International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
IDRC is APC's earliest supporter, providing the funds needed to launch APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) activities around the world during the lead-up to the 1995 UN World Conference on Women (UNWCW) from 1993 to 1995 and crucial funding during the 1990's to support the pioneering stages of connectivity development in Africa through a range of initiatives. IDRC continues to support the APC network in it's work most recently through support of the APC Action Research Network (ARN) from 2010 to 2012 and the Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) project from 2014 to 2016.
IDRC has been a continual support of various Women's Rights programmes initiatives, as well as the development of our “Mission-Driven Business Planning Toolkit”. They provided start-up support to our internet rights work through the Global ICT Policy Monitor project, with a focus on activities in Latin America and Africa. In addition, APC’s Betinho Communications Prize to recognise socially meaningful uses of the internet was funded by IDRC for the first two years. IDRC also provided partial support for the APC Africa Hafkin Prize (awarded in 2001) and, in 1995, for the APC council meeting in Brazil. A full list of IDRC supported initiatives is below.
1992-1997: Connectivity in Africa initiatives
1993-1995: APC Women's Networking Support Programme
2001: Africa Hafkin Prize, Betinho Communications Prize, Global ICT Policy Monitor project, and WNSP Lessons Learned/GEM.
2002: LAC ICT Policy Monitor project, Africa Hafkin Prize, Global ICT Policy Monitor project, Gender and ICT Evaluation Methodology (GEM), and the “Civil Society and ICT Policy in Africa” workshop.
2003: The Africa Hafkin Prize, the Betinho Communications Prize, LAC and Africa ICT Policy Monitor projects, and Gender and ICT Evaluation Methodology (GEM).
2004: The Africa ICT Policy Monitor project, Gender and ICT Evaluation Methodology (GEM), Global Gender and ICT Forum, Africa Hafkin Prize 2004-2005, and Capacity building for wireless connectivity in Africa.
2005: The Africa ICT Policy Monitor, Africa Hafkin Prize 2004-2005, Betinho Communications Prize 2005, Capacity building for wireless connectivity in Africa; Institutional Support Project (INSPRO), Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE); GenARDIS; Wireless training workshop at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
2006: Capacity building for community wireless connectivity in Africa, capacity building and institutional support, Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE), the GenARDIS project, GenARDIS project evaluation, Making EASSy easy, Media and ICT policy meeting, Wireless going forward: Meeting of all wireless partners, Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) II, GEM workshop in Asia, and the Harambee project.
2007: Internet Governance Forum Communications and Research Grants (1 Nov 2007 to 31 Jan 2008); Positioning for the Future: Institutional Strengthening and Assessment of KICTANet (8 Jan 2007 to 8 Dec 2007); Harambee project
2008-2010: Communication for influence in Central, East and West Africa (CICEWA); Africa ICT Policy Monitor
Open access in Africa: EASSy, SAT-3/WASC research; GenARDIS: A small grants fund to address gender issues in ICTs in ACP Agricultural and Rural Development Round III; Feminist Tech Exchange
2010-2012: APC Action Research Network (ARN)
2014-2016: Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) project from 2014 to 2016
The Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) small grants fund was developed in 2002 to support work on gender-related issues in ICTs for agricultural and rural development in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions. In 2008, the third round of small grants was issued, and projects are currently being implemented.
In Africa, APC’s main focus is on access to infrastructure. Africa currently has to pay for some of the most expensive bandwidth in the world and the hard currency paid leaves the continent. Because East Africa does not have international fibre connections it is paying even more than West African countries connected to the monopoly-controlled SAT3/WASC cable.
The Harambee project is designed to support increased capacity among both the project’s initiators and a range of Africa-based networks and communities to coordinate and facilitate the interactions of their respective constituencies.
During 2005 and 2006 APC implemented a “capacity building for community wireless connectivity in Africa” partnership project, the first of a proposed series of projects to address capacity building for wireless connectivity.
A three-volume book set that captures the APC WNSP experience of getting women online during the 1990s, including running the onsite internet centre at the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women and case studies from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Central Europe.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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