Who we are, in a nutshell

Image: Group work during the Making a Feminist Internet in Malaysia, 2017. Image: Group work during the Making a Feminist Internet in Malaysia, 2017.
A diverse and grounded community

APC derives its strength from the experience, expertise and diversity of the people and organisations that make up the network. We are a global network of members and an organisation with staff skilled in internet policy and practice at the national, regional and global levels. This identity puts APC in a position to effect high-level policy change while having a well-rooted understanding of what is happening on the ground, increasing our effectiveness across the board. Our experience in implementing national, regional and global initiatives allows us to develop innovative and community-based access and connectivity solutions, advocate for a rights-based approach to internet access and governance, build capacity in the women's movement and work in partnership with a diverse range of people and institutions.

People-centred technology innovators and practitioners

Most of the original APC members emerged to provide “proto-internet” services for NGOs in the early 1990s, prior to the emergence of the commercial internet. Since then, and along with many recent APC members, we continue to work on developing and adopting internet and digital technologies – including working with local communities to develop alternative, people-centred pathways to connectivity – as well as providing training and support at a local level. APC has almost three decades of technical and policy experience and expertise and our approach to technology practice is based on an understanding of and vision for internet infrastructure and protocols that are locally appropriate, open and sustainable.

Human rights and feminist network

APC influences discourse and analysis of internet-related issues to integrate human rights norms and standards, gender justice and feminist values in internet and digital technology policy, governance, development and practice. Our focus is on a broad range of rights, from civil and political rights to economic, social, cultural and sexual rights as they relate to the internet and digital technologies. We support and work with activists, organisations and networks in the human rights, sexual rights, women’s rights and social justice movements.

Policy change actors

APC links national, regional and global policy and practice through collective analysis, capacity building and supporting sustained engagement in human rights and internet governance mechanisms with our members and strategic partners. We engage critically with governments and the private sector, and we hold them accountable for upholding human rights and promoting social justice. Our approach to policy advocacy makes use of collaborative implementation, with our members and partners, and leverages linkages between national, regional and global levels. We engage critically and constructively with multistakeholder approaches to internet governance, making them more inclusive, accountable and rights and gender responsive.

Bridge builder, connector and convener

APC is a trusted interlocutor and bridge builder, linking different movements, organisations and interests at national, regional and global levels to support communities and initiatives that promote the role of the internet and digital technologies in contributing to equitable and sustainable development, social justice and participatory political processes. We are uniquely located within the digital rights, feminist and women’s rights movements. We play a vital role in bringing together people and organisations who have different perspectives and experiences from around the world at key moments to work in regional and global policy spaces. We facilitate collaborative work that is deeply informed by grassroots challenges and achievements that foster relationships and trust within networks.

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