Community networks newsletter: Building common agendas that foster community-centred connectivity initiatives

Photo collage: Cathy Chen.

The end of the year approaching invites us to take stock of our collective work. This reflection allows us to appreciate the achievements, moments and gatherings around community-centred connectivity initiatives. For those committed to this work, we acknowledge these special moments to hear each other and to some extent address the challenges of the existing gaps in unserved or underserved territories. These snapshots and stories are nurturing a growing movement and create spaces that bring together people aligned with advancing the agenda on meaningful connectivity for grassroots communities.

In 2024, community-centred connectivity initiatives and multiple stakeholders have coordinated specific spaces of dialogue and have started to create common agendas around how to strategise and build an enabling telecommunication ecosystem for their communities. These agendas and strategies are taking into account each community's realities, structures, scope, possibilities and potential. A diversity of activities are being developed in countries like Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, that involve convening communities, social organisations, small internet service providers, cooperatives, researchers, members of governments and regulators. Across these countries, various strategic focuses are seen as common: enabling regulatory environments and policy compliance, ownership of the decision-making processes by communities, empowerment through capacity building, peer-to-peer learning, the advancement of partnerships and innovative thinking around sustainability, and the promotion of the participation of women and other diverse groups.

But this is not the end of the year for us. At the global level, two opportunities remain for this growing work towards common agenda setting and to raise their voices even more: the AWID international Forum and the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Moreover, we will be working on a special edition of this newsletter for December to share updates on emerging developments aimed at strengthening and highlighting our community-led connectivity efforts.

Welcome to the 75th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.

Routing for Communities podcast

The stories gathered in our Routing for Communities podcast narrate the experiences of communities forging their own paths towards meeting their connectivity needs and gaining access to technologies for their digital inclusion. Fostering women's voices is a challenge for enhancing equity and inclusiveness for them. 

We invite you to listen to some of these stories that address the intersections of gender and technology from the different journeys that led them to their commitment to the digital inclusion of their communities. 

In episode 7, Daiane Araújo, from Casa dos Meninos, reflects on community-centred connectivity, gender, race and class and Luísa Bagope from Nodes that Bond focuses on the women's circles and care. Listen to it here. This episode is also available in Portuguese, here. In episode 8, Harira Wakili reflects on women’s empowerment and Josephine Miliza reflects on the importance of women in building and enabling policy and regulation. You can listen to it here. And in episode 11, you can learn about the pioneering adventure of Professor Kanchaná Kanchanásut, who took the internet to Indonesia, by listening to it here. 

We hope you enjoy these inspirational stories of women in pursuit of digital inclusion for their communities. You can also learn from women’s participation in the other episodes of the podcast series. 

The Routing for Communities podcast is available on this page, as well as on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The first season features 12 episodes, describing experiences of communities from around the world.

Community networks news and stories

• In Colombia, the Third Community Networks Gathering was hosted by Colnodo in Bogotá, achieving an important milestone in the building of the National Strategy for Community Networks. The convening, for which the theme was "Weaving experiences for collaboration and advocacy", offered workshops, panels, an “Experience and Knowledge Fair” where participants could learn more about each other’s initiatives, and spaces for gender awareness raising for women as well as for men. Read more. [Available in Spanish.]
• The fibre optics workshop coordinated by the Tanda Community Network jointly with the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AFRALTI) and held in Nairobi was the first step of a fellowship programme for community networks in Kenya who wish to learn more about this means of providing connectivity. Follow this photo journey for a close-up view of this experience here.
• In Brazil, Nupef Institute installed community networks in the villages of Tabocal and Nova, in the Terra Indígena Rio Pindaré, and trained leaders to ensure their autonomy. The activity formed part of the Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Landscapes project in the Brazilian Amazon, implemented in partnership with the Instituto Sociedade População e Natureza (ISPN) and supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). Read more. [Available in Portuguese.]
• Morish Omara, an educational officer at Maruzi Seed Secondary School in Apac Municipality, Northern Uganda, shares how the Rural Community Broadband Network (RCBN), a free community internet project implemented by WOUGNET, is transforming access to educational resources and improving the school’s learning environment. Read more.
• The National Convening on Community-Centred Connectivity in Indonesia was held in Jakarta and hosted by ICT Watch, in a fruitful collective work with Common Room, Combine Resource Institution (CRI), AirPutih Association, Portkesmas and Relawan TIK. In the national consultation process, Common Room co-facilitated a group discussion on meaningful community-centred connectivity. Find a photo gallery of the convening here. [Available in Indonesian.]
• Common Room also convened a hybrid workshop on Open Maximum Power Point Tracking (OMPPT) and the High-frequency Emergency and Rural Multimedia Exchange System (HERMES). Both open source applications are designed to support sectors like agriculture, fisheries and weather monitoring while enhancing disaster communication. Read more. [Available in Indonesian.]
• The Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA) hosted a session called “Wired for Life: Community-centred connectivity and innovations” during the Digital Citizen Summit 2024 and Community Network Exchange organised by the Digital Empowerment Foundation in Hyderabad, India. The session shared insights and perspectives from a model-building project with special focus on gender and capacity building, as they shared on social media here.
• More than 50 participants from 10 countries of the region graduated from a course on “Design of Community Connectivity Strategies in Indigenous and Rural Territories in Latin America”. The course was developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and REDES A.C. Read more. [Available in Spanish.]

