By APCNews MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay,
Published onPage last updated on
In 2006, APC’s focus was on keeping internet-access-for-all on the international agenda.
“APC’s approach to open access is people-oriented. We believe that the information, content and tools found online should be available to everyone. Bandwidth costs less now than ever before,” said executive director Anriette Esterhuysen in her introduction. “The Tunis Agenda adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005 highlighted the importance of infrastructure and recognised the need for more financial resources. But very few international ICT initiatives address the infrastructure gap systematically.”
In the WSIS aftermath, APC reviewed the policy terrain, to see what dynamics were coming into play, working to ensure that access and infrastructure were squarely on the agenda of the new Internet Governance Forum, and regionally in Africa, around lowering the cost of connection to the internet.
Working with journalists, regulators, internet service providers and universities, we promoted the open access approach to the undersea fibre-optic cables that supply international internet connectivity to Africa. We convened forums on the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which could have provided the first non-satellite internet connections for the whole of the eastern region of Africa and much of southern Africa to bring down inflated connectivity prices.
2006 was the final year of the CATIA initiative, where APC had helped locally-based activists in six countries influence information and communication technology (ICT). In Kenya CATIA campaigners played a direct role in the liberalisation of internet telephony by the regulator. But keeping access on the agenda is an uphill battle.
Take back the tech!
In 2006, the APC women’s programme’s action areas in policy advocacy, evaluation, research and training of women techies became increasingly interlinked, with each area informing and strengthening the work of other areas. The new campaign “Take Back the Tech!” combined policy advocacy, creativity and capacity-building to combat technology-supported violence against women.
During 2006, APC’s strategic uses programme trained more than tens of community technicians to set up wireless networks in Africa and secured funding to do the same in Latin America. Training materials for anyone who wants to set up networks were made available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic. The Chris Nicol free and open source software prize was also launched and will be awarded in 2007 to a group that’s popularising the uptake of free software with regular computer users.
Network growth
APC’s network is extensive and growing. By the end of 2006, it included 45 member organisations in 34 countries working in a range of areas from human rights to sustainable development, grassroots literacy to low-cost connectivity solutions, internet governance to gender equality and women’s empowerment. New members joined from Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Japan and the Philippines.
Several small grants are available to members to develop collaborative projects together as well as to participate in events relevant to APC’s strategic priorities. “A gap that the APC membership travel fund has helped fill is the absence of environmental sustainability on the agenda at international ICT events. Thanks to the fund, BlueLink has been able to put this topic on the table and provoke discussions at the World Summit on the Information Society and at the Internet Governance Forum in Athens,” said Milena Bokova, director of Bulgaria’s APC environmental communicator group BlueLink.
International
APC’s website continues to be one of the most visited in its field. In 2006, APC.org received more than 500,000 unique visitors accessing more than three million pages. It’s a site that attracts people from all over the world. In 2007, we will be re-launching our general APC.org website in English, Spanish and – for the first time – French and Portuguese.
Moving into French has been a long-time goal for APC and 2006 saw us laying the groundwork.
As usual a large section of the report features achievements from APC members on five continents from 2006, including:
· ESLARED, Venezuela: Wireless connection world record
· FANTSUAM FOUNDATION, Nigeria: Technology provides vulnerable children with a support line in Nigeria
· LABORNET, USA: Labour and the digital revolution
· STRAWBERRYNET, Romania: Raising awareness of ICT policy impact on Romanians’ lives
· WOMENSHUB, Philippines: For overseas migrant workers, emergency assistance is just one SMS away
Download the APC Annual Report 2006 from http://www.apc.org/en/publications in pdf format. The report is also available in Spanish and for the first time in French.
http://apc.org/en/pubs/annreports/apc-annual-report-2006
PHOTO: Member representatives and staff at the Latin American and Caribbean meeting in Montevideo at the end of 2006. Photo: APC
