Community-centred connectivity

Many governments have established funds dedicated to expanding connectivity to underserved communities, so-called Universal Service Funds (USFs) or Universal Service and Access Funds (USAFs).  The purpose of the paper is to examine advocacy efforts led by civil society in selected countries that have led to systemic changes in local policies and regulations, with a specific focus on the us...

Drawing on the lessons and experiences from the Mamaila Community Network, traditional leaders, local entrepreneurs, community members and academics discussed the role of community networks as complementary solutions to commercial internet service providers in bridging the digital divide in underserved areas such as Sekgosese (South Africa). 

Capacity building is critical to the sustainability of a community network for several reasons. Discover some of them in this piece written by Josephine Miliza for APC member organisation KICTANet.

APC and its members gave statements at the Global Digital Compact's (GDC) thematic deep dive session on the theme of digital inclusion and connectivity. 

Colombia-based APC member Colnodo presented a statement at the Global Digital Compact thematic deep dive event on digital inclusion and connectivity. We spoke with Julián Casasbuenas about their experiences with community networks and civil society participation in the GDC process.

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.

In its statement, APC highlighted inclusive participation of communities in policy making, consideration of alternative solutions to connectivity that prioritise local and community-led responses, and a multistakeholder approach with differentiated roles and responsibilities.

These five manuals are the result of communities of practice that brought together community network practitioners from diverse countries. They aim to support community networks on key issues such as solar energy, circular economies, bamboo infrastructure and more.