, and we need to extract the key points and requirements to prepare a structured document for our use case.

If you are interested in contributing, feel free to join our Discord Server and join the discussion in the #nepal-government-framework channel.

[aashan10]

I went through the document and here are key points:

Section 1 and Two

These sections mostly talk about compliance with existing laws.

Section 3

This section talks about the content on the website (which is not the scope of this project), but there are a few points that might dictate the technical decisions like:

• 3.1.ङ.6 : If there are any forms on the website, there must also be a downloadable version of that form
• 3.1.च.10: The website should include an internal search functionality

Section 4

• 4.1 & 4.2- Templates are provided by the Department of Information Technology and the templates provided must be used (this is interesting because to what extent do they provide the templates is not mentioned. Is it just the overall layout or do they provide every tag that goes into the website?)

4.3 is a big one and it talks about the following things:

• Every page must be accessible with max 3 click navigation (probably index, listing and detail page workflow)
• Every page should be exportable to pdf/word documents
• Auto Archiving for expired contents
• View emails (this is confusing and I don't know what this means )
• Website security audit must be done at least once a year
• Multi language support (nepali being the primary language and english being the secondary. possibly any others as well?)
• Low bandwidth mode
• Responsive
• Accessible to people with disabilities
• Mechanisms for increasing/decreasing font size on the fly
• SSL/TLS
• Must be hosted on government integrated data center

Section 5

This section talks about SEO. It basically says that the meta tags must be editable and the website should have proper robots.txt file so that it can be crawled by the search engines

Section 6

Talks about usage tracking:

Must have reports about:

• unique visitors
• unique visitors per page
• downloads
• most visited pages
• least visited pages
• downloads
• most downloaded files
• least downloaded files
• bandwidth utilization
• visitor frequency per unique ip address

[rahuldahal]

Well summarized! 🥂
Thank you!

[ashiishme]

Thank you so much for the summary. I will suggest every individuals interested in this initiative to read this summary and also go through the official guidelines (you can find the link above).

[santoshxbelal]

I don't know anything about this but I feel good that you and the team are doing good things for the country !! Hope you'll do it !! Best of luck dai/didi haru 🫴🏻💝

[aashan10]

Putting one more idea into the table:

All of these frameworks come with their own technical debt that we will have to inherit if we were to choose one. Wordpress although might solve most of our problems out of the box, has a very bad reputation right now and the future seems more uncertain than ever.

• Drupal
  I worked on Drupal a couple of years ago on a simple application, but I don't have enough expertise on it so I can't speak on it's behalf, but it's built on top of Symfony as far as I know and has a really solid foundation. However, I had a pretty bad developer experience when working with Drupal. It seemed closer to wordpress like on the API that it provides than other modern php solutions. Maybe it has changed now?

• Strapi
  kind of works, but customization of strapi is easier said than done. Maybe it's my skill issue, but I had a really bad time with strapi customizations. The content builder works great though.

• TPO3 (notice i made a TYPO here 🤣)
  For typo3, I am not aware of it's feature sets and how everything works. I've been a PHP developer since 8 years now, have worked with a bunch of people from a bunch of companies in Nepal and I haven't met many people who have actually worked with typo3 so I think the contributions will be pretty low.

• Liferay
  I don't care, I won't write Java.

• Joomla
  Meh, what's the difference, if I had to choose between Joomla or wordpress, I'd choose wordpress.

• Pimcore
  Overwhelmingly many features and uses ancient js framework. Also, not so popular in Nepal. I only know one company that works with Pimcore and I've heard they are migrating away from pimcore as well. But, it's a pretty decent solution for building on top of given our requirements. Admin panel is slow af.

If it were up to me, I'd start with a blank project with Laravel and build on top of it.
I have an existing project that aligns with some of the requirements of the application, I'd focus on it and use Laravel and actually enjoy working rather than inheriting someone else's technical debt. But it's just my opinion.

[sandeshgit]

I have been working with Drupal from 2012 and I can say its a great choice for Government websites all over the world. Good to know that you have put it as the first item :) . I would be Glad to be of any help related to Drupal.