Current projects
APC helps people get access to the internet where there is none or it is unaffordable, we help grassroots groups use the technology to develop their communities and further their rights, and we work to make sure that government policies related to information and communication serve the best interests of the general population, especially people living in developing countries. In all of our work we encourage people to network as a means of making other activities more sustainable. If people share their experiences and skills they have greater value over a longer period and often create a ripple effect.
Here are some of our current projects. Note: This is not a complete listing.
EroTICs: An exploratory research project into sexuality and the internet
What is “harmful content” on the internet? The definition is contestable, subjective and open to a range of interpretations, and the majority of interventions to combat it are mostly concerned with obscenity and child pornography. Sexual rights workers are troubled by the growing role of conservative forces – supported by religious extremists – and their attempts to encourage new legislation that would treat all online sexual exchanges as sexual predation and all adult content on the internet as pornography. This protectionist approach overshadows other important aspects of the internet that directly impact on internet users’ lives and their ability to access to vital information on sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights. EroTICs, an exploratory research just starting at APC, aims to narrow the gap between political assumptions and a better understanding of content and “harm” based on women’s real experience of sexuality online.
GenARDIS
The Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) small grants fund was developed in 2002 to support work on gender-related issues in ICTs for agricultural and rural development in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions. In 2008, the third round of small grants was issued, and projects are currently being implemented.
MDG3: Strengthening women's strategic use of ICTs to combat violence against women and girls
Marginalised women, teenage girls and women in armed conflict in more than ten countries will be the people most likely to benefit in a project launched in January 2009 by the APC women’s programme to tackle what the UN has called a “global epidemic of violence against women”.
Media piracy study
This two-year research project examines the nature and extent of media piracy and the effect of anti-piracy legislative and enforcement frameworks on access to knowledge in South Africa. The research was carried out by researchers from APC and several South African universities, and forms part of a larger study by researchers in Russia, India, Brazil, Mexico, and Hungary, on media piracy in their countries.
Open Net Initiative-Asia: Gender Research Framework on Censorship & Surveillance Practices
APC and the women’s programme are taking a closer look at internet censorship and surveillance practices from a gender perspective, which takes into account its potential impact to women’s rights and realities and how gender considerations affect the development of research methodologies. In collaboration with APC WNSP member, Heike Jensen and the Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia, the project aims to develop a research framework that can be applicable not just to the project partners in Asia, but to future research initiatives that are looking into the area of online surveillance and censorship.