Local access and community networking
Internet user growth is slowing and varied attempts to address the problem of access – through traditional telecom models, private sector initiatives, state-led measures, philanthropy – have met with limited success. We must rethink how networks are built, owned, operated and utilised, and empowering local communities is key to this.
The aim of this project is to build local capacity to catalyse more affordable and inclusive connectivity for underserved or excluded communities in low-income rural, urban and peri-urban areas. It aims to highlight the identified needs for changes to national and local regulations in order to help create an enabling environment for these complementary models, such as community networks.
Welcome to the 49th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives. In this edition, find out more about women's engagement in community networks in Africa and much more.
Discover what the story of 28-year-old Shibani tells us about the women weaving connections and finding self-expression through community radio stations in India.
Risper Akinyi from the Tunapanda Institute in Kenya will be weaving connections among women engaged with community networks from different countries in the region during this year's Africa Internet Governance Forum, taking place 19-21 July in Lilongwe, Malawi.
When the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the whole world, the experience of communities in the rural and remote Ciracap sub-district in West Java, Indonesia, showed the importance and power of building a local response to the crisis. Welcome to the 48th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.
The project envisages the implementation of a Wi-Fi community network in quilombo Ribeirão Grande/Terra Seca by actively encouraging the involvement of the entire region in multiple workshops and knowledge exchanges. In this article, we focus on the gendered and racial aspects of our journey.
When the pandemic challenged the world, the experience of communities in the remote Ciracap sub-district in West Java, Indonesia, showed the importanceof building a local response to the crisis. Common Room fostered the deployment of the "Ciracap Sub-district Community Network", a connectivity infrastructure, in a region where people face many challenges to accessing information.
Within the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, APC was invited to be part of the "Empowering Communities" focus area lead. In that role, we have been highlighting the importance of commitment to policy, regulation and financial mechanisms to enable bottom-up and rights-based initiatives.
At the conference that will gather policy makers and regulators from around the world, APC will highlight the importance of policy, regulation and financial support to community networks and other community-based connectivity initiatives.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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