Access

In August 2021, Zambia became the latest country to restrict citizens’ access to social media platforms as the country went to the polls. The disruption of digital communications has become a recurring theme in numerous countries during elections and in times of public protest.

Welcome to the 42nd monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.

How are APC partners improving their communities' lives? In this column we’re highlighting stories of impact and change by our partners, supported by APC subgranting. This catalytic project built a digital community network for the Ju|’hoan people living in the remote Nyae-Nyae Conservancy in Namibia.

This policy brief highlights what the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) and the Centre for Multilateral Affairs have been doing over the past two years in closing the gender digital divide in Uganda, as well as analysing the state of this divide and offering recommendations to various stakeholders.

The Communications Authority of Kenya adopted a Licensing and Shared Spectrum Framework for Community Networks after holding a public consultation in the country and promoting a process that allowed the development of the framework in partnership with multiple stakeholders.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have brought into stark relief the implications of digital inequality in Africa, said key partners who helped organise the 2021 African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG): APC, Research ICT Africa and the African Union Commission.

Our use of technology can often separate us from the reality of environmental degradation. This session identified threats and opportunities for digital technologies to work for local communities and environmental justice.

APC will engage in five days of multistakeholder dialogue on how technology can support democracy and human rights, through leading two sessions and sharing remarks during the opening and closing plenaries of the event.