This year’s Seeding Change stories explore how communities are organising to reclaim technology as a shared resource, defend rights in hostile environments, and imagine futures beyond extractive and exclusionary systems. From rural connectivity initiatives in Africa to feminist storytelling in Latin America, from digital security for human rights defenders to new frameworks for sustainable access in Asia, these efforts show what becomes possible when technology is rooted in collaboration and local knowledge.
The stories from 2025 exemplify the ways in which the APC network has been building community-centred digital infrastructure, defending rights and amplifying marginalised voices, and reimagining new pathways through creativity, care and environmental justice. They offer a powerful snapshot of how movements are growing by deepening their roots. As these seeds continue to grow, they offer a rich ecosystem of practices rooted in local realities, nourished by solidarity and oriented towards futures where technology serves people, communities and the planet.
Seeding Change is our regular column on how APC’s members and partners are improving their communities' lives, supported by APC subgranting. Launched in 2021, the column has already featured 69 inspiring stories of initiatives from around the world. All in all, the stories featured this year are showing that digital justice is not only about access to technology, but about power: who shapes it, who benefits from it, and how it is used to sustain life, dignity and resistance.We acknowledge that these stories are highlights representing a selection of the many inspiring projects undertaken by our members and partners this past year, and invite readers to browse the APC website to discover more powerful examples of what we can accomplish as a network, and sign up for the APC newsletter to receive updates on more meaningful stories of impact.
Community-centred connectivity: Building infrastructure that serves people
Across the APC network, community networks continue to demonstrate that meaningful access is not simply a technical challenge, but a social and political one. In 2025, several initiatives focused on strengthening the ecosystems that allow community-centred connectivity to thrive, from coordination and policy engagement to long-term sustainability and environmental care. These stories show that community-centred connectivity is grounded in autonomy, accountability and building systems that reflect the values of the people who rely on them.
Tanda CBO’s drive to strengthen the community network movement in Kenya
Tanda is a Swahili word that means “to spread”, and that is what Tanda CBO is determined to do. With the aim of strengthening the community networks movement, this Kenya-based organisation developed a project to coordinate actions and stakeholders to promote community-centred connectivity initiatives and digital inclusion in the country. Read more.
The journey of community networks towards sustainability in South Africa
Zenzeleni Networks NPC conducted an audit of six community networks in South Africa last year. The results offer valuable insights for community-centred initiatives. To amplify their learnings, we spoke with the three leads of the project – Nicholas Eppel, Yumna Panday and Neo Magoro – about how lessons from past actions can inform the future. Read more.
Community networks cultivating a future where technology and social and environmental care grow together
Access to low-cost monitoring kits is allowing community networks to collect local environmental data – to better understand phenomena like deforestation or agricultural burning. As the world follow the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) this month, this story invites us to reflect on how connectivity and digital technologies can emerge from the needs of the people living in and defending the environment around them. Read more.
A new framework to address the digital divide in Asia
While the digital divide remains a challenge in Asia and the Pacific, new strategies are taking shape to tackle them. One such effort is from ISEA, which has identified a promising synergy between social enterprises and community-centred connectivity to provide sustainable access alternatives, while enabling social impact in local level. Read more.
Defending digital rights and amplifying marginalised voices
In many parts of the world, digital rights violations remain under-recognised, under-reported and deeply gendered. In 2025, APC members have continued to work in challenging environments to protect those most at risk, while also creating platforms for voices that have historically been silenced. Across these initiatives, defending digital rights is not only about responding to risk, but about creating conditions in which marginalised voices can speak, organise and shape the digital spaces that affect their lives.
Supporting Palestinian human rights defenders through digital security
In the midst of a deeply challenging context, 7amleh’s project exemplifies how tailored digital security training and awareness campaigns can significantly improve the safety and advocacy capacity of human rights defenders. Read more.
Uniting to break the silence on digital rights in the DRC
Digital rights violations remain an invisible issue for many policymakers, regulators and law enforcement officials, and are even underexplored in many human rights circles in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). To raise awareness, APC member Rudi International has been convening HakiConf, its flagship digital rights conference in the country. Discover how the organisation is fostering inclusive, multistakeholder dialogue. Read more.
The untold stories of women in Ugandan journalism
In Uganda, the field of journalism has long been dominated by men, with female voices often marginalised or stereotyped. However, this year a significant shift was underway: A group of women journalists shared their experiences of breaking barriers, pushing against stereotypes, while also challenging gendered disinformation. Read more.
LaLibre.net weaves a network of digital rights defenders in Ecuador
In Ecuador, threats to privacy, freedom of expression and digital security intersect with feminist, Indigenous and environmental struggles. In this context, LaLibre.net Tecnologías Comunitarias has designed a strategy to strengthen the network of those working to defend digital rights. Read more.
Reimagining futures through creativity, care and justice
While much digital rights work responds to urgent threats, 2025 has also seen projects that create space for imagination – not as escapism, but as a political practice. By telling new stories and experimenting with alternative frameworks, these initiatives invite us to envision futures rooted in justice, care and diversity. They remind us that movements need space not only to resist, but also to dream. By cultivating imagination alongside infrastructure and advocacy, they expand the horizons of what digital justice can mean.
Feminist science fiction from Abya Yala
In October 2024, a group of artists and activists, many of whom had never before written science fiction, gathered in an online workshop to create stories that reimagined the future: Una Bolsa de Semillas ("A Bag of Seeds"). In the matter of a few weeks, these writers from different parts of Latin America shaped a collection of stories that aimed to disrupt the traditional forms of science fiction. Read more.
Strengthening digital rights within rural and traditional communities in Northeast Brazil
How can the internet and digital technologies help defend territorial autonomy while supporting women’s rights and socio-environmental justice? This is a key question for the Free Territories, Free Technologies project, being coordinated by Intervozes since 2020 and now entering a new phase of in-person activities across dozens of communities in Brazil. Read more.
To browse stories of how APC members have been achieving meaningful impact, visit the Seeding Change column.
How have you been inspired to plant seeds of change in your community? Share your story with us at communications@apc.org