Privacy International (PI), alongside with Statewatch and European Digital Rights, called to endorse an open letter to the European Parliament. The submission will be made on Tuesday 30 November and PI are accepting signatures until Monday 29 November. The European Parliament will most likely vote on Wednesday 1st. December.

In 2003, together with more than 300 local partners, Alternatives launched a portal in the Democratic Republic of Congo . The project empowers local civil society groups to present and promote their activities and perspectives, which is particularly important in the current period, where civil society is taking an ever-increasing role in defending the principles that can support long-term peace in the region.

Together with a collective of twenty organisations and networks working to protect Peru’s wildlife and flora, CEPES developed the Peruvian Environmental Portal. The portal systematises information to really take advantage of the information available and improve dissemination.

The Gender and ICTs Network came about following a workshop on the gender dimensions of ICT policies in Senegal, held in November 2002. Regentic, as the network is also known, is working to promote gender analysis of the ICT sector in Senegal and initiate a dialogue process between the regulation authorities, women’s organisations and civil society working for gender justice in Senegal. ENDA Synfev is one of the network coordinators.

In Italy, APC member Unimondo was particularly active in promoting the CRIS (Communication Rights in the Information Society) Campaign and in trying to get as many organisations and people as possible involved in the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process.

In 2003, WomensHub developed a draft policy framework document entitled Gender and ICT in the Philippines: A Draft Policy Framework. The paper covers the emerging digital and gender divides, the national ICT situation in the Philippines, including the current national ICT policies.

D3 – a prototype public multimedia interactive created by APC member in Melbourne, c2o- is a storytelling engine which explores a sense of place by mapping trails through a city.

In line with its goal of helping empower communities through information and communications and advancing the agenda for Communication Rights, the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) has joined some of the most active NGO stakeholders in Philippine mass media to launch a campaign for reforms in governance within and through media and communications.

A project using wireless technology to link small-scale farmers in a desert valley in Peru is helping farmers by providing and generating local information online. The living conditions of more than 6,000 rural workers is being directly affected. APC member in Lima, CEPES, is providing technical support for the project and the content exchange software used is APC ActionApps.

Women’s organizations are dealing with so many priority issues, it’s hard to see information and communication technologies (ICT) as anything more than a tool to facilitate their work. For this reason 16 members of the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) came together in early November in Cape Town, South Africa, to map out key gender and ICT issues for the APC WNSP’s upcoming Gender and ICT Policy website.