UK Government’s Digital Access Programme (former Department for International Development-DFID)
The Prosperity Fund cross-HMG 'Digital Access Programme' is a DFID-led partnership with FCO and DCMS. It aims to catalyse more inclusive, affordable, safe and secure digital access for excluded and underserved communities in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia. Increased digital inclusion in the programme countries will form the basis for more thriving digital ecosystems that generate high-skilled jobs, opportunities for local digital entrepreneurship focused on country-specific development challenges, as well as potential partnerships with international and UK business aimed at mutual prosperity. The Digital Access programme will also focus on learning about sustainable models and enablers for digital inclusion. The learnings will be shared with key stakeholders and other partner countries, thereby amplifying the impact of the programme.
Work supported:
-
Supporting Community-Led Approaches to Addressing the Digital Divide project (2020-2023)
-
APC Mentorship Programme / Digital Access Programme (2019-2020)
-
Building Communication Opportunities (BCO) Alliance (2005-2007)
-
Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA) Component 1c (2004-2006)
-
ItrainOnline (2005)
-
Gender and ICT Evaluation Methodology (GEM) (2002-2004)
We are delighted to announce the new episodes of the Routing for Communities podcast are out! This month, we travel to Brazil and Nigeria to find out more about experiences with community networks, reflecting on how access inequalities combine with gender and race.
The Universal Service Fund – created precisely to subsidise the promotion of universal access to telecommunications services – should include community-led models, as recommended by ITU on several occasions, and advancing in countries such as Argentina, Malawi and Kenya.
Welcome to the 60th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives. In this edition, we celebrate these networks’ multiple achievements, discuss the challenges they face, and moot the kind of support they need.
A forum organised by the Communications Regulators' Association of Southern Africa brought together its member states to discuss the importance of community networks in providing universal services, and the policy and regulation measures needed to support them.
In this issue, we are inspired by women who are cultivating community networks in their regions. Welcome to the 59th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.
We are happy to announce the launch of the Routing for Communities podcast on 1 June. With 12 episodes, this podcast will be a journey to listen to the life stories of those connecting themselves while defending the fundamental rights and well-being of their communities.
In this edition, we celebrate the people and initiatives building collective knowledge together, such as the Community Network Seedbeds taking place in Argentina, and a series of manuals created from the collaboration among community network practitioners in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
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.
Meet community-led initiatives showing how networks can be built recognising the protagonism and autonomy of the diverse people and in support of a worthwhile future. Welcome to the 55th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access and community-based initiatives.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
Unless otherwise stated, content on the APC website is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
