APC sets priorities
By FD for APCNews
MONTRÉAL, Canada, 02 September 2008
APC members identified seven areas of strategic importance that APC should prioritise for the next five years during the APC council meeting held in Rio de Janeiro in November 2007. Some of these areas build on work we have been doing since 2000, such as internet rights, for example; others are new. Two of the seven priorities relate specifically to strengthening the capacity and sustainability of APC. We offer you an overview of APC’s strategic priorities for 2008-2012.
Access for all
In spite of dramatic increases in access to ICTs, digital exclusion persists and many people are still not able to use ICTs to improve their quality of life. Achieving digital inclusion involves interventions on three levels:
1) access
2) appropriation and
3) strategic use.
Access is a prerequisite for appropriation, and both access and appropriation are prerequisites for strategic use. Capacity development cuts across all three of these areas.
Critical engagement with emergent technologies
APC will continue to actively engage the potential benefits of ICTs for social justice. We will focus in particular on new and emerging technologies (tools and platforms) that can strengthen networking for justice and development, public participation, and social inclusion. We will also engage the potential harm these technologies can have; for example, harmful impacts on environmental sustainability and on cultural and linguistic diversity.
Environmental sustainability and ICTs
APC will promote the strategic use of ICTs to reinforce efforts to ensure environmental sustainability, and to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of the ICT sector. The APC network will carefully consider its own impact on the environment. We will aim to develop “sustainable consumption” models that can be applied to ICT development and use.
Information and communication rights
APC will continue and strengthen our work to make internet rights a reality for all people. The internet is a global public space that must be open, affordable and accessible to all. APC believes that the ability to share information and communicate freely using the internet is vital to the realisation of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW, 1981).
Growing the global information commons
APC will promote understanding of the importance of an information and knowledge commons and work towards expanding it.
Strategic priorities related to strengthening APC internally
Mobilising resources
Ensure that APC the organisation and members of the APC network have access to the resources they need to effectively implement the network’s vision and mission.
Network development and governance
Ensure that the APC network remains a vibrant, participatory network that is a hub for innovative and bottom-up approaches to using ICTs for social justice and development.
This information is based on the outcomes of the APC council meeting in Rio, November 2007. APC’s strategic plan will be released soon.
Note: Drawn from the APC Annual Report 2007. Read the full report here
(END/2008)