How are APC members improving their communities’ lives? APC has a network of 57 organisational and 33 individual members active in 73 countries. Each of them is bringing change to their communities through their work, dedication and activism. Some of this work is supported through APC’s subgranting, which enables members to advance their mission and achieve meaningful impact at a local level.
We are launching a new column, “Seeding change”, to feature some of the stories of change that are being weaved by members of the APC network in each of their contexts and communities. You’ll find impactful and inspiring stories as diverse as our network, starting with how Palestinian organisation 7amleh advocates for Palestinian digital rights and challenges discriminatory policies online. You will read about how Bosnia and Herzegovina-based organisation One World Platform (OWP) secured safe houses for women, and about how EMPOWER Malaysia hosted the Perempuan festival to provide a stage for missing and invisible women’s voices by bringing their lived realities into public and political spaces. You will get to know about the strong and community-owned networking infrastructure that Zenzeleni Networks has created to provide remote villages with internet connectivity and you will read how Cameroon-based PROTEGE QV promotes local ownership of the African Declaration Internet Rights and Freedoms and Africa and advocates for better internet access in Cameroon. All of these stories of change build towards APC’s shared vision.
Grant recipients have held feminist festivals with poetry, theatre, storytelling, exhibitions and film screenings. They have developed radio programmes and produced documentaries. Significant work has been done on fighting online gender-based violence in all regions in the global South. Projects have pushed for open governance and transparency, sought to raise awareness of advocacy instruments and practical, hands-on projects have also been funded. Their diverse and exciting experiences show that sub-granting is a powerful way to catalyse change on the ground and to help to break new ground on issues that are often left unattended.
Join us in this section to read stories of how our members are seeding change in their communities, supported by APC subgranting.
The stories mentioned in this piece are highlighted in Continuing the conversation: Lessons from APC subgranting, a report that presents the findings of interviews and surveys of APC members and partners who were recipients of funding through its core subgranting programme, supported by Sida, and of sub-grants offered through other APC projects and staff working on subgranting in the organisation.
How have you been inspired to plant seeds of change in your community? Share your story with us at communications@apc.org