Gendered experiences

• In the 2024 special edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch), APC's Paula Martins states that "inequalities that women face affect their participation in shaping the development and use of digital technologies." In her report on “Gender in global digital discussions”, she explores how, through sustained activism, gender has played a growing and more prominent role in global digital discussions. Read more.
• In “From village roots to digital dreams: How women are transforming rural connectivity and driving community change”, Harira Wakili, the African regional gender coordinator for the Local Networks (LocNet) initiative, reflects on the inspiring story of a young woman who headed up the creation of a community network in the village of Mamaila in South Africa. Read more.
• According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ Analytical Report on Disability, only 9.8% of women with disabilities in Kenya have access to the internet, and that percentage is even lower in rural areas. The KICTANet Digital Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities team planned and conducted a training workshop on digital safety and cyber hygiene for women with disabilities in rural areas of Nakuru County. Learn more about this experience here.
• What’s the Gender Digital Divide? is the question that introduced a recent interview that the Internet Society Foundation conducted with Sonia Jorge, executive director of the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP). The article and interview were published as part of the new season of the Internet Society Foundation’s Research Program Interview Series. Find the article and video here. 

Enabling policy and regulation

• The intersessional panel of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) held a side event, hosted by APC and ISOC, on “Exploring innovative financing mechanisms for community-centred connectivity: A WSIS+20 agenda to leave no one behind”. The session was proposed to make visible the potential of community-centred connectivity initiatives in bridging the digital divide and the need for guaranteeing resources for their sustainability. Read more.
• In the framework of the 17th edition of the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (LACIGF), which took place in Chile, Valeria Betancourt, APC's internet governance lead, spoke at the Ministerial Conference on the Information Society on behalf of the LACIGF Multistakeholder Committee and highlighted that “moving towards public-social partnerships is more necessary than ever for digital inclusion.” Read more. [Available in Spanish.]

Publications, research and toolkits

• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) launched a publication on “Collaborative change: Towards inclusive rural communication services”. The publication dedicates three chapters to community efforts and enabling policies developed in Mexico, Argentina and Kenya. Read it here.
• The concept of communal internet infrastructure is an alternative, self-managed approach to digital spaces built upon values of community, autonomy and collaboration. This document developed by the tech team at APC is meant to serve as a foundational guide to understanding and implementing communal internet infrastructure, highlighting its importance for empowering communities to take control of their digital lives in a secure, private and values-aligned manner. Read more.

Events

• The AWID International Forum – with this year’s theme of Rising Together – is around the corner. It will be held from 2 to 5 December in Bangkok, Thailand and also offer online participation. Read more. And check out as well APC's plans for the forum here.
• The Green Tech Hackathon will be held on 10 and 11 December in Amsterdam. In a hybrid format, it proposes the development of resources to reduce the environmental impact of internet infrastructure, among other issues. Apply here.
• The 19th global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is also coming soon, under the theme "Building our Multistakeholder Digital Future", from 15 to 19 December in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Read more.
• The 2025 Internet Development Conference will bring together key players to address the African region’s connectivity challenges, enhance regional cooperation, and foster the growth of a robust internet economy. It is taking place from 21 to 23 January in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, organised by the Internet Society and hosted by Wingu Africa. Registration is now open. Read more. 
• The Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT 2025) will be held from 19 to 27 February 2025 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The call for presentations and fellowships is open. Read more.
• The 13th edition of RightsCon will be taking place from 24 to 27 February 2025 in Taipei and online. Find more information on the event and how to register here.
• The fifth biennial conference “InDigital V: Indigenous Media across Abya Yala” will bring together Indigenous media makers, media trainers and specialists in Indigenous studies from 19 to 20 February 2025 in Washington DC. Read more.
• The Global Voices Summit 2024 being held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 6 to 7 December 2024 will gather together partners and affiliated organisations, including digital activists, writers, tech experts, policy makers and researchers. Read more. 

Funding opportunities

• A quick reminder that the Local Networks (LocNet) initiative has launched a call for applications for a contract grants administrator, on an 11-month short-term contract. The selected applicant will be responsible for managing the administration of grantmaking, advising team members on APC procurement policy, drafting agreements and budget templates, preparing and updating a grant monitoring system, reviewing reports, and closure procedures. The call is closing very soon, on 29 November. Read more.
• The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) requests proposals for the USADF Off-Grid Energy Challenge from eligible African off-grid energy companies and not-for-profit organisations. The proposal should benefit low-income rural, urban or peri-urban populations currently unserved or underserved by existing utility companies. Read more.

Community networks learning repository

This repository is a collective online space to store and exchange resources that can be useful in training processes, focused on materials made for and by community networks.
In this issue we invite you to consult Technological autonomy as a constellation of experiences, a guide to collective creation and development of training programmes for technical community promoters. 
The guide shares practical recommendations for the implementation of relevant and contextualised training programmes for technical community promoters that favour the creation and consolidation of community communication and telecommunications projects, especially for community networks. The methodology proposed is that followed by the National Schools of Community Networks. The team that gathered these experiences and developed the methodology aimed for the guide to serve as “a call to continue weaving technological autonomy by sharing our experiences and knowledge in these training programmes.” It is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese and French.

We renew the invitation to share on this platform any resource in any language that you or your organisation have developed for capacity building of communities for their digital inclusion.

Find out more!

This newsletter is part of the Local Networks (LocNet) initiative, an initiative led by APC in partnership with Rhizomatica that aims to directly support the work of community networks and to contribute to an enabling ecosystem for the emergence and growth of community networks and other community-based connectivity activities in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. You can read more about the initiative here, here, and here. 

Previous editions of this newsletter are available here.

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