Digital inclusion
In the COVID-19 era, community networks became increasingly important in meeting the rising demand for affordable connectivity. In Kenya, where community networks are growing in size and number, there was a positive regulatory change in 2021. Read more in this piece from KICTANet.
India imposed 84 internet shutdowns in 2022, the highest number globally for the fifth year in a row. APC joins a global civil society coalition to urgently ask the Indian government to create meaningful safeguards for citizens' digital rights and ensure unfettered access to an open, secure and reliable internet.
Women have historically been underrepresented in the telecommunications policy and regulation spaces, but there has been a recent push to increase diversity in these fields, as Josephine Miliza of APC member organisation KICTANet reports.
Last year saw the highest number of internet shutdowns ever recorded. Such enforced digital darkness is a slippery slope of easy authoritarianism that we see spreading globally, one that countries like India, with the world's highest number of shutdowns, are using to gain undemocratic compliance from their citizens.
Around the world, communities are building alternatives to bridge the digital divide. And their contribution has been recognised recently: in this edition, we can discover tangible examples. Welcome to the 56th monthly round-up of developments impacting your community-based initiatives.
A diverse range of people with different backgrounds are building community networks in many countries in the LAC region. They are demonstrating that community networks can be a process in which technologies, communications and access are moulded to meet local realities, dreams and needs.
Diverse stakeholders and government representatives are meeting to discuss complementary connectivity solutions and the next steps to address the country's and region's digital divide. To support the dialogue, APC and GIZ Cameroon present a new Policy Brief with recommendations.
This paper highlights the ever-increasing importance of access to electronic communications services in Cameroon and presents regulatory and operational recommendations to make the national environment more favourable to the development of community networks.
This presentation was jointly delivered by Joana Varon (Coding Rights) and Valeria Betancourt (APC) at the Global Digital Compact Americas Multistakeholder Consultation held in Mexico City on 15-16 February 2023 to discuss the challenges, opportunities and priorities of the region.
“Twenty years of dreams were finally given a breath of life by a pandemic,” founder of Dunia Moja Twahir Hussein says about his work with underprivileged communities in Kilifi, on the coast of Kenya.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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