Welcome to the 31st monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.
We have created a new platform for community networks to share our experiences and grow together. Please join us at https://communitynetworks.group/
APC shares highlights of its work to promote affordable and sustainable connectivity between 2016 and 2019. Read more.
Events and conferences
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A partnership between IBEBrasil and ISOC Brazil is offering a course on regulation of community networks. Read more.
Resources from past events
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This year the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) took place online, and there were a number of excellent sessions on community networks, such as this workshop on Community Networks, Electricity and Digital Inclusion, where policy was discussed. Read more.
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Every year, the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) organises an event called the Community Networks Exchange (CNX). You can find the recordings of this year's edition here. Read more.
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The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Global Summit 2020 featured a session on Alternative Communication Models for Connecting Communities, where community networks were discussed. Read more.
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This year's Battlemesh event was held virtually. The recordings of the event are now available online. Read more.
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Webinar on Public Funding for Community Networks in Africa, from the Summit on Community Networks in Africa. Read more.
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This year's Summit on Community Networks in Africa is being held virtually in the form of five webinars. Three have already taken place, but there are still two more to come! Read more.
Community networks in news and blogs
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The Partnership for Public Access has released a declaration with a call to urgently get "Every Community Connected". Read more.
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Community Networks Stories: A digital communications system geared to the needs and local context of remote communities in the Amazon. Read more.
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Zenzeleni was highlighted as a case study in the Prosperity Fund's annual report for 2019 to 2020. Read more.
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Zotero list of community networks resources, curated by Eric from Wakoma. Read more.
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New community networks were set up even during the pandemic in Argentina. Read more.
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KICTANet has featured the work of Zenzeleni as part of a series of blog posts about community networks. Read more.
Gendering community networks
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GenderIT.org and APC's local access networks (LocNet) project team invited women who work in community networks to share their experiences in the times of COVID-19. This is one of the stories shared about acts of care in communication technologies during the pandemic. Read more.
News on policy and regulation
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Contributions from civil society to the public consultation held by Anatel, the Brazilian telecoms regulator, on simplifying the telecommunication operators licensing framework. Read more.
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Contribution from civil society to the Ethiopian Communications Authority's public consultation on the Universal Access Fund. Read more.
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Expanding the telecommunications operators ecosystem: Policy and regulatory guidelines to enable local operators. Read more.
Tools and toolkits
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Check out this YouTube channel for tutorials about self-hosting services for your networks. Read more.
Funding opportunities
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Cisco has launched an open call for their Global Problem Solver Challenge 2021, with prizes of up to USD 250,000 for solutions with environmental or social impact. Read more.
Previous editions
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Previous editions of this newsletter are available here.
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 developing countries. You can read more about the initiative here, here, and here.
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One more thing! If you have comments about the newsletter or information relevant to the topic that you would like us to include in the next edition, please share it with us at localaccess.newsletter@apc.org.