APC Annual Report 2021

"We learned so much in 2021 because it was a difficult year. One lesson that I keep coming back to is how we – staff, members and partners – co-create and rely on the APC network to build community and purpose. This is what I celebrate most when I read the stories in this year’s report," says APC's Executive Director Chat Garcia Ramilo in her introduction to the report.

Our 2021 Annual Report tells a story made by many stories taking place in the most diverse scenarios but connected through purpose. From responding to requests for support from overwhelmed groups to mobilise effective responses against hate speech, online violence and other threats to human rights, to forging ahead with schools of community networks to address digital inclusion, to fighting climate change through open technologies or convening feminist tech exchanges on digital rights and safety, the APC community once again displayed its potency under the most challenging circumstances. 

As Leandro Navarro, chair of the APC Board of Directors, put it: "Reading this wonderful report helps raise awareness, leads us to reflect, and encourages us to continue working as a network, with renewed ideas and effort, for progressive communications in a changing world." 

We invite you to read this annual report, where you will find many stories that chronicle how the APC community lived, worked and thrived through an incredibly turbulent but fruitful year.

Read APC's 2021 Annual Report in full here.

What are some of the highlights of our work in 2021?

Harnessing the collective power of communities

• Strengthened the network’s capacity to advance APC's strategic priorities by supporting local projects
• Advanced towards a participatory subgranting model
• Promoted collaboration and knowledge sharing among APC members on issues of common interest
• Nurturing Solidarity, Achieving Transformation: A community of communities met to build a collective future
• Collective knowledge and learnings on design, organisation and hosting of online events collected in guide

Featured member stories:

• eQualitie launched CENO, world's first decentralised p2p mobile browser for areas with censored communications
• Andrew Garton launched short film with support from EngageMedia: “Peer To Peer - The makers of the other internet”
• EsLaRed promoted use of open technologies in education during COVID-19 lockdown in Venezuela

Enabling digital inclusion for the most vulnerable

• Fostered a stronger network of actors working on community-oriented connectivity solutions in the global South
• Built a systematic approach for community-led trainings
• Successfully advocated for policy change on digital inclusion in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia
• Played a key role in building a community networks movement at the global and regional levels, which led to a renewed recognition of this alternative in international spaces and processes
• Provided support to initiatives that will make strategic contributions to the community networks movement

Featured member stories:

• Colnodo supported the implementation of a community network for migrants, refugees and the Wayúu Indigenous community in La Guajira, Colombia
• Digital Empowerment Foundation flagged the importance of community networks in accelerating internet reach to communities through the "Community Network for Social Good" campaign
• Intervozes advocated for fair allocation of telecom universal service funds for internet access in Brazil

Co-creating a feminist internet

• Take Back the Tech! commemorated its 15th anniversary putting joy at the centre of actions towards a feminist internet
• Strengthened feminist digital safety and care in Brazil through collaboration with the Transfeminist Network of Digital Care
• The Feminist Internet Research Network consolidated knowledge building on four pillars: Access, economy and labour, datafication and online gender-based violence
• From a tool to a space to rightfully occupy: Shifted perceptions of technology in structurally silenced and marginalised communities in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Sudan and Uganda

Featured member stories:

• Pollicy's Digital Safe-Tea Game created opportunities to learn how to face online threats
• VOICE advocated for protection of women's rights in Bangladesh generating research-based evidence on violence against women during COVID-19
• BlueLink worked to restore policy dialogue and supportive discourse against gender-based violence online in Bulgaria
• AZUR Développement localised the Take Back the Tech! campaign in Congo to denounce and raise awareness on gender-based violence online
• Body and Data brought together different communities in Nepal to broaden the conversation around digital security through Feminist Tech Exchanges
• CITAD built the capacities of women journalists on safety and privacy online in Nigeria
• PROTEGE QV promoted freedom of expression and gender equality in Cameroon by training women media workers on online safety
• Bytesforall Bangladesh addressed the rising trend of gender-based online violence during the pandemic

Advocating for human rights online and offline

• Influenced the Human Rights Council resolution on internet and human rights through a process that convened our network’s intelligence
• Provided direct support to the drafting of the report on Freedom of Expression and Gender Justice by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
• Raised the importance of adopting a human rights and gender approach to cybersecurity discussions, trends and policies globally

Featured member stories:

• Recommendations by Derechos Digitales on artificial intelligence and inclusion in Latin America echoed in UN report on privacy
• Jinbonet advocated for responses to digital surveillance in the workplace in South Korea
• JCA-NET took action against biometric technology during the Tokyo Olympics
• TEDIC and Personal Data Coalition presented bill to defend Paraguayans’ rights to privacy and personal data protection
• Rudi International confirmed the positive impact of HakiConf, an annual conference on digital rights in DRC

Promoting governance of the internet as a global public good

• Prepared the African School on Internet Governance fellows for post-pandemic digital ecosystem challenges
• Underscored the importance of multistakeholder engagement and transparency in reforms to the internet governance ecosystem
• Convened stakeholders to imagine the future of global internet governance
• Inserted environmental concerns in the internet governance agenda

Mobilising collective action for environmental justice and sustainability

• Created entry points to link environmental justice, feminist theory and practices with the use of digital technologies through research and discourse
• Built up the capacity and resources of different stakeholders around specific issues and approaches to technology for environmental justice and sustainability
• Increased understanding among funders of the intersections of digital technologies, environmental justice and sustainability towards greater inclusion of these issues as part of donor agendas
• Documented communities’ practical experiences working with technology for environmental justice in analyses that can shape policy and technical responses to extractivist logic

Featured member stories:

• Nodo TAU contributed to social and digital inclusion of young people and environmental care in the interior of Argentina
• Jokkolabs Banjul conducted training on climate change mapping in the West Coast region of the Gambia
• Pangea deepened its users’ knowledge on how to make ethical tech choices.