Community-centred connectivity

Welcome to the first monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.

This book reflects many of the ideas discussed by the members of the Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity (DC3) of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, between 2016 and 2017.

In the 2017 GISWatch edition, several country reports draw attention to the absence of participation by the underserved and unconnected in their national internet governance processes. Community networks can be credible local stakeholders to include in national and regional deliberations on internet governance, and may even be critical stakeholders to consider, as they are a...

The emergence of a global “information society” is driven by the continuing development of converging telecommunications, multimedia broadcasting, and information technologies linked together by the internet. The flow of information facilitated by the internet strengthens democratic processes, stimulates economic growth, and allows for cross-fertilisation of knowledge exchange and creativit...

This project aims to address the following questions: Are local access infrastructure models a viable alternative to connecting the unconnected, and if so, what are the circumstances that make them successful? What are the benefits to the local community in terms of well-being, gender equity and social or economic development where connectivity infrastructure is locally owned?

The actions captured in this report reflect the energy, diversity and growth of the APC network. New members AlterMundi, from Argentina, Point of View, from India, Rhizomatica, from Mexico, Social Media Exchange (SMEX), from Lebanon, and Zenzeleni Networks, from South Africa, have added to the richness of the APC community and the breadth of our reach.

Guifi.net is, in the words of its members, a bottom-up, citizen-driven technological, social and economic project with the objective of creating a free, open and neutral telecommunications network. In March 2017, it joined the APC network.

Masibulele Jay Siya told APCNews the story of Mankosi, a village that came together to build and maintain its own telecommunications network and offer affordable communications to the people in rural Eastern Cape.