The greens are growing like weeds in Bulgaria and Hungary and recently ecologists in Bulgaria made significant headway on yet another battle against a Goliath, preventing the further destruction along the Black Sea coast and high mountains to make way for luxury housing. Campaigns spread like viruses through emailing lists and online networks, and ultimately ended up on the streets in protest, a testament to the growth of new citizen-driven green parties in these countries.

After several days of intense debate, APC members identified six issues as the key strategic areas that APC must tackle in the next five years: advocating for affordable internet access for all, ICTs and the environment, building the “information commons” , defending internet rights, critical and creative engagement of emerging technologies from a social change perspective and improving governance, especially governance of the internet. Why did APC members prioritise those six issues? What are the key challenges and opportunities that they perceive regarding the freedom of the internet and its use for social justice in the coming years?

Can Facebook and YouTube help the poor tackle their pressing problems? Or is this promise just hype? One is faced with tough questions: Can “Web 2.0 tools” directly influence the poor themselves? Can those interested in poverty work do better to start with the “situation” rather than the “technology”? Or should one think big and dream of a network of networks encompassing a billion children and their teachers, families and friends — nearly all of the poor people in the world, and most of the rich? BytesForAll co-founder and journalist Frederick Noronha takes a look at the issue.

APC women’s Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) is training a key group of women’s rights advocates particularly those living in the developing world in essential internet, audio and other technical skills to enable them to use technology to most effectively document abuses, build knowledge, disseminate information, mobilise support and amplify pressures for change.

What are some of the most important challenges South African NGOs face in their communication and networking efforts? According to SANGONeT’s IT Programme Officer Botswang Kgeledi, limited ICT resources and knowledge are among the biggest challenges to effective communication and networking. Hear more about how SANGONeT is capacitating civil society with new tools to learn to make the most of these resources, in an interview by Frederick Noronha.

Facebook is not just a way to get back in touch with old classmates from school or see what your “friends” are up to. Activists around the world are taking advantage of this new virtual space to expand their reach and establish more immediate and interactive contact with individuals and organisations from an ever wider range of backgrounds. ITeM, an APC member in Uruguay, talked with APCNoticias about how it is using this web-based tool, and shared some practical advice for others who are experimenting with social networks and other Web 2.0 tools.

ITeM has been coordinating IFIwatchnet since 2005.

Speakers at a discussion in Dhaka on September 17 asked Bangadesh's government not to sign any agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to protect the country's interests. APC-member VOICE demanded transparency and accountability on the part of the government.

Viva Network sees effective networking among Christian organisations as a stepping-stone to making a difference for the children of the world. Its focus on networking training, governance, and facilitation makes Viva Network a perfect example of the benefits of collaborative effort – just what the Harambee Small Grants Facility was founded to support.

Often, people working in prevention of HIV/Aids experience difficulties in gaining an overview of successes and failures of HIV/Aids programmes in the most affected countries. The key information about vulnerable segments of the population who are not yet enrolled in these programmes is generally absent. It is around these two reasons that Réseau Sida Afrique’s work revolves. APCNews asked some questions to Lydie Diaboungana of the secretariat of the network, located in Brazzaville, in the Congo. Chronicle of a tough fight with the help of ICTs.

The Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA) is a capacity building organisation for librarians, information specialists, scientists, researchers and students of sub-Saharan Africa. Better said, it assists them in mastering information and communication technology. APCNews talked to Gracian Chimwaza, executive director of ITOCA, about the organisation’s latest project aimed at groups working on ‘soil health’. The goal? Help them locate and access information cost-effectively.

APC-member in South Africa, Ungana-Afrika, is in the middle of a rural connectivity initiative that targets legal advice centres. Communication capacity is being beefed-up in the rural area of South Africa. Ten advice centres are already on Ungana-Afrika’s eRiders roadmap. And they're moving fast.

Following an APC coordinated meeting in London about wireless internet technology in Africa last December, John Dada and Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam gave interviews to the BBC World Service. Those of you not based in Africa may have missed the broadcasts. Here they are in mp3 files. Both were broadcasted on the BBC’s Focus on Africa Programme in December 2006.

The South African non-governmental organisation net (SANGONeT) is known for being at the forefront of South Africa’s civil society, especially in matters related to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the internet. How that came to be and how SANGONeT is using technology is discussed with SANGONeT portal editor Fazila Farouk here.

In the midst of an armed conflict, organising an audiovisual communication workshop for youth does not tend to be a priority for groups working in the area. Nevertheless, for the International Peace Observatory (IPO), a Colombian organisation that was a finalist for the Betinho prize in 2005, it is essential that small farmer communities – who are the first victims of the war – be able to tell their stories. APCNews spoke to Laura Lorenzi, president of the IPO, about how new technologies can become arms in the struggle against the war.

The Harambee project coordinators are announcing a small grants facility to provide a number of sectoral based networks and communities in Africa with funding for the development of greater collaborative capacity.

We are, with great pride, very close to certain social movements, especially those that fall within the context of tactical media.

The Metarecyclers consider that computers are craft artifacts that must be creatively manipulated. They not only have displayed a natural vocation for experimentation, the finalists of APC's 2005 Betinho Prize also populated recycling centres all over Brazil. APCNews reports on this open, free and self-organised movement from Brazil.

The MetaRecycling movement is sustained by solid philosophical pillars. One of the basic concepts consists in treating computers as artisanal products.

First it was radio, then the internet. First women’s organisations, then the community. The story of CEMINA, a Brazilian communication and gender organisation, is one of growth, change and openness. Its radio telecentre work captivated the APC Betinho Prize jury in 2005.