APC's 2018 Annual Report offers an engaging dive into one year in the network's life. However, as comprehensive as it is, it is just a sample of the multifaceted and tireless work we all do at APC. As APC's executive director Chat Garcia Ramilo said in her introduction to this report, it is a compendium of "stories about how APC collectively strives for change," from what Bishakha Datta, our board chair, describes in her own introductory piece as "a year when so many deeply-rooted initiatives blossomed and flowered."
It’s been a year of intense work and satisfaction at APC, through community networks in rural villages in Cauca, Colombia, and Mankosi, South Africa; digital rights campaigns in Lebanon, Macedonia and Kenya; rights-based policy advocacy in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chile and Mexico; film production in Myanmar; a regional feminist internet meeting in Serbia; feminist learning communities in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala; a girls' hackathon in Costa Rica; a computer waste management plant in Argentina; an outstanding internet governance school in Africa and even a school makeover in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is always a challenge to narrate the story of one year in the life of APC in a limited amount of space – and just using words and images – since the people in APC and its passion are our most outstanding strengths. Still, we did our best to convey in 67 stories the main highlights of APC's impact during 2018:
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Its 91 publications
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The 6 UN resolutions that received APC’s input and reflected many of its advocacy priorities
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The 5 reports of UN Special Rapporteurs that received APC contributions on privacy, freedom of opinion and expression, elimination of all forms of violence against women, business and human rights, and contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
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The 6 submissions and oral statements delivered at the UN Human Rights Council on secure communications, gender-based violence, freedom of expression and internet freedoms in Palestine and Malaysia
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The 4 country submissions to the UN Universal Periodic Review processes for Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chile and Mexico in collaboration with our members and partners that increased attention to internet rights
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The 300 civil society, human rights and women’s rights activists that gained more understanding on online gender-based violence issues through APC’s support for research, capacity building and advocacy
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The 26 Take Back the Tech! campaigners and other anti-GBV activists from 17 countries that met at the Take Back the Tech! global meeting and Feminist Tech Exchange held in Nepal in August 2018
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The 50 participants from the Caucasus, Asia and Eastern Europe that attended the Making a Feminist Internet gathering organised in Serbia in October 2018, which focused on online gender-based violence
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The 60 civil society organisations and actors from the global South that were supported by APC through capacity building to meaningfully and effectively engage with internet governance processes
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The 30 civil society actors and activists that participated with support from APC at national, regional and global Internet Governance Forums, leading to increased participation of diverse voices at internet governance events
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The 60 women human rights defenders, lawyers, sexual rights and LGBTIQ activists that learned to protect themselves online as a result of the FTX Safety Reboot curriculum and trainings
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The 61 representatives from 50 member organisations, 8 individual members and 20 APC staff members that participated in 5 regional member meetings
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The 33 members’ initiatives that were supported through APC’s sub-granting programmes
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The 141 stakeholders including staff, members, partners, beneficiaries, political allies and donors that participated in the evaluation of APC’s Theory of Change and Strategic Plan for 2016-2019
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The 58 organisational members and 35 individual members from 72 countries that believe in the power of the APC network.
All the stories – about real people and their ways of caring about each other in a difficult world – are clustered under the six priority areas that have informed APC's work from 2016 until 2019: Access, rights, a feminist internet, governance, use and development and APC community. At the same time, the design of the annual report represents the movement of the constantly changing tiles that come together as a wall against repression and injustice, the matches and connections in between our diverse pieces with common goals and principles.
We approach every annual report as an informative and colourful way to be appreciative, to thank all our staff, our members, our board of directors, our council, our partners, our funders and everyone else who supports APC in so many different ways.
We are a diverse and grounded community. We are people-centred technology innovators and practitioners. We are a human rights and feminist network. We are policy change actors. We build bridges, connect and convene. We hope this publication reflects that and that you enjoy it.
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